L work, C play

• On the docket for C: Photography exhibits and the Marais (a neighborhood)
• When C got off the Metro, he was approached by a polite, well-dressed man. Taking him for a missionary, C shook his head and moved on. Then the man insisted in seeing his Metro ticket. It turns out he and his partner were Metro control officers.
• C went the wrong direction out of the Metro and stumbled on a restaurant/club that had an exhibition of unpublished photos by Ché Guevara, who said something to the effect of "Before I was a revolutionay, I was a photographer." The place wasn't open yet, so C didn't see the photos, and then he forgot later.
• That was just first of several mis-steps: the next photo exhibit didn't open until noon.
• C followed, more or less, the walking itinerary from Frommer's, but it was pretty much a bust. Some things weren't accurate, and the Place de Vosges wasn't really that exciting. C never did find any particularly interesting shops, and the street with interesting food wasn't (and he kept missing it in his wandering). The only thing interesting on it was the Jewish guy who said "Shalom" (whether to C or someone else, C's not sure). It took a long time to find a place for lunch.
• Finally some success at the Musée Carnavalet, after reassuring the ticket woman that he really did want to pay to see the photography exhibit. In the room before the exhibit was a painting of a 19th century walking chocolate man, just like in the phomories. The exhibition of photos by Willy Mayfield, mostly of Paris from the 1930s, 1950s, was very good.
• Not quite as much success with the next set of of exhibits at Maison Européenne de La Photographhie Ville de Paris.
• C got pastries for breakfast tomorrow (Man and woman do not live by pain au chocolat alone.) and a cookie for today.
• The Metro on the same line but the opposite direction had a breakdown on one of the trains, which slowed everything down.
• Dinner with J, one of L's team members who has been temporarily posted to Paris. We were running late, so we took a cab instead of the Metro. C's not sure it was really any faster, but as L says, it was more interesting: past the Eiffel Tower, down the Champs Elysée — a mini sight-seeing tour. L and J had some business stuff to discuss, and C was looking out the window, so the driver decided to make some personal calls on his cell phone. At one point, the callee must have asked what he was doing and why he was on the phone, and he said, "I have some foreigners." True, but interesting he'd put it that way since he knew C spoke French. Of course, C doesn't know exactly what the callee asked — it may have been what the noise was in the background. Another interesting thing about one call (hey, nothing stops the foreigner from eavesdropping!) was that it was an elaborate, flowery simultaneous thank you and apology for not visiting the callee. So maybe that stuff C learned about writing flowery letters in French isn't just for bureaucrats.