ease.
We set foot on Paris soil at the base of Sacré-CÅur. The air was milder than I had expected. The sea of buildings gave off a serenity that even the few cars and mopeds glistening through the streets like minnows could not disrupt. We climbed the steps. âHow often, ever since we had seen fall arrive on the Boulevard St-Germain, had we come up here, our work done, chilled, looking out at the rain on the Seine,â I recited. 37 Robert wanted to know what the large roof off to the left was, and was surprised I didnât know for sure which train station it might be, or if it even was a train station at all. I was amazed at how few prominent features there wereâthe Madeleine, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower far to the right, all the rest was a blur, which was fine by me. What I wanted to do most was to stretch out on one of the benches and sleep. The white stone reminded me of the Fishermanâs Bastion. 38 The pigeons scared off by the street sweeper came from Neustadt Station. 39
Suddenly a man was kneeling in front of me in the middle of the sidewalk. He was like a stone that had fallen out of the sky. He was looking at the ground as if praying and offered us a view of a wreath of sweaty strands of hair. The shapeless thing in his hands turned out to be a cap that held a single coin. I didnât have any francs and yet didnât dare move on. Mamus came to my aid, stuffed a bill into his cap, and whispered in perfect German: âFrom the whole family.â A woman who we later learned was a German teacher from Erfurt said it was unacceptable for one person to grovel before another like that. As she went on speaking and a semicircle formed around her, poor Lazarusâprobably thinking she was speaking to himâslowly raised his head. When the group saw his badly scraped forehead and nose and gazed into dead-tired eyes and a toothless half-opened mouth, they fell silent. We regrouped and fled.
After that time took flight. As if every spot deserved a special sniff, we were let out near the Centre Pompidou, the Arc de Triomphe, the Place de la Concorde, and Les Invalides, although with the exception of the Centre we would have had a better view from the bus.
When we stopped at the Eiffel Tower, at the far end of the field, we set off,
en familie,
in search of a restroom. On the way back we saw our travel group gather within a matter of seconds at the middle door of the bus and then just as quickly form a queue. Our female copilot was spooning soup into white plastic bowls with an oversize ladle. Robert and I got in line. At last it was our turn, but since neither of us could produce either bowl or spoon, we were told to be patient and wait until some fast eaters, as our copilot put it, could hand over an empty bowl that we could rinse out.
In the course of all this I missed the announcement that, having now been âfortified,â we were supposed to âclimbâ the tower. The first group was already on its way when I attempted to persuade Mamus and Michaela to join me in a walk. I succeeded only to the extent that Mamus slipped me a few francsâand with that we went our separate ways.
I thought of running after them, even took a few stepsâsuddenly I was on the verge of tears. The realization that for two hours I would now be freer than I had ever been in my whole life robbed me of my will. I went back to the café where we had made use of the restroom and decided that, protected against all eventualities, I would wait there. Probably because he recognized me, the garçon hurried over to prevent me from entering; he didnât even make the effort to wave me off with his whole hand, but just flexed his extended fingers in disgust a few times. I pointed to the empty barstools and went for one.
I pronounced coffee with the accent on the second syllable and also ordered a
mineralnaya voda,
as if it were less embarrassing to speak Russian than German. I then just
We set foot on Paris soil at the base of Sacré-CÅur. The air was milder than I had expected. The sea of buildings gave off a serenity that even the few cars and mopeds glistening through the streets like minnows could not disrupt. We climbed the steps. âHow often, ever since we had seen fall arrive on the Boulevard St-Germain, had we come up here, our work done, chilled, looking out at the rain on the Seine,â I recited. 37 Robert wanted to know what the large roof off to the left was, and was surprised I didnât know for sure which train station it might be, or if it even was a train station at all. I was amazed at how few prominent features there wereâthe Madeleine, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower far to the right, all the rest was a blur, which was fine by me. What I wanted to do most was to stretch out on one of the benches and sleep. The white stone reminded me of the Fishermanâs Bastion. 38 The pigeons scared off by the street sweeper came from Neustadt Station. 39
Suddenly a man was kneeling in front of me in the middle of the sidewalk. He was like a stone that had fallen out of the sky. He was looking at the ground as if praying and offered us a view of a wreath of sweaty strands of hair. The shapeless thing in his hands turned out to be a cap that held a single coin. I didnât have any francs and yet didnât dare move on. Mamus came to my aid, stuffed a bill into his cap, and whispered in perfect German: âFrom the whole family.â A woman who we later learned was a German teacher from Erfurt said it was unacceptable for one person to grovel before another like that. As she went on speaking and a semicircle formed around her, poor Lazarusâprobably thinking she was speaking to himâslowly raised his head. When the group saw his badly scraped forehead and nose and gazed into dead-tired eyes and a toothless half-opened mouth, they fell silent. We regrouped and fled.
After that time took flight. As if every spot deserved a special sniff, we were let out near the Centre Pompidou, the Arc de Triomphe, the Place de la Concorde, and Les Invalides, although with the exception of the Centre we would have had a better view from the bus.
When we stopped at the Eiffel Tower, at the far end of the field, we set off,
en familie,
in search of a restroom. On the way back we saw our travel group gather within a matter of seconds at the middle door of the bus and then just as quickly form a queue. Our female copilot was spooning soup into white plastic bowls with an oversize ladle. Robert and I got in line. At last it was our turn, but since neither of us could produce either bowl or spoon, we were told to be patient and wait until some fast eaters, as our copilot put it, could hand over an empty bowl that we could rinse out.
In the course of all this I missed the announcement that, having now been âfortified,â we were supposed to âclimbâ the tower. The first group was already on its way when I attempted to persuade Mamus and Michaela to join me in a walk. I succeeded only to the extent that Mamus slipped me a few francsâand with that we went our separate ways.
I thought of running after them, even took a few stepsâsuddenly I was on the verge of tears. The realization that for two hours I would now be freer than I had ever been in my whole life robbed me of my will. I went back to the café where we had made use of the restroom and decided that, protected against all eventualities, I would wait there. Probably because he recognized me, the garçon hurried over to prevent me from entering; he didnât even make the effort to wave me off with his whole hand, but just flexed his extended fingers in disgust a few times. I pointed to the empty barstools and went for one.
I pronounced coffee with the accent on the second syllable and also ordered a
mineralnaya voda,
as if it were less embarrassing to speak Russian than German. I then just
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