B

ertrand Lavilla's Visit

 

July 31 - August 1, 1999











French flag




Bertrand Lavilla
Bertrand Lavilla

Ten days ago we had a surprise phone call from Betrand, who is the son of Bernadette Lavilla, a cousin of Jan's. The Lavillas and Jan's other cousins, Christine and Anne, live in or near Montpellier, in the south of France. Bertrand was coming to Paris the next day. Did we have time to see him and put him up? Of course. So we spent the weekend with him. We made our first visit to the Cafe Aux deux Magots, where Jean Paul Sartre and others used to hang out. Around the corner is the Hôtel Des Deux Continents, which is where we stayed together for the first time in Paris; we just had to walk by and see it again.





Alone Again

Bertrand left early Monday and we saw him to the station. After coming home for a nap we went out and visited the law courts, where we saw various misdemeanor cases. It was striking how most of them involved immigrants (North African, African, and Balkan). One case involved a young Moroccan the police tried to stop for speeding. He explained that he was afraid because he didn't have a driver's license or insurance and was high. He tried to escape, the police trapped his car between two of theirs, and broke the car window to get him out. He was accused, among other things, of attacking the police. In his defense, he said, "What? I'm not crazy. They beat me over the head with their nightsticks and kicked me even though both my hands and feet were in handcuffs and I was flat on the ground. I had wounds all over. Have you read the report?"  Shades of Rodney King, except there was no video tape.

No judgement was given in any of the cases which were all heard before a panel of three judges. The procedure was to ask each person if he wanted to have his case heard immediately or be delayed to get counsel. All that we heard wanted their cases processed immediately. First the presiding judge asked questions of the accused. Then the prosecutor summarized why the accused deserved a heavy penalty. Then the public defender explained that there were extenuating circumstances and that the case wasn't all that clear anyway. Finally the judge asked the accused if he wanted to add anything. The end came with the judge saying the panel would consider the case. Typically all this took 15-20 minutes.

After the court case we went to the Sainte Chappelle: The walls of this royal chapel, built by Louis IX also known as Saint Louis, are made up almost entierely of stained glass windows, which were done by the same artisans who did the famous windows in Chartres cathedral. When we went it had been raining so the line was extremely short. The down side was the chapel was somber, rather than brilliant, due to the rain clouds.



 

E-day minus 1

Today we'll spend mostly at home, doing laundry, our finances, writing web pages, etc, accompanied by constant TV reporting on tomorrow's total eclipse. Tomorrow we'll be out for a very long day, traveling to see the eclipse. Because it is not quite total at Paris we'll go 30-40 miles north to have the maximum duration of totality. Here's hoping there are no traffic jams and that we don't do something to our eyes by inadvertently looking at the sun. We pick up our reserved National-Citer rental car at 8:00 a.m.

Le Monde reports that 20,000 people are expected in the village of Noyons. That was our original target. We'll have to stay in the countryside. We're taking a picnic to assure that we have something to eat. Will this be the French Woodstock?




February 26, 2003