Day 36 September 20, 2008
I've been a big fan of the children's book Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) ever since I read it two years ago. What? I didn't read as a kid. I didn't know how. Just kidding! I wasn't illiterate. I just read Ramona Quimby and identified possibly too much with her.
The author of Le Petit Prince is Antoine de St. Exupery. He was a pilot delivering air mail and also doing lots of heroic stuff during WWII. During a flight from Saigon to Paris, he and his co-pilot tried to break the time record of a flight that distance but crash landed in the Sahara desert. They were stranded for a few days. Perhaps he hallucinated the little prince from another world at this time. In any case, this event seems to be the inspiration for the beloved story.
I made a Petit Prince day out of visiting the Air and Space Museum in the suburb of Le Bourget. The museum is actually at the airport where Charles Lindbergh landed for his historic transatlantic solo flight. Geez, I'm full of facts right now. I'll cut it out.
So the museum itself is a long metro plus bus ride away from Paris. I made it though and it was worth the free admission. Just kidding. I love air and space museums anyway, but this one has an entire hall devoted to St. Exupery. One section is all Petit Prince stuff, including a video showing different adaptions of the story on screen and stage.
Remind me to never see this story as a musical. I want to keep liking it.
I also ventured to the area where St. Exupery had an apartment in Paris. I've been here for 5 weeks now and everything I've wanted to find, I've found....until today. I couldn't find his building, but I know I was close because I kept seeing sheep everywhere. Oh wait, they were just tourists getting on tour buses after visiting the Eiffel Tower.