Lev Lafayette's journal

After leaving the hotel in Delft, ventured slightly north to a visit to International Criminal Court, which included a small but interesting visitor's centre. Its work, of course, is limited to prosecuting those who are caught, rather than those that are victorious and powerful. Nevertheless, I did send some postcards to George W. Bush, Tony Blair, and John Howard with "Wish you were here. We have not forgotten you.". They have committed an international crime of aggression and they should never be forgotten in their responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. It is possibly one of the extremely few instances where the death penalty might even be justified, as it not possible for restorative justice to be carried out.

After The Hague it was a short trip to Ghent, where we stayed across the road from the Campo Santo cemetery. The Flemish hotel owner was surprised with our rather modest abilities with local European languages for people from Australia, but was satisfied with the answer, "We love Europe". Afterwards made our way to have dinner with Qassem, a Syrian refugee who has now settled in Belgium. It was one of those curious friendships where we had known each other online for several years before meeting him in person, and I made several representations to Australian politicians to get him out of some dreadful situations, but Belgium proved to be a lot more accommodating. Unfortunately the person who made the booking for us, Kenneth Hoste of EasyBuild fame could not attend for medical reasons.

From Ghent we took the train to Brussels to stop over for lunch, before boarding the Flix bus to go to Paris. The Flix bus service never seems to be on time (although N=2), but in this case it was a lot cheaper than the train, which is my preferred mode of transport. In Paris, we found ourselves in the 12th arrondissement in a hotel room which was tiny and pretty expensive even by Parisian standards. That evening finished a report for my Masters in Higher Education at a local laundromat (I've submitted essays from stranger places), and the following day went on a very extensive journey. We started at the Bois de Vincennes and managed to complete about ten percent of this magnificent city parkland and forest. Afterward, took a long promenade to the Place de la Nation and then down the Boulevard Diderot to the Left Bank, where I someone managed to limit my purchases to a single book (albeit published in 1791). This was followed with a late lunch with Norman Spinrad, in the Basque restaurant Beaurepaire downstairs from his apartment. We spent about three hours discussing his science fiction, contemporary fiction, and historical fantasy books, as well as international politics, and I'll be interviewing him for the Isocracy Network in the coming month or so.

Afterward headed back towards the hotel, but made a detour the somewhat hidden Picpus Cemetary, which is on the same street as our hotel. The cemetery is famous for two things; firstly being a location of mass graves of individuals who were executed during the Reign of Terror. Secondly, being the gravesite of my namesake, the Marquis de La Fayette, author of La Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen, "le fils de la Revolution Américaine", & etc. "Lafayette, Je suis ici". Shortly afterward Gianna V., caught up with us and took on a visit to a local comic store where, by good fortune, a first-time author Marine Spaak, was doing signings ("dedicace") for her graphic novel "Sex, Sexisme, and Sun". The young woman had spent a year in Bendigo, of all places, so we could converse in a combination of French and English. Afterwards Gianna, caseopaya went down the bar and restaurant district of the 11th arrondissement and had dinner at the Italian restaurant, Popine, which is mentioned for its excellent quality for simple fare.