American Girl in Paris

So anyway, Paris. I got to spend 5 days there. I arrived in Paris at 8:00 AM Friday, January 27. My overnight flight was not restful. I can't seem to fall asleep on planes anymore, so I only got about an hour and half of sleep between Khartoum and Paris. My most restful sleep was actually the hour I caught in the lobby of my hotel while waiting for my room to be ready. They had a nice, dim library off the main lobby that was an inconspicuous spot for a nap. I had a very expensive, but very nice, lunch in the hotel restaurant, and my room was ready just in time for me to take a shower and get to my first meeting. That night, there was a happy hour in the basement of our building, and my contact, Ken, took me down there and introduced me to some other interesting folks. After a glass of wine and two bright red (?!?) cosmopolitans, I slept like a rock.

My weekend was totally free from work obligations. It's pretty nice to get a weekend in Paris on the company, even if it's in January and you're by yourself! At the recommendation of a coworker, I tried a great cafe on the Rue de Rivoli named Angelina's. They have The. Best. Hot. Chocolate. Ever. I think it's just a cup of melted chocolate, actually. I liked it so much that I went back for one more cup on my last evening in Paris.

I saw a lot of tourist-y things: The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the archaeological cavern below Notre Dame, the Musee D'Orsay, and Montmartre. I saw the outside of the Louvre, but decided I'd see the inside sometime when I could devote an entire day. And there was shopping of course! I enjoyed walking by Cartier, Hermes, La Perla, and Dior, but I was too intimidated to go inside. Montmartre has a lot of cute little bohemian shops. I also did a little shopping at Printemps (“Spring”), which is a huge department store—it's actually in three 7-story buildings (men's, women's, and home). I'm not much of a souvenir person, in that I don't like to buy stuff on vacation that I wouldn't also consider buying if I were in a normal situation. So I ended up with a cute belt, a cheap scarf, a coin purse, and a couple small bowls—nothing with “PARIS!”on it!

I think the street musicians in Paris put D.C.'s to shame—and D.C. has some pretty inventive street musicians. There were many small bands in the Metro, but my favorites were a tuba/accordion duo, a guy playing Wham!'s Careless Whisper on a saxophone, and a small orchestra with a small mixed choir. Above ground, I came across a group of about 12 people blocking a street in Montmartre singing and waving red flags around. It was very Les Miserables-esque. I stopped for a while, but I couldn't tell if they a theater group or protesters!

Paris was lovely, but it's really more fun to experience new things with others than by yourself. I saw all these cool things and thought “I need to remember to tell someone about that later”. I got pretty homesick as I was walking down the gravel mall through the Jardin des Tuileries toward the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde. It reminded me of the National Mall, and I really wished I were home. I never thought I'd be homesick for Washington!

A couple things I learned:
1. MTV Europe just plays the same crap as regular MTV (I was kinda hoping to bring back an appreciation for French pop music).
2. I don't like the French voice-over actors for “Friends”--they didn't even get Janice's nasal laugh right.
3. I can fool British people into thinking I'm a local, as long as I keep my mouth shut.
4. The French I had as child focused too much on nouns, and not enough on verbs. I'm pretty useless in conversations that aren't about colors, numbers, or farm animals.

Pictures here!

Oh, and I've opened comments to non-account holders. We'll see if the spam gets out of control.