Walking on the Moon

It's been a long week. The days are growing longer and time is languid. I am reading "Paris to the Moon" and trying to stretch its ending to coincide with the end of my time here. They are leaving Paris and so am I. Yesterday as I walked to the 14th a. via rue du Seine and rue Napolean I stumbed on Deroille on rue du Bac. The spelling is wrong, I am sure, but the photograph conveys its sensibility. It was once a shop of taxidermists in the early 20th. Over the years people would bring in dead pets, have them taxidermied and then forget to come and get them. As the century turned the shop has become a ritzy gardening shop that uses the animals in its window displays and has a sort of natural history museun on the second floor - but one where one can buy an exotic butterfly collection for a thousand euros or so. Still, its an amazing, authentic step back in time. I've never been anyplace like it.

We first stumbled across the shop walking back from the Musee Malloil back in March. The window displays were far beyond anything our animal rights activist friend Y. had ever seen before. Mr. DD was visiting as well. I still don't know if Y. was offended or facinated by their use of taxidermied animals modeling their gardening gear. Mr. DD had just delivered the "moon" book so I hadn't begun reading it so the significance of shop escaped us.

I am grateful to have run across it again and know that if I weren't a dedicated walker I would have missed it. If I had been driving or taking the metro to Montparnasse I would have missed so many things. I spent so much time there that I finally had to get on the metro to meet my friends for a Pastisse and find our dinner. We wound up at a fabulous Berber place on a quiet street around the corner. It was such a splendid night the owner set up a table on the sidewalk and we dined alfresco.