André Citroën Parc

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 Day 28
Laundry this morning – towels today. Then we went for a walk to the André Citroën Parc. It is a 20-minute walk from our apartment. The park consists of about 35 acres and is built on the site of a former automobile manufacturing plant. There are two huge greenhouses, one of which was completely empty. The other held plants of Australian origin, including eucalyptus plants. I had a bit of an allergy problem this morning so I plucked a eucalyptus leaf and inhaled it for a while and that seemed to clear up the allergy. There is a lovely set of fountains between the two greenhouses which put me in mind of the fountains at Olympic Park in Atlanta – the water shoots up in jets out of the pavement – and kids run and play in them despite notices to the contrary. As if any kid could resist running into them! There are a series of six gardens, each with a distinct design and each associated with a metal, a planet, a day of the week, a state of the water, and a sense; for instance the blue garden is associated with copper, Venus, Friday, rain, and the sense of smell; the red garden – iron, Mars, Tuesday, waterfalls, and the sense of taste. Some were better than others. There is also a large moored gas balloon which is supposed to allow visitors to rise above the Parisian skyline. The park is undergoing renovations and it is currently not operating.

Lunch was at a sandwicherie where we had paninis and ½ a brownie each. Then we walked back home via a different route and managed, without a map, to pretty much take the shortest route home, although that involved zigging here and zagging there. Roger’s back continues to bother him when he stands or walks. It is not his lower back up the mid-back, just below his shoulder blades. We frequented park benches while we were out and upon our return to the apartment he spent several hours on his back or his stomach on the floor.

When we got back to the apartment, we had mail in our box – a first! It was our code for internet banking. But when we tried it, we kept getting an error message. I called the bank and discovered that our user ID is not our account number but some number they supposedly sent us earlier, but which we never got. So the British-sounding guy on the other end promised to send us each a separate ID and send me a code as well, Roger’s having been the one that arrived today. It will be nice to be able to see how much money we have in our account! We have been coasting on a presumed amount based on how much money we funded the account with, and our cash withdrawals. Ah, French banking!

I found the Best of Craigslist today and have been enjoying it. Boy, are people weird!!!

I had a late-afternoon snack of half a mango. I feel that I have to stretch these mangos out a bit and really get my money’s worth, given their price! After a supper of leftover veal stew, we went out for another walk, this time to explore an area to the northwest of us which we have not yet seen. It was typical of many of the neighborhoods of the 15th Arrondissement – tall buildings, lots of flowers on balconies, pocket gardens here and there. The weather was nice and comfortable today – in the 70s to low 80s. This evening a cool breeze is wafting through our apartment, keeping the bugs at bay.