Bonjour Mon Amis

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I arrived in Paris ready to leave the wind and rain of Scotland. I got off the plane, took the bus to the Metro, took the metro to my hostel, checked in and dragged my weary feet and bleary eyes to the first restaurant I within eye sight ... it was Vietnamese. I immediately ordered a huge bowl of hot Pho and a glass of wine. Within 30 minutes (and a couple of more glasses of wine) I was rejuevenated, refreshed, jolted awake, feeling great and I haven't stopped feeling that way in 5 days. Paris is awesome. Awesome food. Awesome culture. Awesome wine. Awesome metro. Awesome parks. Awesome sights. Awesome neighborhoods. Even the weather was nice. A little chilly and rainy the first day, but still rather mild. The only downside was that people dress so incredibly nice here that I felt like a huge slob, considering I packed the same clothes for Paris that I packed for Cambodia. I had been told this ahead of time, but I was hoping during the weekend people would dress a little more casual. If anything they seemed to dressed to impress even more on the weekends. As such, I was a little intimidated about going to a nice restaurant and having a fine french meal, which is maybe my only regret. Still, the street food is amazing. Their ham and cheese sandwhiches are the equivalent to the street vendor hot dog in New York or the taco shacks in Austin ... there is always one within eyesight. They've made an artform of the ham and cheese sandwhich. And crepes stands are also everywhere, offering crepes you hold in your hand to walk around with ... usually slathered in chocolate or rum and raison, usually for 2 euros. You can get a really good bottle of French wine for 4 Euros that would probably cost you $25 in the US. As long as you stay away from the nightlife and the marked up drinks, you can really get by rather cheap.

I don't know where the stereotype came from that Parisians are rude. They couldn't have been nicer and more accomodating to me, despite me badly butchering their language. They are obsessed with manners. I think American's who have had bad experiences probably missed a step in the protocol of saying hello, good day, please, thank you and good bye in every transaction. As a Texan I already have that kind of ingrained in me, so I felt right at home.

I didn't make it to the Louvre, The weather was so nice I didn't want to be trapped indoors in a stuffy museum. Plus it's almost too big, and I don't think my capacity for appreciation or sustained attention can last 6-10 hours. Maybe next time. I also didn't get around to the catacomb tour as I had originally planned. I was mostly content to just walk around neighborhoods, read books in the park and people watch and eat vendor food.

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Comments

[Ryan]

Oh la la
Looks great man!