December 05, 2004
la vraie pippy
At this time last year I was in Paris France, France, France.
Having seen plenty of movie versions, it was high time to see it!
The Real Paris!
A certain Egghead (click and scroll past the fundraising crap) came too and we went to this zoo
where these sweaters with feet were having a breakfast meeting. Verily, it was a smallish but wonderful menagerie of curious creatures, big and small, tucked into the Jardin de Plantes, where, among other things, they have controle totale du monde vegetal. La ménagerie, l'un des plus anciens parcs zoologiques du monde! (its pretty old as zoos go!) The zoo was created to house des animaux exotiques who were running rampant in the gardens of Versailles. Cheeky little monkeys made a sport of sneaking up and snatching powdered wigs right off of gentlemen's heads and flinging them into the fountains! Llamas, elephants, camels, giraffes, goats, gazelles, and buffalos were making nuisances for the ladies as they strolled the paths amidst the flowerbeds! Thus, Louis XIII, after an orangutan wandered into his very bedchambers, said, "ca suffit!" and la Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes was created! Ok, I made some of that up. The Jardin des Plantes was opened in 1640 by Louis XIII's doctor, and the gardens originally grew medicinal plants to promote His Majesty's health. During the siege of Paris in 1871, officials raided the zoo for meat, and elephants were served to starving Parisians.
This is the top of the monkey house. I thought it was cute.
And there were lots of these adorable cars around in the street
It must be so nice to be
a dog in Paris.
Anyway, back to planet Pippy, where Christmas knitting is in furious full swing and I have completed one and a half and a quarter (which is not to say three-quarters but really one half and one quarter) of how many presents? A jillion!! The needles will be smoking. And smoking is very French. And last year I was in Paris. And I knitted a hat while I was there. So there it is.
Posted by at December 5, 2004 01:02 PM