Bienvenue à Paris!

Bienvenue à Paris!
Attention aux arnaques et aux pickpockets.
So, tiny as a mouse you make yourself
As with a purpose, you walk quicker!
Dodging dog poop on the way to Tour Eiffel.
(How about mentioning Maurice Koechlin,
Émile Nouguier and Stephen Sauvestre?)

At Place du Trocadero, you’re a graffiti reader
Amidst the calls of early morning hawkers
With China-made souvenir items on blankets,
Easily folded up when patrol cars appear.

They say in La Seine you can still swim!
It’s choking with boats up to Ile Saint-Louis,
Revealing sleepers under stone bridges.
On its banks, the Bouquinistes do business.

In massive crowds, you easily blend
At Musée du Louvre and Opéra Garnier.
In the Pantheon, you pay your respects to Victor
Thank him for his Jean Valjean and Quasimodo.

Arc de Triomphe stands tall on Champs-Elysées.
284 steps? No, thanks. On the Big Bus you stay.
The Assemblee Nationale has rainbow-colored steps.
Just as grand are Musée d’Orsay and Place de la Madeleine.

Second-hand smoke you breathe
As you hike, stopping at toilettes.
Tour Montparnasse, you climb.
Jardin du Luxembourg, a pretty sight.

You trek Av. De Suffren, Rue du Laos, Rue de Vougirard,
Rue de la Convention. Thankful for shops and restaurants.
Boulangeries et pâtisseries for breads and desserts,
Les Saveurs de Shanghai for your noodles.

There’s Biocoop Convention for your daily banana.
When missing USA, there’s KFC and McDonalds.
Lebanese, Vietnamese, Indian, Italian, Korean, Japanese,
You name it. It’s your Paris culinary experience.

On the 21st, Pope Francis leaves.
At Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris,
You queue with the faithful in the rain
And send him off with teary angels.
Bienvenue à Paris!
MLJ/24042025/SoakingWetInParis