Paris in Summer?

Something strange and glorious happened this Summer 2010, it cooled down. After baking a few Summers in Paris now, I am grateful for this cool down. What ecological implications or significance this might have, I am not sure, but I will think of that another time. People in Paris have done their normal migration for the month of August, some even started in July and the streets for a short time are quiet and it is easier to catch a smiling face from a passerby. I am always commenting on how nice Paris is in Summer, but it can be said the same for New York, or any other large city with access to a coast nearby, or people with enough vacation time. I spent a glorious week in New York one Summer. It felt like something out of a Woody Allen movie where all is civil and the best restaurant are empty, thereby you actually get a table. And speaking of Woody Allen, he is here in Paris filming with none other than Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the First Lady of France, you could say, but there never really has been a First Lady in France. It is mostly an American invention. Still, Madame Sarkozy is setting a kind of precedence while being the French First Lady and carrying on her career as an entertainer. Much is talked about her earlier career as a model, but she began a second act as a singer and became quite popular, that is until she married the President. Politics really is a sport here, like wrestling (or Catch as the French call it) where one minute you are the hero and suddenly a false move or an "accidental" KO of your team-mate can turn your fans against you and suddenly you are Carlacabra from Juarez. People will BOO you. I am sure Madame Sarkozy will be fine in the film and after the filming everyone one will just wonder if this was just an inconvenient filming schedule that kept the presidential couple from spending the holiday together, or...

I admit to be incredibly lax in my blogging. Actually if you read some of the last ones postings, I grovel a bit about it and promise to do better. Perhaps I should delete those. This time I make no excuses. Some days I am busy and there are times when I do absolutely nothing. All is fine. I love keeping busy and physically and mentally working on a project and I hope to have many more in the future. This Summer being a cool one, I am quicker to think of the future, instead of my brain frying in the sun and just thinking of when I can get into some shade. I hope to continue in Paris. There still seem to be possibilities here like no other place. I am still trying to find all this out, but I do enjoy the search. This said, I am re-evaluating some aspects of my life and taking on what is next. This coming weekend I take a holiday with Alain. The first time we have really gone away since this time last year. We will go to the south west of France and then crossing the country into Italy, staying in Milan a couple of days then heading north to see the lakes. I have not been to Italy since I spent two weeks in Venice one Winter years ago, still perhaps the most enchanting time I have spent anywhere. I have never been to Milan. Some people like the city, others don't. I plan to do some usual sightseeing, even taking in da Vinci's Last Supper. Normally I might avoid going to see it. Since the Dan Brown books people have glazed over and foamed at the mouth to all things da Vinci and I do feel La Gioconda, or The Mona Lisa, is perhaps the most over-rated painting in history. Leonardo da Vinci created some of the most sublime and mysterious works of art in existence. You don't need to dissect these paintings and drawings to find hidden meaning, sure the man was a genius, but really all it takes is to just look at them and accept the beauty they posses. I plan to do this. I also look forward to see the lakes, like Como and Maggiore. I have been brushing up on Italian, which grammatically makes a lot more sense than French. This trip comes at a much needed time. I have been totally fatigued. Fatigued with circumstances and changes which are not always easy for me to deal with, still, such is life and we all press on. It will be nice to breathe a different air, hear another language and see different faces. It will be nice to see mountains, large bodies of water and magical islands. It will be nice to put aside all that has been bothering me and really relax, existing in another beauty. If you are planning a holiday or just a weekend getaway somewhere, anywhere, I wish you the same.