You Don't See THAT Every Day

Walking across our bridge one day, I see a jazz band with an outdoor piano, a lady walking her cat on a leash, and a man wearing a clown nose and tap-dancing with a full fish-bowl on his head. My first instinct is to say, "You don't see that every day," but of course living right by the hottest busking bridge in the city, we pretty much do.

  

 

 

Beyond the ubiquitous accordian players, there are musicians that range from the more conventional...

  

...to the less conventional, whether it be didgeridoo or a one-man band playing "Wonderwall",...

 

...to a visiting marching band. And no, the Kamiak High School band is not the only one I've seen, just the only one I had my camera handy to capture. 

 

 

 

 

There are dancers -- tango on the quai of the Seine's left bank, Latin dancing with blow-up dolls, the tap-dance stylings of a garbage marionette, or hip-hop (here with audience participation).
 

  

 

 

There are brides...

 

   

 

...and birds on an almost daily basis.

 

 

One night, we are having dinner at the table when I suddenly jump up and run to the window; I have just seen a large glowing heart float by in the night. From our balcony, we see people standing on the bridge releasing large, flame-powered balloons over the Seine.

 

Once in a while there's somebody actually in the Seine; most often it would be police trainees, though this appears to be a casual snorkeler.

 

 

We hear the clippety-clop that alerts us that the Guarde Rebuplicaine is riding by (note the nun on cell phone) on the bridge,

 

 

but have less warning when we occasionally see the Vietnamese-style Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang contraption in the Marais.

 

 

Returning home from school, the kids often stop to play with the gigantic bubbles. The bubble guy has taken to doing his new statue bit when the kiddies aren't around, however, because it makes him more money. The down side is that he claims the police are more vigilant about chasing away busking statues -- his theory being that the costumes and masks are viewed as potential terrorist threats.  

  

Nevertheless, there are statues busking around the city.

 

And on both ends of the peace-and-love spectrum, we regularly see both soldiers with machine guns patrolling, and masseuses making money by tips alone:

 

 

 

Our favorite performer is Fred, a.ka. Mr. F, who lets the girls dance before his shows to draw in the audience. He has negotiated a deal with them: When people give money at the end of the show, he gets 100%; they get 0%. But when they are 18, he will give them 3%, and once they hit 21, he will give them 5% of the takings. The girls think this is very generous, indeed. Mostly, they are just happy to be an occasional part of his show. We adore Mr. F and like to stand around with him snidely critiquing the lesser magicians and performers.

 

  

 

Yup, it's just a typical day for us on Ile St. Louis. So instead of "You Don't See THAT Every Day," perhaps I could have more accurately titled this posting "YOU don't see that every day."