I don’t remember a Paris so oppressed by heat

We all suffer together

Parisians and tourists alike

And humble researchers

Maybe it’s me

I do feel my age

My feet are killing me

Ankles and blisters

And yet every day, I walk miles and miles

The maze of Marais now familiar

I choose routes

And observe changing light and activity

M. Fabrice Golec, at the d’Orsée Archives is friendly and helpful. The Catalogue sommaire illustré, a book they published in 1989 allowed me to make a list of potentially useful documents. Unfortunately, this morning there was a previously scheduled event in the graphics archives. Tomorrow, I will start reading letters, speeches and other records of Eiffel’s practice. The kinds of business letters I had hoped to find are not here. But, lets see what might be hidden behind the documents I do have access to.

As a consolation prize, I was given access to the Musée itself and spent most of the day in blessed air-conditioning. A very well organized exhibit fully exploiting the old railroad station. The big space was divided to provide expansive exhibit spaces without loosing the huge vaulted volume. There was an extraordinary sectional model of the Paris Opera (totally unexpected), showing all of the stage machinery and the spatial sequences. And the Pizarros and Corots – and I found a strong influence of Spanish painting in Manet – especially El Greco.

Thursday, 20 July

It's hard to get used to the French keyboard. Touch-typing is out of the question.
A successful morning in the archives - if I am lucky, I may be able to finish up there this afternoon - then it's the Archives National - a short walk from my apartment.

Some images: