Friday, April 29, 2005

Knitting? What's that? - Jaa mikä neulominen?

I seem to have lost the plot (if there ever was one). There hasn't been time for knitting lately, neither writing a story about last weekend's trip to Paris. Let me just say that it was ok - mummy wasn't lost, she returned home safe and sound. But the funniest thing happened when we took the train from Brussels to Paris on Saturday morning: my mother walked in and started talking to herself, searching for her seat... and the lady just in the front of her turned around and replied in Finnish. It was another Finnish girl, taking her mother and the mother's friend to Paris for the weekend. I didn't recognise her, but the situation sounded familiar. During the journey I could hear the daughter talking through her teeth: "Mother, sit DOWN! No, you're not going there..." --And who would we bump into when coming back on Sunday night? The same trio, travelling in the same train car again - and now it became evident that we were originally from the same city in Finland. I still don't know her name, though.

We did the trivial tourist sightseeing but at the same time managed to see some lovely more quiet and green areas of Paris. I didn't know that there was a swimming pool right under Les Halles. A part of the ceiling is just glass and there is a conservatory with huge banana trees as well. No, we didn't go swimming - at least not this time. At Arc de Triomphe there was a huge amount of fresh flowers laid down on the grave of the unknown soldier, that was just one part of the places and ceremonies that marked the 60th anniversary of liberation of concentration camps. There was also a touching ceremony at the memorial of deportations right behind the Notre Dame - a quiet march of survivors and relatives of those taken to concentration camps. I read somewhere that 200000 people were deported from France, about 30000 from Paris alone.

But before it gets too gloomy, let's return to the present day and recent happenings. Textile-wise nothing much happened during this trip, but I spotted a new yarn shop in rue Cadet which is relatively close to the railway station and the area where we usually stay during these weekend visits. Unfortunately I saw the shop only after closing time on Saturday but I managed to peek in and get some information. It seems that the owner is a lawyer/attorney. Who else fancies a career change?

1 comment:

urraca said...

Hi from Madrid. I sent you an email about your next trip. I hope you got it. Let me know if you didn't.