March-ing vs. Walking

The French translation of "to walk" is "marcher," which in turn is the derivative of our work "To March." In English, as you know, "Marching" has a musical or military or otherwise industrial connotation - "to march" is not to stroll at leisure. In contrast, "to walk" derives from the welsh term for turning or rolling and is rooted in the act of kneading bread. English is a strange language.

To be sure, "Marcher" is a more appropriate description of what I've been doing, as I have not been strolling at leisure, or even walking at a normal pace. Daniel's been visiting and he really walks quickly. We have made our way through and around and outside of Paris, almost entirely on foot, and with the purpose and determination of Napoleon's Army. I have warned Daniel of the hazards of Russian winters and excess haste...but he's not historically inclined.

We have marched through Oberkampf, the hopping, bar-lined street in the 11th district where much of the young nightlife resides. We have marched through the Louvre courtyard (but not into the Louvre) and taken pause from our invasion of Paris long enough to say, "This is unbelievably huge." We marched across the Seine and into St. Germain de Pres, the famous shopping district, pausing just long enough to say, "These prices are unbelievably high." Although I added, "But maybe I can afford a purse."

We have marched our way through a lot of shopping, to be sure. Interestingly, markets are called "marche" which refers to the way in which people walk around a market. There's a lovely farmer's market-type-market just next to my house on wednesdays and Saturdays. Recently I saw a sign advertising a cybermarche, which I suppose refers to virtual ambulation. We found a pretty incredible flea market just outside the city, and I spent money on really cool vintage stuff, like a clutch and a necklace and prada shoes for $20 euro.

Then we marched home.

The other day we marched to a delicious dinner - I had a french classic, Duck. It was marvelous, but filling. No matter, as I marched it all off on the way home.

Last night we marched to the Open Air Cinema, which was pretty great. Every night in the summer, the city sets up an unbelievably huge screen and projects movies onto it whilst viewers lay in the park to watch. It's incredible, and I plan to return, albeit with a jacket this time, and some snacks.

A related warning on the hazards of the "auto-translate" function for websites: We looked up the Cinema for information, and auto-translated the page into english. Here is what it said about the Open Air Cinema: "The cinema of full with air has the wind in poop!"

Surely that's not right, as it was not our experience at all.

We marched home.

So I'm going to look into a bike rental for the time I'm here - Paris has a really popular, really functional program called Velib, which offers participants bikes and bikestops all over the city for very reasonable rates. It's like what Yellowbike was supposed to be, except for a minimal fee and centers to lock up the bikes, so they don't get stolen, painted a different color, and redistributed.

Not that I don't enjoy all the marching. I do. I just wish it was a little calmer. You know...more like kneading bread, and less like invading a city.

Hope everyone is well.