Tour de Paris

Had to work this weekend but actually felt pretty good Monday...over lunch at work, opened the file and wrote. A good hundred words. Whee! Do that for a year and I'd finish the novel.

I jest a little. The Palais Garnier chapter is at 1,700 words and no huge problems yet. Well, aside from the outline planning on this being an epic 4,000 word sequence. 

For no particular reason, though, I started thinking about what the book does as a tour of Paris. What hotspots does it hit and does it do anything interesting in them?

So here goes the current sequences (I use the term "sequences" as being a common idea or thread or location that may span several scenes or even chapters, or be concluded in just one or even part of one.)

A cafe at the place du tertre, and Penny meets a fellow tourist on her first day in Paris.

Penny looks for clues around Sacre-Coeur, atop the butte of Montmartre.

A stroll down Rue de Abesses, travel tips and beginning French, one of the Hector Guimard metro stations.

Back to place du tertre to meet a caricature artist, first of the "bohemians" who run a steampunk cabaret in modern Montmartre.

Musee d' Orsay, art and gossip about the Impressionists, and discussion of the Paris Exposition of 1900.

A (brief) stroll down the Champs Elysees and visit to the Arc de Triomphe, with Marianne (in the Phrygian cap), pointing the way to the next clue.

Morning workout running up the Rue Rivoli and past the old vineyards of Montmartre.

A visit to Shakespeare and Company, and the bouquinistes along the Seine.

A parkour chase across the Ile de le cite, followed by Parisian street food and a brief discussion of the Jewish community of Paris.

The Steampunk cabaret, with various popular songs being done in French...and German. Plus a "dual time" visit to the bateau-lavoir in the company of a young Picasso.

The Pompidou Center, Tintin (Herge was Belgian, though), and a long discussion on Rodin.

Another chase, starting in Gallery Vivienne.

A tailing scene through the projected landscapes of a Van Gogh multimedia show.

A talk with a "love picker" on Pont des Arts, about the love locks of Paris.

Another tailing scene through Palais Garnier, with a whole lot of stuff about the Phantom of the Opera.

***

And that's where I am. Projected, a steampunk photoshoot at the Arts et Metiers metro station, a parkour workout at La Defense, a description of the foyer at the ballet, a meeting with cataphiles along the route of the old Petite Ceinture and a run-in with some punks, details of what happened to Picasso's friend and why his Blue Period, a steampunk garden party and mock duel at Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, a midnight climb of Notre-Dame des Paris, a daytime visit to Notre-Dame du Travail, and a dinner at the Jules Verne cafe atop the Eiffel Tower.

So there's a few more hundred-word days left there.