Paris Blog #1

I got here this last weekend after an awful flight, there was this A-Hole sitting next to me who wanted to party the whole flight, and although it was a non-stop I never got to sleep because of his shenanigans and then my bitching to him and the flight attendants about it. This only made him more ass-holish but of course towards the end he barfed all over three others sitting close by which was my vindication, he missed me… good times…

I arrived and was happy to be on land and in Paris, the city that I love. I had no problems getting to my friend's office to pick up the keys to the apartment. The area is Montparnasse, the 14eme, which is a very pretty area aside the one big ugly skyscraper that goes unnoticed up close. My place is pretty big, not a lot of old world charm but very comfortable and lots of room. Here is a shot down my street at the Tour Montparnasse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montparnasse

Saturday, je faire du shopping. I needed food and things to drink so I did some shopping. I walked a bit and then took a long hot bath followed by sleep, however, by 2:30am I was wide awake! I went back to bed and then at 7am was up again. Went to the flea market at Porte de Vanves, if you like flea markets this is the one the locals use, best stuff and the best prices. Here is a link: http://private-list.com/best-places-65.html

Then a burst of energy, I took the RER train to IKEA, on a Sunday! What the hell was I thinking… OY! Well, I did find the one place on earth that Parisians will actually line up for as opposed to the mad rush en mass. They line up like good little soldiers for the many, many purchases of Sweden's best. Afterwards I, with my grand sac du shopping, walked into the Tuileries Gardens to meet up with my good friend Stephan and his son, Verner. They sail motorized boats in the garden fountains on Sunday when the weather is nice, and it was. It is fun to tackle people for the chairs; they are a prized commodity at the fountains. After we walked, had a coffee and then I called it a night as I had school in the morning. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuileries

OK, so I got up early for class and got on the Metro for my school. The city has a bike program. You pay about $7-8 a week or $40 a year and you can pick up a bike at any metro stop and ride it for 30 minutes for free (after the first 30 minutes they charge you). The idea is to pick up bike and ride it to your destination, drop it off and there you are, less cars on the road. And the city has re-vamped the roads with tons of bike lanes. The bike stalls are everywhere and the unique bikes look good. However, the US is the only country not to have a "smart chip" in their credit cards… so everyone in the world can use these bikes except for people from the US, go figure….. So you cannot use it unless you have a smart card…. They say Amex might work, but US based Visa and MC do not.
So I took the train, damn I really wanted to use the bike! http://www.velib.paris.fr/

My school is nice. However, I tested out in a higher place than I should have been, so I was placed in a class that scared the crap out of me, I am used to being the smart one and in this case I was the village idiot. I asked and they placed me down one group and voila, the smart one! My professors are nice and I am the only US in my class of 9. 2 students are Japanese, 2 Germans, 1 Chinese, 1 Colombian, 1 Brit and 1 from Kazakhstan. Only 2 of us speak English and the Professor is not one of them…… Talk about immersion learning….

Ok after my first day I went to lunch at this place I love called the Café Ronsard. I got really drunk, hard day of classes! This little old lady who has been eating there for more than 40 years was there, she has lunch there almost every week day. If you remember my comments from 2005, this is the same lady I met then; she can put more steak and booze down then even I. She weights only about 100 pounds! On my way home I stopped at this used CD store and bought the following 3 CDs, Michael laughed and said every time I drink I buy wierd things when I am here:
Charles Trenet Greatest Hits http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Trenet
Jean Gabin Avec ma petite quele http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Gabin
White Lounge Sur La Terre CD #1 and #2 http://database.cd/e760bac0a/

OK so today after class I had to go buy a book on French Verbs so I went to the Virgin store under the Lourve, yes can you believe it, a mall under the Lourve.. Michael hates this; they even have a food court! However, this one was planned with the help of Alice Waters! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Waters
I took the obligatory photo from the Da Vinci code movie of the upside down pyramid…. Penis or vagina, I don't see it…. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/paris-louvre-inverted-pyramid.htm or maybe I don't want to!

OK, a bit of a walk, found myself at the Legion of Honor in Paris, yes our little museum in San Francisco was modeled after this one. Looks like theirs is in worse shape then ours, they need Elizabeth Cornu to come fix things! Maybe they have challenges making decisions here too! Bitter much, maybe…. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_honor

Two last things… I keep seeing the new Fiat 500, I took a picture of an older one, when I see one again I will snap a photo to show you, looks like the new beetle retro thing. I love it! Also I found this child's toy display with a plastic bust of a woman with huge nipples… jeez only in Paris…
All of these photos are in my Kodak Gallery, if you did not get it ask me and I will send it you again. They are listed by days and each picture has a caption when viewed in the slide show.