![\"Destiny's](\"http:\/\/blogs.evergreen.edu\/raisparis\/files\/2015\/05\/image13-e1431470045634.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDestiny’s Green Pen at The Eiffel Tower!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
This week I veered from my reding list because I found a book at my library by a French author, Colette. I would have chosen her earlier, instead of “Paris To the Moon” (a wonderful book that I’m nearly half done with) but I didn’t know of her existence until I visited the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Colette was a famous entertainer and writer but was not exactly a role model for young girls of the time. She was accused of seducing her stepson and she neglected her only child but she was also a real person that, in my opinion, tried to navigate her way through life on the right path. Unfortunately, she seemed to be eternally adolescent, frustrated with the life that society offered women at that time. I can relate to her in many ways (not the perverse or neglectful ways).<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPere Lechaise Cemetary, Colette<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Colette, in “The Vagabond” tells about the grief one woman feels at finally being fed up with her husbands affairs and she decides it would be better to be lonely than to be alone in the marriage. Her character, who is said to have much in common with Colette herself, says to herself “to stay would mean to hear people say that she is one who has everything to make her happy” (29). As if to say that a wife does not need freedom to make her own choices. Colette was married three times and had romances with several women, as well, so, whether she was lonely, like her character, is unknown. However, she did seem to keep her independence, which was very important to her. Her character speaks of the strength women have;<\/p>\n
“”You can be certain that long patience, and griefs jealousy hidden have tempered and sharpened and toughened this woman till everyone cries “She’s made of steel!” No, she is merely made of “of woman”-and that is enough.””(32)<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nEsplanade des Invalides-A place for everyone<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
I have hardly found any information for my research although deep inside me is the answer, I know. I’ve always known. I was the sibling that couldn’t seem to keep up with the rest, partly because of my responsibilities to my disabled sibling. I’m not complaining (Sometimes I do though. And I go on and on. I’m no saint!). I appreciate my situation now. I think Paris takes care of their people differently than we do. It seems to me that they make a place for everyone, which would be nice but, I think there is little choice, compared to the choices we have in the U.S.. While in Paris I looked for signs for children like school and play signs and especially disabled accommodations. There seemed to be wheelchair access into nearly every building (sometimes around the side of a building) but the signs were very small and I don’t think there were many restrooms that could be accessed by the disabled or elderly since most were in basements that were reached by a narrow winding staircase. Of course, if you were to leave the establishment and head toward a major street you would likely find sidewalk pottys. I didn’t see anyone that had a developmental disability so, what could one assume but that it is no place for anyone that is ‘out of the ordinary’. I’m jumping to conclusions, I know, and I plan on finding out more, hopefully proving myself wrong.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nOh look, it’s adorable little armor for children……!Found at Invalidies-Napoleon’s Tomb<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
For certain, my book this week, is a romance but, it is a romance of a city and of a lifestyle as well as a romance of the heart. As I read, I googled the names of places the character describes that involve her daily life. Some of the places are there, like the Bois de Boulogne, a park in the 16th arrondissement where she takes her dog to run. Other places, like the cafe concert, Empyree Clichy, where she performed, does not exist, at least, not anymore. Eventually she describes the beauty she finds while on her train travels all around France (174-215). The novel saves it’s reputation of being another ‘Harlequin Romance’ by having a feminist turn down the life of luxury to save her independence. This is also different from most romances in that, it touches on the subject of lesbianism. I enjoyed the read but, not necessarily to the end.<\/p>\n
Rai<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have written about my first moments in Paris, thought about what the stone on the buildings feel like on my palm, planned return trips to that city of light and warmth, viewed the same old movies depicting Paris and… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1065,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[],"tags":[99],"geo":{"latitude":47.0696411,"longitude":-122.9741745,"description":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1065"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}