An American Dog in Paris Part VI (“Six”)

Pali sunning at Le Tour Eiffel.

The last few days in Paris have been reminiscent of San Francisco weather in the summer: cool, cloudy, and even a bit rainy. Today though, for a few glorious hours, the sun was back, smiling benevolently down on us. We couldn't resist capturing some of the fun on the Champ de Mars, where a moment of sunshine seems to draw Parisians and tourists alike to picnic on the grass. It’s a good thing we enjoyed it while we could as more rain clouds blew in this evening.

Yesterday we journeyed to another park, Buttes Chaumont, far from the tourist attractions. The park has quite a storied history—it was once a gallows for executions, then a quarry, and then a city dump. Baron Haussmann, Napolean III’s city planner and architect, turned it into an oasis in the middle of a working neighborhood.

Parc des Butte Chaumont.

From its peaks and hilltops you can find spectacular views of Paris, and, like every other park in Paris we’ve been to, it’s a joy to wander around somewhat aimlessly, waiting to see what beauty lies around the corner. Pali greatly enjoyed her outing. We’ve decided since the “stay at home administering eye medicine” regime didn’t seem to be working, we’d take her medicine with us and get her outdoors, otherwise we were worried she’d go a bit stir-crazy.

On the health front, Pali saw an eye specialist today, Dr. Laforge, who looks more like a fantastic Frenchman with his twirly moustache than anyone I’ve seen so far. His personality matched his moustache. In a strange way, Pali’s eye malady has had its benefits, allowing us to meet people and have conversations that have given us a new perspective on Paris (just trying to find the “glass-half-full” perspective). The bottom line is that this problem is not going to go away on its own. He feels that she has a congenital predilection that makes her corneal ulcers recur, which means that she will need surgery to fully fix the problem to keep it from happening again.

Dr. Laforge examines Pali.

He showed us the procedure on his Apple laptop (a move which immediately endeared him forever to my husband, a media man and an Apple man to the—ah-hem—core). I’m afraid I am going to wish very much that I didn’t see the video—imagining my poor Pali going through that makes me go a bit quivery inside. So, first up on our to-do list when we get home to San Francisco is to find an eye specialist. If anyone has a good recommendation, please do pass it along.

Au revoir for now.

Comments

[Paul Kim]

See, I knew the French were wonderful people, using Macs and all. ;) Aw, poor Pali...she looks so doleful in that pic.

[Daneen]

Yes, they are wonderful people (even the PC users, poor folks). We've met so many wonderful people. I think having a dog has really helped too--we don't present as typical tourists.

[Steve D.]

I love that Eiffel Tower pic--what a great day for pictures. I remember going to Buttes Chaumont years ago. I'd love to take my dog there one day. It's so picturesque.

[Elizabeth Rivera]

Poor Pali! I'm sorry to hear about all the eye trouble. In the meantime I'm sure she's having a fabulous time in Paris and I'm really enjoying hearing about it.