Paris, France

I went on a little adventure through Paris in the spring of 2005.

April 04, 2005 11:05 AM

Paris

Hi-

I'm going to Paris in less than 48 hours. I haven't even thought about packing, because I have work/etc/etc to do before I go. oops!

Anyone have any fun suggestions as to what to do while I'm there? I hope to drink lots of coffee, eat lots of croissants and drink much red wine, but beyond that, I think just wandering about looks pretty freaking awesome!

--Oliver.

April 07, 2005 01:55 AM

Paris Arrival

(I just read a book about an Ausberger's kid, so I'm very list-y lately. Sorry. i like lists tho, so welcome to my journal.)

Hi. Today, I flew from SFO to DFW, where I snuck into the Admiral's Club lounge and chilled out before my flight to CDG (Paris! France!). On my flight to Paris, I ate many foods from my Trader Joe's sopping bag of goodies, including a whole avocado, much to the alarm of the nice girl from Munich who sat next to me. When I got to Paris, I met another nice girl (this one from Toronto) on the RER, she was a flight attendant for Air Canada and had a lot to say. I successfully navigated the public transits in partial-coma state, found my hotel, checked in, showered, and then attempted to entertain myself for the day so that I could stay awake to fight the Jet Lag (total success: Mostly gone in 1 day, all gone in 2).

I took lots of pictures of the hotel

Immediately upon arrival, I sought out Pain au Chocolate. Mom found an article that recommended this place, and it was goooodd. A+ first stop.

The Communist Party was closed. (this is the first of many useless pictures that I took. forgive me, I'm shutter happy)

Yeah, that's Paris in springtime. Pretty damned awesome.

The Seine was quite nice as I walked by!

I saw this card on a doorway to a shop and thought of elly.

This is me, at 6pm with jet lag fully kicking in (or is that the Crepe suchre and the glass of wine?)

I wandered by Jardin des Tuileries as I sought bed.

ps: I took some neat aircraft dial pictures for Jim. They are here and here, plus this is where they actually are!

April 07, 2005 01:55 AM

Paris Hotel

Hi. I took lots of pictures of my hotel. So many that they deserved their
own entry. Excessive, most certainly. But I'll remember better!

Nice inviting red flag to summon me down the street from the Metro!

I slept there!

such a fun Parisienne view!

The bathroom was weirdly modern tiled. It gave me vertigo.

I liked the symetry of the windows.

April 08, 2005 01:58 AM

Paris Exploring

Hi. Today, my second in Paris, I slept fitfully, woke up with a phonecall, and stumbled about. My French was poor, but I gained pretty decent confidence by the end of the day. I went to the Louvre in the rain, walked down the Champs Elysees, trekked to the top of l'arc de Triumphe, chickened out of going into Hotel Costes, wandered into Collette (store), and generally explored the whole damn 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th. Exhausted, I found some shitty pasta for dinner, and then found the heart of Hipsterdom in Paris (rue Oberkampf (11e) in the 100s). Drinking, dancing, etc. good stuff.

Look, it's the IM-Peiramid. Oh man, I kill me. I *kill* me.

My first photo in the Louvre, with the Borghese Gladiator.

I walked down the Grand Hall with lots and lots of touristas.

Yeah, yeah, it's the Mona Lisa (just got moved to a new room this week. Pretty nifty IMHO)....

BUT HELLO PEOPLE, there's a 32 FOOT by 22 FOOT painting behind you!! look here!

I saw Athena and this big ass bassin, and thought of elly.

Then I sat down for a while and Journaled. Being alone has made for good writing. Here's my two views from where I sat with my stuff.

After I left the Louvre, I went to see the Obelisk, and noticed the French flags all at half mast. Goodbye Pope.

I climbed all the way the hell up there! (one of my favorite pictures from the trip)

At the top of the arch, you could see the Champs-Elysees lit up in the rain and the Eiffel Tower! (alternate picture of me).

almost my street, but not quite!

April 09, 2005 02:00 AM

Paris Hippies!

Hello there.

Today I woke up late (after noon!), went to the hipster part of town where I'd read about brunch at Cafe Charbon (109 rue Oberkampf, 11e, Metro to Parmentier or Menilmontant ). They didn't have anything veg on the menu, but the waitress was so paitent with my mangled French (she spoke English back to me, so not that paitent) that she brought me yummy goodness (actual food! not just cheese and bread!) and cafe noir. Good Stuff. Then back to the room to get some things, and I headed towards Centre Pompidou, but what should appear but a growing band of dancing, pierced, army-surplus-wearing, tatooed HIPPIES! I stumbled upon a giant street party where I danced and hung out for hours. I met a random guy who was wearing a Slashdot teeshirt (the language of geek is universal, and it's English). I think I caught a cold because by the time I made it to the Pompidou, I was pooped. I read my book in the cafe with some soup, and then came home to find free wireless if I held the laptop.. just... so.... (see tomorrow's entry for that one!)

Voila! le Place de la Republic!

Follow that truck to Stalingrad!


Attention!


I really took a ton of pictures of the hippies.

This one's for earl! I'm thinking of you here!

April 10, 2005 05:38 PM

Paris People

Human Interaction Day

Today, I planned to eat falafel and explore hotels. Instead, I called Shadok at the last minute, and he took me to a veggie spot for yummy brunch, and we wandered about town. It really was nice to let my guard down and let him do the French for a while. I had an awesome time chatting politics, ambling about to comic book ships, petting bunnies (SO CUTE), watching ducks in the pond under the Obelisk (SO CUTE), wandering les Jardains des Tuileries, and seeing Notre Dame. Good stuff. After he left to go live his real life (thanks for hanging out! full awesomeness of local-dom!), I went back over to the Centre Pompidou and saw the parts of the permanent collection that I cared for much more that the post-1960 work of yesterday. Maybe I am my father's son: the Miro blue works were great.

Then an attempt at some rest, but really only communications. I went to a Time Out recommended veggie place, had an anxiety attack (lots of people, hipster, french, eating alone, language felt more rusty, etc), elly calmed me down over the wonders of modern technology, and then there was YUMMY couscous, a split of wine, and random conversation with New Yorkers (ok, Hoboken) sitting next to me. We ended up at a (shitty) Karaoke bar, left there and had a nice drink on Rue De La Rouquette. They used to live in Paris, and were here on her birthday weekend. Good stuff, that conversation. Maybe I'm an extrovert, maybe I just like wine.

Enough already. Here's the edited fotos. The full set is in days.

Uh, that's old and shit. Looks nice in the springtime though!

Hi internet, this is my new friend Shadok!

OMG BUNNIES! SO CUTE!!! BUNNIES SLEEPING!!

After we crossed near the Pont Neuf, we saw a throng of roller skaters taking over the street. It was cute.

I like the inside-out-ness of the Pompidou.

This room was so quiet, so peaceful, so good.

The sun set through the clouds today. The beams of sunlight struck the Eiffel Tower just so. :)

Here's the contraption I had to make to get lappy to work in my second room.

April 11, 2005 01:06 PM

Paris Walking

Hi- The last day that I was well in Paris, I took a wander around town. I found a website that showed the walk that Ameile takes in the cute film. So I went.

I walked around here I guess.

I ran into a large rock in the middle of the road. Hi.

But there was a pretty park that I sat down in and read the IHT.

Big Pretty Mosque!

Montmarte

I had lunch here and talked with some random Brit.

Sri Chimnoy's people are in Paris!

Later, when I was sick, I went to Gare du Nord to feel comforted.