33
know the city on foot. During the afternoons and on feast days I would take
the metro to a distant part of town and from there, street guide in hand, I
would return on foot, visiting the monuments and streets that I had previously chosen. I noted many things, most of them unremarkable but surprising to me. I visited museums, of course, and admired the buildings and
avenues like any other tourist; I blended in with the variety of people that
thronged the streets. I enjoyed watching and absorbing all that was happening around me, and enjoyed the cheap meals offered by small restaurants.
Until then I had never liked cheese, yet here I was ordering unknown items
from the menu that would invariably be cheese or something made of cheese.
As my francs were in limited supply and the walking had stimulated my
appetite, I had no choice but to eat what was put in front of me. Thus began
my unwilling initiation into the exquisite delights of cheese that it would
have been such a pity to have missed out on through sheer childishness. I
have Paris to thank for that too.
Fig. 4.2 A protest march for peace in Algeria and against OAS terrorism. (Credit:
André Cros, Municipal Archives of Toulouse Town Hall, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0)
4 We Are Stardust (1962–1968)
know the city on foot. During the afternoons and on feast days I would take
the metro to a distant part of town and from there, street guide in hand, I
would return on foot, visiting the monuments and streets that I had previously chosen. I noted many things, most of them unremarkable but surprising to me. I visited museums, of course, and admired the buildings and
avenues like any other tourist; I blended in with the variety of people that
thronged the streets. I enjoyed watching and absorbing all that was happening around me, and enjoyed the cheap meals offered by small restaurants.
Until then I had never liked cheese, yet here I was ordering unknown items
from the menu that would invariably be cheese or something made of cheese.
As my francs were in limited supply and the walking had stimulated my
appetite, I had no choice but to eat what was put in front of me. Thus began
my unwilling initiation into the exquisite delights of cheese that it would
have been such a pity to have missed out on through sheer childishness. I
have Paris to thank for that too.
Fig. 4.2 A protest march for peace in Algeria and against OAS terrorism. (Credit:
André Cros, Municipal Archives of Toulouse Town Hall, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0)
4 We Are Stardust (1962–1968)