Thank God It's Vendredi!

Today Una got here after a harrowing plane ride. Yesterday we walked around and generally did nothing while attempting to shop. Things are expensive in Paris. When Una arrived, we walked around and got her oriented to the neighborhood. After we ate lunch, we walked along the river and took in Notre Dame again. One of the highlights was Una using a "street toilet." Which so far have scared the both of us. Then we walked down the street to St. Chappelle, and after we waited in line and passed through super tight security we walked into a gift shop and thought we just got ripped off 8 euros. It turns out there was a secret stairway that led to the real chapel area and it had 15 stories of the Bible told in stained glass. It was pretty rad. They also had relics of the Passion of Christ that were not on display, including the crown of thorns, which according to the pamphlet was more valuable than the entire chapel. When all of our cathedral viewing was finished, we stopped off for a wine break and then walked back to our apartment. Dinner tonight? Perhaps if we don't fall asleep first.

P.S. We also found a deer for opening day.

We got hustled...

We are starting to feel a little travel weary from sleeping on the pullout bed. It was comfy at first but now our backs are cramping (complaining Americans with our featherbeds and space preferences). Anyway, we decided that today was cemetery day and so we went out into the cooling French weather. All was fine until we went to "sortie" (leave) the metro. A group of men accosted us and would not let us pass. We were forced to give them 50 euro for no discernible reason and finally allowed to leave the metro station. We were both pretty freaked out about the incident and when we ran into some policia we tried to explain to them what happened (this language barrier stuff is something to note). They followed us to the scene of the incident and NOTHING was done. For future travels, we will learn enough of the language, customs, and laws to know what our rights are. In terms of what we learned today, we were hustled and that was that. The lovely policia could care less if a few tourists lost some money. 

This experience impacted our wander through the cemetery. We hit the high points. We learned that the French value personal space as much in death as they do in life. Many of the lots were stacked and pushed together tightly. I had never witnessed such a magnificent cemetery. We intended to see Gertrude Stein and Oscar Wilde but due to our run in with the metro hustlers we felt best to hit Jim Morrison and return to the safety of our teeny tiny super small apartment for rest and recovery. A cautionary tale. However, we can not be sure how to caution against what happened because we can't be sure what happened. We safely took the metro home (incident free). Now we watch a little Tele from the states to make sure we still understand English. 

We are really excited for Una to come and bring some Anglais with her! Hopefully she brings very little because, well, there is very little space. This is interesting because Bryan and I lived in a studio when we first started dating. This being said, a studio in the states is 3 times the size of a studio in Paris. 

This was the average size of a family lot. HUGE!

Jim Morrison was hide in the back behind some of the larger tower-like vaults

This tree had assorted carvings and drawings dedicated to the life of Jim Morrison. "Riders on the Storm"

Batten down the hatches folks! Hustlers are out tonight. 

The Past Couple Days...

The past couple days have been fraught with home-sickness and fun. We have taken to staying in on Saturdays and also most of Sundays. We are missing everyone very much (not least of all Sammy and Chloe). On Monday we decided to go for a walk because it was so nice out and ended up getting caught in a downpour. We didn't walk far, but it was pretty miserable in torrential rain. It was ok though, as we are in Paris and could see the Eiffel Tower as we were running from the rain. Today was really beautiful and we had blue skies all day for the first time since we've been here. We walked down the Champs Elysees once again to peruse the various shops. We went into a couple of shops and Casey got some new jeans. We always seem to go out at the exact wrong time French people eat. When we were done, it was around 3:30 PM. At this time, EVERY restaurant is closed until around 7:00. We found a place online (thanks Rachel) that was really cool and had an awesome happy hour. Casey ate the most amazing vegetable lasagna and I had a hamburger with foie gras.  I had a little by itself and it wasn't too bad. We also drank quite a bit of happy hour champagne and and celebrated the royal engagement. Casey is super excited for William and Kate and I don't really understand whats going on or why Casey is bouncing off the walls about it. Tonight we bought some more champagne from the votre marche, but it's not nearly as good as it was from the restaurant we went to. Perhaps we'll have to make a return visit.

Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart. Anne Frank

As predicted, the Holocaust museum was pretty depressing. I think what gets me most, is so many people knew what was going on and did nothing. I think about this and how it still goes on all over the world. Much of the museum was in French so we did our best to infer what was what. Regardless, most of the message does not require words. Although we may have been able to take pictures, and some people were, it did not feel right, so we did not.

We wandered the Marais and had lunch/dinner at a hip little restaurant. I feel like I am constantly offending people with my lack of French. This is getting easier and a little less stressful day to day. I spilled water on my insomnia medication (EECK). This is no good for me. I had a little convo with a man at the Pharmacie and he gave me something that has "some punch." Bryan looked it up and got all wide eyed. I am sure I will be fine. As a lifelong insomniac, most medication doesn't work let alone work too much...Nonetheless, taking foreign medications is never travel advised but neither is not sleeping for several days. Paris is beautiful enough without the walls melting from lack of sleep. Sunday's are very quiet in our neighborhood so we have to keep it down. For the most part, this is a rather quiet city for being so large. I am not sure Americans have the ability to be this quiet?!

I think we are going to try to go to the catacombs again tomorrow. We have hit all of our high points, which is good being that we are halfway through our trip. Now we can do the ones we like again, shop for Parisian-Themed Christmas gifts, and wait for Una to join us.

And that's that.

This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. You wake up at Air Harbor International. If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person? -Fight Club

Oh Insomnia, I thought you would not find me here. Alas, it is true, I have slept very little the last two days. In an effort to keep Bryan from waking I mulled around our teeny tiny apartment only to smash a glass and have Bryan wake like he was in the middle of a war.

Yesterday we had no luck getting in the catacombs. By the time we got up, ready, and there... There was no time for us to get inside. We ended up at a restaurant named Indiana. We both noted that when you end up where you do not want to be you seem to end up in Indiana:) We wandered aimlessly around several neighborhoods. We found Shakespeare's book store (thanks shansky) and we then found ourselves in a shifty part of town with knock off merchandise. I found a pair of glasses that are not hip in the US yet but all the rave here in Paris. We found an irish bar where the waitstaff spoke English! And capped our night there. We also met a woman with a dog that looked like Sammy. We asked this nice Parisian woman to stop so we could pet her dog. She thought this was OK. When I woke up this morning, I thought it to be weird that we accosted this poor woman and nearly took her pup...

Today we rest. I have been sleeping on and off most of the day making up for reading the Huffington Post cover to cover.

Until we meet again...

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream. Vincent Van Gogh

Rain, rain, rain. Add a cold wind and a long walk and you have two surly folks attempting to flag a parisian cab. Until now, we rarely use cabs. It is expensive and the walks are usually part of the experience. Today, not the case. However, we would not let the rain keep us crammed in this teeny tiny apartment. Today was Orsay day and there was no stopping us. We trudged through the wind and rain flagging and failing to find a cab until...SUCCESS. Oh wait, then we had to wait in line where we loaned one of our umbrellas to a nice Australian couple behind us in line. It seems like a good deed but the umbrella we gave them was the lesser of two and kept going all Mary Poppins on them. Because we did not want to find food elsewhere we decided to bite the bullet and pay to eat at Le Restaurant in the Orsay. When the waitress brought me my dish I literally thought she was mistaken. There was no way three noodles, a small piece of salmon, and some broth cost 16 euro!? Well, good thing they are generous with the bread around here.

The Orsay was exhausting and amazing. As I write, I wish I had a better way of describing the things we saw. Amazing, awesome, and rad are losing their luster. How do you describe the experience of seeing Van Gogh's self portrait or a landscape by Monet? In addition to Cezanne, Manet, and an entire exhibit of Gerome, Although, it is hard to compare something like the Mona Lisa and Louvre to the collection at the Orsay we agreed that we appreciated the art at the Orsay much more than the Louvre. Again, they did not allow photos in the museum so you will have to take our word. There is nothing like looking at some of the best art ever to make you feel kind of dumb. I took a few humanties classes here and there but never developed a language around art. I felt compelled to say "look at the brush strokes" and "I don't appreciate gothic art" without really knowing what I was talking about. Much like at the Dali museum, I like some stuff and not other stuff. Not sure why, I just do.

I think we are going to take a pause on museums for a few days. Not sure what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully, the markets will reopen (they close here for veterans day) and we can pick up some more essentials. For now, we found a movie in English on our French television. This is a treat, even though it's My Best Friend's Wedding.

Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision. Salvador Dali

The thing about Paris that I have come to love and loathe is that there is no possible way we are going to be able to enjoy all of this city the way we would like in 30 days (or less given that we still plan to go to Spain). Today we woke to the sound of school children playing in the park in front of our apartment. I am not clear as to when these children are in school or if they attend school. It is a Wednesday (I think...) and these kiddies are always in the park. I do know that if I watch ONE more moment of the BBC I will explode. World news cycles are boring me to bits and I would rather listen to children scream at one another in French. Jean sent us a pretty on point excerpt by David Sedaris describing Paris. This city has a way of taking your breath away moment after moment. We can be walking down a hill and then the sun hits the city a certain way and we both pause without words. Makes me a very grateful person. 

Today we went to the Sacre Coeur, Salvador Dali museum, the Moulin Rouge and some other shops and museums. The Sacre Coeur was unbelievably beautiful and peaceful. It is too bad that we could not take pictures of the inside. It was so beautiful, I felt compelled to drop some euros in a some boxes named for specific saints (not that I have a clue who represents what). I also lit some candles for the people in my world that have suffered such a tough year. I then sat in a pew in awe of the art that surrounded us. We then enjoyed the sunshine (first in many days) as we wandered into the Salvador Dali museum. AMAZING. It was a small collection but captivating. The sculptures were my favorite. Because I really know nothing about art I am not going to try and describe why these were great. I really just like the way they look. After this, we saw the Moulin Rouge. It was OK. Not as great as I had anticipated but I am glad to have seen it and check it off the list. The Moulin Rouge is in a part of town that I would like to avoid after dark. Very questionable shops and "bars." 

Finally, to cap off our day. We went to the supermarche to gather materials for a night in. Paris is a hunting gathering community. One does not just get food when you want. We have learned that we have to be deliberate in our planning or we don't eat. The time difference is still an issue and most places are closed when we are ready for dinner. Crepes are great but not for a meal several nights in a row. The immediate gratification associated with American culture does not exist here. This is only exacerbated by the language barrier. I do not expect people to speak English as this is France; however, and occasional English conversation is refreshing. Now we plan to watch MTV-France drink some wine and listen to French kids kickball outside...

Au Revoir!