It's Jewish new year. In the spirit of the holiday, my Ad Land soul-sistar -- who happens to be Jewish -- hit me up from Australia and asked me to pray for her.
I am not a dedicated praying person, so I jokingly offered to set wish-infused paper boats afloat on the Seine. It turns out she dug this idea -- which meant I was committed.
I bought good tough paper this week, 'specially for the cause, and studied this video on how to make boats that actually float. Then I wrote out my wishes for her, and carefully -- carefully! -- began to fold.
When the boat, chock-full of hopes and dreams, was ready, it hit me: The Seine may not be prime. I don't want to send wishes out on the same river the Mob uses to dispose of malcontents. (I also don't want to mistakenly touch the water and grow a finger out of my finger.)
Where to go, where to go? The Jardin du Luxembourg -- whose miniature sea* has borne vessels of all crests for well over a century -- was the logical choice. I also needed a cameraman, so I called a fellow American expat, who turned me down but asked me to send a wishboat for her too. (I made one toute de suite.) Then I called my enduring amigo Klaus, who happens to live nearby and was totally happy to play gofer.
Here is the footage.
The inside of a wishboat:
The Jardin du Luxembourg in late afternoon:
Prepping dreams for liftoff:
Off they goooo!
The boats up-close, floating marvelously. I like this shot because you can see the names of their recipients:
One poke for luck:
...and into the sunset with ye:
Satisfied by a day's work (that is, playing documentarian and keeping an eye out for the cops), Klaus sat back and consumed a sandwich.
Then we went to see the love of his life, Sainte Geneviève.
She is the patron saint of Paris, so I stood before Her Awesomeness™ and paid tribute. It was fitting, given that, at least for me, Paris is where good wishes go to be born.
PS. @lenkendall just reminded me that today is Pirate Day. Score for timely boat-building!
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*Okay, it's a fountain.
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