If ever Paris needed a place to cocoon, it was the last week of June.
The week that the city turned into one giant sauna, when temperatures reached 106 degrees Fahrenheit.
The week that I got into a fight on a bus with a group of Parisians who didn't understand that windows, in fact, need to be kept closed in order for the air conditioning to work. (I lost).
The week that I took myself to the cinema — one of the few places offering any real reprieve — only to be told the air conditioning was broken because it "couldn't handle such unprecedented temperatures."
And then, walking around in a state of heat-induced delirium, I saw it. Or was it some sort of mirage?
The Pont Neuf, one of the city's most elegant bridges, perched above the Seine, had been transformed into a giant mountainous cave. Layers of fabric depicting rocky terrain were inflated over the bridge.
People were invited to walk through, part of an installation imagined by the French artist JR. Was this the respite I didn't know I needed?
Sadly, not even a cave could shield me from this heat. Rectangular fans deployed across its dark interior walls simply blew around hot air, evoking the feeling of a hammam steam room.
But it was magical — the cavern of Paris. And for a moment, I forgot about all the sweat dripping down my face.
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