Rain again. Not only has it been raining for the past week (with occasional clear patches and, once or twice, a glimpse of the sun) but the internet connection has also been intermittent - now it has finally dropped out altogether and we have been off the air for nearly 24 hours. This means that, although I can keep writing it is not possible to check or look up references. The rain means that it is difficult to get out and about and one needs to - both to stretch the legs and to get away from the confines of one room (no matter how good the outlook). I keep thinking of the song, "The sun will come out tomorrow..." but unfortunately I know from the weather forecast that it is going to be rainy or showers for at last the next three days (one of the bad things about the internet) and everything always looks worse when the sun is not shining.

Milan and Joy arrived last week after spending a week in London. They both looked well although a little exhausted from dragging their bags through the Chatalet Metro interchange (you seem to be walking forever, up and down stairs, along tunnels and moving footways - to avoid this we caught a taxi from Gare du Nord to the Cite). Anyway, they have now settled in and are busy trying to get to everything before Joy returns to work next week - a pleasant evening sharing cheese and wine in the refurbished McCulloch studio last Sunday. We were amazed to see how much the studio has been changed. Apart from the painting etc the kitchen has been rebuilt and now has more cupboards and bench space ( as well as a good supply of china etc) and the original tall windows and wooden shutters have been replaced with double glazed windows and curtains (very nice and necessary but it some how changes the character of the place - just the romantic in me I suppose).

It was exciting to be part of Bastille Day even though we did not see a lot of the parade because we chose to stay at the back where we had a seat to rest our weary bones (I really don't know how people stood for four hours waiting for the action to begin - although the soldiers, sailors etc were standing in formation on the Champs Elysees even before we arrived at 8am). It was an experience just to be part of the proceedings and to watch everybody getting organised. We were astounded to discover some of the troops doing a Haka on the Champs while they were waiting but read later that these were troops from the Pacific and other islands and that it was performed as part of the Bastille Day celebrations.
While filming the horse parade I managed to capure President Sarkozy riding by in a jeep as he reviewed the troops.

One unexpected benefit of being at the back was to catch the march of the Foreign Legionaires who came down a back road to join their compatriots at Concorde. We heard the beating of the drums and raced over to see strange, bearded men with leather aprons and axes on their shoulders marching by. We discovered later that the reason they march separately or at the rear of the others is because they march to a different beat - 80 steps per minute as opposed to the modern army's 120 (this is to do with their heritage as part of the Ancien Regime). The bearded men were sapeurs who are responsible for clearing a path for the advancing army (a role going back to the time of the Assyrians) and, because they have the shortest life expectancy of all the armed forces, are allowed to grow beards.

The flyover by jets, propeller aircraft and helicopters was pretty spectacular but we had in fact seen them from our balcony the previous week when they did a practice run - that was probably more spectacular because it was totally unexpected.
Afterwards we walked all the way back to the Cite as much of the transport was not running or on reduced operations. Near Concorde we mingled with the troops who were waitng for transport back to their barracks and it was good to see how happy everyone was (even posing happily for photos). This is of course the major French holiday and a celebration of an event which formed the basis of their whole way of life - unlike contrived holidays like Australia Day.

After the parade there were two concerts in the Champs du Mars (the park alongside the Eiffel Tower followed by fireworks at 1130pm. Being old fogeys we decide it would be much more civilised to celebrate in the studio with a bottle of champagne and an early night (although we did hear the noise of the fireworks).

On Friday we finally got to go the Parc des Buttes Chaumont (an old quarry which was made over by Baron Haussmann - the man responsible for the makeover of Paris and the introduction of all the major boulevardes). On the way we stopped off at the famous Canal st Martin which connect the waterways of...... with the Seine. Construction of the canal was ordered by Napoleon I in 1802, in order to create an artificial waterway for supplying Paris with fresh water to support a growing population and to help avoid diseases such as dysentry and cholera. The canal was also used to supply Paris with food (grain), building materials, and other goods, carried on canal boats. Although this used to be a major highway it is now used primarily as a tourist attraction - one can take a trip from Parc de Villette along the canal to the Seine or, for the more adventurous, a day trip from the Seine via canal saint Martin and Villette and into the countryside via the canal l'Ourcq for a picnic. This canal is 108 km long and has 10 locks.  It begins at Bassin de la Villette and goes through the woodlands in the northeast of Paris. It was originally built to divert water from the river l’Ourcq into Paris.

Chaumont was quite amazing. It was strange to find this rugged parkland with paths and roads winding up and down hills and around a large lake only ten minutes from the heart of Paris. Lots of joggers and walkers and people just lazing around on the grass and spectacular views back over Paris (it was recommended as a good place to watch the fireworks on Bastille Day). There were also lots of family groups enjoying the open spaces (maybe they knew it was about to start raining for days on end!). We climbed one of the hills and enjoyed a picnic looking back toward Sacre Coeur through the surrounding trees - a very pleasant and relaxed escape from everything