3 Days of Paris

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On the 16th I left London via bus. The ride was slightly worse than god-awful. The route was from London to Folkstone; from Folkstone board a train that goes under the English Channel to end up in the French town of Calais; from Calais it was another 3 hours on bus to Paris.

The Bus

Was fucking wonderful. The bus was a decrepit peice of ancient automation. It felt very retro; everything in the bus was some shade of brown, and the seats were made of this really worn in, cheap, carpet material that made the trip really uncomfortable. My seat didn't recline, so I was in an upright position for about 6 hours. The fabric on most of the seats were actually holey and torn and I could see the rusty interior of the seat infront of me; I didn't feel very safe. The bus driver was this French asshole who spoke the most broken English I have ever heard - half the passangers couldn't help chuckling everytime this man uttered what we thought to be the extent of his English. He wasn't alone too, there was this fat bitch (also French) as navigator - she was weird as hell. At one point she started barking like a dog for about 5 minutes. Nobody knew why.

The bus actually broke down on our way to Folkstone. It took us about 20 minutes just to get it started back up again. There were no explanations as to what the hell was actually going on; all I know is that we backed up traffic pretty bad since this was in the middle of a busy intersection.

The train, for whatever reason, was late. So All of us (including a ton of other buses and their passangers) were stuck in Folkstone for two hours before the train arrived and was ready to have us board. Its actually pretty interesting how it all happens: The train is just some sort of cargo train; the vehicles just drive into the train. Once the train is full the hatch shuts and it shoots us all through the English channel. There are windows which you can see, but its really unimpressive - all you see is black since no light reaches however deep we are in the channel.

I know I'm just bitching about this bus. I just need to vent. Looking back it wasn't that bad in the sense that i've experienced much worse. But still, fucking hell.

The scenery was so great from Calais to Paris that if anything irritating did happen I probably wouldn't have noticed it. The sky looks much closer to the earth in France than anywhere else I've seen. Fields and fields of green. I felt like getting out of the bus and just hiking my way to Paris.

The City of Light

Paris is amazing. The atmosphere is completely different, the people are all crazy. Everything is so very liberal there its incredible. Things like nudity or homosexuality aren't taboo. Cafes stretch across every corner of every block. Baguettes are really popular there, and are very good to snack on. I stayed in a hotel since all the hostels in Paris weren't exactly cheap, and I figured spending 10 extra euros wouldn't be such a waste if I got a nice comfortable room.

Note to self: find hostels outside of majors cities because the ones within major cities are expensive as hell.

Paris's metro system is so fantastic since there are stops everywhere. I think once you've got the metro system of a city down you've pretty much conquered that city. Infact I rarely know the proper names for parts of cities (Paris included), I only relate the area to its closest metro station. This kind of sucks when I'm trying to get some help from somebody or explain something to somebody who doesn't know the metro very well.

My hotel was right next to the Jaurés stop, up in the north-eastern part of Paris. My feet hurt from all the walking i'm doing but its well worth it. The nicest walk so far started from the Arc de Triomphe along the Avenue des Champs Élysées towards the Place de la Concorde, and then walking straight through this garden to get to the Louvre.

Another really excellent walk was from the Palais de Chaillot towards the Eiffel Tower (which I went to the top of, and holy fuck, what a view), and then onto the gardens behind the tower all the way to the École Militaire. The atmosphere here is refreshing; its not anything like walking the sites in D.C. The tourists in D.C. seem to blow hard. Maybe its just an America thing.

In The Name Of God

The cathedrals in Paris are ridiculous. They are so ornate, so grand, so elaborate that it hurts my brain trying to absorb all the detail put into the structures. Places like the Notre Dame(who's view ontop is not as impressive as the Eiffel Towers, by far) and the Basilique du Sacré Cœur, the Palais Garnier especially, and even the architecture of the Louvre itself just make me feel better about humanity and its capability for some type of grand accomplishment.

Paris (London too, but especially Paris) has made me appreciate architecture. But wherever I see some ancient structure I can't help but think of Howard Roark in The Fountainhead. I like to think there's a little Howard Roark in me - putting my 100% in everything I do. No compromises, no co-operation, no ifs or buts. Frank Sinatra's My Way comes to mind.

The Red Light District

Paris's Red Light district is really nice. Its alot better than the one in Lodon's Soho. It starts (roughly) from the Pigalle station and then goes west along this one boulevard that changes names about 5 times. Lots of sex shops selling the craziest lingerie, toys, magainzes, you name it. Lots of peep shows, lots of X-rated movie theaters. Tons of prostitutes and pimps just lounging around trying to grab your attention.

You know, the usual. Lots of fancy bright lights flashing repetitively. Sort of feels like a European Vegas.

It wouldn't be such a tease if the women here weren't as fucking fine as they are. Jesus. Its really ridiculous to see so many good looking people walking around. And whats more is they dress so well. Fashion capital of the world, among other things...

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