City tromping
Today Sherry and I woke up and lazed around a little bit before heading to the Marche aux Puces Saint Ouen, supposedly the largest market in the world, located on the outskirts of the city (though at least on my side of it.) It's kindof like several normal-sized markets all next to each other and combined into one. It's mostly old antiques and a lot of upscale antique furniture. Anyway, we wanted to check it out just for fun, but decided that there wasn't really much there for us. We metro'd into the city, just across the river from the Eiffel Tower, to meet Patrick, a colleague from the office here who wanted to meet us for lunch and a boat tour along the river. (Note that he hadn't offered to do anything with me outside of work hours until Sherry came to town.) But at any rate, the lunch and tour were both good, despite a constant drizzle, and afterwards Sherry and I told Patrick we wanted to go shopping on the Champs-Elysees (which was true, but we also had a preconceived plan to ditch him so we could catch up the two of us.) Our shopping trip turned mostly into a window shopping trip, since we didn't buy much, but we did find another cool bar, this time on the south side of the C-E.
For dinner, we decided that we wanted Asian, but nearly the only Asian food I've been able to find here has been the kind where it's all sitting out, pre-cooked, and they microwave what you want -- it's basically like ordering leftovers at a counter-service restaurant. That didn't really seem fitting for Sherry's last night in town. So instead, we metro'd back up near my place, and after another Asian strike-out, we headed to La Rughetta, the Italian place I've been to with Dave (from NI) twice before. It was packed, and I thought we wouldn't get a table at first, but they did seat us at a very small, cramped table right near the front door. There was an old woman there who was by herself, except for a large quantity of wine on her table, and everyone there seemed to know her. She also was wearing a lot of makeup and what I can assume is every piece of jewelry she owns. Everybody started egging her on, and she eventually got up and serenaded everyone a capella, to everyone's applause (not that she was fabulous, she's just a regular every weekend.) It was cute, actually. Anyway, our table location turned out to be good luck, because a French guy and his dad ended up being seated next to us. Sherry started talking to them -- good going, Sherry -- and we really hit it off, the four of us. The guy is Jimi, just a little older than me, and his dad Georges was in town for Jimi's birthday in a few days. They spoke perfect English, both of them having lived all over, so we talked about all kinds of things, including the fact that French people apparently don't date, but they hop from one monogamous relationship to another. (This is very practical information.) They also said they thought Sherry was from either Florida or Texas, but they couldn't place me -- ha ha! Yay! After Georges got us all a round of digestifs (limoncello for everyone else, amaretto for me,) we'd all exchanged info, and Jimi and I agreed we should go out ("American-style," he said, with a wink,) we walked outside to call it a night. (After running around all day and not going home before meeting a cute guy, I said to Sherry, "I'm suddenly very aware that I'm wearing sneakers.") Another fun night of meeting new people. God, I love Paris.
Lots of work, and then sightseeing
Today I spent pretty much my whole day at work cranking on this book chapter I've gotta write. Good times. I still managed to skip out a little early, though, and take Sherry and Kumi (another NI corporate visitor in town for a night) around. They're both reading
The DaVinci Code and wanted to check out some of the landmarks in the book, so that was our plan. We dropped off the car and stopped off at Sacre Coeur, not because it's in the book, but because it's spectacular and close to the house. Then we took the cable car down the hill for the city view and metro'd across the city to Saint Sulpice, a church in the book where a pretty major scene happens. It was high on their agenda, and after we were there I was glad we went. Then we found a great seafood restaurant in St. Germain and had the famous French
moules marinieres. (We searched out other options after checking out the famous Cafe de Fleur and realizing that the prices were really high and the real food options were slim -- but hey, what do you expect for such a touristy place...)
And then we did a lot of walking. We walked past Notre Dame and did their souvenir shopping, stopping off for coffee/tea and dessert in a cafe near the big fountain at St. Michel. Then we walked past the Louvre (again because of the book) and down to Concorde to hit the Buddha Bar again, which Sherry really wanted to see and I was keen to check out again. I thought the walk would take 20-25 minutes, but in reality it took at least twice that long. I just forget how far away these places actually are from each other -- I've gotten so used to walking here that I forget that just because things are close on the map doesn't mean they're close in reality. Oh, well, it was worth it. Buddha Bar was a good time again, and much, much less crowded than when Neil and I went. Could've been because it was earlier in the evening, but I think it's because a lot of Parisians are out of town visiting family for the long weekend.
Sherry arrives
Today I went into the office briefly and then headed to the airport to pick up Sherry, a colleague and friend who's been in Europe on business for the week and is stopping off in Paris for a few days. In Seinfeld speak, it was the perfect airport pick-up, except that Sherry hasn't had her back the whole time she's been in Europe, so there was much time spent haggling with the baggage people over it. (They lost it on her way to Hungary...bummer.) Oh, well, at least it's a good excuse to shop in Europe!
At lunch Sophie told us that today is the "day of nice driving" or something -- basically it's one day when everybody's supposed to drive friendly. One day. I love the fact that it's actually a dedicated day, like it's official or something. However, it still didn't stop the guys from honking at us in the pedestrian crossing at the mall. How hilarious.
Sherry and I went by the apartment quickly after work, but I still wanted to go to French class. If I head to Israel, I'll miss two more classes, and I've already paid for all of them. I'm glad Sherry was cool with it. After class, Sherry and I met at the Indian restaurant where the waiter's always been really nice and likes to practice his English. Then a brief walk home, and we called it a night. Long day for both of us!
Lessons in eating and flirting the French way
My plan for lunch was to go to Ikea and get a full-length mirror – but I actually decided I kinda like not having one. It just makes me a little less compulsive, I spend less time getting dressed in the morning, and I just generally feel a little better about the way I look here. People here have a knack for pulling off whatever outfit they put on in the morning, and I’ve kindof adopted that philosophy. Which makes me wonder how people here stay so skinny – an often-pondered question. At lunch one of the guys at work told me he eats 5 croissants (or related pastries) a day. I’m sorry, but all of the justifications I’ve heard for svelte French bodies – walking more, smaller portions, not eating between meals – are completely bunk at those quantities. (I’m not sure any of those things are actually all that true, either, for the general French population.) I’ve decided that it’s just something genetic, and that I’ll try to suck up as much of those genes as I can while I’m here.
Got the car steam-cleaned at lunch to get rid of all evidence of the past owner’s nasty smoking habit. 90 euros is pretty expensive, but it went to NI – it’s a lot cheaper than a rent car for 4 months. Hooray.
Made plans to go to Israel next week, on Thursday, for a few days for work. It’s somewhere I’ve wanted to go, but I haven’t felt comfortable enough until recently. I got another raving endorsement from someone else at work – which makes a few people now – and a guy I really like from our UK office will be there, too, which will give me someone fun to spend the weekend with and will make me a little more comfortable.
Came home to a card from Mom – my first mail actually addressed to me, and from someone I actually know! Nice treat.
I spent a long time at night chatting with Cyrille online (one of the metro guys.) He’s very sweet, and fun, but not in the same over-the-top way as his chatty metro friend (Loic.) His way of flirting is very direct, too, and everything I say is construed to be something about him or something about the potential of us being together. Very direct, and cute, although it feels to an American like trying to play tennis with Andy Roddick – you gotta admire his skills, but it’s a little hard to keep up. Questions like: “Do you prefer me? (vs. the other metro guys)” and “Do you want a French boyfriend?” etc It’s a lot less subtle than the way most American guys flirt, but it’s kinda fun – at least you have some idea of where you stand – and we made a date for Tuesday night after French class. Should be fun!
And an uneventful Tuesday
Nothing too eventful again. I got approval to charge a little more food to NI to account for the higher costs here. Thank goodness – after the little math I did over the weekend, I realized why I’ve felt like I’ve been spending more money than usual.
French class was uneventful, too, except that I’m not alone anymore. The French guy is back, and still clueless, poor guy, and we’re also joined by a Croatian guy who’s here in Paris to study trumpet. At least he knows a little French, so he’s not slowing thing down too much. But I could tell at the end of the class that I’m not progressing as much as I did when I was alone. Oh, well, it was good while it lasted!
Uneventful Monday
Nothing too eventful, just a pretty average day. Traffic was horrendous this morning. Good grief. The only other thing of note was that I went grocery shopping at lunch, and it’s a major hassle to pay by credit card for me. All the French credit cards have a chip built-in that stores a 4-digit code. When you pay, you have to enter that code, kindof like an ATM. So since my year-2005 card doesn’t have the chip, they had to call someone over to the check-out line (who came by roller skates, of course,) then he had to call some external phone number to get some code, then they had to scan my card a different way, etc. All of this is going on while the charming French people in line behind me are smiling very cordially, of course. :)
Oh, I think the guy at my parking garage tried to ask me out. I understood him asking me if I work on Saturday, then something about drinking or eating with him, with me… Not sure if I’d call it better luck than at home or not, but the hit rate is certainly higher…
Lazy Sunday of walking and reading
Tried to sleep in after last night, but didn’t work. Still woke up at 9. But I lazed around, tried Pilates for the first time – not much of a cardio or power workout, but not bad for stretching. I decided I wasn’t taking the metro today; I’m sick of it and need a break. About 12:45 I finally ventured out of my apartment and headed up towards Sacre Coeur for an afternoon of reading and looking out over the city. I took a slightly different route up there and discovered some lovely little side streets. The Place Du Tertre was swarming with tourists, and I’ve decided I’m avoiding that whole area from now on. I went to buy take-away lunch and realized I left my wallet at the apartment after cleaning out all the receipts to be reimbursed. So – bummer – back to the apartment, then back up the hill.
After procuring lunch, I headed towards the church, where there’s a fantastic view over the city. Again, this part was so busy I think I’m avoiding it on the weekends from now on. But there is a nice little park area off to the side where you can see the Eiffel Tower and the rest of the city, so that’s where I sat and read for much of the afternoon. (“Da Vinci Code” has got me hooked…)
Came back home and puttered around the apartment taking care of a few things, then got takeout pizza from Pizza Factory down the street. Chatted online with the French metro guys for a while. They seem to be really into online chat…but hey, they’re patiently helping me with my French, so who cares. Not bad for a lazy Sunday.
Check back soon for pics --
