15 September 2016 – Paris
Day 9. We intended to climb the towers at Notre Dame today, and waited in line in the rain for some twenty minutes to find out there was a strike and the towers were shut. So we went to the Centre Pompidou and found we had arrived forty minutes too early. We wandered away to shelter from the rain in bookstores and cafés, and returned to ride the escalators and become overwhelmed by everything. · Text is from Wittgenstein’s ‘On Color’, as arranged by Joseph Kosuth. · It is pleasant to walk in the rain.
While looking to escape the rain, we tried to find entry into the church of Saint-Merri (Medericus). The doors and gates were shut and locked, though we could hear the faint sound of signing from inside. The door was open, though, when we passed again after visiting the Centre Pompidou – so we visited, catching the end of a service and also observing a sorting/mending of donated clothes. Many charming carvings, but all dusty, with a schoolroom feel – a church for use, not show.