Canal St. Martin

This afternoon we set off for Canal St. Martin, a canal used to carry goods to and from the Seine. I'd never seen a canal for barges, and we were all fascinated by the locks, the "water elevators" as Warren and I explained them. We watched the locks fill up, empty, open and shut for at least 40 minutes total, on both sides of this bridge.

Further down, the kids enjoyed watching a barge that we had passed as it slowly went through the locks; now it passed us. Just past this, we found a park alongside the canal route so we stopped to play.

This guy had the longest fishing pole we've ever seen--and he had 2! This picture is you for you, Uncle Sam! We wish you happy fishing. Just past this man you can see more men; they stopped me and said, I think, that they saw me and the kids and my husband and my stroller at Versailles on Sunday. They didn't seem to speak English, and my French is awful, so we couldn't talk long, but how funny that they recognized us.

We have this picture courtesy of Warren--our kids, Avery included--love to take pictures with the camera. We met up with Andy after our walk for dinner: falafel. I've wanted to try it because one of my guided walks recommended it, but the first time I passed it, I'd just eaten. The next time, it was closed--Jewish Sabbath. Today it was open and we were hungry and it was fabulous. I could be a vegetarian if everything tasted that good. We ate at a nearby park; the previous times we were at that park, nearly everyone there was eating falafel. No kidding. Tonight, we were about the only ones, since we eat dinner earlier than is traditional in France. Instead the park was overflowing with people and little boys playing soccer. I saw Warren think about joining the game at one point and run alongside the boys, and I thought, "No! You'll get clobbered!" The kids all look so good about handling the ball and they get their legs all tangled up and still don't fall over--I don't think Warren would have that same result. Luckily, he just ran around them and went back to the sandbox. After everyone left the park and we were still there playing, he got out his rollerblades we brought along and skated around for awhile.
We walked home and passed our church and saw the missionaries outside it. We visited with them for awhile and then they walked us to the Metro. They are so nice. I got some pass-along cards that I'd been wanting and they gave us a fun paper chain we can build with the kids as we do things like study the scriptures and pray as a family, write in our journals, come to church, share our testimonies of Jesus Christ etc. Each time we do something we will add a link to our chain. I'm excited to do it with the kids. It will be a fun way to see how "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass."
As we waited for our Metro elevator, we saw a group of Americans, talking really loudly. One was discreetly saying into her cellphone, "Yeah, all the French here are rude to us because we're American," and I thought how different our experience has been. Once they realized we spoke English, we helped them with some directions and talked with them. But even I was emberassed at how loud they were talking on our usually quiet elevator, how openly--and loudly--they displayed their frustration when the elevator doors wouldn't shut, then how they cheered when they did. Then when the elevator stopped before our floor and they stood at the doors blocking people from coming on and saying, "No!" I thought, "Please--don't be so tacky, I have to ride this elevator every day!" The whole awkward experience was a lesson in how we act changes our perception of other people and cultures. I'm quite confident that the French people on our elevator thought the Americans were horribly rude, yet the girl had just been saying on her cellphone how rude she thought the French were. Our actions truly invite the same in others, as do our perceptions. I continue to marvel at how helpful people are--Metro drivers who wait a bit longer as I get on, people who help me lift, or take one of the kids' hands as they walk down the steps while I'm lifting, people who smile and speak in French to me--I just assume they are saying nice things, or why else would they smile?, people who make room for us on the Metro, nice old ladies and teenagers who play peek-a-boo with my kids on the ride or who try out their English skills on us. I especially like the people who tell me how beautiful my kids are...Anyway, I hope next time I'm annoyed with someone, I'll remember today and look inward first and ask, "What might I be doing that makes this person seem rude?"
Total Steps: 14,676