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Published: September 23rd 2011
Oh... Hello. From le Paris.
Missed me? Probably not...yet anyway. I've only been gone four days, although from here it feels more like a week.
They always say that the first half of your trip feels like forever and the second half flies by. This probably made worse by jetlag...
If you are new to my travel blog, here are my "rules" - time is money in internet cafes so there is no reading them over, and they are family friendly... mostly because most people who read this are family. Although, i highly doubt that this trip can have as much debauchery as the last one.
I am typing from the hostel I used to stay in when I came here. i'm sure one day i'll stay again ... but i'm not doing so at the moment. I came here to use their internet because they have the most "american" keyboards. i tried to log on last night in a place closer to where i'm staying, but it was a real french keyboard meaning several letters were in the wrong place so it took me about 15 minutes just to try and log on to facebook. i quickly bailed. "oh look honey, they let the girl with a learning disability go to paris on her own! isn't that cute"
so where am I staying, you ask. well, seeing as this trip is to celebrate being old (and/or 30) I decided to splurge a bit. there's a website called airbnb where you can find people from all over the world who are renting out their own apartments. sometimes because they are traveling, sometimes because they want to make extra money off of tourists. so i have my own little bachelorette pad in an area called Monmartre. If you remember from my last travel extravaganza this is the area whereI talked about amelie (the movie) a bunch. that movie actually really made me want to come here in the first place. It's not a bad deal really, i'm paying about $200 more than i would have to stay here. And i'm saving bits of money too because i'm able to cook for myself... meaning i'll probably eat out for lunch and that will be about it for the most part.
The apartment is small but plenty of room for me. It's sort of like a basement suite in a sense because it's in the middle of a courtyard... so although it does have lots of windows and a skylight over the bed - the sun is blocked by the tall buildings around it. Other than being a bit damp (an dlack of sun) i really like it a lot. It's very cute... And there's wifi, so that's how i've been on facebook every now and again because i can log on with my phone.
By accient or by fate it is about 2 blocks from the Amelie cafe. And more importantantly about 4 blocks from the Moulain Rouge/sex district! I'll never be bored!
"but lana" you're asking, " what about your journey there. please tell me that someone was trying to recreate river dance on the back of your seat again!" well sorry friends, nothing like that happened at all. what did happen was that it took me about 12 hours to get here. luckily i remembered a lot about the RER (suburban train) and the metro and found the apartment with almost no trouble. charlotte (the owner_) was there to greet me with coffee, flowers and macaroons. After she left i tried to have a bit of a nap, but couldn't do it - so i decided to take a walk around. So much like i remembered it.... except, i felt a little disconnected (probably from being exhausted)
Eventually i bought some lunch )bread bread and more bread... oh and cheese) and made dinner, when for another walk... and made it to my bedtime, 9pm. I fell asleep for about two hours, and woke up to french people singing in the courtyard which i thought was hilarious. The next time i work up was 10:30am! But sadly, I wasn't alone. i had a cold. I am takin ga supreme amount of vitamins -= and trying to sleep a lot and take it a little easy so that I can beat it quickly. it seems to be working anyway. I took it really easy this morning. Let myself sleep in, read under the sky light (open) for an hour or so before doing too much (ate my favourite thing, chocolate musli) ... and then got ready and came here.
After this I will be going to the Pompidou, the museum of modern art, that i missed the last time i was here. Possibly because I was drunk, or getting diabetes from white flour.
I have noticed a patern to my traveling alone. I find that for the first two days, i need to figure things out a bit. I'm tired, so i'm cranky and because i'm tired and cranky i don't instantly love anything and then i'm like "why am i here?" then i'm like "how are you complaining you're in a foreign country, shut up" then i'm like "but look how pretty that is" but then i'm like "is that street safe?" and then i'm like "shut up, eat your bread!" Once I get over the two day hump, and i get some sleep... I'm normal again and I stop worrying and just relax. I learned that about myself last time, but I thought maybe it was just a one time thing... it wasn't.
Another thing i've noticed is that i'm door-tarded. Ie: european doors are weird and I can't figure them out. The first time i had to lock the aparmtent door it took me about 15 minutes. I was certain someone was looking down on me from the aparment above laughing. Then later than night when I had to get back in the main door, i couldn't open it. i put in the pass code (it's pin number for the main door into the courtyard of the building) and then would turn the handle... nope. i must have done this about 15 minutes but could not get the door to open. and iknew i was putting in the right numbers because the light was flashing green. i almost stoped a (cute) man for help... but then you know what... i PUSHED. that's right. you just have to push the door for it to open. what a concept.
Last night when i was walking around trying to find an internet cafe and maybe some dinner, there was a man walking the streets with an acordion. actually. Why don't you live here? You should.
I'm also a little worried about doing some of these conditions. I mean i can do them all (well except maybe Chad's...) but i don't have anyone to take my pictue while doing them. Andm i know that we've all seen euoprean vacation and that scene where they take their shoes and get in the foutain and give their camera to a strange man and runs away with it? Well i don't want that to happen to me. Although my camera does suck... So i might have to try for self portaraits while doing said things. That's one thing I don't do too much on my own, take pictures. I hate really looking like a tourist. People in this city, aka the scammers/gypsy types love to do a lot of random things to trick you )and sometimes just talking to you leads to tricking) so if you just walk like you know where you're going = they don't bug you. The only sad thing is, sometimes you miss alot if you're not looking up.
Yesterday I also fell in love with a new neighborhood, possibly my new favourite. La Marais. I had been there before, and really liked it, but somehow yesterday it just felt like the "pefect paris" for me. Not that i don't love Monmartre still. I do, it's just got a different edge to it... Marais feels like stereotypical Paris. I spent a lot of time reading in parks and courtyards, drinking coffee in a cute cafe... it was a lovely low key parisian day.
At night I was actually handbilled with "english theatre?" Why yes, i like both of those things. The girl was part of an english theatre collective. They sound small, but like all of us have hopes to get bigger. By the end of the convo she asked me to email her if i had any projects i might like to bring to paris. how about, my life. and family and friends. Anyone?
Pain au chocolate! That will get you here and keep you here. I will be grabbing one on my way to the metro from my favorite bakery.
The first time I was in Paris was really magical. I met people from around the world and quickly made 12 new friends. I knew that coming here it would be different. That seeing things for the second time wouldn't be the same as seeing them for the first time. it is a little weird to be here comletely alone, when last time i was only alone for a day until i made a whole pile of friends on a tour. But i also think it's good for me.
My last trip was proving myself that I could do it. It was a challenge. I guess it was partially finding myself, and partially some thing I just thought I had to do. This trip is different. This trip is mean to be more of a vacation. I do have a lot of things I want to think about, and figure out - but i suppose somewhere last time maybe, or maybe just in my tiny little apartment at home, I figured a few things out.
Paris is still magical. It is still ridiculously beautiful, and there are still moments that feel more like a movie than real life. Once this jet lag has compeltely worn off, and this cold is gone, i'm excited by what "normal" lana will discover. Especially because since this cold happened io've laid off the booze... How can you travel in europe with no booze? Geez, i'm not a nun!
Nicky/ Jono, the elevator is broken in the hostel again... I'm watching people arive and get angry about it. Hopefully no germans come and set usall on fire.
Time for some modern are and chocolate in pastry
A bientot!
xo
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michelle
non-member comment
oui oui pariiiiis!
So glad to know you're there safe & sound, I hope that cold gets all better quick, and wish i was there with you stuffing my face with bread bread bread! AND chocolate filled pastry...mmmm!