Prepping for London

I spent the rest of the night preparing for the trip. First, I called Juli to see if she was going to be around, luckily she was and immediately asked if I wanted to go see The Dark Knight with her, but then was kinda bummed that I was only coming for the day. Since my train back to Paris left at 9pm, and she had plans in the afternoon, it meant no time for movies. But still, we planned on getting together for early dinner. Not that I was looking forward to steak-and-kidney pies and english muffins and stuff, but more for the conversation.

Right after I hung up, I rethought the situation. I mean, what better reason to go to London than to watch a movie with Juli. Also, Gina has just emailed me to tell me how good the movie was and it wasn't coming to Paris until I left. So what the bloody hell? So I called Juli back and we made a date with Batman. I figured I'd wander around London until the morning train, but Juli graciously offered me her couch for the night.

Considering that at home I avoid even going as far as Daly City, or the Marina, for movies, I felt completely decadent (which is a feeling I don't necessarily hate lol).

I also emailed Emmanuelle's friend John, whom she'd always wanted me to meet. Since Juli wasn't going to be available until after 5pm, I wrote him and asked if he was free for lunch.

I spent a good part of the rest of the night talking to Raymond. He had gone downstairs to use the computer and had been accosted by a pack of japanese, who then peer-pressured him into drinking numerous shots of whiskey. He was a little confused by the fact that I was leaving again. And for such a short amount of time. Not sure if he was sad to see me go, or upset that he wouldn't have the room to himself for longer. Hmmmm.

After he finally passed out while telling me some story about a girl and geometry, I packed my tote with London overnight essentials (toothbrush, t-shirt, change of underwear, chocolate bars, iPod, umbrella, sweater and camera) for the trip and tried to not fall asleep so I wouldn't miss the early 6am metro to the Gare du Nord.

Falafarama

We made it to the Ile St. Louis and chose Amorino as the frozen treat of the moment. They're Berthillon's big competitor and really delicious. They also shape their ice cream cones to look like flowers, and like Juli said, sometimes presentation is everything (Amorino pics to come).

We continued on to the Marais. We had been wanting falafel since the day before, Saturday, but all the falafel joints had been closed for the sabbath. Now they were super packed. We queued up to L'As Du Fafalel, which Juli had read was one of the best one, and waited for one of the order takers to come by. The order takers were hilarious, they looked like total New Jersey guidos, but with yarmulkes. You basically give them your 5E, they give you a slip, wait your turn to get to the window, and then trade your slip for a falafel (with or without spicy sauce).

Weird thing was the illustration on the glass above the window. The resturant mascot seems to be a smiling, but slightly deranged, falafel, He has onion eyes, olive pupils, a tomato nose, and a tahini smile, with what looks like a pepper for teeth. It was a little too anthropomorphic for my taste, like maybe he would bite you back with his spicy pepper teeth when you tried to eat him.

But I don't like to be intimidated by food (unless it's three months old and comes out of my grandma's freezer), so I overcame the ickiness, wrapped that little sucker up and we walked to the Seine to eat. I showed that falafel who was boss. And it was, indeed, crazy delicious.

The Louvre Redux: Mona Lisa's Revenge

Sunday morning I went to pick up Juli to start our Sunday. The plan: walk to the Louvre, see the Mona Lisa, walk along the Tuilirie Gardens, and back along the Seine to the Marais for falafel.

So we walked along the Siene and stopped for a bit to look at the preparations for Paris Plage. The workers were setting up the cabanas, and there was already astroturf and sand on some sections. as well as babyfoot tables and exercise equipment. The whole thing sounds strange, but cool, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

We got to the Louvre and avoided the lines outside of the pyramid by getting our tickets and going in through the mall. Then we headed straight to the Mona Lisa. But even though it was early, the gallery was still really crowded. So we had to fight our way through the crowd to get close enough to take pictures. (It always surprises me how small the actual painting is. Just like it surprised me to see how big "The Raft of the Medusa" actually was). We jostled through an army of spanish tourists, who for some reason refused to move on their own, and goal achieved, we moved on for a quick jaunt through French Painting. The museum is just so big that it's better to take it in small doses.

From the Louvre we walked through the gardens to the Orangerie, then crossed over to walk on the quais. The weather was so warm that we decided to detour to Ile St. Louis for some ice cream before hitting the falafels.

Later That Night...

Diego had mentioned that Qing was working in London this week and might be coming to Paris for the weekend, so when I got his text I made plans to meet him in the Marais so we could go to dinner. (While I was waiting I saw Patrice walk by. It was weird thinking I'd only been here three weeks and I was recognizing people in the street).

We picked up Juli from her hotel and ended up at Les Philosophes for dinner. It was really muggy out and we got to the restaurant in time to grab an outside table and enjoy a nice leasurely dinner of steak tartare and tomato tatin.

Juli had walked all the way to her hotel from Montmartre, so she decided to call it a night and headed home to relax. Qing and I went to a couple of bars and then ended up in line for Les Bain Douches with some obnoxious nightclub-rag publisher who kept saying how much it sucked inside. I hate waiting in lines, so everytime he complained I asked him why we were there if it sucked so much oh mighty nightclub entrepreneur. He just kept doing the vague french "ehmmm".

The line went quickly however, and the music was pretty okay, though it was really hot in there for something named after a shower. I was there for a couple of hours and then took off after I leaned into a wall and got some chewing gum stuck on my red jeans. Tres gross! The walk home, however, was lovely. The weather was warm, the streets were empty, and the river looked amazing.