3 Comments
Aug 11Liked by Hannah Meltzer

Great post, Hannah. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching the variety of the Olympics over the last two weeks and I'm sad that they are now all over. What a joy for you to be there in the city when it's all happening, plus hopefully it has brought some collective joy to the city itself that will be maintained moving forward.

I laughed at your "For the guests...yes!" hehe. I think my wife is very similar in her approach to tidying ;)

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Just marvelous writing; so thought provoking.

“For the guests…YES! For the guests…YES!”

LOL!! My wife and I know that song well!! Wait until you decide to have children!! (that should make your decision…NOT!)

“The police are friendly and helpful, even funny! And Parisians themselves (those that didn’t leave) are unashamedly and unreservedly enthusiastic and positive.”

The Olympics are a holiday on steroids and holidays change attitudes…like at Christmastime…

“Léon Marchand, Eiffel, quotes from Thomas Jolly”

Just a wonderful sketch!

“Even the route of the marathon retraces the path of 6000 women who stormed Versailles palace in 1789 at the start of the Revolution”

That was a marvelous idea! I’m 71 and if I was planning an Olympic festival based on my personal history, it would retrace the agony and the ecstasy of my life!

“Paris was the Silicon Valley of the late 19th and early 20th century…Huge crowds gather to watch the balloon rise every night…”

The first 'aerostatic' flight in history was an experiment carried out by the Montgolfier brothers at Versailles in 1783, which was seen by Marie Antoinette…not headless, as at the Olympic opening ceremonies

“Thirty-second book club”

On your recommendation I bought The Collected Works of Lydia Davis…I love her writing style…she may end up in my top five of all time…her “French Lesson” is an amazing bit of writing: https://youtu.be/1k_RfbZWB-A?si=NQ3U_eDWDptyee_Q

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Aug 16Liked by Hannah Meltzer

Really enjoyed this! I could definitely relate to what you said about the change in energy in Paris, and your points about the updating of the Paris image were very insightful! Lovely drawings too!

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