On Wednesday, one of my short-term wishes came true: I saw a puppet show on the metro. For real.
I should begin by telling you that last Saturday I was wandering around Paris aimlessly. Which may sound free and romantic, but honestly, it was just as it sounded: aimless. Anyway. I finally decided to go view a piece of the Berlin wall that has been given to Paris as a gift, so I got on the metro. As we (the people on the metro) were sitting there waiting to leave, another metro car headed in the other direction pulled up next to us and I noticed some curious activity through the windows. I stared for a minute or two and finally realized it was a puppet show…a real live puppet show! It’s not that I have a fascination with puppets, but I do have a fascination with: a) crazy people, b) random weirdness, c) tiny plastic animals. This puppet show satisfied at least two of the criteria and I was really sad to not be on that metro car. (You can imagine my sadness when, a few weeks ago, I was walking past the open door of a metro car on my way out of the station and realized I had missed a man who was giving some kind of dance show that involved a basket full of plastic baby dolls.)
Which brings us to Wednesday. I had spent the morning in a town just south of Paris called Montrouge and was returning to the city for my last class. The metro pulled into a station and a young man in his 20’s walked in and proceeded to hang up a tie-dyed curtain around the hand-poles. I couldn’t believe my eyes! Next came the Spanish music and two puppets appeared at the top of the curtain bobbing and singing along. It lasted about three minutes and then the young man walked around collecting coins for his efforts. People asking for money is such a common activity on the metro that not everyone is happy for these interruptions…but I was really happy to trade the centimes in my pocket for his three minutes of joyful distraction. When the days get long and monotonous, it’s random puppet shows and wishes unexpectedly granted that are most welcome.
(A young woman next to me took a short video and I asked her if she would email it to me, but as of yet, she hasn’t sent it. If it arrives, I’ll post it!)
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