Monday 12/09/2011, Central Library NNMN, Paris

Paris,
12/09/2011

Up not so early and put away the aired, washed clothes. As in all "institutions" the clothes dryers never actually dry the clothes. With a line of people waiting behind you, when the dryer goes "ding" you have got to be out of there, but the clothes are never fully dry! You end up draping shirts and underwear over all available bits of furniture and leaving the windows open. A bit chilly last night so I did not sleep all that well!

I did try out the "Spanish" restaurant for breakfast and it was good BUT! I got charged 4.2 euro (maximum charge) for a meal that should cost 2.8 euro (student charge)! Grumpy as!!

I realised I did not have video footage of the Cite' Universitaire so I shot some thirty second grabs and transferred them onto the computer. I can edit them together back in Cairns/Townsville for a montage of my Paris stay. I will need to get some shots of the Central Library as well, while I am here. I also took care of recharging my Orange Mobicarde. I bought a 15 euro voucher from the La Poste (Post office) and typed the serial number into the phone at the appropriate prompt on their telephone recharge number. All in French but pretty logical. Orange have been sending me very strange SMS/emails (re my Internet usage or the need to recharge). I ignored the Internet side and simply recharged for the next month, which should see me well and truly out of the country. If they are really unhappy with my Internet usage they will simply cut-off my phone!

Off to the Central library for the afternoon. I had received the message that there was only one archival Lesueur manuscript/box to go. I got through that box in about an hour, given it dealt with american frogs, toads, salamanders and lizards. I did order a photocopy of a crocodile (?saltwater croc) but I am pretty sure that came from Florida or the Bahamas.  A note about the photocopies; I am not allowed to photograph documents or images but I can order colour photocopies of these that are done by the staff. A color photocopy costs .6 of a euro so I have been building up a bill.

I put an order in for Lesueurs "tropical fish" manuscripts for tomorrow. I want to go back over the painted images to compare them against the drawings from Le Havre (separated out for the Terra Australis voyage). I have already located a couple of paintings in various manuscripts that must have come from the Terra Autrales voyage, so it is as I had come to believe; Lesueur had reorganised his work into chapters for his taxanomic text, effectively mixing up the new and older paintings. I have "seen" Lesueur's Australian paintings but have not been able to distinguish them. I will take Bonnemains Le Havre catalogue tomorrow, and my own photographs and notes to see which ones match paintings in Lesueur's archive.