j'arrive à france

Pardon me for errors... the keyboard is hard to navigate. The a,q,w,m and several punctuation marks are in odd places and I have to "shift key" for making periods and a special FRENCH ONLY shift key to make certain common punctuation marks otherwise common in english.

I stumbled on this internet cafe by mistake! Only one I've seen so far!

As we made our ascent I decided to check on the scenery I'd be missing out on for so long. However the Puget Sound never awoke to say it's goodbyes. It merely rolled over in its bed of rock and covered its face with a blanket of fog. I'd be grumpy too if I was permanently affixed to the earth. I waved to the Tacoma Dome and gave my regards to Narrows I and II (the fraternal twins of great grandma Gertie, who sadly galloped away sometime ago) Before long; we'd made it to a place above the clouds that my head is usually swimming in. A triangle of mountains, and it was time to rest.

I got my freaking peanuts! You naysayers told me pretzels.... nuts to that! Before long I was off to my connecting flight in Salt Lake City.

Upon arriving in SLC; there was but 15 minutes before boarding began for Charles de Gualle. I'd managed to snag a window seat again! To see the bird's eye view of the city's something I'd been looking forward to. However, much to my chagrin I switched seats with a woman that wanted to sit next to her son. On the positive, it put me in prime position to be closer to the uber hot frenchie gals I'd been eyeing since the airport. It also kept me away from creepy guitar guy, of who I'd have had to sit next to otherwise. And ugh! The lady that asked me to switch waited a few minutes before asking an elderly couple to switch with her daughters. TENACIOUS! Attempts at stealing sooo many window seats. If I'd known Mrs. Walmart had that kind of a monopolizing agenda, I'd have skipped out on it altogether.

Got to Paris and totally got yanked on that Air France bus. Should've saved money by using the RER. In hiding from the rain that I'd brought from home, I had another page of notes that when awol when trying to fasten my sandboard to my backpack underneath the Arc de Triumph. Some fellow is now the proud owner of Catch-22 and more notes on the window seat thief. I had slept shortly after seeing our plane icon hovering over the Hudson Bay and then again when we were near Iceland. So I never finished the book. I will forever be on Chapter 10; Wintergreen.

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I decided that Paris had left a bad taste in my mouth for the time being; thus made a B-Line for Bordeaux that instant. A mix up, a ticket exchange and an hour later; I was on the 4 hour train down. I didn't set up anything for day one and found the ritziest place I could find. Mousafa took my euros, and in the na,e of safety, took down my first name on his list of handwritten monikers. After leading me up windy narrow stairs we open the door to a dirty mess. "Not problem Awndroo" he reassures me. "I have other room" He then goes to the closet and grabs a stack of sheets and towels and opens another room; quickly working on changing the sheets. He thanks me when I put a pillow inside a case. Lastly, I hold back my disgust when he's about to put the blankets on top. In good hotels, your're lucky to have a comforter that's washed every 6 months. In this place; it was probably still on its original manufacturing wash.

Mousafa takes a bow when finished, sensing a job well done. "Goodnight Awndroo. Will see in morning" I ask when check out is. He says, "Sometime in afternoon, I not picky"

I hand some guy the key in the morning, and never saw Mousafa again. I made a quick jaunt to le centre ville first thing today to avoid further sketchiness and stumbled on some neat stuff. So far, Bordeux kicks so much rear it's ridiculous. So many old timey cooridors and alleys. Turn a corner and BAM! You're in front of a statue, which since it's Breast Cancer month, all are tied with pink ribbons and are blasting out pink water.

The northwest section of town's my favorite thusfar. Earlier I was there when some teenagers were playing hooky. They loudly mispronounced every word except the chorus of Stand by Me. "Eeets zee ownly, latchu seeee DAHLING DAHLING STAAAAND BY MEEEE" Soooo great.

Gotta ditch the board soon. If not just for ridding myself of the extra 7 pounds, but to keep people from pointing and asking "qu'est-ce que c'est?" only to look away when trying to answer. I did have one business guy ask and listen for a response. I couldn't remember the word for sand, so he started speaking English. I now know it's "sable".

Had some crepes and ridiculously expensive beverages... (I've yet to find a place that's under $4.50 American for a soda... and no one has it in a glass when handed to me. C'est ridicule!)

Anyhow, I'm doing well and feel I've got a better handle on things today since the jet-lag's worn off. I plan on hanging out here until tomorrow (the students are out for the weekend.. meaning the ladies are out) and then I head to Arcachon now that the rain has passed.

Until next time:


And for my benefit; since I can't scrobble my tunes at home for Last.fm, I'm attempting to listen to albums only once a piece this trip.

9:14 am Oct 2: So Many Dynamos - Flashlights
9:55 am : Mudhoney - Under a Billon Suns
10:41 am : Hidden Cameras - Awoo
11:22 am : History Invades - In Vision Vanish Invisible
12:27 am : Bad Religion - Suffer

Sometime around 6 or 7 pm the following songs:

Minus the Bear - Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse
Neutral Milk Hotel - In an Aeroplane over the Sea
Nada Surf - Là Pour Ca
Bad Religion - I want to Conquer the World

Then did half the Amelie Soundtrack.

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