March 15th Wednesday
I am up early 7am can't sleep stressed about move. I am in shower and cleaning apt at 8am. Landlady comes at 9am to check us out and I have to attempt to have showing in the 16th for permanent apt? No way. I call Federic and reschedule for 4:30pm. done. Landlady comes and we begin the moving process. I run to cab stand for first cab and come get first load plus Kiss. We get first load (Mr. Pain in my Ass) up the damn stairs and into new apt. Then walk to Metro to go back for second load. Run to cab stand get cab for load two. Success! We head to Notre Dame for sightseeing and then hop on tour bus for tour of Paris. We get to area near L'arc De Triomphe and hop off for 4:30 appt. We get there a bit early and pop into a cafe for a cafe. We meet Federic at exactly 4:30pm for the appt and up the stairs we go. Federic is not friendly but French and short with us. Up to the top floor no elevator! 115 steps, buns of steel. Apt is so cute, all in Pink and Green! It looks a bit like the maybelline great last mascara tube but I love mascara and this apt is adorable! I tell Federic that I'll take it! He says okay will get in touch with owner and I have to get accepted. Whatever, I have a cat and will keep it clean. All went well.
I have to get rental insurance and somehow get the money to the agency. That is too complicated and boring explain but it took some negiotiating but it got done and once again I have beaten the french system!
Friday, March 24, 2006
Dress rehersal for CDG,more protests, possible new apt
Monday March 13th
Katie and I are up early, she is off to work and I am off to pick up Kristina from the airport. Katie and I go to the st. Michel station and catch the RER and she jumps off at her stop and I get instructions on how to cheat the system with my Carte Orange. Katie helped me get this on Sunday after the fine incident. You get a card here with your picture on it and can pay 47 euros for a month and it is unlimited in zones 1 and 2. That will get you anywhere around Paris. CDG is in zone 5. How do we swing this? Katie tells me to get off at zone 3 exit and go back in and buy a round trip ticket from zone 3 and I save 4 euros. Okay. I do it with flying colors and am at CDG with a few minutes to spare. Except there are two stops at CDG stop 1 and stop 2. I pick the first one and think I can walk from there if it is not correct. Wrong! Stop 1 is for Air France and other foreign airlines (don't have them all memorized yet) and stop 2 is American, Contential, Air Canada etc. I have to take a bus to get to terminal 2. Merde again. Bus takes 20 minutes and it is cold. Terminal 2 has A-F. What is the letter for American. Of course, no signs. French like to make you guess it is more fun that way. I get off at terminal 2 B. Nope. I ask it is terminal 2A I have to take another bus! It is now 10:15 and Kristina's plane landed at 9:20am. I finally get to terminal 2A and her flight is late - YEAH! 9:55. She should be out in a jif. I wait an hour....no Kristina...another hour ... no Kristina...another hour no Kristina. What do I do? I go to American ticketing and they tell me everyone is off the plane and through customs. I make emergency call to parents no answer. It is 6am in Dallas oops! I decided to give up and go back home. Maybe we missed each other? Another hour long trip on the train and I am home again. I tell the restauranteurs next door my situation and give them my door code and cell phone in case she comes and I am not home. I call my parents again, they answer and say what else can you do? My dad suggests I call her cell phone. Why? She is in Paris it won't work. He says maybe she did not get on the flight. HMMMMM. I decide to sit at cafe directly across from my door and keep watch. After an hour I call Kristina's cell phone just in case. She answers!!! I say Where are you??? She says Illinois, why? I ask if she did not get on the plane and she said not until tonight, why? SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT! Blonde moment. I mis-read the itinerary. It is now 4pm and whole day is wasted at fucking CDG! Well, dress rehearsal for tomorrow. I won't miss Kristina tomorrow, right?
Tuesday March 14th
I can do this today! I am up again early and to the train station. I jump on the train to CDG and am on my way. I am approaching my trick stop to get off and we wizz by! SHIT! I got on an express train! F! I get off at next stop and know it is in wrong zone. I go through the exits and back in to buy my round trip. Okay that worked. Back on track to CDG stop 2. Get their and see Kristina YEAH! Success! We get on train and we get controlled. F$%^@! I know I will get another fine for my zone mess up. He asks for my ticket and I give him my round trip to zone 4. He looks at me and says this is an express train to Paris it does not stop in zone 4. So I give him my Carte orange and he says that only goes to zone 2. I try to tell him my story and he looks at me and just sighs and walks away. He said in his head "Stupid American!" Well, audience I agree. But I did not get fined this time. Kristina laughs and says Kendall I don't know how you do it. I say I don't either. We are back at the apt and must keep Kiss awake. I make her some coffee and we get caught up. She asks me how long we have this apartment and I say actually we have to be out tomorrow morning at 10am. She asks where are we staying I say don't know. I call hotel Katie recommended ...booked. I jump on Craig's list and I find an apt in Le Marais (4th arr) for 3 weeks. I call immediately and set up an appointment at 3pm. We hang a bit more and I tell Kiss we can go see Notre Dame and then look at the apt. It is next to current apt just across the Seine. Phone rings guy from apt in Le Marais he wants to know if we can view it now? okay. We jump on metro and meet him at apt. It is on french 2nd american 3rd. Open door and it is cute! Yeah! I tell him we'll take it. Great. We must pay in cash now. Okay? We walk to ATM to pull out 800 Euros. After 3 ATMs we have a place to stay in oh-la-la hood. Let's go to Eiffel tower. Kristina and I are hungry so we stop at Bistro B for some food and to say bonjour to Pascal and friends. They are not working today. Off to Eiffel tower for some serious sightseeing. We do the whole thing after 2 hours we have seen enough. My cell phone rings it is eccentric Laurie with a lead on a cute permanent apt. It is through an agency but he wants to show it today. No. She gives me his number and I call him from the bottom of the tower. We set up the appointment for tomorrow at 10am. We are tired so now we must go back to my place organize my luggage and take big to new pad for night to get first load done. I pack up all of my stuff call landlady to check us out at 9am so I can make appt at 10am. Wishful thinking. Anyway, after we get Big in cage with his food, kiss gets her bags plus litter box and we are lumbering down the dreaded stairs again. Big is very hard to carry not only heavy but he moves around and throws you off balance. We get down the stairs and are exhausted. We have to walk to the cab stand at the corner of St. michel and St. Germain. Once we get to our corner there are cops everywhere (we'll call them them "flick") french slang for cops. They are mildly interested in Kiss and I carrying cat so they watch with shields and machine guns. Normally this would scare me but so used to it now just want to hit on them, the flick are HOT! Now I don't know if you can picture this but there are like hundreds of flick like you'd think Saddam Hussein himself was going to parade down the street. We take a few breaks and make it to cab stand. As soon as we set down our stuff the flick yell something in french similiar to CHARGE! and they storm in front of us an close down all of the streets. MERDE, MERDE, MERDE! We look at each other and smile and Kiss says what do we do now? I say go home we can't get a cab now. I am now at point of tears so tired and frustrated and hungry. We stop at crepe stand and get ham and cheese crepes and two sprites. We head back home with all of our stuff. Back up the stairs with Monsieur Pain in My ASS! Lose some weight buddy and maybe I will move you to the next pad! We finally make it up the stairs again and get out the vodka to add to our trusty Sprites and dine like French protestors! Tomorrow is another day.
Katie and I are up early, she is off to work and I am off to pick up Kristina from the airport. Katie and I go to the st. Michel station and catch the RER and she jumps off at her stop and I get instructions on how to cheat the system with my Carte Orange. Katie helped me get this on Sunday after the fine incident. You get a card here with your picture on it and can pay 47 euros for a month and it is unlimited in zones 1 and 2. That will get you anywhere around Paris. CDG is in zone 5. How do we swing this? Katie tells me to get off at zone 3 exit and go back in and buy a round trip ticket from zone 3 and I save 4 euros. Okay. I do it with flying colors and am at CDG with a few minutes to spare. Except there are two stops at CDG stop 1 and stop 2. I pick the first one and think I can walk from there if it is not correct. Wrong! Stop 1 is for Air France and other foreign airlines (don't have them all memorized yet) and stop 2 is American, Contential, Air Canada etc. I have to take a bus to get to terminal 2. Merde again. Bus takes 20 minutes and it is cold. Terminal 2 has A-F. What is the letter for American. Of course, no signs. French like to make you guess it is more fun that way. I get off at terminal 2 B. Nope. I ask it is terminal 2A I have to take another bus! It is now 10:15 and Kristina's plane landed at 9:20am. I finally get to terminal 2A and her flight is late - YEAH! 9:55. She should be out in a jif. I wait an hour....no Kristina...another hour ... no Kristina...another hour no Kristina. What do I do? I go to American ticketing and they tell me everyone is off the plane and through customs. I make emergency call to parents no answer. It is 6am in Dallas oops! I decided to give up and go back home. Maybe we missed each other? Another hour long trip on the train and I am home again. I tell the restauranteurs next door my situation and give them my door code and cell phone in case she comes and I am not home. I call my parents again, they answer and say what else can you do? My dad suggests I call her cell phone. Why? She is in Paris it won't work. He says maybe she did not get on the flight. HMMMMM. I decide to sit at cafe directly across from my door and keep watch. After an hour I call Kristina's cell phone just in case. She answers!!! I say Where are you??? She says Illinois, why? I ask if she did not get on the plane and she said not until tonight, why? SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT! Blonde moment. I mis-read the itinerary. It is now 4pm and whole day is wasted at fucking CDG! Well, dress rehearsal for tomorrow. I won't miss Kristina tomorrow, right?
Tuesday March 14th
I can do this today! I am up again early and to the train station. I jump on the train to CDG and am on my way. I am approaching my trick stop to get off and we wizz by! SHIT! I got on an express train! F! I get off at next stop and know it is in wrong zone. I go through the exits and back in to buy my round trip. Okay that worked. Back on track to CDG stop 2. Get their and see Kristina YEAH! Success! We get on train and we get controlled. F$%^@! I know I will get another fine for my zone mess up. He asks for my ticket and I give him my round trip to zone 4. He looks at me and says this is an express train to Paris it does not stop in zone 4. So I give him my Carte orange and he says that only goes to zone 2. I try to tell him my story and he looks at me and just sighs and walks away. He said in his head "Stupid American!" Well, audience I agree. But I did not get fined this time. Kristina laughs and says Kendall I don't know how you do it. I say I don't either. We are back at the apt and must keep Kiss awake. I make her some coffee and we get caught up. She asks me how long we have this apartment and I say actually we have to be out tomorrow morning at 10am. She asks where are we staying I say don't know. I call hotel Katie recommended ...booked. I jump on Craig's list and I find an apt in Le Marais (4th arr) for 3 weeks. I call immediately and set up an appointment at 3pm. We hang a bit more and I tell Kiss we can go see Notre Dame and then look at the apt. It is next to current apt just across the Seine. Phone rings guy from apt in Le Marais he wants to know if we can view it now? okay. We jump on metro and meet him at apt. It is on french 2nd american 3rd. Open door and it is cute! Yeah! I tell him we'll take it. Great. We must pay in cash now. Okay? We walk to ATM to pull out 800 Euros. After 3 ATMs we have a place to stay in oh-la-la hood. Let's go to Eiffel tower. Kristina and I are hungry so we stop at Bistro B for some food and to say bonjour to Pascal and friends. They are not working today. Off to Eiffel tower for some serious sightseeing. We do the whole thing after 2 hours we have seen enough. My cell phone rings it is eccentric Laurie with a lead on a cute permanent apt. It is through an agency but he wants to show it today. No. She gives me his number and I call him from the bottom of the tower. We set up the appointment for tomorrow at 10am. We are tired so now we must go back to my place organize my luggage and take big to new pad for night to get first load done. I pack up all of my stuff call landlady to check us out at 9am so I can make appt at 10am. Wishful thinking. Anyway, after we get Big in cage with his food, kiss gets her bags plus litter box and we are lumbering down the dreaded stairs again. Big is very hard to carry not only heavy but he moves around and throws you off balance. We get down the stairs and are exhausted. We have to walk to the cab stand at the corner of St. michel and St. Germain. Once we get to our corner there are cops everywhere (we'll call them them "flick") french slang for cops. They are mildly interested in Kiss and I carrying cat so they watch with shields and machine guns. Normally this would scare me but so used to it now just want to hit on them, the flick are HOT! Now I don't know if you can picture this but there are like hundreds of flick like you'd think Saddam Hussein himself was going to parade down the street. We take a few breaks and make it to cab stand. As soon as we set down our stuff the flick yell something in french similiar to CHARGE! and they storm in front of us an close down all of the streets. MERDE, MERDE, MERDE! We look at each other and smile and Kiss says what do we do now? I say go home we can't get a cab now. I am now at point of tears so tired and frustrated and hungry. We stop at crepe stand and get ham and cheese crepes and two sprites. We head back home with all of our stuff. Back up the stairs with Monsieur Pain in My ASS! Lose some weight buddy and maybe I will move you to the next pad! We finally make it up the stairs again and get out the vodka to add to our trusty Sprites and dine like French protestors! Tomorrow is another day.
So good to be Slim!
Saturday March 11
Must go to cell phone store to get more minutes on the phone. Walk to the only Orange (french carrier) store I know on St. Germain and start to rehearse in my head how to ask in french. As I am approaching the man in the back there is a woman speaking to him in English and asking him all sorts of questions. Sigh! I am next and ask him to load more minutes into my phone. No problem. That was easy! After me a family comes in and it is father, mother and daughter. They are English and father says to phone guy Parlez-vous anglais? Guy smiles looks at me and winks. I walk out overhearing English dad saying my daughter just moved to Paris and needs a cell phone. Yeah, that is not all she'll need I say to myself. Tonight is dinner with Katie (english new friend) in the Bastille and out for a late night b/c there is no early nights with Katie. Katie and I meet first at my place and then we are on the metro to go to dinner. I do the ususal and go through the gates and chunk my ticket. We get to our stop and there is a huge back up. Katie says oh get your ticket out we are being controlled. What? She said get out your ticket they are checking to make sure everyone paid and no one jumped the rail. What the Hell! I chunked my ticket at the last stop. Katie looks at me and says you're going to get fined. Awesome. I've decided to think of it as a french donation program. Mind you I am all dressed up in a skirt, tights, knee high boots that are not good for hopping the rail nor is my proper skirt! I get up to the police and give him my best English and Illinois drivers licence and say I just got here there is no sign that says you have to keep your ticket. I am not from here etc. He looks at me and starts writing out the ticket. MERDE! 35Euros!!!! But, of course, they take Visa, MC, Diners, AMEX etc to pay them. Bastards! Dinner just got very expensive. Lesson learned, keep all metro tickets all the time! Onto to dinner...Go to another cute french cafe for dinner and then she takes me to a local bar she knows. La Bar Famille? I think? Anyway, as we are walking she is telling me she knows the owner and he is really nice and she is sure he will let us in. Let us in? It is a bar, right? She says you'll see. As we approach it Katie starts to pull on the handle and it is locked. It is crowded inside and the people sitting at the bar turn around as we have to ring a door bell to get the bartender/owner to come over. Enter Slimane cute Armenian bald guy that owns the bar. He sees Katie and I and buzzes us in. Wow! We approach the bar and Slim (for short) leans over the bar and gives Katie the french kisses and says Bonsoir to me. Katie introduces me and he asks us what we would like to drink. This is all in French mind you so I get about 70% of the conversation. We get some red wine and two seats at the bar. After we sit down at our perch next to the front door katie says watch. A group of guys approach the door and ring the buzzer Slim looks up and says Ferme! Waves his hands in the air like an "X" and the guys move on. What? Katie tells me he only lets in people he knows and girls. Oh! Good plan! So, as the night progresses Slim comes over and tells us how pretty we are and we can tell him who to let in and who not. This is going to be fun! When cute boys come Katie and I give Slim the thumbs up when they are not cute they get the thumbs down. After a few more glasses of wine a cute Frenchman next to us Federico comes over and introduces himself. He is very cute and friendly and we chat a bit. He is going to some club with his not so cute friend and invites us. We say Merci but not tonight. Slim eventually closes the bar and lets katie and I stay. We hang out a for a little while longer (you know the routine with the cabs at night) and are off to home at 5am again.
Sunday March 12?
Katie and I meet at La Marais for late lunch. We end up hanging out and of course drinking wine until 4pm. Katie is staying with me b/c her toilet exploded and she has no running water. We have to go to her old apt to pick up the last of her things and then back to her condo to feed her cat get a change of clothes and then home. We walk to her old apartment which is right next to my old Hotel from past trips. it is in the 7th arr and next to our old bar where we met. Katie tells me as we are walking that we have to stop by bistro B on our way back b/c Pascal is working and she told him whenever she is in the neighborhood she will stop by for a glass of wine. Okay! We get the last of Katie's stuff and are off to bistro B. Pascal is very nice french bartender and gives us two glasses of chardonnay. I then get introduced to Gaytonne (who is from somewhere in the south of France) and i get 4 kisses from him. He laughs and mutters something to the effect of benefits of being from south of france he gets more kisses than others. Also, met Ben another nice waiter. Introduce new character Laurie (from Chicago) meeting up with her for possible chance she has to go back to states and I get her apt. Warning she is quite an eccentric. Katie warns me no one at the bar likes her and will not give her kisses. Hummm? Laurie arrives and says bonsoir to Gaytonne and he looks and her and gives her a "humpf!" with a snotty look. Pascal rolls his eyes at her and says in English what do you want to drink!? wow! This is some serious french attitude. I sit quietly and watch people, listen to Katie and Laurie talk and Pascal comes over and gives me a flower. He says en francais une fleur pour ma fleur. Oh how cute! He gives me kisses and I know I am in the french circle with these guys! We depart and head to the Metro to make the trek to the Bastille to katie's. We are standing on the platform and this couple walks down in their early 60's and I say to katie they are from teh south. In fact, I bet you they are from Texas! Katie says how do you know? I say, look at her hair, makeup, outfit and look at his outfit and ostrich cowboy boots. Okay girls this one is for you: Woman has blonde hair that is hot rolled and winged but does not move due to overkill of Aquanet. Lots of orange foundation, blue eye make-up and frosty pink lipstick. Outfit is North face jacket and dark blue gap jeans heavily starched with seam down front and brand new Nikes. Husband is also in matching Northface jacket (his and hers, cute, eh?) and Wranglers heavy starch seam down front and cowboy boots. We get on same car and frosting on cake woman grabs the poll after trains moves and she has extra long square, thick fake, french manicure nails! YUK! She giggles after she stumbles and says I almost fell. I hear the accent and it is strong. They are not from Dallas. Thank god! Katie smiles at me and I say to them so where are you from in Texas? They look at me surprised and say Denton. Damn, I'm good! We chat a bit it is their first time in Paris and they are visiting their daughter who is in school here. They say how did you know we were from Texas and I tried to be as nice as possible and say it was the shoes that gave you away. (among many other things!) Arrive at Katies and pick up groceries from her fridge were cooking at my place tonight! Fish and veggies. In bed at 12 not bad for Katie and I.
Must go to cell phone store to get more minutes on the phone. Walk to the only Orange (french carrier) store I know on St. Germain and start to rehearse in my head how to ask in french. As I am approaching the man in the back there is a woman speaking to him in English and asking him all sorts of questions. Sigh! I am next and ask him to load more minutes into my phone. No problem. That was easy! After me a family comes in and it is father, mother and daughter. They are English and father says to phone guy Parlez-vous anglais? Guy smiles looks at me and winks. I walk out overhearing English dad saying my daughter just moved to Paris and needs a cell phone. Yeah, that is not all she'll need I say to myself. Tonight is dinner with Katie (english new friend) in the Bastille and out for a late night b/c there is no early nights with Katie. Katie and I meet first at my place and then we are on the metro to go to dinner. I do the ususal and go through the gates and chunk my ticket. We get to our stop and there is a huge back up. Katie says oh get your ticket out we are being controlled. What? She said get out your ticket they are checking to make sure everyone paid and no one jumped the rail. What the Hell! I chunked my ticket at the last stop. Katie looks at me and says you're going to get fined. Awesome. I've decided to think of it as a french donation program. Mind you I am all dressed up in a skirt, tights, knee high boots that are not good for hopping the rail nor is my proper skirt! I get up to the police and give him my best English and Illinois drivers licence and say I just got here there is no sign that says you have to keep your ticket. I am not from here etc. He looks at me and starts writing out the ticket. MERDE! 35Euros!!!! But, of course, they take Visa, MC, Diners, AMEX etc to pay them. Bastards! Dinner just got very expensive. Lesson learned, keep all metro tickets all the time! Onto to dinner...Go to another cute french cafe for dinner and then she takes me to a local bar she knows. La Bar Famille? I think? Anyway, as we are walking she is telling me she knows the owner and he is really nice and she is sure he will let us in. Let us in? It is a bar, right? She says you'll see. As we approach it Katie starts to pull on the handle and it is locked. It is crowded inside and the people sitting at the bar turn around as we have to ring a door bell to get the bartender/owner to come over. Enter Slimane cute Armenian bald guy that owns the bar. He sees Katie and I and buzzes us in. Wow! We approach the bar and Slim (for short) leans over the bar and gives Katie the french kisses and says Bonsoir to me. Katie introduces me and he asks us what we would like to drink. This is all in French mind you so I get about 70% of the conversation. We get some red wine and two seats at the bar. After we sit down at our perch next to the front door katie says watch. A group of guys approach the door and ring the buzzer Slim looks up and says Ferme! Waves his hands in the air like an "X" and the guys move on. What? Katie tells me he only lets in people he knows and girls. Oh! Good plan! So, as the night progresses Slim comes over and tells us how pretty we are and we can tell him who to let in and who not. This is going to be fun! When cute boys come Katie and I give Slim the thumbs up when they are not cute they get the thumbs down. After a few more glasses of wine a cute Frenchman next to us Federico comes over and introduces himself. He is very cute and friendly and we chat a bit. He is going to some club with his not so cute friend and invites us. We say Merci but not tonight. Slim eventually closes the bar and lets katie and I stay. We hang out a for a little while longer (you know the routine with the cabs at night) and are off to home at 5am again.
Sunday March 12?
Katie and I meet at La Marais for late lunch. We end up hanging out and of course drinking wine until 4pm. Katie is staying with me b/c her toilet exploded and she has no running water. We have to go to her old apt to pick up the last of her things and then back to her condo to feed her cat get a change of clothes and then home. We walk to her old apartment which is right next to my old Hotel from past trips. it is in the 7th arr and next to our old bar where we met. Katie tells me as we are walking that we have to stop by bistro B on our way back b/c Pascal is working and she told him whenever she is in the neighborhood she will stop by for a glass of wine. Okay! We get the last of Katie's stuff and are off to bistro B. Pascal is very nice french bartender and gives us two glasses of chardonnay. I then get introduced to Gaytonne (who is from somewhere in the south of France) and i get 4 kisses from him. He laughs and mutters something to the effect of benefits of being from south of france he gets more kisses than others. Also, met Ben another nice waiter. Introduce new character Laurie (from Chicago) meeting up with her for possible chance she has to go back to states and I get her apt. Warning she is quite an eccentric. Katie warns me no one at the bar likes her and will not give her kisses. Hummm? Laurie arrives and says bonsoir to Gaytonne and he looks and her and gives her a "humpf!" with a snotty look. Pascal rolls his eyes at her and says in English what do you want to drink!? wow! This is some serious french attitude. I sit quietly and watch people, listen to Katie and Laurie talk and Pascal comes over and gives me a flower. He says en francais une fleur pour ma fleur. Oh how cute! He gives me kisses and I know I am in the french circle with these guys! We depart and head to the Metro to make the trek to the Bastille to katie's. We are standing on the platform and this couple walks down in their early 60's and I say to katie they are from teh south. In fact, I bet you they are from Texas! Katie says how do you know? I say, look at her hair, makeup, outfit and look at his outfit and ostrich cowboy boots. Okay girls this one is for you: Woman has blonde hair that is hot rolled and winged but does not move due to overkill of Aquanet. Lots of orange foundation, blue eye make-up and frosty pink lipstick. Outfit is North face jacket and dark blue gap jeans heavily starched with seam down front and brand new Nikes. Husband is also in matching Northface jacket (his and hers, cute, eh?) and Wranglers heavy starch seam down front and cowboy boots. We get on same car and frosting on cake woman grabs the poll after trains moves and she has extra long square, thick fake, french manicure nails! YUK! She giggles after she stumbles and says I almost fell. I hear the accent and it is strong. They are not from Dallas. Thank god! Katie smiles at me and I say to them so where are you from in Texas? They look at me surprised and say Denton. Damn, I'm good! We chat a bit it is their first time in Paris and they are visiting their daughter who is in school here. They say how did you know we were from Texas and I tried to be as nice as possible and say it was the shoes that gave you away. (among many other things!) Arrive at Katies and pick up groceries from her fridge were cooking at my place tonight! Fish and veggies. In bed at 12 not bad for Katie and I.
Queens, Protest, Luggage oh my!
March 9, Thursday
Sorry guys getting way behind here. Met Lindsay at Relais Odeon cute cafe near the both of us. Another rainy cold day in Paris with nothing to do but sit in cafes drink wine, eat cheese, chat and order coffee later to stay awake. We sat for 2 hours and watched all the people walk by. We decided to have a big night out tonight. I went back to my place for a disco nap (knew it would be a late night) Invited Lindsay and Ash to my place at 10:30pm for drinks. Awoke from the disco nap and needed food. I went downstairs to our friendly chinese/thai joint and got a bowl of Pho and some tea. 8 euros , not bad! Back upstairs to shower and prepare for tiny cocktail party! At 11pm Lindsay and Ash arrive and I am halfway down a bottle of red. We chat and drink until 12:30ish and are off to Buddha Bar. We jump in a cab and upon arrival the bouncer says we're closed. What? Friday and Saturday are late nights in Paris not thursday. What to do now? All dressed up with nowhere to go? Ash proposes we get into a cab and ask him what is open and give it a try. Done. Cab driver says only place open is Queen. I know, could be scary, eh? It, of course, is on the Champs Elysees where all clubs in Paris are. We go in and it is quite a scene. There are apparently no personal injury lawsuits in paris people were dancing on tables, ledges, high top tables, and hanging from a net suspended from the ceiling! It was wild. it was packed and the crowd was mixed and very young. Ash goes to the bar to get us some vodka sodas. We go upstairs where it is less crowded and you get a birds-eye view of the mosh pit! After two very watered down vodka drinks we decide to call it a night. We depart and walk down the Champs Elysees and decided food will be the cure to our sorrows. Pop into a paninni joint and get a hot melted ham and cheese! YUM! Into the cab and home we go. Still late night I think 4 or 5am?
Friday March 10
Get a call at the apt at noon from luggage delivery service they are on their way. The guy tells me not to leave my apartment. Okay? Get on internet look for apartments (no luck...still!) Get a call at 3pm he is on his way but is running late. I'll say! Get a call at 4:30 from delivery guy he is having car trouble but I will be his next stop. 5:30 delivery guy calls is stuck on the corner of my street (anyone heard of the Protests???) All of my streets are closed and there are cops everywhere. He asks if he can leave and come back on Monday, I reply NO! He asks me to come out to his car and wait with him so I can guide him to my street. Okay. I walk to meet him at the corner and can hear all of the kids chanting and the cops look like they are ready for WWIII! They have shields and machine guns full body armour etc. Hey, do you think any of you would like to join our troops in Iraq??? As opposed to chasing students with crepes wearing berets??? if you don't know why they are protesting it is because kids under the age of 26 can now be fired immediately for no reason. Of course, that is unfair! Whatever! A little french employment lesson: French are hired on contracts either permanent or temporary either way it is almost impossible to fire you once you are hired. That is why lots of French stay at jobs forever they can sleep at work and not get sacked! Sorry, a little political commentary! Pressing on we sat in Andre's van until 6:45 when things opened up and drove to my door. I have a waredrobe box and two suitcases being delivered. Mind you my doorway is probably no more than 2.5ft wide. No fat people allowed in my apt building. I nicely asked Andre if he could assist me in carrying these boxes up my 3 flights of stairs. He says...No, I just make the deliveries. Great! I open my door and the waredrobe box fits into the hallway with no more than an inch on either side. I scoot it to the next doorway and here the wooden spiral staircase that is also as wide as the hallway stares me in the face! With no choice I pick up the box and start my ascent. It goes okay until the first curve, get stuck. Not good. I unhook corner of box from iron railing and press on literally on step at a time. By the time I get to the top sweat is running down my back. Gross! This is so not french! I run downstairs for next piece of luggage which is a piece of cake compared to the waredrobe box. And one more time for last smaller suitcase. After I get into my apt the entire place is filled with luggage. Please note: current apt is approx 200-225 sq ft. Not big. Yeah! Must celebrate victory of Ironwoman competition Paris! Hooray! Go to italian restaurant next door to thai place and get a small pizza, salad, dessert and peroni beer, again 10 Euros! Latin quarter is cheap but the food sucks. Hosting another soiree tonight for Lindsay and Ash for real go out night. They come over about 11pm with red wine, vodka and mixers YIPEE! We socialize and are off to Buddha Bar (again) this time it is open and happening. Very cool music but a bit of a tourist crowd and lots of older men businesslike? Stay for a bit and then Ash gets a tip on the hottest club in Paris? VIP. On the Champs Elysees and there is a huge crowd standing at a gate with a guy on a chair literally picking people out of the crowd to let in? What is this Studio 54? Only the pretty people are allowed. Good thing we are all hot, eh? We get picked in under 5 min and are in! We go downstairs and it is so crowded! Everyone is wet with sweat and it is a bit nasty. People are at the bar drinking bottles of champagne and vodka. The ceilings are low and the inside is dark blue with mirrors all around. If I was really drunk it might make me sick and confused. We order 3 glasses of champagne before we decided what to really get to drink. Bartender comes back and it is 63 euros (approx $75) What the FFFF??? We stay finish our drinks and decide this place is not that cool. It is now 4am and of course we are hungry. We head back to my area and go to Cafe Point and they have full french cafe going. We sit outside under heat lamps and I get fois gras and a big glass of red wine. Lindsay and Ash order beef and lamb? The local cat comes by and jumps in my lap. Waiter comes by and says "bonsoir" to "le chat" the cat's name is 'the cat'. Waiter brings him cooked chicken on a plate. If I jump in the waiters lap will he feed me fois gras and red wine for free? We finish our meal and call it a night. I get home and my internet is up and Lauren is calling me on Skype. This is crazy. It is 11pm in Chicago and we start to chat. I can hear Lauren but she cannot hear me but I can instant message her. We chat for 45 minutes and then I am exhausted. In bed at 6am!
Sorry guys getting way behind here. Met Lindsay at Relais Odeon cute cafe near the both of us. Another rainy cold day in Paris with nothing to do but sit in cafes drink wine, eat cheese, chat and order coffee later to stay awake. We sat for 2 hours and watched all the people walk by. We decided to have a big night out tonight. I went back to my place for a disco nap (knew it would be a late night) Invited Lindsay and Ash to my place at 10:30pm for drinks. Awoke from the disco nap and needed food. I went downstairs to our friendly chinese/thai joint and got a bowl of Pho and some tea. 8 euros , not bad! Back upstairs to shower and prepare for tiny cocktail party! At 11pm Lindsay and Ash arrive and I am halfway down a bottle of red. We chat and drink until 12:30ish and are off to Buddha Bar. We jump in a cab and upon arrival the bouncer says we're closed. What? Friday and Saturday are late nights in Paris not thursday. What to do now? All dressed up with nowhere to go? Ash proposes we get into a cab and ask him what is open and give it a try. Done. Cab driver says only place open is Queen. I know, could be scary, eh? It, of course, is on the Champs Elysees where all clubs in Paris are. We go in and it is quite a scene. There are apparently no personal injury lawsuits in paris people were dancing on tables, ledges, high top tables, and hanging from a net suspended from the ceiling! It was wild. it was packed and the crowd was mixed and very young. Ash goes to the bar to get us some vodka sodas. We go upstairs where it is less crowded and you get a birds-eye view of the mosh pit! After two very watered down vodka drinks we decide to call it a night. We depart and walk down the Champs Elysees and decided food will be the cure to our sorrows. Pop into a paninni joint and get a hot melted ham and cheese! YUM! Into the cab and home we go. Still late night I think 4 or 5am?
Friday March 10
Get a call at the apt at noon from luggage delivery service they are on their way. The guy tells me not to leave my apartment. Okay? Get on internet look for apartments (no luck...still!) Get a call at 3pm he is on his way but is running late. I'll say! Get a call at 4:30 from delivery guy he is having car trouble but I will be his next stop. 5:30 delivery guy calls is stuck on the corner of my street (anyone heard of the Protests???) All of my streets are closed and there are cops everywhere. He asks if he can leave and come back on Monday, I reply NO! He asks me to come out to his car and wait with him so I can guide him to my street. Okay. I walk to meet him at the corner and can hear all of the kids chanting and the cops look like they are ready for WWIII! They have shields and machine guns full body armour etc. Hey, do you think any of you would like to join our troops in Iraq??? As opposed to chasing students with crepes wearing berets??? if you don't know why they are protesting it is because kids under the age of 26 can now be fired immediately for no reason. Of course, that is unfair! Whatever! A little french employment lesson: French are hired on contracts either permanent or temporary either way it is almost impossible to fire you once you are hired. That is why lots of French stay at jobs forever they can sleep at work and not get sacked! Sorry, a little political commentary! Pressing on we sat in Andre's van until 6:45 when things opened up and drove to my door. I have a waredrobe box and two suitcases being delivered. Mind you my doorway is probably no more than 2.5ft wide. No fat people allowed in my apt building. I nicely asked Andre if he could assist me in carrying these boxes up my 3 flights of stairs. He says...No, I just make the deliveries. Great! I open my door and the waredrobe box fits into the hallway with no more than an inch on either side. I scoot it to the next doorway and here the wooden spiral staircase that is also as wide as the hallway stares me in the face! With no choice I pick up the box and start my ascent. It goes okay until the first curve, get stuck. Not good. I unhook corner of box from iron railing and press on literally on step at a time. By the time I get to the top sweat is running down my back. Gross! This is so not french! I run downstairs for next piece of luggage which is a piece of cake compared to the waredrobe box. And one more time for last smaller suitcase. After I get into my apt the entire place is filled with luggage. Please note: current apt is approx 200-225 sq ft. Not big. Yeah! Must celebrate victory of Ironwoman competition Paris! Hooray! Go to italian restaurant next door to thai place and get a small pizza, salad, dessert and peroni beer, again 10 Euros! Latin quarter is cheap but the food sucks. Hosting another soiree tonight for Lindsay and Ash for real go out night. They come over about 11pm with red wine, vodka and mixers YIPEE! We socialize and are off to Buddha Bar (again) this time it is open and happening. Very cool music but a bit of a tourist crowd and lots of older men businesslike? Stay for a bit and then Ash gets a tip on the hottest club in Paris? VIP. On the Champs Elysees and there is a huge crowd standing at a gate with a guy on a chair literally picking people out of the crowd to let in? What is this Studio 54? Only the pretty people are allowed. Good thing we are all hot, eh? We get picked in under 5 min and are in! We go downstairs and it is so crowded! Everyone is wet with sweat and it is a bit nasty. People are at the bar drinking bottles of champagne and vodka. The ceilings are low and the inside is dark blue with mirrors all around. If I was really drunk it might make me sick and confused. We order 3 glasses of champagne before we decided what to really get to drink. Bartender comes back and it is 63 euros (approx $75) What the FFFF??? We stay finish our drinks and decide this place is not that cool. It is now 4am and of course we are hungry. We head back to my area and go to Cafe Point and they have full french cafe going. We sit outside under heat lamps and I get fois gras and a big glass of red wine. Lindsay and Ash order beef and lamb? The local cat comes by and jumps in my lap. Waiter comes by and says "bonsoir" to "le chat" the cat's name is 'the cat'. Waiter brings him cooked chicken on a plate. If I jump in the waiters lap will he feed me fois gras and red wine for free? We finish our meal and call it a night. I get home and my internet is up and Lauren is calling me on Skype. This is crazy. It is 11pm in Chicago and we start to chat. I can hear Lauren but she cannot hear me but I can instant message her. We chat for 45 minutes and then I am exhausted. In bed at 6am!
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Musee Carnavalet/ mr. big escapes!
March 8
Up early in the AM for meeting with Pierre. Looking forward to it anyway he is so nice and know I will be getting some good french breakfast! YUM! I am ready and out the door with 10 minutes to spare. I have on my most frenchy outfit I can find. Cute black sweater, long strand of blue and black beaded necklaces, black skort/shorts, blue lacey tights and black suede wedges. I feel utterly french! It is two metro stops so I even make it 2 minutes early. Pierre is charming as usual and invites me to his dining room table where the french breakfast is all displayed. Double yum. Coffee, juice, yogurt, and croissants as big as your head. We exchange pleasantries for 30 minutes and then we go over my resume. He has, of course, very good suggestions and I take two pages of notes. I ask some advice on manners, meetings etc and I am out the door by 10:30am. I walk back home feeling like I have accomplished something to try and get myself a job. Yeah. I get home and who is buzzing the door but the Fedex guy with my soon to be HSBC info from my bro. Good day! I decide to celebrate with a trip to the Musee Carnavalet in the 3rd. I received an insiders tip that there is a jewelry exhibit there of antique/vintage jewelry that is supposed to be great. If I can't afford the fancy stuff I might as well appreciate it. I jump on the Metro and arrive at the St. Paul stop. It is very pretty in this part of town very old and looks so different than the Latin Quarter. I go to the exhibit and am impressed. The jewelry is mainly from Tiffany's and Cartier and was worn to events by celebrities. Joan Crawford, Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly etc. It is fabulous. One of my favorite pieces was a fabulous string of graduated black opals. It was breathtaking. After reading the blurbs in French or trying to I can recognize some french names for diamonds, sapphires, pearls etc. Small french lesson. I decide to head upstairs to the rest of the museum (which is french historical paintings) I spend about an hour wandering around not being able to read about 80% of what the summaries say and look at french war paintings. Not my favorite but am expanding my horizons. I get bored of that and decide it is much more fun to walk the streets and people watch. I walk around aimlessly and end up in the Place de Vosages. Last time I was here I was walking around with ET. I know the art galleries here and window shop. I end up at the corner where ET and I had a long wonderful lunch. I pause a moment and watch the people inside and think what are they talking about and what are they having for lunch? I keep walking towards the Bastille and take the metro back to the apartment before I get too hungry. Lunch in Paris seems to vary today it was about 3pm. I make myself the usual (which is ripped up pieces of baguette, cheese, either ham or pate and water or coffee) I have a plum for dessert and voila! lunch is done. I hop on the information super highway for new ads for apartments. Two hours of combing all the sights there is nothing. I don't know what the plan is for dinner and think I need to get out of the apartment at 8pm. I head downstairs to the Greek restaurant next door. I walk out of my door and there is Dominic (the owner) he is always standing out front trying to heard people into his restaurant. All people do this in the latin quarter (I actually hate this). But, it is convienent and cheap so in I go. The waiter I also know (can't remember his name but he calls me Kate with Mr. Big)he is from Egypt and very nice. I tell him later that I am pleased he remembers Mr. Big but my name is Kendall. Trying to get someone who speaks french fluently to say Kendall is impossible! I think there should be some sort of compromise I can't speak with a french accent (due the fact I am American) and french people can't pronounce my name so let's try and help each other, eh? Egyptian guy gives me a "free Kir" , there's a reason why it's free. It tasted like robitusson! Gross. I can't wait for the food. I get the standard appetizer, entree and dessert for 10Euros. Mussels in white wine sauce (okay), lamb on a skewer with fries (lamb is tough as hell) fries are awesome and I have my handy tabasco sauce with me so just like home. I got hell from the Egyptian for that one. I don't care! And chocolate mousse for desert (pre-made jello brand I think). Oh yeah, wine was average too. Egyptian waiter comes up to my table and asks what is a person called that speaks two languages? I say bi-lingual? He says oh yeah that's right. Then he asks what is a person called that speaks three languages I say tri-lingual. Then he says what is a person called that speaks one language? I say... American? He laughs and I do too. It is a sad but true joke. He, of course, speaks 7 languages. After, the joke I decide my night is over and it is time to retire. Not a great experience but got me out of the apartment and in bed at a reasonable time.
I can't cut and paste so here is somemore background on what happened with banking information once I opened it. Timing is everything. I get my package of bank info from NY and run back upstairs to fill it out. As I go through the paperwork I discover it does not seem right. Merde! I cannot divulge the information as I could possibly be deported because of it. Anyway, send a quick email to mon frere and tell him my problem. We have to wait and see what his reponse will be later. We lose another day of possible french bank success. Are you catching on the pattern here? I am out the door again and apparently so is Mr. Big! He snuck out under my feet and he is running down the stairs like it is his last trip. I am chasing after him but am a bit slow with sore foot. Unfortunately the Chinese/thai restaurant downstairs has their backdoor open which is at the bottom of my staircase! Mr. Big runs right into their kitchen and I hear a scream. I get downstairs and run into their kitchen after him. All of the cooks are frightened and the waitress is screaming. (Why are they screaming don't they eat cats anyway?) Mr. big has no idea how lucky he is.
Up early in the AM for meeting with Pierre. Looking forward to it anyway he is so nice and know I will be getting some good french breakfast! YUM! I am ready and out the door with 10 minutes to spare. I have on my most frenchy outfit I can find. Cute black sweater, long strand of blue and black beaded necklaces, black skort/shorts, blue lacey tights and black suede wedges. I feel utterly french! It is two metro stops so I even make it 2 minutes early. Pierre is charming as usual and invites me to his dining room table where the french breakfast is all displayed. Double yum. Coffee, juice, yogurt, and croissants as big as your head. We exchange pleasantries for 30 minutes and then we go over my resume. He has, of course, very good suggestions and I take two pages of notes. I ask some advice on manners, meetings etc and I am out the door by 10:30am. I walk back home feeling like I have accomplished something to try and get myself a job. Yeah. I get home and who is buzzing the door but the Fedex guy with my soon to be HSBC info from my bro. Good day! I decide to celebrate with a trip to the Musee Carnavalet in the 3rd. I received an insiders tip that there is a jewelry exhibit there of antique/vintage jewelry that is supposed to be great. If I can't afford the fancy stuff I might as well appreciate it. I jump on the Metro and arrive at the St. Paul stop. It is very pretty in this part of town very old and looks so different than the Latin Quarter. I go to the exhibit and am impressed. The jewelry is mainly from Tiffany's and Cartier and was worn to events by celebrities. Joan Crawford, Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly etc. It is fabulous. One of my favorite pieces was a fabulous string of graduated black opals. It was breathtaking. After reading the blurbs in French or trying to I can recognize some french names for diamonds, sapphires, pearls etc. Small french lesson. I decide to head upstairs to the rest of the museum (which is french historical paintings) I spend about an hour wandering around not being able to read about 80% of what the summaries say and look at french war paintings. Not my favorite but am expanding my horizons. I get bored of that and decide it is much more fun to walk the streets and people watch. I walk around aimlessly and end up in the Place de Vosages. Last time I was here I was walking around with ET. I know the art galleries here and window shop. I end up at the corner where ET and I had a long wonderful lunch. I pause a moment and watch the people inside and think what are they talking about and what are they having for lunch? I keep walking towards the Bastille and take the metro back to the apartment before I get too hungry. Lunch in Paris seems to vary today it was about 3pm. I make myself the usual (which is ripped up pieces of baguette, cheese, either ham or pate and water or coffee) I have a plum for dessert and voila! lunch is done. I hop on the information super highway for new ads for apartments. Two hours of combing all the sights there is nothing. I don't know what the plan is for dinner and think I need to get out of the apartment at 8pm. I head downstairs to the Greek restaurant next door. I walk out of my door and there is Dominic (the owner) he is always standing out front trying to heard people into his restaurant. All people do this in the latin quarter (I actually hate this). But, it is convienent and cheap so in I go. The waiter I also know (can't remember his name but he calls me Kate with Mr. Big)he is from Egypt and very nice. I tell him later that I am pleased he remembers Mr. Big but my name is Kendall. Trying to get someone who speaks french fluently to say Kendall is impossible! I think there should be some sort of compromise I can't speak with a french accent (due the fact I am American) and french people can't pronounce my name so let's try and help each other, eh? Egyptian guy gives me a "free Kir" , there's a reason why it's free. It tasted like robitusson! Gross. I can't wait for the food. I get the standard appetizer, entree and dessert for 10Euros. Mussels in white wine sauce (okay), lamb on a skewer with fries (lamb is tough as hell) fries are awesome and I have my handy tabasco sauce with me so just like home. I got hell from the Egyptian for that one. I don't care! And chocolate mousse for desert (pre-made jello brand I think). Oh yeah, wine was average too. Egyptian waiter comes up to my table and asks what is a person called that speaks two languages? I say bi-lingual? He says oh yeah that's right. Then he asks what is a person called that speaks three languages I say tri-lingual. Then he says what is a person called that speaks one language? I say... American? He laughs and I do too. It is a sad but true joke. He, of course, speaks 7 languages. After, the joke I decide my night is over and it is time to retire. Not a great experience but got me out of the apartment and in bed at a reasonable time.
I can't cut and paste so here is somemore background on what happened with banking information once I opened it. Timing is everything. I get my package of bank info from NY and run back upstairs to fill it out. As I go through the paperwork I discover it does not seem right. Merde! I cannot divulge the information as I could possibly be deported because of it. Anyway, send a quick email to mon frere and tell him my problem. We have to wait and see what his reponse will be later. We lose another day of possible french bank success. Are you catching on the pattern here? I am out the door again and apparently so is Mr. Big! He snuck out under my feet and he is running down the stairs like it is his last trip. I am chasing after him but am a bit slow with sore foot. Unfortunately the Chinese/thai restaurant downstairs has their backdoor open which is at the bottom of my staircase! Mr. Big runs right into their kitchen and I hear a scream. I get downstairs and run into their kitchen after him. All of the cooks are frightened and the waitress is screaming. (Why are they screaming don't they eat cats anyway?) Mr. big has no idea how lucky he is.
Sorry about the order but this internet connection sucks. I have lost this blog twice and don't have the patience to start it a third time. Another joy of France! Must take break will post more later...
Friday, March 10, 2006
The Americans are coming...
Monday March 6th
After my crazy day with Katie I decide to have a slow day by myself and take in the french way of life. I take Katie's advice find a cafe in the middle of the street and order a cafe elonge en francais and the waitress is off with my order. Yeah. Babysteps. I sit drink my coffee and write postcards while watching all the people scurry by. After an hour I must go home and eat a real meal as I am practically shaking from caffination and no food.
Writer's note: I am beginning to change names here to protect the innocent and the unfortunate.
I get a call from a male french friend we will call "the entertainer" (how about ET for short?) and he asks me to dinner on Tuesday. Yeah, he also asks what I have accomplished getting settled and I say not much. He volunteers to help and we can discuss a plan of action over dinner. Btw, there is interest on my end not really sure yet his plan of action. I am hoping he falls within 10 minutes but he is not typical french so probably not happening. We will wait and see.
My girlfriend Lindsay and her boyfriend Ash are coming in from London today. They are travelling for Ash's 30th bday. Happy b-day Ash! (your 2 seconds of fame are officially over now). Anyway, get a call in the afternoon from Lindsay and they want to meet for a drink tonight. By the way, they happen to be staying a few blocks from me. What a coincidence! So, I take them to the one place I know that is close to both of us off St. Germain called Mabillion. (sound familiar? a few blogs back w/Steph) I should get paid for these plugs! Moving right along. We meet there and exchange stories. Then two guys arrive and sit right next to us. As I had just explained to Ash the way things work in Paris. You hang out and people just start talking to you and your night begins. So, the two guys start to talk to us and ask us where we are from etc. And as I say, our night begins...
The guy sitting next to me (really almost ontop of me) gives me his name "Joe Kool" JK for short. He as a typical french guy and talking so close to me I am backing up so we don't kiss before I can spit out somemore bad french to impress him with. Another side note he is not attractive and smells a bit fresh. Also very young. Anyway, his buddy is "Mario" who is also french but has lived in Toyko for the past 12 years. Interesting fellow. Speaks seven languages. Mario is in town visiting and rented a car from JK and asked him to go for a drink. You know the we do it in America get gas ask attendant out for beers etc. What? Mario is not young so don't see the interesting connection...yet. Mario tells us he is married to a Japanese woman and they have two kids he also has another kid from either another marriage or something I did not ask. Anyway, we begin talking about what we are all doing in Paris. JK is actively persuing me now and telling me I am "tres sympa et mignon" whatever dude I hear it all the time and you stink. He also kindly offers to be my personal french tutor GROSS no-way! Another side note: Frenchmen fall very fast like within 10 minutes and once they have their eyes on you there is no going back. Must ask french girl how to get rid of guys without pissing too many of them off. So, Mario proposes we go out clubbing tonight. What? It is Monday night and doesn't he have his wife and three kids here? Answer is yes and he says being married sucks your life is over let's go out! Mom, when you read this part please note another reason why I am still single. After we tell Mario Monday night is not the night we want to party with total strangers (maybe Friday and with other cooler strangers) he digresses to just taking us for a ride to show my two friends all the sights in Paris at night. We agree and get into the car with two total strangers (after Mario throws the baby seat in the trunk?) First we head to the Eiffel Tower (which is not lite anymore b/c it is 2am) then onto place de la concorde, champs elysees, trocodero, louvre, oblisk, Musee d'Orsay and Sacre Coeur. I am bitching a bit b/c I am tired and JK is practically in my lap and asking me out. YUK. Mario is insisting on getting out of the car and taking pictures. Mind you we can't see a thing b/c no lights are on it is the middle of the night. This poor guy must really have a crappy life to schlep us around at 2am. Here we come full circle with Mario he makes friends with any young single people to stay away from his own reality. So sad. It is very cold and my foot is hurting. (reference previous story for fall at Metro) We get to Sacre Coeur and we park and climb up to the top (foot hurting badly) take more pointless pictures and finally we are off to home. I propose to get dropped off first as I don't want to be alone in the car with JK. JK gives me his number, and jump out of the car and head to bed. Thank god that is over.
(I apologize Lindsay and Ash it was nice to see you guys but had to give it my perspective.) So Monday night ends after 3am. When will I have an early night?
Tuesday
I have exchanged emails with french friend of my dad we will call him Pierre. He is very key to this story as he is VIP in Paris and is willing to help me with my CV. We set up a meeting for Wednesday morning at 9am. Must have early night tonight to be ready. I decide to get my laptop and go to a wireless cafe in the neighborhood so I can update my resume and start drafting cover letters. I look up two in the area and decide to take myself to lunch first. I go to a cafe on the corner of the street where the wireless cafes are and get seated. I order a salad and water. Two girls walk in and get seated right next to me. They are american and know NO french. I puff up a bit as I am practically fluent compared to them. Poor things! I can't believe I am going to say this but I am now starting to see Americans through French eyes now. Here goes...They come across as typical Americans. They sit down and say Mer SEE. Yikes! As they peruse the menu one girl says to the other um this menu is in French like how am I supposed to read this? DUH? They call over the waiter and say this is in french can we have it in English? He smiles and says in perfect English yes you can if you turn to the second page it is all in English. Oh! After overhearing that this is there first trip to Paris and they have been here for three days and think they have done very well. It is all in the eye of the beholder, eh? I pipe up and say where are you from? One looks at me surprised and says Chicago. The other girl is from Ohio but now lives in Germany with her husband. I tell them I am also from Chicago but now live here. After we establish that I am not married to a frenchman, not following a frenchman, no job etc they say why would you move from Chicago it is so great? Also, why would you quit your job leave your friends etc. I give them the short version and the Chicago girl says wow I could never do that and I think to myself, I know. We exchange somemore stories and I give them some tips on where to go. They are staying in Disneyland?Paris b/c Germany girl is afraid to drive in Paris. Driving in Paris looks pretty scary but I think a french Mickey Mouse is worse! I leave and am off to wireless cafe two doors down. I walk in and no one is using a laptop it is a smokey dirty bar. I ask the bartender is this the correct place for wireless? She says yes but it not working. Typical. I walk to the next place two doors down and it is Ferme! Again, typical. Strike two I am now out. I decide to go to the Phamacia for some contact lens solution and nail polish remover. My nails are chipping and look not french and well manicured. I ask the lady at the counter for contact solution there are two kinds one is 7 euros and the other is 8 euros. Mind you they are travel size!!! Okay, almost $10 for 2 weeks worth of solution. Lasik surgery would have saved me some money. Then I ask for nail polish remover and cotton. This is all in Franglais. She gets what I am saying and I get another travel size nail polish remover for 10 euros and cotton pads for 5 euros. Okay anyone following me with the math? Almost $30 and I got nothing. I then head to the grocery store again so I can eat at home tonight. I am stopped by a man who says quickly to me in french ...translation where is the metro? I get some of it and am flustered but repeat in french le metro? He says oui. I say back to him and turn around and point "la-bas" (which means there) He says oh, oui, merci! I say "De rien" (you're welcome) and we part ways. Oh my, there is one person in Paris that is french and might think that I am too! Today is a good day! I almost skip to the grocery store with a big stupid American smile!!! I then come home with my booty of french cheese, baguette and ham. One good thing I can buy all of this for under 10 dollars. After I am home and getting situated the phone rings I answer and in quick french a woman on the other end is asking if this is Kendall Sowers. I say oui. She then goes into a very complex french something I say repeatez s'il vous plait, je ne comprend pas. (please repeat I don't understand) She keeps going and I am lost! We are not communicating at all and I know she is calling for me for a reason but don't know what she is saying. After she says d'accord? (okay?) I say another je ne comprend pas and she hangs up. Okay, today now is not a good day what just happened? One of the charming things about living here, once you think you have accomplished something you realize you have so far to go. Luckily, I get a call from Lindsay who wants to meet up. It is now raining and I ask her to come over and we can walk St. Germain together and get a coffee and shop. We hit some cheap stores and Lindsay and I catch up. Not that we need to I just saw her last weekend at my party. Weird, eh? Anyway, it starts to get pretty nasty and cold and late. It is almost 7pm and I need to get home for my call from ET. He calls and aplogizes but he can't do dinner b/c his parents are coming in from vacation tonight and need him to pick them up and stay at his place for the night. They live in south of france somewhere. So, we reschedule for Monday night. Actually, works out well b/c now I am home early with nothing to do but make a little french picnic and go to bed early. Good choice. I am in bed by 11pm...YIPEE!
After my crazy day with Katie I decide to have a slow day by myself and take in the french way of life. I take Katie's advice find a cafe in the middle of the street and order a cafe elonge en francais and the waitress is off with my order. Yeah. Babysteps. I sit drink my coffee and write postcards while watching all the people scurry by. After an hour I must go home and eat a real meal as I am practically shaking from caffination and no food.
Writer's note: I am beginning to change names here to protect the innocent and the unfortunate.
I get a call from a male french friend we will call "the entertainer" (how about ET for short?) and he asks me to dinner on Tuesday. Yeah, he also asks what I have accomplished getting settled and I say not much. He volunteers to help and we can discuss a plan of action over dinner. Btw, there is interest on my end not really sure yet his plan of action. I am hoping he falls within 10 minutes but he is not typical french so probably not happening. We will wait and see.
My girlfriend Lindsay and her boyfriend Ash are coming in from London today. They are travelling for Ash's 30th bday. Happy b-day Ash! (your 2 seconds of fame are officially over now). Anyway, get a call in the afternoon from Lindsay and they want to meet for a drink tonight. By the way, they happen to be staying a few blocks from me. What a coincidence! So, I take them to the one place I know that is close to both of us off St. Germain called Mabillion. (sound familiar? a few blogs back w/Steph) I should get paid for these plugs! Moving right along. We meet there and exchange stories. Then two guys arrive and sit right next to us. As I had just explained to Ash the way things work in Paris. You hang out and people just start talking to you and your night begins. So, the two guys start to talk to us and ask us where we are from etc. And as I say, our night begins...
The guy sitting next to me (really almost ontop of me) gives me his name "Joe Kool" JK for short. He as a typical french guy and talking so close to me I am backing up so we don't kiss before I can spit out somemore bad french to impress him with. Another side note he is not attractive and smells a bit fresh. Also very young. Anyway, his buddy is "Mario" who is also french but has lived in Toyko for the past 12 years. Interesting fellow. Speaks seven languages. Mario is in town visiting and rented a car from JK and asked him to go for a drink. You know the we do it in America get gas ask attendant out for beers etc. What? Mario is not young so don't see the interesting connection...yet. Mario tells us he is married to a Japanese woman and they have two kids he also has another kid from either another marriage or something I did not ask. Anyway, we begin talking about what we are all doing in Paris. JK is actively persuing me now and telling me I am "tres sympa et mignon" whatever dude I hear it all the time and you stink. He also kindly offers to be my personal french tutor GROSS no-way! Another side note: Frenchmen fall very fast like within 10 minutes and once they have their eyes on you there is no going back. Must ask french girl how to get rid of guys without pissing too many of them off. So, Mario proposes we go out clubbing tonight. What? It is Monday night and doesn't he have his wife and three kids here? Answer is yes and he says being married sucks your life is over let's go out! Mom, when you read this part please note another reason why I am still single. After we tell Mario Monday night is not the night we want to party with total strangers (maybe Friday and with other cooler strangers) he digresses to just taking us for a ride to show my two friends all the sights in Paris at night. We agree and get into the car with two total strangers (after Mario throws the baby seat in the trunk?) First we head to the Eiffel Tower (which is not lite anymore b/c it is 2am) then onto place de la concorde, champs elysees, trocodero, louvre, oblisk, Musee d'Orsay and Sacre Coeur. I am bitching a bit b/c I am tired and JK is practically in my lap and asking me out. YUK. Mario is insisting on getting out of the car and taking pictures. Mind you we can't see a thing b/c no lights are on it is the middle of the night. This poor guy must really have a crappy life to schlep us around at 2am. Here we come full circle with Mario he makes friends with any young single people to stay away from his own reality. So sad. It is very cold and my foot is hurting. (reference previous story for fall at Metro) We get to Sacre Coeur and we park and climb up to the top (foot hurting badly) take more pointless pictures and finally we are off to home. I propose to get dropped off first as I don't want to be alone in the car with JK. JK gives me his number, and jump out of the car and head to bed. Thank god that is over.
(I apologize Lindsay and Ash it was nice to see you guys but had to give it my perspective.) So Monday night ends after 3am. When will I have an early night?
Tuesday
I have exchanged emails with french friend of my dad we will call him Pierre. He is very key to this story as he is VIP in Paris and is willing to help me with my CV. We set up a meeting for Wednesday morning at 9am. Must have early night tonight to be ready. I decide to get my laptop and go to a wireless cafe in the neighborhood so I can update my resume and start drafting cover letters. I look up two in the area and decide to take myself to lunch first. I go to a cafe on the corner of the street where the wireless cafes are and get seated. I order a salad and water. Two girls walk in and get seated right next to me. They are american and know NO french. I puff up a bit as I am practically fluent compared to them. Poor things! I can't believe I am going to say this but I am now starting to see Americans through French eyes now. Here goes...They come across as typical Americans. They sit down and say Mer SEE. Yikes! As they peruse the menu one girl says to the other um this menu is in French like how am I supposed to read this? DUH? They call over the waiter and say this is in french can we have it in English? He smiles and says in perfect English yes you can if you turn to the second page it is all in English. Oh! After overhearing that this is there first trip to Paris and they have been here for three days and think they have done very well. It is all in the eye of the beholder, eh? I pipe up and say where are you from? One looks at me surprised and says Chicago. The other girl is from Ohio but now lives in Germany with her husband. I tell them I am also from Chicago but now live here. After we establish that I am not married to a frenchman, not following a frenchman, no job etc they say why would you move from Chicago it is so great? Also, why would you quit your job leave your friends etc. I give them the short version and the Chicago girl says wow I could never do that and I think to myself, I know. We exchange somemore stories and I give them some tips on where to go. They are staying in Disneyland?Paris b/c Germany girl is afraid to drive in Paris. Driving in Paris looks pretty scary but I think a french Mickey Mouse is worse! I leave and am off to wireless cafe two doors down. I walk in and no one is using a laptop it is a smokey dirty bar. I ask the bartender is this the correct place for wireless? She says yes but it not working. Typical. I walk to the next place two doors down and it is Ferme! Again, typical. Strike two I am now out. I decide to go to the Phamacia for some contact lens solution and nail polish remover. My nails are chipping and look not french and well manicured. I ask the lady at the counter for contact solution there are two kinds one is 7 euros and the other is 8 euros. Mind you they are travel size!!! Okay, almost $10 for 2 weeks worth of solution. Lasik surgery would have saved me some money. Then I ask for nail polish remover and cotton. This is all in Franglais. She gets what I am saying and I get another travel size nail polish remover for 10 euros and cotton pads for 5 euros. Okay anyone following me with the math? Almost $30 and I got nothing. I then head to the grocery store again so I can eat at home tonight. I am stopped by a man who says quickly to me in french ...translation where is the metro? I get some of it and am flustered but repeat in french le metro? He says oui. I say back to him and turn around and point "la-bas" (which means there) He says oh, oui, merci! I say "De rien" (you're welcome) and we part ways. Oh my, there is one person in Paris that is french and might think that I am too! Today is a good day! I almost skip to the grocery store with a big stupid American smile!!! I then come home with my booty of french cheese, baguette and ham. One good thing I can buy all of this for under 10 dollars. After I am home and getting situated the phone rings I answer and in quick french a woman on the other end is asking if this is Kendall Sowers. I say oui. She then goes into a very complex french something I say repeatez s'il vous plait, je ne comprend pas. (please repeat I don't understand) She keeps going and I am lost! We are not communicating at all and I know she is calling for me for a reason but don't know what she is saying. After she says d'accord? (okay?) I say another je ne comprend pas and she hangs up. Okay, today now is not a good day what just happened? One of the charming things about living here, once you think you have accomplished something you realize you have so far to go. Luckily, I get a call from Lindsay who wants to meet up. It is now raining and I ask her to come over and we can walk St. Germain together and get a coffee and shop. We hit some cheap stores and Lindsay and I catch up. Not that we need to I just saw her last weekend at my party. Weird, eh? Anyway, it starts to get pretty nasty and cold and late. It is almost 7pm and I need to get home for my call from ET. He calls and aplogizes but he can't do dinner b/c his parents are coming in from vacation tonight and need him to pick them up and stay at his place for the night. They live in south of france somewhere. So, we reschedule for Monday night. Actually, works out well b/c now I am home early with nothing to do but make a little french picnic and go to bed early. Good choice. I am in bed by 11pm...YIPEE!
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Will work for friends
Okay, where was I??? Sorry for the delay friends and fam but time flies when you are having fun and not having fun trying to get a fr bank acct. Where does one begin with the French bureaucracy? French bank account is still in the works. My fault, did not give Fedex (or brother) my digicode (aka door code). Called fedex today they will attempt a redelivery tomorrow.
So, onto Saturday my first day alone! Obviously, Friday night was much more low key after our late night on Thursday. Sorry, audience we can't do it everynight. After, I kiss Steph goodbye I wander the local streets alone. I find more good restaurants to try and shops to look into. I go straight to the grocery store for more food...must stop the bleeding of the $$$$$$. By the way, what do they feed the french dogs out here? All of the merde is red and runny. I think they must eat pate and cheese. Gross! The grungy smelly poodles are all at the restaurants and everyone loves them (Oh, sympa chien!) I think I will bring Monsieur Grand to the next dining experience and let him loose on the poodles! Now, that would be some good TV! After, store I decide to go home and regroup. I jump on yahoo and send a message to Katie (English girl I met in November). Get a message back right away and she wants to get together for dinner tonight. (insert ad jingle for YA-hoo-oo!) If I could get a job as fast as I make friends I would have moved here a year ago. So, I putz around internet more look for more apts on craigslist, fusac etc no love! Must get out of apartment for I am in Paris! Wander down St. Germain and realize I have no $$$ so window shopping is painful. I realize that I, in fact, have no euros once again (all cash spent at grocery store). Must go to ATM, again. This is always fun b/c they are like french people. Every once in a while they just don't take your card. No reason, just because. After three tries success! Now, I have money and must go and buy stamps for my postcards. I can do this. I stop at the Tabac (tabacco store is where you get stamps) and politely ask... "Je voudrais achete un tampon?" I know tampon means stamp. The lady giggles and asks me in french if I am Italian? What is that supposed to mean? I think nothing of it and walk out with my one stamp for .90euros (over a dollar!) We will reference this faux pas later in the story.
Fashion side note: All French women are wearing skinny jeans inside their flat boots. No UGGS in sight. Just flat rubber soled boots or flat euro-looking boots also note lots of buckles as decor.
So, after depressing window shopping must head home to get ready for big friend date. Katie and I agree to meet in the 3rd arr. at the Sentier stop. She takes me to a small french restaurant that she knows and we begin the get to know new people dance. She is very nice and the English accent is refreshing after much bad efforts at French. I tell her about my trials on getting settled and she is full of helpful advice. When going to a cafe don't go to the ones on the big corners, tourist traps, you get screwed on prices. Go to ones on small streets in the middle and coffees are half the price. Also, if you order a cafe elonge you get double the coffee for half the price. Okay, that tip alone could extend my trip by 1 month! I tell her about buying my stamp today. She laughs, of course, joke is on Kendall for the unforseeable future. Tampon does mean stamp but it refers to a rubber stamp OR a TAMPON! Look in your fr/eng dictionary (wad,hygienique,tampon) nice work detective Sowers. A postage stamp is timbre. I will not forget again. Katie insists we have a traditional french apertif. Kir. It is champagne with currant. I get one with black currant. It is pretty good. Okay for one too fruity for lots. We then go over the menu (another chalkboard in french) I recognize duck and get that. Katie tells me she just bought a flat and is having a heck of a time moving in due to the place is a dump and she had the floors redone. I, of course, volunteer to help b/c what am I going to do on Sunday with no friends? Insert sign here...(Will work for friends) The wine comes and after we are almost through the wine Katie has a confession. She does not like Americans, awesome, but I am the exception. Okay, first girl date going well... She then asks if I would like to go to her local bar and have a drink. Double brownie points. Only one problem. English are known for their drinking abilities (put on your PJ's kids this could be a long night) We walk to local bar and begin the festivities. I won't bore you with all the conversation it was not rocket science after two more vodka and sodas. About 2am I am tired and tell Katie if I am to help her tomorrow I must go to bed. She informs me we have missed our window. Metro closes right before one and everyone leaves at 2am to get a cab so we might as well stay for another to wait it out. Okay! 2 hrs later I am not able to even pretend to drink my chardonnay. Katie and I leave to get a cab. What time does she want me to meet her in the morning (in a few hours?)
Moving on to Sunday...
Get a wake up call from Katie at 10:45, can't find phone, miss call one. Go back to bed, call 2 on cell phone 11am run to purse can find little bugger quick enough miss call 2. Must get up now only friend is calling. I call her back and she asks to meet at a cafe at the parmentier stop. No problem. In twenty minutes I am out the door and going to the St. Michel station. I am officially feeling like true Parisian and fly downstairs, through the gates and down the next flight of stairs. I hear the train is arriving so I speed up to catch it and the last two steps were a blur. Slow motion Kendall's foot caught in cuff of forever too long jeans falling concrete is hard, not good health insurance is priceless. Hit with a bang. All french on platform turn stare and turn back around Paris continues without me? What up? Ankle, hurts badly. I get up and limp to sit down (I missed train) it is throbbing. Moving will be a challenge today. Must get on next train as my one friend is on the line. I walk very slowly, limping up stairs and meet Katie at cafe. Tell her the story, she says that is too bad ready to work? We go to her flat and it is digusting. By the way, it is on the French 5th floor American 6th no elevator. I can't describe the state of her place because I have never seen anything like it. So, we move from noon until 7pm. By 4pm I ask Katie where the rubbish bin is? Who am I Bridget Jones? After long day we sit chat a bit about dinner and I take off my sock to look at badly throbbing ankle. What ankle my ankle does not exist?! My ankle area is blue and very swollen. Katie looks at it and says Shit that looks really bad. Thank you for your sympathy, now we better be friends forever after this! We go to a local Moraccan joint for dinner and sit for 2hrs. (FYI another nasty poodle inside begging for food all french think he is cute) After long day we call it quits and say good night. Futon sleeping never looked so good.
So, onto Saturday my first day alone! Obviously, Friday night was much more low key after our late night on Thursday. Sorry, audience we can't do it everynight. After, I kiss Steph goodbye I wander the local streets alone. I find more good restaurants to try and shops to look into. I go straight to the grocery store for more food...must stop the bleeding of the $$$$$$. By the way, what do they feed the french dogs out here? All of the merde is red and runny. I think they must eat pate and cheese. Gross! The grungy smelly poodles are all at the restaurants and everyone loves them (Oh, sympa chien!) I think I will bring Monsieur Grand to the next dining experience and let him loose on the poodles! Now, that would be some good TV! After, store I decide to go home and regroup. I jump on yahoo and send a message to Katie (English girl I met in November). Get a message back right away and she wants to get together for dinner tonight. (insert ad jingle for YA-hoo-oo!) If I could get a job as fast as I make friends I would have moved here a year ago. So, I putz around internet more look for more apts on craigslist, fusac etc no love! Must get out of apartment for I am in Paris! Wander down St. Germain and realize I have no $$$ so window shopping is painful. I realize that I, in fact, have no euros once again (all cash spent at grocery store). Must go to ATM, again. This is always fun b/c they are like french people. Every once in a while they just don't take your card. No reason, just because. After three tries success! Now, I have money and must go and buy stamps for my postcards. I can do this. I stop at the Tabac (tabacco store is where you get stamps) and politely ask... "Je voudrais achete un tampon?" I know tampon means stamp. The lady giggles and asks me in french if I am Italian? What is that supposed to mean? I think nothing of it and walk out with my one stamp for .90euros (over a dollar!) We will reference this faux pas later in the story.
Fashion side note: All French women are wearing skinny jeans inside their flat boots. No UGGS in sight. Just flat rubber soled boots or flat euro-looking boots also note lots of buckles as decor.
So, after depressing window shopping must head home to get ready for big friend date. Katie and I agree to meet in the 3rd arr. at the Sentier stop. She takes me to a small french restaurant that she knows and we begin the get to know new people dance. She is very nice and the English accent is refreshing after much bad efforts at French. I tell her about my trials on getting settled and she is full of helpful advice. When going to a cafe don't go to the ones on the big corners, tourist traps, you get screwed on prices. Go to ones on small streets in the middle and coffees are half the price. Also, if you order a cafe elonge you get double the coffee for half the price. Okay, that tip alone could extend my trip by 1 month! I tell her about buying my stamp today. She laughs, of course, joke is on Kendall for the unforseeable future. Tampon does mean stamp but it refers to a rubber stamp OR a TAMPON! Look in your fr/eng dictionary (wad,hygienique,tampon) nice work detective Sowers. A postage stamp is timbre. I will not forget again. Katie insists we have a traditional french apertif. Kir. It is champagne with currant. I get one with black currant. It is pretty good. Okay for one too fruity for lots. We then go over the menu (another chalkboard in french) I recognize duck and get that. Katie tells me she just bought a flat and is having a heck of a time moving in due to the place is a dump and she had the floors redone. I, of course, volunteer to help b/c what am I going to do on Sunday with no friends? Insert sign here...(Will work for friends) The wine comes and after we are almost through the wine Katie has a confession. She does not like Americans, awesome, but I am the exception. Okay, first girl date going well... She then asks if I would like to go to her local bar and have a drink. Double brownie points. Only one problem. English are known for their drinking abilities (put on your PJ's kids this could be a long night) We walk to local bar and begin the festivities. I won't bore you with all the conversation it was not rocket science after two more vodka and sodas. About 2am I am tired and tell Katie if I am to help her tomorrow I must go to bed. She informs me we have missed our window. Metro closes right before one and everyone leaves at 2am to get a cab so we might as well stay for another to wait it out. Okay! 2 hrs later I am not able to even pretend to drink my chardonnay. Katie and I leave to get a cab. What time does she want me to meet her in the morning (in a few hours?)
Moving on to Sunday...
Get a wake up call from Katie at 10:45, can't find phone, miss call one. Go back to bed, call 2 on cell phone 11am run to purse can find little bugger quick enough miss call 2. Must get up now only friend is calling. I call her back and she asks to meet at a cafe at the parmentier stop. No problem. In twenty minutes I am out the door and going to the St. Michel station. I am officially feeling like true Parisian and fly downstairs, through the gates and down the next flight of stairs. I hear the train is arriving so I speed up to catch it and the last two steps were a blur. Slow motion Kendall's foot caught in cuff of forever too long jeans falling concrete is hard, not good health insurance is priceless. Hit with a bang. All french on platform turn stare and turn back around Paris continues without me? What up? Ankle, hurts badly. I get up and limp to sit down (I missed train) it is throbbing. Moving will be a challenge today. Must get on next train as my one friend is on the line. I walk very slowly, limping up stairs and meet Katie at cafe. Tell her the story, she says that is too bad ready to work? We go to her flat and it is digusting. By the way, it is on the French 5th floor American 6th no elevator. I can't describe the state of her place because I have never seen anything like it. So, we move from noon until 7pm. By 4pm I ask Katie where the rubbish bin is? Who am I Bridget Jones? After long day we sit chat a bit about dinner and I take off my sock to look at badly throbbing ankle. What ankle my ankle does not exist?! My ankle area is blue and very swollen. Katie looks at it and says Shit that looks really bad. Thank you for your sympathy, now we better be friends forever after this! We go to a local Moraccan joint for dinner and sit for 2hrs. (FYI another nasty poodle inside begging for food all french think he is cute) After long day we call it quits and say good night. Futon sleeping never looked so good.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Let the games begin
So, Steph and I are off to get things done! We need the elusive Carte de Sejour. Of course, first we must get the French bank account. We go to a local cafe pick get a pain au chocolate and creme to discuss the plan of action. There is a bank dead ahead of us so we decide to hit that one first and go from there. We sit to discuss with a banker and after he asks us if we are students he tells us we need a Carte de Sejour to open a bank account. Of course, I do. He recommends that we go to La Poste down the street apparently he said girls tend to do well there sometimes they will not ask for the Carte de Sejour. Wrong! Now what? Steph spots a HSBC bank and says hey they are in New York maybe we can get an account with them. In we go and get wait listed for the English speaking guy. We ask if the bank is the same as the one in NY. Yes, but their computer systems are not the same. The important question arises...can we use this bank if we have an account with them in NY? Answer...YES! Ding! ding! ding! Next plan of action call mon frere (brother) Kevin in NYC and get the account started in NYC. We also need to get more passport photos, no problem we find a camera shop get a new memory card for Steph and pics for Kendall. More copies of passport at the local bank don't ask for copies but just say Xerox? We don't speak french but the French know our name brands. Not a bad day so far. Lots of activity so we take a break at local cafe for fromage (cheese) and vin (wine). Must have small buzz to finish the day of negotiations. Our french improves with wine. Next we must find a pet store for Monsieur Grand's litter and litter box. Oh, let the games begin. After asking several people "Ou est le pet/animal magasin?" Which they have no idea what we are talking about. We decide to head back to the apartment and ask our friend Google. No luck! What the "F"? Last ditch effort we call Victoria (the lady that rented me the apartment) She says "Oh, that's at the grocery store!" Who knew the one thing that does not have it's own store! We get directions and head to the grocery store. How cute! It is small and croweded and very French! What is all of this stuff anyway? We find kitty litter and a box. Yeah! Grab some chocolate cookies and decide to check out. Mind you it is after 5pm and the work crowd is there. Long lines, etc. In the line next to me there is a father with his little girl (about four) she is trying to scan the products for the clerk. Well, the clerk comes out from behind the counter and lets the little girl sit on her stool and attempt to scan and check them out. Meanwhile the clerk leaves to go to the back of the store to ... maybe have a smoke break? Needless to say, no one in line is annoyed (oh, it is so cute!) This would never happen in America! I am so glad I was not in that line. They were still checking out when I left. We come home change and are off to dinner for the evening. We pick a bistro in the 6th and jump on the metro. Arrive at the bistro and it is packed, we have no reservation so we must move on. Walk down the street to the next restaurant and we get a table. They bring the menu on a chalkboard and it is all in French (which is fine) except no one speaks any English. Kendall and Stephanie say a prayer to the Berlitz gods and bumble through an order. We ordered successfully but have no idea what we got. The boeuf, poulet and saumon are all out. Those were the only ones we knew. Merde! So, out comes the pate looking plates first. Oh, mine is raw tuna (aka Thon) sushi, anyone? Steph's is white with green beans in it and red sauce. What is it? Don't know, don't ask just eat. It was very good. Next comes the entree which was some sort of game, very good! We decide to go to a local club/cafe called La Maibillion? Very cool and the waiter asks us to meet him at a club called Doobies close to the Champs Elysees. Okay, why not? Apparently, it is ladies night tonight! I think that is a great idea. We head to the bar and attempt to order in French and the bartender laughs and speaks in perfect English and says what do you want to drink? Yeah! Champagne is free tonight so we celebrate with two glasses. There is american music blaring from the DJ booth, Usher, of course. We are at home. We head to the back to check out the scene and spot three cute guys. Steph looks at me and says you need to go and talk to them. Okay? Why not? I go and give my best Je m'appelle Kendall... Cava? He looks at me and says "Quoi?" Merde, my french sucks. I repeat again and he says oh you are American I have never heard the name Kendall. I don't remember what he told me his name was so I smiled and moved on to his friend. Steph took over the conversation with the first guy and I attempted more bad french on the next guy. After somemore "quois" we established a name exchange and that "John" in English (I could not pronounce his name in French)is from Monaco. He is cute but quite so we sit exchange some other meaningless conversation for 2 hours and then Steph and I give up for bed. It is 4am by the time we make it home and we are tired. What to do tomorrow???
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Arrive a Paris!
So, I have made it my first day in Paris. Monsieur Grand has made it safely here and seems to have adjusted quite well. He actually seems happier here than in Chicago. I knew he was a true European. Stephanie and I managed to find our new apartment which is very cute. I wish I had the budget to stay here. Anyway, we had to get a bite to eat first. Cheese was on the mind and coffee to wake us up from our long travels. We stopped at a cafe on the corner called Cafe Severine. I had a double expresso and we shared an assorted cheese plate and we were well on our way. I had received an email from Adrian (apartment opportunity) to come and look at his place that evening. Stephanie and I jumped in the shower and left for the evening. The apartment is less than one block from the Louvre in a cute old building. The apartment though, a little less desirable. It was crusty. Very small, loft the shower/tub was large enough to bathe my cat. Not joking. I think I will take a pass on that one. We then decided to head on to our old stomping grounds. Au Gros Caillou (The big stone) in the 7th we saw all the same people there and had the specialty drink (some mango rum concoction) chatted up some of the local french guys and got some restaurant recommendations. We jetted off to the Le Pere Claude in the 15th arr. Steph and I couldn't resist but give the American OHHHHHHHHHHH when we walked by the Eiffel tour and saw it sparkle! Le Pere Claude turned out to be quit the cook. The roasted chicken was delicous. We stopped at the bar and sat with two old french gentlemen and scored two glasses of their best french champagne. Yummy! One last stop before we head home to bed. Dessert! Our favorite chocolate dessert at Cafe du Marche. Double yum! We ate it in record time and decided to head to bed. Frist long day down now what will tomorrow have in store for us????
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