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Published: October 10th 2010
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Wow, finally here! After a long sleepless journey to Paris, (thanks to the random man who I was so fortunate to sit beside after he apparently ate 10 garlic bulbs the night before,and had 5 bottles of airplane wine he guzzled during the flight) we have arrived. Paris is amazingly warm right now, and I can't wait to see it with fresh eyes tomorrow morning. We are just trying to find our bearings at the moment. They only shipped one half of my luggage so hopefully the other luggage shows up so I have clothing to wear. I have been easing into my french the same way you dip your toe into a cold lake before diving in. It really justs takes being in the situation to bring you more confidence and with being in Paris for two weeks I am hoping to warm up the jaw and tongue and begin thinking french. I had a really good warm-up in the car with our driver. He said my french was really good, which made me feel a little more at ease.
Next day:
So we started our day today with a guide to the city courtesy of Goldwell. I never
took a guide around paris the last time I was here, as I am not a bus tour person. And am still not a bus tour person. They are so confining and I personally like to get out on my feet and walk around. I think I even missed a good portion of it because I was passing out on the bus. By the time we made it to the Eifel Tower, we decided to ditch this tour bus and get out on our own. The day was warm and everyone was out in picnic mode, laying on the grass, taking afternoon naps, enjoying the weather under one of the most iconic structures in the world. Along with the picnic-ers and lovers cuddling on park benches, there was of course the sudanese "market" and there seemed to be someone every 2 steps selling cheap replica's of the "tower" in metalics of every color. No sooner did I blurt out"Who buys this cheap crap anyway?" did I hear the unmistakable slavic accent of my travel partner, asking how much the keepsakes were. There is a sucker born every minute.....
"Sonja, don't talk to them just walk away!" too late, she is
being polite and humoring them and now we have a new friend following us promising the best deal. I grab her hand like a mother does to a child and lead her away. If you give even a glimpse to these guys they are all over it.
Beneath the tower there is of course a huge line up. We make plans to return eary one morning. It's time to eat! We head over to this cute cafe called Comptoir 7tme. Our tour bus guide highly recommended it. The one thing I absolutly love about paris is that all the cafe's and bistro's all have these amazing patio's. No one eats inside the restaurant, everyone is out in the sun, spending their sleepy sunday afternoons having late brunches, sipping wine with friends and truly relaxing. The other thing that is prettty amazing, yet completley alien to me is that stores are forbidden to open on sundays. You can actually get a fine if you open up your doors, its against the law. Against the law? I am from the land of convienence, the land of 24/7,where I wonder why the malls are not open till 9 on a sunday, and
here it is the law to take a rest day! How forgien! I can admire this from a distance, but the north american part in me still thinks it would be better to have access to anything you need at any time. I guess i need to reteach myself, and sitting at a bistro for lunch and just enjoying the world go by is the best first lesson.
After our lunch we head on over to the right bank to make our way over to the opera house.The streets are busy. The Champs Elysee is bustling with activity.We make a quick stop at the church la Madleine and a quickie photo opt in front of th Opera house.We have walked aroung for 7 hours straight and have to rush back to the hotel to get ready for the Goldwell welcome reception.
Now I really dont have anything to say about the welcome reception except I felt like a teenager at a high school dance surrounded by some bad hair. I think all hairdressers know that when you attend things like this, that your bound to encounter some of the bad part of the industry. And this event was
no exception. short choppy hair cuts, white and red highlights, asymetrical hair cuts gone awry.....all pretty standard hairdresser stuff. All I can really add to this is that the fastest I have moved today is when they annouced that a bus was leaving to get back to the hotel. The color zoom fashion show tomorrow!
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mom
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Luggage
Hope they find your luggage soon. Otherwise I guess it will be a good reason for a shopping spree.