But yesterday I took a break from my everyday grind to go with my host parents to Paris. Alain had an appeal case at the Palais de Justice. (To explain, he was involved with an organization that went to Chad a few years ago to save orphans. They were arrested in Chad, transferred to France and put in prison for 3 months here before being released. Even though they were freed, they were imprisoned without a fair trial and now he is appealing to have it be recognized by the French justice system that they were always innocent. That's what I've gathered, anyway...) I knew that despite the fact they were leaving before 6am and I was already exhausted, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And it really was! I felt like Harry Potter in the Penseive, looking in on something unreal. We were in one of the courtrooms (a Cours d'Appel), a mix of old and new interior architecture. Adding to the fictional atmosphere, all of the lawyers and judges wear "la robe," a special black robe with a white frill thing.
After witnessing the French justice system in action, we walked out into snow--lots of snow! We had lunch with a couple who also attended the appeal case (the husband served as a witness), and took the Metro to the Moulin Rouge to drop by the office of a friend of Christine's. He works for a Parisian television station, so it was really cool to see the studio and have a shot of coffee before heading back to the parking garage. With the snow, we wanted to beat rush hour, and we left a little bit after 3pm. By 6:30, we had only gone a couple of km, and traffic reports told us that the whole region was jammed. We stopped and had dinner while Christine & Alain called all their friends in Paris to see if someone could put us up for the night. We were lucky to find someone--another guy in the restaurant was going to sleep in his office because they were no more rooms left in hotels, and people on the roads had to be put up in gyms for the night because they were stuck in traffic! It was chaos, all because of a little snow and ice! Now I'm so glad to be home for the day, having cancelled my lesson (snow day!). Unfortunately, I'm nursing a sore throat. But it was worth it--quite an adventure! (I'd also like to mention that we grabbed the newspaper in the Parisian Metro this morning, and it had headlines about the record-breaking traffic jam as well as Alain Peligat's case--I was there!)
