Parisian windows

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anna is asleep and i should be, eight o'clock, bed at 3. but we have no time to blog our adventures, so i figured i might as well suffer a bit...

LONDON
keiran+pad+friends
five hour walk to see the sites. big ben, the london eye, but mostly just great company. we of course took a picture beside a guard. i wanted to pinch his ass. instead i just leaned on his shoulder. he grinned a bit.
keiran is a great talker, history enthusiast with piercing eyes. he's irish, and so he speaks vivaciously, gestures abound. he and his friend pad accompany each other on daily adventures, but might have tired of each other's company... they were happy to have us. show us their favorite park in london (richmond) giant with wandering deer and open fields, trimmed bushes for special views of the church.
london is full of friendly people, even the street cleaners. we were helped by so many of them when we were unable to figure out the telephones... and wasted 5 lbs on them. bitches.

will return to keiran at the end of the trip...

thundera collective
camden residing pregnant doctor who seemed like a hostel keeper, had been through the constant buzz of couchsurfers... and simply welcomed us warmly and went to watch some west wing in her room. beforehand we went to a vegan restaurant alive with the berkeleyans of london. all dreaded and stinking. saw some genuine weirdos. loved it.

PARIS
florence, christophe, leandre
the most adorable family i've ever met. young with child, but still fresh and enjoyable company. florence cooked us dinner the first night- croissant with fish filling, leeks and potatoes, bread and cheese, a class of wine. it was much better than any of the shit expensive british food we had been having. when i think of them. i think of WARMTH. we felt like members of the family. they laughed with us frequently, always wanted to find the correct english word... that is them and us in the picture (we look so happy!!!) leandre. the cutest baby ever. i don't like babies. but florence said she didn't originally either, until she had him. and he. is. the. sweetest. thing. apparently though she said she had a friend that was a member of the baby hating society, and did not want to see florence afterwards. the french are strange sometimes. it is impossible to hate leandre.
beautiful young and hip couple. couldn't have been more fun with them. i can't believe they offered us their couch. it was white leather. and they lived in a lush apartment.

marlon
lived literally behind the sacre coeur with a bunch of men and priests. i think we might have been the only women in the building... born in madagascar raised in paris. really odd. very awkward. 35 and sleeping in a bunk bed (we were on the bottom) fanatically religious. we wanted to leave as soon as we got there. on his couchsurfing profile his occupation reads "receptionist" his hours from 7pm - 3am. we were thinking more male escort. but no. he actually works in a hotel. and he fucked up his hours when he wrote us the email. seemed just like a lonely old man. i think the highlight of his place wasn't actually his company but the location. we saw nuns running through the garden avoiding our gazes atop a terrace that overlooked paris. just plain gorgeous

stephanie and olivier
staying with them now. very cute young couple. live in an apartment furnished like an urban outfitters style antique store. speak really good english. first night and we talked to them for three hours. about whales, strange movies, and brugges.

signing off now.
i should sleep...
(more to come on the sights... but later)

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