Notre Dame de Paris

Many parks in Paris are wired for free public wifi. As if we needed any further inducement to linger in their lovely, blossoming luxury. The weather is warm and sunny, the air is fragrant, and spring is most certainly arrivée. Thousands of people are taking this photo every minute; I joined in.

Once, upon a noontime cheery, while I pondered thoughts on theory
(of the privacy of people's bank accounts and data spoor),
as I brooded, barely heedful, suddenly came tourists needful
of my English, local knowledge, and my helpful demeanor.
Merely tourists, interested in my helpful demeanor.
Quoth the tourists,

"Excuse me, do you know if this church is Protestant or Catholic?"

I thought they were joking at first. Into my tentative pause, they explained, "We just came from travelling in Holland, where Protestant churches all have roosters on them." Gesturing to the weathervane on the roof of Notre Dame. They seemed to think this merited intent consideration, so I gave this a few seconds. Then I informed them that I was pretty sure that Notre Dame was Catholic, because (1) France is a historically Catholic country, (2) Protestants don't usually build giant gaudy cathedrals, and most importantly (3) the cathedral's construction began long before Protestantism existed. I made some effort to be friendly about this; however, a sneer of this caliber cannot be fully contained by any system known to man.

Another step of my assimilation into the aloof French stereotype.



This post's theme word is simony, "profiting from holy things, especially the buying and selling of positions and pardons." I should have parlayed my knowledge into simony somehow.

Accessibly tactile art

The museum has these very neat accessibility features so that the art can be experienced in ways other than the visual. In particular, this tactile display reproduced the painting in miniature but in a three-dimensional metal relief.

It was very cool to witness another way of experiencing and absorbing the art, with different features --- the two-dimensional painting rendered in three squished dimensions.

It was also possible to observe which parts of the relief are most frequently touched, by the change in coloration (oxidization?). I like this interplay between the visual and tactile.


This post's theme word is gelasin, "a dimple in the cheek that appears while smiling." The painting's rendering as a relief made her gelasins immediately obvious to the touch, even though the subtle coloring made them a mere visual suggestion.