Extended Stay In Paris

Hello everyone! I've been getting some great e-mails from all of you out there reading this blog... well, there haven't been any e-mails, but at least none of them were bad! I changed the settings so that if you want to comment on here you can. 

I finally got in touch with the lady I am to stay with in La Rochelle tonight. Turns out I was dialing number incorrectly (I feel really bad for the lady who kept getting my voicemails). She is going to pick me up at the train station tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully I'll make it to the train station tomorrow morning without incident. I must say that I am quite ready to be settled. I decided to stay an extra night at my hotel when I couldn't talk to her yesterday, so I got to change rooms for my trouble. On the plus side, there's a bunk bed in here along with a double bed, so maybe I can finally live the dream of getting to sleep on the top bunk. 

What an exhausting two days it has been. I am already tired of the commute into Paris, but it does give me an opportunity to eavesdrop on French speakers. Of course sometimes they talk to me directly, which makes me more nervous than Sylvester Stallone at a spelling bee. Most of the French people I have met are very friendly and personable. Some have even helped me, like a nice couple who sat next to me yesterday at lunch. They taught me the French word for asking for the check. Seems like the sort of thing I should know after so many years studying French, but I wasted all my time learning vocabulary for impractical things, like poetry and literature.  They sat next to me while I tried escargot for the first. The texture is surprisingly similar to sautéed portobello mushrooms, but it wasn't bad at all. 

Yesterday I went to Notre Dame (be sure to pronounce it in the bastardized American way). It was a nice change from the baroque cathedrals I saw this summer in Rome, but I didn't feel up to climbing the tower again (I've done it once before). After I left the cathedral I wandered over to the Panthéon. It was pretty cool seeing where all of my favorite Frenchmen are buried. I thought it was kind of funny that Rousseau and Voltaire are entombed right across from one another, since they were practically nemeses in life. Afterwards I took a brief walk to the Sorbonne (the major French university in Paris). It was neat, but the real treat was the philosophy bookstore that was nearby. They had an entire shelf dedicated to Quine (probably you don't care or know who I am talking about... it's never too late to crack open a book). 

I wandered around Paris a bit more before I got bored and wound up in the Jardin de Tuileries. I got some friendly Americans to snap of photo of me (see above). Parts of the garden are a bit like a carnival. I found myself getting in touch with a more childlike Logan... well, maybe he's never very far away. I went up in the giant Ferris wheel and got to see the city. The Eiffel Tower is back to its regular yellow lights, now that 2008 is over. A family with two little girls rode in my car on the way around. They started singing "Champs Elysees" in a perfectly adorable fashion. I rode back to my hotel and went to sleep, after only getting lost just a little.

Today, Jet-lag really caught up with me. I was so exhausted on the train back from Paris, I could barely keep my eyes open. I managed to make it back to my hotel without getting lost (my first time this trip). It's a shame I'll be leaving Villepinte tonight, I think I'm finally getting to know my way around. I spent all day today at the musée d'orsay. They have some really bitchin' impressionist paintings, as well as a new exhibit on Picasso's interpretation of Manet's dejeuner sur l'herbs (google it!) As well as a temporary exhibit on pastels. I know... I'm kind of a museum nerd, so much so that I wandered around in the museum for over four hours, but to be fair I spent part of that time eating in the restaurant upstairs.  There were just too many pretty things to look at. I decided to skip the Louvre on account of the fact that I've been several times and really love the musée d'orsay. Besides, La Rochelle is only about two and a half hours away by train, so I might come back to it eventually. 

Anyway, I've got to get packing for my trip to La Rochelle tomorrow. I hope you enjoy reading these posts more than I enjoy writing them. Frankly I find this whole thing to be a bit narcissistic... even for me. Oh well, at least you can comment now!

New Year's Eve in Paris

So I made it safely here to France, with only a minor delay getting out of Dallas which, fortunately, did not affect my connection. I made it to my hotel, which was only a scant ten kilometers away from Charles de Gaulle airport, in a suburb of Paris. Unfortunately I discovered that I have to take a bus to an RER station, then take that into Paris before I can get to where everything is. After I took a short nap, I headed into Paris. It takes about an hour, and the buses are very confusing... but more on that later. 

Paris is beautiful this time of year, although very cold. When I left Oklahoma it was in the seventies (Fahrenheit) whereas here it has been as cold as -10 (Celsius). I spent most of my time walking along the Champs Elysees. Trees lit up in blue christmas lights twinkled like snowfall, complete with faux christmas light icicles, which dripped at periodically. For a moment I stood at the median of a crosswalk, looking straight down the street. It was like something out of a hollywood movie, but I digress. 

I decided, undoubtedly to the disappointment of some of my more festive friends, to forego purchasing a bottle of champagne. I take very little pleasure in drinking alone, and I decided with my horrible jet-lag that it would just make me drowsy. In addition I saw police officers (and they were certainly out in force for the holiday) harassing some tourists for drinking along the street (which I learned is forbidden in that particular part of town). I did purchase a crepe for myself and simply enjoyed the scene around me. Heavily fortified against the cold, I walked under the Arc de Triomphe, saw the giant Ferris wheel, and walked across the Seine.

I decided, as midnight approached, that I should head towards the Eiffel Tower. It was all lit up in blue in recognition of the European Union. Every hour it shimmers for about five minutes in a brilliant display. The tower glittered like diamonds in the distance, and I followed it as though it were the star of david, all the way to its base. The crowds were bad everywhere, but especially at the bottom of the tower. I walked directly underneath it, but then backed up as the clock struck 23:00, so that I could see it shine. It was dazzling (as you can see in the photo I snapped up above). 

After watching it shine, I decided to try to beat the crowds and head back to my hotel early. I was exhausted after wandering around Paris for almost seven hours, as well as the journey there. At midnight I was sitting on a train, heading back to my hotel. Once I arrived at the RER station, I stepped outside into the cold night air to wait for a bus. Here is where things went horribly wrong. 

As those of you who know me well can attest, I am awful when it comes to directions. This applies equally to foreign cities (if not more so). Ordinarily I enjoy being lost in Paris, as I know their metro system so well as to be able to navigate easily throughout the city. In Paris, no matter how lost one might be, one is never more than five minutes away from a metro stop. The bus system, however, is a whole other animal. 

The bus that I was trying to take back to my hotel had stopped running at 0:30. Fortunately Paris has several night buses which run much later. I engaged in conversation with some fellows while I was waiting at the bus station, for the bus that had stopped running. They seemed friendly, in spite of my broken French, until I mentioned to them that I was an American. All of them expressed there hatred of George Bush, to which I heartily agreed. When I tried to convince them that I detest Bush as much as anyone (I think the guy should be tried for war crimes), I was reluctant to agree that he was worse than Hitler, as one of the men claimed. Upon my reluctance he became quite belligerent, and I felt a bit threatened. Panic washed over me like a bucket of icy water as I attempted to calmly excuse myself to check the bus schedules. 

After this, I called my girlfriend, Rebecca, back in the states to ask for her assistance (she is a prodigy when it comes to navigating search engines), but I accidentally hopped on the wrong bus. I hopped off at the next stop, but I was unable to find assistance from anyone I asked. I was equally unable to communicate where I was to my Rebecca, who finally managed to find the bus schedules for Paris' night buses. The other people waiting at the stop were heading to the east train station. I figured I would join them, hopping on the next bus that passed. So I rode in silence, looking out the bus window as Paris flew by. Rebecca was able to navigate me from the East Train station back to the bus stop across the street from my hotel. Thank goodness the French government made all buses and metro trains free for New Year's eve! 

In the end I wound up taking a free bus tour all over Paris. I reassured myself that this was all part of the adventure of being in a foreign country, but by the time I returned to my hotel it was five in the morning. I had spent over thirteen hours wandering the streets, riding the metro, and gallivanting in buses. Needless to say I was completely exhausted, and, after a quick internet phone call thanking Rebecca for her invaluable role in my continued survival, I crashed in a heap upon my bed. 

I awoke the next day in the late afternoon. Cursing myself for having squandered the day sleeping, I decided to take a break from Paris to see the sights around Villepinte, the suburb where my hotel is. I have to say it was pretty uninteresting. I stopped briefly to sate my hunger and find some respite from the cold at a local Turkish restaurant. After wandering around for a few more hours, I decided to return to my hotel. I did so without difficulty, having paid extra careful attention to where I was going. 

Tomorrow I hope to start earlier, venturing into Paris to see the sights. I still have not been able to contact the lady I'll be staying with at La Rochelle, but hopefully I will be able to tomorrow.