oo iiiieeettttttt'ssss so nice pariiiieeeeeeee
Written on March 13, for much eariler... oh I'm trop trop behind...
OOooooo I’ve been bad, it’s been like 5 days since I last wrote and that’s means you forget details about things that happened like where I was and what was I doing but I’ll try and be remember…. (imagine one of those going back in time bubbles from quality shows like ‘saved by the bell’ and ‘married with children’)…
Wednesday the 8th, we got up and with the help of Halim got the luggage down the stairs – why do none of these apartments have lifts? Surely that is just not normal, or maybe I am particularly lazy. Either way, with Halim’s “I know where that street is” confidence we headed for the Abriocotel near Jaurés metro stop. Yes… I think in the end we only had to ask about 5 people how to get there so that wasn’t too bad, but Halim almost missed his train to the North of France (where his family is), so I left Halim again at Gare du Nord where he assured me if I visited again in 5 years time he would be a successful hermit with chronic back problems from being hunched over his computer… Sorbonne Academics obviously not famous for their positive outlook on life.
I’d planned to head to the Louvre that day, but as it was already late morning and I wanted at least a whole day to explore that treasure I went instead to Notre Dame. Which was as majestic and as grand as ever, and quieted my traveling soul. I even went back later to attend mass, even though it was all in French and I couldn’t understand or respond it was a nice feeling to be worshipping on the site where other people had sent their prayers for the last 1700 years.
and now for something completely different...
Ah Gypsies, the Europeans are so incredibly prejudiced against them, and as I was accosted as I left the Cathedral I tried to remind myself of Bromwell High’s approach to Gypsies culture on (in)tolerance day (I don’t mind if only one person reading this gets my reference but it was too funny, I think I may have laughed out loud as I walked away.
I went to the left bank where I found a Greek place selling yurus (spelling anyone?) (Kaitlyn - I’m thinking of you with all these meats on sticks, at every opportunity meat on stick will be had!!!)… it was cool with Greek taverna style décor and loud Greek music – hopefully a precursor of what the summer will bring. And while I was eating the gypsies came and hassled the guy working there for free food, and he literally shooed them away, with words I would translate as “bah, lousy thieving gypsies bah”. So entertaining was this place I settled in to write some postcards (yet to be posted).
Now this is where the act that I’m writing this almost a week later becomes annoying, I can’t remember what I did for the rest of the afternoon. I may have had a nap, so yes, let’s say I did that and then went to find an internet café. Where I got totally lost you will not believe how close this place was to the hotel, but one wrong turn on my way outta there and, wow, I was two metro stops away, freezing and wondering how the hell I got there. Anyway I found a supermarket bought a bottle of water and 2 apples and turned to opposite direction to walk back where I cam from, this way I found the closest metro, and thus my hotel again, and only about 2 hours after I left the internet café. Great!
So muchly freezing and quite starving (I think it was about 9.30 pm) I headed out again for some food, this time only straying as far as a bout 50 metres down the road for some yakitori at the Japanese restaurant nearby (yay for meats on sticks again!!). It was delicious food and warming, and despite the fact that I left the restaurant smelling like a tobacconist (see they ask me if I want smoking or non-smoking, and I say oui, pas fumer, and then because everyone else in the restaurant is a chimney it’s impossible to avoid le smoke haze, and therefore lung cancer and stink) but it was a very satisfying meal.
Right now, I am thinking rather smugly to myself that I managed to write more than 700 words about absolutely nothing, hooray.
So what next? Ah the 9th… here I was thinking if it’s sunny today I’ll go to Versailles, and if it’s cloudy/raining I’ll go to the Louvre. Alas there was sun and possible storm clouds so I took my chances with Versailles. Not the best plan I ever had, but hey, it was no where near as bad as the decision to wear my high-heel shoes. Ah, the cobblestones and gravel leading up to the castle never looked so daunting...
OOooooo I’ve been bad, it’s been like 5 days since I last wrote and that’s means you forget details about things that happened like where I was and what was I doing but I’ll try and be remember…. (imagine one of those going back in time bubbles from quality shows like ‘saved by the bell’ and ‘married with children’)…
Wednesday the 8th, we got up and with the help of Halim got the luggage down the stairs – why do none of these apartments have lifts? Surely that is just not normal, or maybe I am particularly lazy. Either way, with Halim’s “I know where that street is” confidence we headed for the Abriocotel near Jaurés metro stop. Yes… I think in the end we only had to ask about 5 people how to get there so that wasn’t too bad, but Halim almost missed his train to the North of France (where his family is), so I left Halim again at Gare du Nord where he assured me if I visited again in 5 years time he would be a successful hermit with chronic back problems from being hunched over his computer… Sorbonne Academics obviously not famous for their positive outlook on life.
I’d planned to head to the Louvre that day, but as it was already late morning and I wanted at least a whole day to explore that treasure I went instead to Notre Dame. Which was as majestic and as grand as ever, and quieted my traveling soul. I even went back later to attend mass, even though it was all in French and I couldn’t understand or respond it was a nice feeling to be worshipping on the site where other people had sent their prayers for the last 1700 years.
and now for something completely different...
Ah Gypsies, the Europeans are so incredibly prejudiced against them, and as I was accosted as I left the Cathedral I tried to remind myself of Bromwell High’s approach to Gypsies culture on (in)tolerance day (I don’t mind if only one person reading this gets my reference but it was too funny, I think I may have laughed out loud as I walked away.
I went to the left bank where I found a Greek place selling yurus (spelling anyone?) (Kaitlyn - I’m thinking of you with all these meats on sticks, at every opportunity meat on stick will be had!!!)… it was cool with Greek taverna style décor and loud Greek music – hopefully a precursor of what the summer will bring. And while I was eating the gypsies came and hassled the guy working there for free food, and he literally shooed them away, with words I would translate as “bah, lousy thieving gypsies bah”. So entertaining was this place I settled in to write some postcards (yet to be posted).
Now this is where the act that I’m writing this almost a week later becomes annoying, I can’t remember what I did for the rest of the afternoon. I may have had a nap, so yes, let’s say I did that and then went to find an internet café. Where I got totally lost you will not believe how close this place was to the hotel, but one wrong turn on my way outta there and, wow, I was two metro stops away, freezing and wondering how the hell I got there. Anyway I found a supermarket bought a bottle of water and 2 apples and turned to opposite direction to walk back where I cam from, this way I found the closest metro, and thus my hotel again, and only about 2 hours after I left the internet café. Great!
So muchly freezing and quite starving (I think it was about 9.30 pm) I headed out again for some food, this time only straying as far as a bout 50 metres down the road for some yakitori at the Japanese restaurant nearby (yay for meats on sticks again!!). It was delicious food and warming, and despite the fact that I left the restaurant smelling like a tobacconist (see they ask me if I want smoking or non-smoking, and I say oui, pas fumer, and then because everyone else in the restaurant is a chimney it’s impossible to avoid le smoke haze, and therefore lung cancer and stink) but it was a very satisfying meal.
Right now, I am thinking rather smugly to myself that I managed to write more than 700 words about absolutely nothing, hooray.
So what next? Ah the 9th… here I was thinking if it’s sunny today I’ll go to Versailles, and if it’s cloudy/raining I’ll go to the Louvre. Alas there was sun and possible storm clouds so I took my chances with Versailles. Not the best plan I ever had, but hey, it was no where near as bad as the decision to wear my high-heel shoes. Ah, the cobblestones and gravel leading up to the castle never looked so daunting...
posted by Ingrid @ 11:27 AM
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