Parlez!

These past several days of recreation and impromptu photography classes have been fun, but now the break is finished and I have to review my verbs and nouns for class tomorrow. I realized as I ate supper that I never got around to re-posting the link to the Museum of Jewish Art and History, as I said in my newsletter that I would. So here it is: CLICK HERE

Today, shortly after I took those pictures of the tree out in the park, I ran into a man and his two dogs. We had a lovely conversation. Well, he talked and I nodded a lot and smiled. For the most part I had no clue what he was saying, but he was talking about the dogs. I think one of them was actually a stray and he was trying to figure out what to do with it. I hope that's what he was saying, because I told him I had no idea. He asked me about my photography and I showed him a couple of the pictures I had taken. He told me they were very pretty. I enjoy being humored...

During all of this I said about 8 words. Then a couple of women came over and one of them started talking to me, assuming that I had some idea what she was saying. They were all rather preoccupied with the dogs who were running around and playing with each other, so they hardly noticed my lack of verbosity. After a while I wished them a good evening and left.

But I couldn't get far. As I was crossing the bridge over the "moat," a four lane highway, the sinking sun and streaming traffic caught my photographic eye. I spent the next 15 minutes crouched against the railing with my camera, trying to get a record of what I was seeing. A man walked by in the middle of my efforts and seemed rather curious about what I might be doing with a camera above a highway. I gave him a hearty "Bon soir" and he returned it, then went happily on his way. I have found that "Bon soir" is a magical phrase that tends to make the French like me a lot more. Why? Probably because tourists don't know it.

I had another encounter in different park earlier today. I was taking pictures and a guy about my age came over and asked if I had gotten any good shots. I showed him some of them and he gave his general approval. Beyond that, I once again missed most of what he said. All told, today made me feel that Massy is a much warmer place then it can first seem to be. Especially if I have a camera, people will initiate conversations in the proper place and time, even if they would avoid eye contact when we pass one another on the sidewalk. Parks are a wonderful social "safe zone."