Paris - Day 50

Date: October 7th, 2009
Distance: None
Country: France
Song of the Day: Sons & Daughters - The Decemberists

First morning in Paris, and I had a wonderful lazy morning. Had breakfast and talked a bit more with Alexandra. She was working 6:00 PM to 1:00 AM, so she had most of the day off.

We also went out to pick up a couple of things at the market. Paris has lots of cute little shops for a specific type of item. Like a butcher's shop or bakery. Parisians don't seem to have the huge fridges like in the US. They just pick up stuff for dinner on the way home. So living in the city would be kind of neat for getting to know the local shops. Getting fresh meat or vegatables or whenever when you needed it.

Then I went out to take a walk around the city. Taking a stroll along the Seine is well worth it. Seeing the book sellers with their little cabinets attached to the railing is cool. Plus the city is wonderful architecturally. Knowing the history, is is pretty amazing that it is still intact. There were a few different occasions where Paris was going to be bombed or blown up, but somehow escaped that fate. I guess the biggest destruction to the city came from its own planner, Baron Haussman. (Seems like Robert Moses to me...) So yeah, the city is beautiful.

I walked through the Jardin des Tuileries. Then down the Champs-Elysees.The first half is a bit like the capitol mall in Washington D.C., but with a giant thoroughfare through it. When the park ends the street is lined with really high end shops.

At the end of the Champs-Elysees is the Arc de Triomphe. It sits at the center of a giant roundabout with five or six lanes going around it. I had a hell of a time trying to figure out how to get over there. Then I realized there was a tunnel under the street. Much nicer than trying to play frogger with Parisian traffic. I guess you can go up into the Arc, but they wanted €32 for it. I was happy just to walk around the bottom and look up at it. So I can sign that one off my list.

I did go to the Sony store since I was in the neighborhood. I wanted to pick up the adapter that I had lost. They didn't have one, which I was afraid of. The were able to order it however. I guess it will be in on Friday. So I can start posting picures again. It did end up costing me €57! I wanted to roll up a newspaper and smack them while saying "No. Bad company. Bad." The guy helping me out was very nice, and it is not like it was his fault it had been designed for that stupid adapter. Plus it was my fault for loosing the damn thing. So I swallowed that bitter pill and paid them the money. Oh well, life is too short to spend too much time moaning about stuff like money.

I went back and met up with Alexandra again. She was getting ready for work but had enough time to help me out with a project. I wanted to get a zipper to help pick-pocked proof my pants. We ended up at a department store having what she called a usual Parisian customer service experience. The register upstairs was closed because the lady was going through the reciepts and could not be bothered to ring anyone up. The registers downstairs were open, but they wouldn't accept any of the stuff from upstairs. So I couldn't buy the zipper. What a way to run a store.

After that I wandered by the Bastile, and down the arches. This was a former elevated railroad bed made up of a number of brick archways. It is now a park on top and little gallery spaced underneath in the arches. That is where I got caught out in the thunderstorm. So the pouring rain was a bit annoying, but it was warm rain. So the wet just bothered me a bit. I consoled myself by watching the lightning flash over the city. (I didn't see it strike anywhere. It was just flashing up in the clouds.) I would have paid serious money to be on the Eiffel Tower for it though. Being soaking wet, watching the flashes and hearing the crash of thunder, what an experience.

I then went out to a cafe with Zaheer, Alexandra's boyfriend. He is a cool guy. We had a fun time. I ordered Boeuf Carpaccio, which is thinly sliced raw beef. I normally wouldn't have ordered raw meet, but I had a couple of reasons for doing so. First, I figured they probably wouldn't sell it if it was going to kill me. Second, I am on this trip to try new things, and this would be part of that. (Mark, this one was for you.) Finally, I want to have the toughest immune system, and what better way then to eat raw meat? So after all the explination, it was actually really tasty, and I don't seem to be any worse for the wear.

So first full day in Paris, quite pleasant.

-Dravis