my last weekend in Paris

When I woke up Saturday morning, it looked cold and gloomy outside, so I went back to sleep and got up around 11. There were a couple of things I wanted to do this weekend: 1) figure out the bus system, 2) see Paris Plage, and 3) visit Musee d’Orsay.

Since arriving in May, I’ve only taken the bus a couple of times, even though my Navigo pass works on both the metro and the bus… while the bus is cleaner and you get to see the city, it’s a little harder to figure out… the routes are posted in various places, but there’s nothing showing where the actual bus stops are AND there are variety of operating days/hours (I showed up at one stop yesterday only to find that bus doesn’t run on Sundays). Between the ratp web site and the maps posted inside the bus stops, I figured it out. I ended up taking the bus all over the city, and only got on going in the wrong direction once!

You may be wondering what Paris Plage is… ‘plage’ means beach in French. For the past few summers, the city of Paris creates a beach along the Seine from mid-July to mid-August. I was curious, so I set out along the Seine to see what exactly this meant. Not only were there little kiosks set up selling food and ice cream, but they actually brought sand in and created giant sand boxes with lounging chairs. While their interpretation is nothing like the beaches along the Mediterranean, Paris Plage attracts a lot of visitors.

I haven’t been to Orsay in years and have been meaning to go all summer… when I got there Saturday, the line was ridiculous, so I decided to save it for my next trip over… I’d already walked all over the city and was ready to take a break.

Other fun things from Saturday:
- Josh, Nanda, and I grabbed lunch at an Indian restaurant in Passage Brady – the food is awesome and the prices are more reasonable than anything else I’ve seen in Paris.
- While exploring the bus, I found there is a Montmartrobus that is part of the bus system and goes through the winding, hilly streets of Montmartre (another alternative to climbing the steep hill).
- And I got to ride the funicular – it’s been out of service whenever I’ve been in Paris, so I was quite excited to take it.
On Sunday, I wandered the city – seeing all of the major monuments Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, and the Arc de Triomphe. It was a great way to say ‘a bientot Paris’

And now, it’s Monday morning, I’ve packed and cleaned and will be leaving in half an hour when the shuttle comes to pick me up. ETA: 8:30pm Charlotte.

maybe i should've stayed in bed

I imagine this is a thought that crosses everyone’s mind from time to time… it went through my head all morning...

... beginning when my alarm rang at 7:15 and refused to turn off – after 5+ years, my trusty travel alarm decided to quit working exactly one week before I go home. Instead of going out with a bang, it went out with a lot of beeping (I took the battery out to silence it and even tried putting a fresh battery in… no luck).

A few minutes later, I was washing my face and noticed something funny… the water wasn’t getting any warmer, if anything it got colder. After checking the kitchen sink and the shower, I was assured there was NO hot water, it was positively freezing. So I found the biggest pots I could and heated water on the stove…

Between messing with my alarm and heating water, I was scrambling to get out the door and caught sight of myself in the mirror as I went out, only to notice that my shirt (which I washed before leaving town this weekend) has an odd pinkish blue stain on the shoulder.

Fortunately, I thought to grab my umbrella as I ran out the door, because the rain started as I stepped outside and accompanied me to the metro station.

The metro was going fine and wasn’t as crowded as normal (thank you Frenchies for shutting down your companies and taking vacation the whole month of August)… until there’s a sound like a phone ringing, all the lights go off, and the loud speaker announces a slight delay. Of course, more people decide to get on the metro, even though it’s obviously not leaving anytime soon… the temperature is rising with everyone’s level of annoyance. Thankfully, the train started after 10 minutes and we were on our way.

I made it back to my apartment without further incidences and guess what - the hot water's back!

catching up

Don’t worry, just because I’ve been a little quiet the last 2 weeks, doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping busy.

The weekend of July 29, the Tour de France ended on the Champs Elysees. Despite all the scandals revolving around drugs and blood transfusions, I thought it would be cool to see. A few hours before the cyclists arrived, there was a parade with a wide variety of floats. I have to admit, I was a little scared to see several 18 wheelers barrelling down the Champs, swerving back and forth across the lanes (I mean, the only thing between the crowds and the trucks were metal barriers). There was even advertising for the Simpsons movie (Les Simpson in France).

Monday through Thursday flew by – Alex was in town on Tuesday for another meeting, so Josh & Kristen, Nanda, and I met up with him at an Indian restaurant near Gare du Nord (the neighborhood’s a bit sketchy, but the food was great). Then, on Thursday, our weekly picnic moved indoors to Suzanne’s apartment (Suzanne’s an alum living here in Paris).

By Friday, I was packed and ready for a weekend in Lyon with Emily. I’ve heard quite a bit about the city (3rd largest in France) and its cathedral; both lived up to their reputations. The weather couldn’t have been better, so we walked everywhere.



Place Bellecour, Lyon (view of Fourviere)


Walking over the Saone


One of the mosaics in Fourviere


Remains of a Roman amphitheatre that recently hosted Elvis Costello


Tete d'Or (translation: head of gold... there's supposed to be one buried in the park)

what a week

Last Monday, I got up super early to get to the airport and catch a flight to Newcastle, England. When I arrived at the Avis counter for the rental car, I had two requests: a GPS and an automatic (yes, I drive stick but I did NOT want to try that left handed)… and was quite happy when they handed me the keys to a Mercedes (the only automatic they had) and a TomTom (which has already been requested for my bday). I had to laugh when I plugged the GPS in and learned that nobody had downloaded the English voices… so I switched between Spanish and French and did whatever Marta and Jean told me...

The purpose of the trip was to go to 4 stores located all over the country where we’re testing a digital kiosk as a merchandising tool; I had to collect data off the kiosks and talk to both employees and shoppers in the store.

Since I was already going all over the place, I figured it would be a great chance to visit Marjorie. On Monday evening, I showed up at her house for a home-cooked meal and then we went to Crosby beach where we saw Another Place – 100 life size, cast-iron statues that are scattered about looking out over the sea to another place – and an amazing sunset. At one point, there were dark grey storm clouds in one area of the sky, complete with lightening, meanwhile most of the sky was beautiful shades of blue and the sun was setting on the water. A little later, a rainbow joined the scen. The next morning, I was sad to go – too bad all the stores weren’t in the Liverpool area… I would have liked to spend more time with Marjorie.

The rest of the trip wasn’t terribly exciting – I walked by a couple of castles between the parking areas and the stores, and I managed to drive all week on the opposite side of the road without incident (the hardest thing was remembering to stay on the left hand side when I turned).

I was back in time to do some laundry on Thursday and head to Barcelona after work on Friday. Since I got a good deal with Ryanair, I didn’t have the best time schedule… but I had a great time with Steve & Ashley. They’re in an awesome location right by Sagrada Familia. We went to the beach on Saturday and enjoyed the weather (which was a 180 from our trip in March). This summer, Barcelona started Bicing – a community bike service that you can have a membership with – so we took bikes around the city, it was great! The same company started Velib here in Paris a couple of weeks ago, but I haven’t been able to sign up using an American credit card and I’m NOT opening a French account for my last 3 weeks here. However, I am considering getting a bike when I get back to Cola. On Saturday night, we went out for dinner and stopped in a couple of bars – I hadn’t realized how much I miss Spanish culture... and then it was time to come back.

As for my accomplishments this week – I bought Harry Potter on Sunday, finishing it in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, and (I’m blaming this one on lack of sleep) I managed to lock myself out of my apartment on Tuesday (thank goodness my landlord was in town and I had given her the spare key back!)

back from Amsterdam

This entry is going to be short and sweet... got back from Amsterdam this evening and I'm leaving for England in the morning, so I figured I would make a quick post. I wasn't able to photograph the Van Gogh museum but I definitely recommend it.

Here are some pics from the weekend:

the flower market


a mobile bar (we think it was a bachelor party)


pedal boating through the canals


chess game in front of the Hard Rock

auto pilot - disengaged

Have you ever stopped what you were doing and realized you’ve been running on auto pilot?

Yesterday, someone at work was surprised when he told me at lunch that it was the most animated he’d seen me all summer. Throughout the day, I reflected on his comment and realized that I’ve been going into auto pilot a lot lately… the 2 contributing factors I identified: 1) homesickness and 2) the constantly changing lifestyle I’ve had for the past year – transitioning from working professional to grad student – from home to a country where I didn’t know the language or culture – going from living by myself to living with a family (complete with language and cultural barriers) – finishing an intense 6 months of school to beginning elementary Spanish – and then going from all of this to yet another country, living by myself, working as an intern. It doesn’t help that the weather’s been conspiring against me since January… tomorrow is supposed to be a record cold day for July, 50 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s right Scott, not everyone’s able to enjoy an 85 degree Brazilian winter)…

So all of this has contributed to a weird introverted version of me that seems to exist when I’m in Paris (I’m able to escape it when I leave the city)… I think some of my coworkers actually believe me to be a quiet person… there is nobody from my entire life who would list that as one of ten words to describe me. And then, there’s this laziness that overcomes after a day at work. Despite living in one of the cultural capitals of the world, I spend entirely too much time inside my apartment.

Fortunately, this epiphany occurred before I boarded the plane home. I have five weeks left, so I spent the yesterday evening creating a to-do list of things I’m going to do before I leave… if you catch me online between now and August 13, feel free to ask me about the status of the list…

So what did I do this evening? I went to Follies Bergere where I saw Cabaret – which I definitely enjoyed!

exploring the city

Saturday, several of us met at the Hotel de Ville, where we began a mini bar crawl in Le Marais. At our first stop, Josh challenged Diana to see who could finish their pint first... a beer loving guy vs a German... who do you think won? From there, we went to some cool places and had some delicious foods (there are Jewish delis in the neighborhood that have amazing falafel!). However, the day’s key discovery might have been finding the worst bar in Paris (possibly in all of France). If you see this place, do not be deceived by the fancy champagne and Happy Hour specials you see in the window…



At first we thought it was kinda kitschy but we soon learned that it was disgusting to the 10th degree. The co-ed bathroom was the foulest I’ve ever seen - if the sink that was backed up/ half full of rancid water and the toilet that lacked a seat and had a shower head over it weren’t bad enough, there were the layers of grime coating everything. Needless to say, the one round of Happy Hour drinks was chugged as quickly as possible to avoid the horrible taste of cheap vodka and get out of the place before we were could be contaminated by anything.

WARNING: this bar is located on Rue Vieille du Temple in the 4th Arrondissement – I do NOT under any circumstances recommend entering the establishment.