ma vie en paris

Another new project!

2009-10-20T15:05:00.002+02:00

I just started working with Topdogs.fr on some new stuff, mainly graphic updates and search engine optimization. You should check out their site! And if you need dog walking services in Paris you should definitely read more about their philosophy and services!

Long time no talk!

2009-10-06T14:56:00.001+02:00

I know it's been ages since I updated the blog, but that's because I've been super busy with travel and work and tons of other stuff. So I figured I'd give a quick rundown of links about stuff I've been up to:

Travel

I've been to a few countries this year (Morocco, Canada, and Germany), a few new cities (Biarritz, Bayeux, Montreal, Marrakech), and good ol' Vegas for the third annual girls trip. You can check out more of my travels at VickiMonti.com.

Work

I've been continuing to work on my start-up company/recipe website (with my business partner, Carrie), FunnySpoon.com. We've really grown the number of recipes we've created and our community has shared a bunch of recipes, too. We also write daily on our cooking blog and send out twice-monthly emails. Whether you like cooking or not - this site's for you! We've got super simple recipes that anyone can cook, and they so tasty that everyone will enjoy them!

I've also continued to do project management and web design. Here are a few of my projects:

SeaPak Shrimp: They sell frozen shrimp and seafood. I've been doing internal asset management, project management, and search engine optimization for them. Soon I might start helping with their blog, too!

Farm Rich: They sell frozen appetizers and meatballs. I do the same kind of stuff for them as SeaPak - internal asset management, project management, and search engine optimization.

Casa di Bertacchi: They sell frozen meatballs. I do the same kind of stuff for them as SeaPak - internal asset management, project management, and search engine optimization.

French Meadow Bakery: They sell organic and all-natural bakery products (some products are also gluten-free, casein-free, etc.). I do the same kind of stuff for them as SeaPak - internal asset management, project management, and search engine optimization.

Coffee Rich Creamer and RichWhip Whipped Topping: They sell coffee creamer and whipped topping. I do the same kind of stuff for them as SeaPak - internal asset management, project management, and search engine optimization.

ClubEntertaining.com: This site offers party tips and entertaining ideas, featuring great products you can buy at club stores. I do the same kind of stuff for them as SeaPak - internal asset management, project management, and search engine optimization.

I also help my mom maintain and market the website for her book, "Living the Thin Life", LivingTheThinLife.com.

FunnySpoon

2008-11-14T13:42:00.002+01:00

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted! Anyway, in the past year I've been involved in a new project, a recipe website with REAL recipes for REAL people. It's FunnySpoon.com. There are no recipes with 42 ingredients, with weird stuff you've never heard of and have no idea how to find in the store. And the recipes won't take half your day to prepare!

The goal of the site is to make things easy for you. There are pictures of all the branded ingredients in each recipe so you know what you're looking for when you go to the store. And the prep time on each recipe is typically under 30 minutes, with tons of recipes taking 15 minutes or less.

So check out FunnySpoon.com and be sure to share it with your friends!

My Newly Redecorated Apartment

2007-12-13T19:30:00.000+01:00

Mmm, tasty

2007-10-29T16:10:00.001+01:00

Here is a really good recipe from my client's website, plus we added new functionality to add recipes to your blog so of course I had to try that out!

Please upgrade to Flash Player 8 or higher.

Hermione Granger

2007-07-13T00:35:00.001+02:00

My dorkiness has never been a secret, but up until now I don't think anyone realized the full extent of it:

Ah, yes. There's nothing quite like dressing up for the premiere of Harry Potter. Complete with wands.

And in case you're wondering who took these pictures, it was a non-costumed, but be-wanded Lydia.

And this, my friends, is what you would expect from a math major.

Freezer Burn

2007-05-31T14:41:00.001+02:00

I know I haven't posted in a while but between my website and work blog and everything I seem to not really get to this blog very often. Anyway, just wanted to post some pictures of my stupid burn accident from the other day.

Since apparently I live in 1950, my freezer needs to be defrosted occasionally. I read some tips online (is there anything that's NOT on the internet these days?) and one said to boil some hot water and put it in containers in the freezer to help it melt. It specified to only use really sturdy containers so that you don't spend the day in the emergency room with third degree burns. Um, who would be dumb enough to burn themselves?

Enter me. I was putting the last stupid container of stupid boiling water in the stupid freezer and the stupid freezer door flap (the freezer is part of our incredibly small mini-fridge) flipped up while the stupid container flipped down and the whole stupid bowl of water fell on my whole stupid arm.

Pictures of the damage two days later:

It kinda looks and feels like a sunburn and will probably be better in a few days but sheesh. I think next time the freezer needs to be defrosted I'm just going to throw it away.

He's the man ...

2007-03-09T18:49:00.000+01:00

Philippe getting ready for work in his new clothes:

Chateau de Vincennes

2007-03-05T15:13:00.000+01:00

Sunday we actually did something Parisian went to Chateau de Vincennes. The thing that's cool about it is the fact that you can take the metro there, so it's really just right there in the middle of Paris. Party on:

If you look on both sides of the fort, you can see apartment buildings behind it.

More chateau-y buildings.

Same.

La Salle de Bains

2007-03-03T14:06:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the exciting world of ... installing bathroom floors!

For about 50 bucks and 3 hours of labor (2 hours of doing it, 1 hour of redoing it to perfection), we now have some kickin' new bathroom floors, thanks in total part to me.

Here is the WC with the old floors. Gnarly.

New floors!

Close-up.

Shower room

Much better, no?

Tallinn and Estonia

2007-01-11T14:20:00.000+01:00

Pictures from my trip to Finland and Estonia are posted on my website - www.vickimonti.com - in the vacations section.

The new floors

2006-11-12T18:55:00.000+01:00

It's not totally finished and there's still junk all over the place but here are some shots of our new floors:

Bedroom and new chair

Bedroom/Office area, and you can see the hall

Hall

Living Room

Dining Area

Area by the kitchen. Totally not exciting, not sure why I even took this picture.

Anyway, those are the floors. Even though it took a week and was a lot harder than we thought it was totally worth it.

Pere Lachaise and Buttes du Chaumont

2006-10-19T15:38:00.000+02:00

Last Sunday (I know, I’m a little late in updating this), Philippe and I went around Paris and did a few things:

Pere Lachaise cemetery, where Jim Morrison is buried. It’s almost like a little town, with all those above-ground crypts.

Jim Morrison’s grave

Then we headed up north to one of the few parks in Paris where you can actually sit on the grass. It is GORGEOUS. It was commissioned by Napoleon in the 1850’s, and was converted from an old rock quarry.

The view from the top of the cliff on the island is pretty cool - you can see Sacre Coeur.

And as you can see, it's pretty high up.

It has a few waterfalls.

And a cave, too, complete with stalactites.

I don't normally get this excited over a park but I just thought it was gorgeous, and it's crazy that it's right in the middle of the city.

Totally random

2006-10-08T20:42:00.000+02:00

Here are just some miscellaneous pictures:

Dad and Alexa at Del’s, during my visit to Florida.

Sarah and Kyle.

Me driving (well, stopped at this part) around the crazy Arc de Triomphe. It’s NUTS. There are hundreds of cars getting on and off the roundabout at the same time, and there are no lanes and there are 12 roads feeding into it. I’m quite surprised I made it out alive.

Here you can see there are no lanes.

They are repainting our building so here's a picture of the scaffolding. It's so weird because we live on the 8th floor, yet all day long there are people walking right past our windows. This guy was actually taking a nap right before I snapped the picture. You'd have to pay me a lot of money to fall asleep on something that high up with no rails.

Back from Brazil

2006-09-14T22:13:00.000+02:00

Here is the much-awaited (ha) update, complete with pictures, of my latest trip down South.

Saturday

We went to Fernando and Gabriela’s wedding. Philippe knows Fernando from the Yacht Club, and that’s where the reception was. The wedding was in a tiny little Catholic church up on some hill somewhere. I didn’t want to be the weirdo taking pictures of someone else’s wedding so I don’t have any pictures of that but here are some from the reception:

The bride and groom.

Natalia, Fabio, Rafael, and Tati

Philippe and me.

A view of the room. Not the best picture, but it gives you an idea of what a Brazilian reception looks like (a lot like a US reception).

The cake and the entryway.

Rafael with the tie-money jar; the groom takes off his tie and one of his friends goes around and cuts of pieces and “sells” it to the male guests as a way for the bride and groom to get some cash. Kinda like the Dollar Dance at some American weddings.

As a party favor they give out Havaianas to the girls. You KNOW I was grateful for that after dancing in 4 inch heels all night.

They had a mini-buffet for the dinner and so by the end of the night, I was famished. That’s when they brought out the hot dog cart. I LOVE this wedding.

Philippe, me, and Marcos (doesn’t he look a little like Sean Hayes?)

Things get interesting towards the end of the night. They start handing out these ridiculous ties and feather boas and all sorts of crazy stuff. Here’s Philippe and me with the bride and groom.

Sunday

OK, enough about the wedding. Sunday we went to Maracana, the second largest football (soccer) stadium in the world. It was fun except for the whole having-to-watch-football part.

Philippe’s team, Vasco, was playing so we shouted along with all the cheers that basically cheer Vasco on and say some stuff not suitable for kids about the other team.

The fans really get into it. They light off flares and fireworks and have flags and drums and all sorts of stuff. I’d never been to a football game before so the only thing I could compare it to was the Quidditch Cup in the Harry Potter movies. Am I a dork or what?

More fans. These are actually all Vasco fans. They make the supporters sit on different sides so they don’t kill each other. Literally. They even have to use separate entrances and exits when coming to and leaving the stadium.

Tuesday

We went to the Botanical Gardens. In general I wouldn’t take so many pictures of botanical gardens but in Brazil they’re pretty cool.

Some swampy Amazonian-looking area.

A wild monkey! All of Philippe’s friends laughed when I said we saw wild monkeys because these monkeys are so tame they’ll come up and eat out of your hand. But so? As long as they’re not in a cage, they’re wild to me.

It’s tough to see, but this guy’s in the middle of the picture. Of course, right after I put my camera away after taking 15 pictures of him, he tilts his head to the side and strikes a pose for the next picture-taker.

Another monkey. It’s kinda like Where’s Waldo to find the monkeys in these pictures.

A view of the surrounding hills.

Philippe next to a huge tree.

Philippe’s parents.

Me being a dork.

More trees!

Me.

Philippe’s parents and some big trees.

I guess dorks are attracted to each other. In Philippe’s defense, though, this picture was my idea.

If you look closely you can see the Cristo on top of the hill in the background.

Isn’t this tree cool? It’s blurry in real life, like a natural Monet (for once it’s not my camera).

Leblon beach.

Thursday

Three guys whose names I forget, Letitia, and Gabi at this bar/restaurant that the former president of Brazil used to go to. That makes us cool.

Me and Philippe there, enjoying cold beer and awesome caiparinhas.

Friday

You might have heard of the Pao de Azucar (Sugar Loaf) in Rio, which is a huge hill in the middle of the city. You can take a cable car up to a smaller hill and then another cable car up to the Sugar Loaf. The smaller hill is practically in Philippe’s backyard and we were feeling adventurous, so we hiked up it. You can’t hike up the Pao de Azucar without an experienced guide, though, otherwise you have a 99% chance of death. I’ll pass.

We saw more monkeys! These ones were the little guys, that are less than a foot tall.

This one ate a granola bar out of this guy’s hand.

View from the top. The beach in this picture is in a lot of movies about Rio because it’s secluded and therefore easy to close off to the public while filming. There’s also an awesome pizza place in the building with the red roof.

Cable car to the first hill.

View of the bay where we later went sailing. The small boats are still small up close – they’re about 6 feet long and are sailed by 8-13 year-olds. Crazy, huh? They’re in the middle of a regatta. And Philippe knows all this because he sailed the same boats from the same club at the same age. How cute.

View of the Corcovado and the Cristo.

The Pao de Azucar.

Saturday

For the weekend we headed out to Ilha Grande, the island where Philippe’s parents own some property (400,000 sq meters to be exact, because you know I asked).

Philippe kayaking.

Me kayaking.

Philippe on the beach.

Us on the beach.

A view of our room from outside. Check out that mosquito netting. Despite the fact that it really does keep all the bugs out, I still had nightmares all night long that nasty things were crawling on me.

A path on the other side of the island.

Monday

We took a tram ride (how touristy!) through Santa Theresa, which is like Rio’s version of Montmartre.

View of downtown. That crazy cone-shaped (but with a flat top) building is actually a cathedral.

Some arches and the cathedral.

Tuesday

Took it easy on my last day there (other than the sailing incident where I got smacked in the face with the boom, lost my sunglasses, almost got flipped in the water, and generally feared for my life since the boat was only about 10 feet long and was less than a foot above the water – have I mentioned I’m kind of afraid of water?).

A little harbor by Philippe’s house.

The street in front of Philippe’s house.

And after a little going away party at the Billabong Happy Hour at Outback (or Ouchback as they say with their accent), I returned to the good ol’ US of A.

More pics

2006-08-10T17:58:00.000+02:00

Here are some more pics from my trip.

A better view of the ocean.

Another view

It's hard to see since they're so small but there were tons of paragliders.

Philippe et moi.

Like the only picture of us in Bordeaux.

Bordeaux

2006-08-10T14:42:00.000+02:00

For our one year anniversary, Philippe and I headed down to Bordeaux. Aw, how cute. Bordeaux is a nice enough city, but it’s pretty small and there’s not much to do other than walk around and eat. Fine by me.

The first thing we did after our train ride in was check into a hotel. It was quite possibly the nastiest hotel I’d ever seen. I mean, seriously, I’ve stayed in nicer hostels. And the stupid toilet didn’t flush. So we decided to check out, except the entire reception at that point was gated off and closed “for lunch”, with no indication of when they would be back. So we decided to make the best of it (for the time being) and walk around, check stuff out, and look for a new hotel. We found a new hotel, went back to the old one, checked out (with the possibility of not getting a full refund since we booked online, blah, blah, excuse, excuse, I don’t even care, I’m not sleeping in filth) and then checked in to our nicer, newer hotel right in the city center.

We didn’t really do much the rest of the day, just ate dinner and went to see Two For The Money, which wasn’t horrible but was just kinda OK.

Then the next day we woke up bright and early (10:00) and caught a train to Arcachon, a beach town about an hour away. It’s a pretty cool city and of course any beach this time of year is appreciated. Philippe had heard of this big sand dune a little bit south of the city, so we rented bikes and headed out there. It was about 12k so that totally counted as my workout for the day, then we got to the dune where you walk up it, then down to the beach, then back up it when you leave. Then we biked 12k back to the city. So I actually got like 3 workouts.

Oh, and while we were laying out on the beach, I got totally burned because I apparently don’t know how to put an even coat of sunscreen on. I’m totally a tomato (as they say in Brazil).

Here are some pics:

The dune.

Philippe going up some makeshift stairs on one side of the dune.

A view of the beach from the dune.

A view of the forest from the dune.

A view down the length of the dune, but it’s kind of hard to make out.

Some ADORABLE kids eating ice cream and getting it everywhere. Kind of hard to tell from the picture because I didn’t want to be a total creep taking pictures of other people’s kids but they were just too cute. And they kept chasing the parents around, threatening to get ice cream on them.

And this is just a random picture of me and Laura at fondue. Lookin’ good.

Tour de France

2006-07-24T13:59:00.000+02:00

So, yesterday was some big bike race, called the Tour de France or something like that. Philippe and I went to check it out:

Here is a shot from our second lookout point, at Place de la Concorde, one end of the Champs Elysees. Not too shabby. At our first lookout point, I was actually right up in front at the barricades. However, due to me having a slow, crappy camera and horrible timing, I managed to take pictures of the blank space in between the groups of riders. Enthralling photos, let me tell ya.

Then Philippe and I had the brilliant idea to go up in the ferris wheel at the Fete de Tuileries so that we could get a nice aerial view. The riders came around the corner just as we reached the top. Cost to get to the top (with only 4 skimpy laps around): 6 euros. Being able to brag to everyone we know: Priceless.

More.

More.

Gosh, there’s still more?

While we were up there, we enjoyed the view. Here, the Jardin de Tuileries, with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Sacre Coeur and about a billion houses.

The Louvre.

Some supermodels.

Le Moulin Rouge

2006-06-16T16:55:00.000+02:00

I haven't actually been there yet but here's the outside. One of these days I'll go, but it's tres expensive.

Miscellaneous Pictures

2006-06-10T15:59:00.000+02:00

Just some pictures of the Arc from last Sunday.

This is the stadium that we saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers in. It’s hard to tell from the picture but that’s actually grass on the sides. I still have no idea how they plan on mowing it.

And Philippe with "his" bottle of wine - it's Chateau de Mille, which is his last name.

Kiss Me I'm Italian

2006-05-31T20:00:00.000+02:00

I have numerous reasons to think our recent trip to Belfast was the worst trip ever, but somehow I still remain upbeat about the whole thing and think it was still worthwhile. That’s probably because I got my stamp on my passport for leaving the EU and I won’t get deported. That will bring a smile to anyone’s face. Anyway, here’s a rundown of our trip, itinerary-style.

Sunday

4:00 PM Leave for the airport.
5:00 PM Arrive at Terminal 3 in Charles de Gaulle. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a real part of the real airport. A better phrase would be “shack in the middle of nowhere that they will trap you in and make you wait forever plus a day.”
5:15 PM Complete check-in for flight. Right as we are walking away from the counter with our boarding passes, the ticket agent casually says, “Oh, and your flight eez delayed until 10 or 11.” Um, excuse me? It’s 5:15. That’s not OK.
8:00 PM Receive complimentary sandwich and soda that doesn’t even come close to making up for my wasted time.
10:00 PM. Not freaking out but still irritated that we have received NO update on the situation and there is no mention of when our flight leaves.
11:00 PM Mutiny among the ranks. Several Scottish and Irish passengers are forming a pact of people who think this is BS and want to bombard the gate agent with questions and complaints as soon as she appears. Yeah, good luck guys, but the key problem with that plan is there is NO ONE WORKING IN THIS STINKIN’ AIRPORT. We have now resorted to calling it SleazyJet, LazyJet, and It’sNeverEasyJet. We are all really tired.
12:20 AM We finally board the stupid plane.
2:00 AM We finally land in stinkin’ Belfast.
2:30 AM We finally make it to the stinkin’ hotel after paying an arm and a leg for a cab.
3:00 AM We finally get to bed, too exhausted to do anything and it’s not like anything is open at 3 in the morning on a Sunday anyway.

Monday

9:30 AM Get ready and go downstairs for the hotel breakfast. Excellent breakfast. Too bad we didn’t know it wasn’t included in the price of the room (stupid hotels.com) so we ended up paying 8.50 pounds each which is like $16! I’m sorry, but if I’m eating a $16 breakfast there better be 5,000 pancakes and gold being served. And nice that we didn’t even find that out until after we checked out.
10:30 AM Went on a dorky double decker bus tour that honestly I loved. Belfast has some pretty interesting history what with the IRA and all.
12:00 PM Wow. I haven’t done so much by noon in a long time. Shower? Eat? See stuff? Normally you’re lucky if I’ve rolled out of bed by 11:00 and gone to the gym. And don’t even THINK about me taking a shower BEFORE work. Ah, the joys of working from home. Where was I? Oh yeah, so on the double decker bus tour we passed through Shankill (the Protestant part) and the Falls (the Catholic part). There are lots of murals in both, so Philippe and I walked back up that way and checked them out in more detail. I think Philippe took a picture of like every one which seems impossible but he’s got like 400 pictures to prove it. I meanwhile took pictures of kids playing soccer in the street. One kid was really dirty (which is interesting because it’s not like they were playing in a muddy field or anything) and Philippe goes “That kid is really dirty. Where is his mom?” What’s funny is I was thinking the same thing. So, does that mean Philippe and I are like 60 years old now?
2:00 PM Stopped off for a pint. Hey, it’s a good way to fit in.
3:00 PM Headed back to the hotel for a nap. I think it was the best nap I ever had in my life.
4:30 PM Shocked that it was still so early, we decided to head to Belfast Castle which is just north of town. We took a cab there (about 10 minutes) and then checked out the castle and grounds. Then we decided to walk back to town. We made it about halfway but I tell you, it is just too darn windy and cold to be walking for too long over there. So we took a bus back the rest of the way.
6:00 PM Checked out the Continental Market in front of City Hall. It would have been cool if we lived there, but considering most of the booths offered French food, it wasn’t such a novelty.
6:30 PM Ate at the oldest pub in Belfast, White’s Tavern. It’s been around since 1630 and you get to it through a back alley. The food was good (lots of onions and garlic) and as a result, we instituted the “No more burping in the other person’s direction” rule. See normally, we are two sickos that love burping but man, it was pretty torturous after that meal.
7:30 PM Went back to the hotel. Decided we were no longer upset that our flight was delayed because it was only 7:30 and we pretty much did everything there was to do. 8:00 PM Decided to go see MI3. We walk toward the concession stand and at the same time Philippe and I say “We need popcorn. It’s really yellow.” See, in France, the popcorn is white and salty but has like no butter on it. Well, in Northern Ireland it’s the same, but they put fake yellow coloring on it. They’ve got it all wrong. I want fake yellow BUTTER on it. Lots of it. So I go back to the counter after tasting this stuff and politely ask if they have any extra butter for the popcorn (you know, the Butter Flavored Product that comes out of the pump) and the guy goes, “Um … not any EXTRA butter.” Right. Well, OK, you guys can go on thinking you already put enough on but let me just tell you yellow does not equal butter. Grease does.
11:00 PM Headed out for a pint. I think we win the People Who Visited Ireland and Drank the Least prize since this was only our third pint. But whatever. It was Monday and I had a cold. And it’s not a contest, right?
12:00 AM Got some takeout Chinese food and brought it back to the hotel.
12:01 AM Realized they forgot forks so sent Philippe down to the front desk to get some.
12:15 AM Finished eating the massive amounts of food and decided to take a shower. That was when I realized the cold water was out. Doesn’t sound like a big deal until you realize showering without getting third degree burns is impossible. And I tell you what, walking around a windy city all day really makes you want to take a shower. So, thanks guys for the stupid forks. I’ll trade you for some cold water. And don’t even get me started on brushing my teeth. Ick.

Tuesday

Wake up. Take the longest shower ever, now that the cold water is back on. Contemplate keeping the water on all day just to teach them a lesson, but realize that’s not really a lesson. Eat expensive (still thinking it’s free) breakfast. Buy dorky souvenirs. Go to the airport. Find out the dang flight is delayed, but thankfully only by 15 minutes. Get home. Be thankful to be back on French soil.

And of course, no trip is complete without beaucoup pictures.

This is a pretty cool picture of City Hall. Philippe will probably have to kill me now that I’m letting the secret out, but the trick is he put his sunglasses in front of the camera. It’s also a good technique to employ if you want a lot of people to look at you like you’re weird.

Us on the bus.

The Leaning Tower of Belfast. You can’t really tell because it’s a wonky picture but it leans a good five feet by the time you get to the top. At least I think that’s what the tour guide said. Honestly, I think it’s easier to understand French than Irish accents.

Continuing with the crappy picture theme, this is the building where the Titanic was designed. It was built in a shipyard off to the left.

Statue of Peace or something. The Belfastians call it The Thing with the Ring.

An old jail. This is actually what a lot of Belfast looks like – dilapidated buildings. Apparently lots of stuff is on its way to being rebuilt so it should be pretty cool in a few years.

One of the many murals.

A mural of Bobby Sands, a hunger striker, on the side of the Sinn Fein offices.

A typical upper class neighborhood. Houses go for over a million pounds (that’s like almost $2 million dollars).

Belfast’s tiniest house (to the left of the church). It’s only 7 feet wide. You like that reflection of my camera in the window? Oh yeah.

The Europa Hotel aka The Most Bombed Hotel in Europe. It’s been bombed 43 times.

Typical street.

Kid playing soccer in the street. You can’t see it, but he does have friends.

I can’t say for sure but we think this gate blocks off the Shankill side from the Falls side because it’s right between the two and I think the tour guide said something about it.

View from Belfast Castle.

Belfast Castle.

Me on the Italian Staircase at Belfast Castle. And yes, I did stop for a second and pretend I was a princess. Who wouldn’t?

Some dork in front of the castle.

Some bigger dork in front of the castle.

A view of the castle from afar. I love how when I see stuff from a long time ago I start talking like from a long time ago. See ye the castle from afar. Ye.

Typical pub.

Philippe in White’s Tavern.

Me looking chubby in White’s Tavern.

That's all for now. Next exotic location ... good ol' US of A.

My mom is so going "Eek!" right now

2006-05-23T16:27:00.000+02:00

It’s been like infinity-plus-one years since I updated this bad boy so here goes:

• Decided to do more French culture stuff so I went to the Louvre, the Rodin museum (already mentioned it but hey, I’ll take more credit), and the Picasso Museum. We have plans to do plenty more, like the Paris Sewer Museum (I’m for real, it looks cool), so stay tuned
• Saw The DaVinci Code last night. Despite what anyone says, I thought it was an entertaining movie. You can criticize, analyze, and protest it to shreds but bottom line, it was worth the $7 to see it.
• On the way home from the movie we saw a mouse in the metro station. Normally I don’t like gross little disease carrying animals/insects/nastiness but this little guy could not have been cuter. (Pictures below)
• This weekend I’m headed to Belfast, Northern Ireland, with Philippe for a quick two-day trip, just long enough to get my passport stamped so I don’t get deported. Should be fun; I’ll be sure to post pictures.

(Just for perspective)

Le Musee Rodin

2006-05-08T17:21:00.000+02:00

Sunday I went to the Rodin Museum since it was free museum day. That’s where The Thinker is:

It’s a pretty cool museum since part of it is in an old mansion and part is in the gardens. However, I’m not majorly into sculpture so I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as some people.

Good thing they had three Van Goghs for me to ogle for oh I don’t know, 5 minutes each, which is actually a long time if you think about it.

Then I headed to the café and just ate a sandwich and read a book and had a glass of wine.

Then of course I had to head to the gift shop and buy postcards of the Van Gogh prints, and a much needed bookmark (the ticket stuff from my Rio to Houston flight was getting a little ratty).

Overall, a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon by myself.

Here’s another picture, this one of the house from the gardens. You can’t really get the proportions from this picture but the flowers are the size of your head.

L'appartement, part deux

2006-04-21T19:56:00.000+02:00

Woo-hoo we got a new couch yesterday and it was a steal - a sofa bed for only 50 euros! Sweet. So here are some pics along with other recent additions to our lovely new home:

The couch.

The couch again, but with a better view of the living room.

We hung some new pictures in the bedroom so it's not quite the sea of white wall it used to be.

Our new curtains that Philippe's mom made for us. Sorry the picture quality sucks but that's kinda what happens when you take a picture out a window on a (finally) nice day and then try to fix it with a crummy photo editor. Ah, c'est la vie.

I've had it

2006-04-18T22:35:00.000+02:00

I went to the gym today and hurt my toe worse, then had to walk home and it took forever and old ladies were passing me, and then I stubbed my dang toe on a pair of shoes while I was walking past it thinking "You're gonna stub your toe. Wait, no you're not because you just recognized the danger and are responding accordingly." Um, no. I am screaming on in the inside and will soon be screaming on the outside. Gimme my toe back.

Game on

2006-04-16T23:43:00.000+02:00

My toe is almost better but I think it's gonna be a while before it's totally good. Shucks. Didn't stop me from doing a litle shoe shopping (of all things) today, though. Then, just now, Philippe and I finished a movie and he asked if I would go with him to return it. I totally played the broken toe card and he totally played the shoe shopping card. Somehow I still managed to win. Score.

Meet Stubby, the doorstop

2006-04-14T15:43:00.000+02:00

Sorry for not writing for a while and then the first post back in the game is a gnarly picture of my broken toe, but that’s how it goes. Enjoy.

Un autre jour

2006-04-04T22:11:00.000+02:00

I would love to write something incredibly interesting, but things have been a bit slow in these parts. Quick run-down:

Work: We had daylight savings time (or Summer Time as they call it here) a week before the US. During that week I worked 1-9 instead of 12-8 to make up for the hour difference. Even though we’re all adjusted now, I’ve still been working 1-9 because nuttin’ much happens here until 9 anyway and that means I can sleep later! Yesss.

Food: France is the WORST country to try to lose weight in! I should have tried to lose it all before I came over here. Oh well. I’m taking the stairs and working out at Curves and trying (but hardly) to watch what I eat. Why oh why are cheese and pasta and croissants so good? And why are there patisseries on EVERY dang corner!!!!

Apartment: The apartment is lookin’ pretty good, I’d say. Philippe’s mom made us some sweet curtains. I’ll get some pictures up sometime soon.

I think that’s the short of it for now. I’ll check in later!

Snoozefest 2006 with a slice of irritation

2006-03-24T09:36:00.000+01:00

I think last night might be one of the most irritating nights in recent history. It was Philippe's graduation ceremony (even though he graduated like forever ago). So I decided to get a little dressed up and wear a skirt. I don't do this normally because my incredibly pale legs blind people and I'm always cold. So I decided to wear my only pair of stockings - this pair of thigh highs.

Now, when I packed those bad boys, I didn't try them on and just figured they still fit even though I hadn't worn them in years. So I put them on last night and rush out of the house a little late because Blogger decided to upload all of my pictures except one and I stubbornly tried to figure out what its problem was instead of just leaving.

So, I'm late and I'm rushing down the street. The stockings are starting to fall and my feet are already hurting from my stupid heels. Ugh.

I decided to go to Monoprix and buy some "real" stockings that won't fall down. They've got about 8 million to choose from so I just look for the cheapest (2 euros) and checkout. I head across the street to McDonald's to put them on and the people outside the bathroom must have been very curious what was going on since it was the tiniest bathroom ever and I'm bumping into the walls and stuff. They keep trying the door to the stall, too, which only adds to the irritation. It's not like they can't hear me in there with all the commotion.

So I put them on and they're OK except the crotch is like way low. Normally, given more time, I would start at the bottom and pull them up inch by inch. But I was in a hurry so I just grabbed the crotch and pulled up. Bad move, because it ripped the entire thing. You have got to be kidding me. But, my skirt was really long so I figured it would be fine and so I took off.

Two metro rides later (I HATE changing lines) I arrive at the graduation place, 25 minutes late. I make a pit stop in the bathroom to adjust the stockings the "right" way, hoping to make the gaping hole ever so slightly less annoying. I'm being super careful and inching them up slowly when all of a sudden they get ANOTHER snag! You've really got to be kidding me now. I just went through all of that for nothing! So I took the stupid things off and put the other ones back on. Great, so now we're where we started except with 2 euros less, a half hour later than planned, and a lot more stress.

Then I proceed to the world's most boring graduation ever. Keep in mind this is graduation from Philippe's business school for his MBA. So quite a few speakers thought it would be interesting to have poorly designed, mismatched font, power point presentations about different aspects of business. Um, dudes? School is OVER. No point proves that more than the fact that we're at a GRADUATION ceremony. Yeah, it may look like we're in a lecture hall but we're not. Shut up. Oh, you're going to keep talking for 22 minutes AFTER your power point presentation is over? I think I hate you. I really do.

So, what's the solution? Bring in a belly dancer. Yep. That's totally what I would have done.

OK, now that the boring lecture and Eastern dancing portion of the ceremony are over with, let's finally give out the diplomas. And let's do it in 5 minutes so that everyone feels really pissed off that they endured all the rest of this horrible ceremony for only 5 minutes of the good stuff. [Though I can hardly complain that at least SOMETHING took less than an hour]

OK, now everyone get up because it looks like it's over. Vicki, you especially, start walking out the door. Psyche! Haha, it's Opposite Day! I told you you could leave but you can't. And I'm gonna send one of my little ladies in black with a yellow sash to tell you it's not over. Now SIT DOWN.

OK, is everyone seated? Does anyone actually still want to me here? No? Good, because two of the students would like to play guitar. Yes, that's what I said. They're kind of decent and they're only going to play 4 songs so I'm sure you don't mind sitting there will a full bladder for 20 more minutes, do you? Because that's really what you came here for, right? To hear a Frenchman sing "Everything's gonna be alright" and say "every little things is gonna be alright." No, every little THING is gonna be alright! No S! Stop saying S! And it's not gonna be alright if you keep singing! Oh you're done? Sweet. Clap, clap, clap. Encore? Noooooooooo! La Bamba? Oh, well, actually, that's kind of OK except I want to leave.

The best part is, I look over and Philippe's dad has already bolted for the hallway. Smart man.

Le nouvel appartement

2006-03-23T18:01:00.000+01:00

Here are the much anticipated pictures of the newly re-done apartment. I was planning to wait until more stuff was done, but I got sick of waiting. Plus it’s nice to see the progress, too. At least I’M interested in that stuff and I know my mom is so there.

The Bedroom

Here are a few bedroom shots:

You might not really be able to tell from the pictures, but the bed is HUGE and takes up a lot of room, yet it’s only like a queen size bed. We are planning to hang some pictures on the wall but need to frame one first, then hang the other ones (my Maplewood and Paris John Pils – nice contrast).

The Office

Here is my new desk. I LOVE it. And you know I organized the heck out of it. Plus the white space over by the lamp is a white board slash magnetic thingy so you can write notes or post things up there. Sweet. And I’ll go ahead and take a pat on the bad for using my I-swear-it-won’t-be-too-big-but-ended-up-being-too-big silverware tray as a desk organizer on the keyboard that I otherwise wouldn’t be using.

The Bathroom

The bathroom and toilet room stayed the same except for some new rugs and hanging some pictures on the wall. Not really worth taking a picture of.

The Living Room

We are still thinking to get a red couch, but in the mean time our current couch will do (read: We need some more money first). We rearranged the room so that the TV wasn’t the focus, and got an entertainment center. Niiiiiice. Also, until the bed sells, the only place we could really find for it is propped up behind the couch. Um, cool.

The Dining Area

This is dominated by our Control Center, mainly because I hog the office area so Philippe and Pablo have to work out here. I’ve never seen a group of people who are on the computer more often. Good thing we got wireless internet.

The Kitchen

We got rid of the broken washing machine and replaced it with our “pantry”. Somehow that filled up right away and we still don’t have enough room for all our food. We also just rearranged some stuff for more counter room. Probably no one else can tell the difference, but when you can open the microwave door without knocking over the dish drainer, you’ve truly succeeded.

And that’s it for now. More as (interesting) developments arise.

Failure to Cook

2006-03-22T19:13:00.000+01:00

Last night was "date night" so I cooked Philippe my specialty - mashed potatoes with hot dogs and cheese. Yeah, I know it's not haute cuisine, but it's pretty darn good cuisine.

Then we went to see "Failure to Launch" at the theater at the Champs Elysees. They were having this special deal for the beginning of spring and so it was only 3,50! That's cheap, especially for being on like the swankiest street in Paris. And of course, you've gotta love coming out of the theater and seeing the Arc de Triomphe all lit up. Gotta love living in Paris!

Yes, I do eat my vegetables

2006-03-21T17:11:00.000+01:00

Monday night Philippe and I went to dinner at his aunt and uncle’s house. They were talking about cooking potato and “poireau” soup and they were trying to figure out how to say poireau in English. I, of course, did not learn that word in school so they tried describing it. They’re like “it’s white with green leaves and the white part grows in the ground.” I give them a blank stare. “The white part is long and straight.” Blank stare. “You make soup with it.” Blank. “It’s like endives, but not really.” Blank. “We’re gonna go get the French-English dictionary.” Bonne idée. Turns out it’s a leek. OK, honestly, in a million years would you have ever guessed leek? I mean, yes I’ve heard of it, but in a contest to see which is the last vegetable on earth you would ever think of, I’m pretty sure leeks would win.

Um, I hope I don't have to answer that

2006-03-21T17:10:00.000+01:00

I’m afraid of only a few things – spiders, looking at my reflection in the mirror with the lights off, and answering the phone in my new apartment. 99% of the time it’s not going to be for me since I just have people call my cell phone. So that means people are calling for Philippe or Pablo and just as a reminder, they are both Brazilian and are living in France. So you can guess that the caller is speaking Portuguese or French, one of which I don’t know and one of which is pretty near difficult to understand on the phone. Yikes.

Je suis arrivee

2006-03-07T20:35:00.000+01:00

So, I'm back in Paris indefinitely but definitely not forever (don't worry, Mom!). It's been busy so far, with unpacking and working and shopping and completely rearranging and refurnishing the apartment. So as you could guess, I am super happy because I love being overly busy and having a million things to do.

Here are some photos of the apartment as it is right now. I've done some minor stuff, but you won't really be able to see changes until next Monday when we get all our furniture in. Now, in Philippe's defense, part of why it looks so dumpy is because we started to do some organizing and now need containers to put everything in but haven't had time so a lot of stuff is on the floors and all over the place. Anywho, here it is:

Bedroom:

Bath Room:

Toilet Room:

Living Room:

Living Room/Kitchen Eating Area:

Kitchen:

J'ai fini

2005-10-05T17:43:00.001+02:00

Well, folks, I'm home. It's totally different to be back - but it's not too bad. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I won't be updated the blog anymore. But stay tuned in case I return to Paris ...

Pigeons are just rats with wings

2005-09-26T15:59:00.000+02:00

I haven’t updated the blog much since the main people who read it are my parents and they were in town this past week. But after a little episode yesterday, I must resume. You see, yesterday I came home to discover bird crap on my kitchen floor. This was most unexpected. After surveying the house, I didn’t find the bird, so I can only assume my kitchen window blew open and he flew in, did his business, then flew out. My window was partially open when I got home so I’m sure that’s it. Totally creepy though. Oh and gross. Definitely gross.

And more

2005-09-16T15:39:00.000+02:00

OK, sorry I’ve been bad about the updates. Gotta do this quick because I have a million people in town and a million more things to do.

Josh and Erika got engaged yesterday at the Eiffel Tower. Sweet!

Then the gang went to a gallery opening and got all swanked up:

Then we had dinner at an Italian restaurant, you know, since we’re in Paris:

More updates later!

Eh, nada much

2005-09-16T15:38:00.000+02:00

Not much happened yesterday since I was busy with computer/work stuff, but Josh and Erika are in town now and we went out to dinner.

I saw like 5 people I knew while we were sitting there (outside) so that was pretty cool. But of course the coolest is that Erika and Josh are here and today Sarah gets here. Sweet.

Brittany, part deux

2005-09-12T11:10:00.000+02:00

OK, I know these are super long overdue but here are a few more pics from my trip to Brittany with Philippe.

A view of the beach from our hotel window.

Another view.

It’s OK, I know you’re jealous.

Philippe in front of the WW2 museum in Bayeux.

The American Cemetery in Colleville Sur Mer. I’m quite convinced it’s always closed, because it has been every time I’ve been there. Although, come to think of it, I did come after 17h each time.

Philippe with the balloon he got from McDonald’s, “for his little cousin.” Right. I’m sure they believed you.

A late update

2005-09-11T16:45:00.000+02:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently – things have been insanely busy. I worked from 8-5 (that is, 5 in the morning) Friday night, then did the pub crawl last night from 8 – 3 in the morning, and now am working again tonight. Whew! But I’m thinking I should be rich pretty soon.

A few random things:

• The other day I saw a kid rollerblading down a hill but he only had one roller blade on. I kept walking and was thinking of all the reasons why he would only have one roller blade. I mean, he had a shoe on the other foot so it’s not like he lost the other one or something. Well, about a minute later I saw a different kid playing basketball with only one rollerblade on. I think someone should teach these kids that a more effective way of sharing would be to take turns instead of using them at the same time, but whatever.
• Then, on the same street for two days in a row I saw the same guy walking his dog, the same bum-looking guy wearing a nice suit but looking very scruffy in the face, and another guy walking three donkeys. Crazy. It always surprises me the people I run into or see more than once in a city this big. I guess that’s the advantage to walking around instead of being trapped in a car all the time
• There’s basically nothing I can do about my internet. It’s been a rough summer without it but at least Philippe has internet and I can also go to my super-secret internet spot for free now. As a compromise, the girl I’m subleasing from said I don’t have to pay the electricity, so that pretty much evens out how much I was spending at the internet café. Sweet.

I’m much more famous in France

2005-09-08T13:37:00.000+02:00

So today I was sitting at a café, pigging out on a turkey/guacamole sandwich and using my computer when in walks a TV crew. You know I got all excited about that. They were doing a news piece on the café because it’s one of the few in Paris that you can’t smoke in. So it started out I was just in the background while they were interviewing the owner. I tried to keep my cool and just eat my sandwich, but guacamole shot out of that bad boy all over the place, including my laptop. So there I am in the background, frantically trying to clean that crap up.

Then the camera guy comes over and asks if he can just film me sitting there using my computer. Um, yes. I would LOVE that.

So there it is. I’ll be on the French news tonight. I mean, yes, I know it’s totally not a big deal, but hey, I’ll take it.

The Bum Update

2005-09-06T15:55:00.000+02:00

I haven't given the full update over the past few weeks, but to give you the current mattress count, M-Bum is now on Mattress #5. I seriously don't know how he does it.

In other bum news, I was waiting at the metro the other day, at a stop two stops from my house, and saw my bum walking in the halls! It's weird to see him away from my house, and it's weird that when I saw someone I knew on the street it was my bum. Crazy. I was actually going to say hi but he totally didn't notice me and I most definitely was not going to chase him down.

Brittany/Normandy

2005-09-05T13:04:00.000+02:00

Saturday Philippe and I headed out for an overnight trip to Brittany. We started out at Mont St. Michel, then stayed the night in St. Malo, then stopped off at some WW2 stuff in Normandy on the way home on Sunday. Here are the pics:

The fort and abbey of Mont St. Michel are on this rock that during the day is surrounded by sand, but when the tide comes in, it becomes an island.

Here is when the tides are out.

Here they are starting to come in.

Another “before” picture.

The “after” picture.

Inside the fort.

More stuff inside.

A view of the bay.

Philippe outside Mont St. Michel.

It was at this point the batteries in my camera decided to die, so I don’t have any more pictures yet, but I will once Philippe (hint, hint) uploads his.

Weekend Plans

2005-09-02T15:53:00.000+02:00

I might be heading off to Brittany this weekend, so if you don't get a post for a few days, that's why. Although you might not get a post for a few days anyway since I have like absolutely nothing interesting to write about. Like, yesterday I ate some Oreos and they were ALL inside out (the smooth part of the cookie was on the outside) and I was like "Is this the most interesting thing I can think of to write about?" Quelle dommage.

I am really boring

2005-08-31T13:34:00.000+02:00

Pretty much the only thing to report is that Leigh and I ate the mac n cheese I bought from the American store. It was so good. I ate about twice as much as I should because it is THAT good. Mmm.

I’ll try to do something interesting tonight so I can write about it tomorrow, but no guarantees. I’m going to work at 4, so we’ll see what happens there.

Workin' all day, baby

2005-08-30T15:20:00.000+02:00

I babysat the little cuties again yesterday. Seriously, they are the cutest kids I’ve ever seen.

Afterwards, I went for a walk through the Eiffel Tower park (they live like 1 minute from there) and went to this new place where I use the internet for free (I’m not gonna say where because I suppose technically I’m not supposed to be using it but like it’s hurting anyone for me to be on their network).

On the way I passed this place called The Real McCoy American Diner. I was super tempted to stop in since it was lunch time, but totally passed since I had leftovers at home. Well, then around the corner was The Real McCoy American Epicerie (grocery store). Clearly, that was some sort of sign so I figured I should go in. I seriously was wide-eyed and open-mouthed the entire time. I’m talking cake mix, pancake mix, bagels, cream cheese, tortillas, enchilada sauce, Cheerios, everything that you can’t get here. I bought a box of microwave popcorn (Philippe had asked me to pick some up if I could find some anywhere) but since there was a minimum on credit cards I just HAD to buy Oreos, Mac N Cheese, and Gushers. Man, I hope I forgot where this place was otherwise I see myself spending a lot of money on a carbohydrate nightmare. But it just tastes so GOOD!

Later, I started my job at The Galway as a bartender. It was interesting to say the least. I’d have to say I’m not too bad at it, considering I’ve never been a bartender before and don’t really know how to make drinks, but there is still a lot to learn. Just pouring a pint correctly (Guinness especially) takes a lot of super secret knowledge that I can’t share with you. Anyway, it was a decent time and at least it’s a job. Here’s a cute picture of me:

More Pics

2005-08-29T14:14:00.000+02:00

More pics

Italy and Croatia

Georgie, Christina, me, and Sebastian at Ghetto Bar the night our entire hostel went out together.

Same group, but inside the bar.

Christina and me outside the Diocletian Palace.

A view of Split.

More Split.

The cathedral in San Marco’s Square in Venice.

Typical canal.

Another canal, ‘cept this one is like totally bigger.

Seriously, this city is gorgeous.

Nothing beats a gondola on the cool scale. Except maybe me.

Rock en Seine

Me, Philippe, and Claudia (but I’m guessing she spells it differently than that since she’s Brazilian) at Rock en Seine

Robert Plant, though it’s not like you can tell or anything.

Foo Fighters, but again, what’s to see.

Rock en Seine

2005-08-28T17:10:00.000+02:00

Friday night I went to Rock en Seine (a rock festival) with Philippe and two of his Brazilian friends. We saw the Foo Fighters, Robert Plant, and Franz Ferdinand. Good times. It’s pretty cool to go to a concert in a different country, though I tell you what, those Frenchies sure are quiet. I mean, like Dave Grohl shouts out “Are you ready to make some noise?” and everyone cheers, but it’s still super quiet so he asks again and everyone cheers just a little bit louder but then he finally realizes that’s about as loud as they’re gonna get. And like everybody had earplugs in. Maybe at an American concert that would be necessary, but dude, this is like hardly louder than my CD player. Whatever, it was still a good concert.

Also, I think it’s worth going to concerts here just so you get greasy concert food like hot dogs and burgers. Mmmmm.

Somehow, we're back

2005-08-26T14:07:00.000+02:00

On Day 2 of our time in Croatia, we were supposed to go to Plitvice National Park where there were tons of waterfalls and whatnot. Well, it would have been a lot cooler if the bus didn’t leave at 5:30 in the morning and/or if our (OK, Sebastien’s) alarm clock would have gone off. So it sucks that we wasted the money on those tickets ($40) but instead Sebastien suggested that we go to Hvar Island. That only cost $2 round-trip for the ferry and was a total blast. The island was gorgeous and we actually went swimming for a while.

Our last day in Split was pretty lame. We walked around and went shopping and ate, pretty much what we had done the entire time there. Our ferry left at 5 and we had to check in at 3 so we didn’t really even have that much time that day anyway. We killed a little time just sitting by the water and finally boarded the ferry.

The ferry ride was good and we decided we love ferries. I mean, you can totally walk around on them and there’s a café and you can sit out on the deck and watch the ocean. Of course, I did none of this – I just took a nap. Then, somehow, in the middle of my nap I realized I had made a huge mistake and jolted up. I realized our ferry got in at 9:30 and the train I had booked to Venice, via Bologna, left at 8:40. See, I do this stupid thing where I sometimes get confused about 8:00 because that’s 20:00 and I see the 20:00 and I think it’s 10:00. Yeah, well, so it turns out we had no train to take us to Bologna, and therefore no way to get to Venice, and therefore not only wasted the money on the train tickets, but wasted the money on the hotel for our night in Venice. Not to mention the bigger problem that we had to figure out where to stay in tiny little Ancona and find some way to get to Venice the next day so we could catch our flight back.

Here is where Christina is a genius. Our train from Bologna to Venice left at 3 in the morning, so actually, even though there were no trains leaving Ancona for the rest of the night, if we could just find some way to get to Bologna in 6 hours (it’s only 2 hours away from Ancona) then we could still make our train, and therefore our hotel and flight home. Her plan was for us to walk around the ferry and see if anyone on the boat was going to Bologna. We could hitch a ride with them (preferably a family or someone that looked trustworthy) and then just give them some money for their troubles. Considering we don’t really know Italian, we first enlisted the help of a nice guy to write a sign for us explaining what we wanted to do. Then we proceeded (red-faced with embarrassment) to walk around the entire ferry going “Scusi, Bologna?” while pointing to our sign. People were extremely friendly and would answer “No, Milano” or “No, Roma” or “No, Napoli” or whatever and then we’d be like “Grazie” and then move on. After talking to just a few people, pretty much the whole ferry saw what we were doing and was curious. So when we would go up to people, they would eagerly grab our sign to read it and see what was going on.

After making it halfway through the ferry we had met a lot of nice people but still didn’t have a ride. Then, these two girls we had talked to earlier came up and explained that they were in the same situation as us and just realized that if we all rented a car and split it, it wouldn’t be too expensive and we could all get to Bologna (where they lived). Great plan. So we let them do all the talking and booking and whatever once we arrived, and they totally drove us to Bologna and dropped us off right in front of the train station. They were super nice and totally made our day.

So, after killing about two hours at the train station, our train arrived and we were off to Venezia! Except two drunk gypsies were in our seats on the train. We were so tired at this point (3 in the morning) and just wanted to sleep so we kicked them out. The man started yelling at us in Italian and it kinda shook Christina up a bit, but I didn’t care. That dirty man was in our seats (sleeping across them, nasty) and I wanted him out. Thankfully, not only did he leave the seats but he left the entire little cabin room (6 seats) so we never had to see (or smell) him again.

I had to sleep lightly to ensure we didn’t miss our stop (sure does suck not having a watch and/or alarm) and we finally arrived at 5:45 in the morning. We found our hotel quickly and went straight to bed. Miraculously I woke up without an alarm at 10 in the morning, giving us enough time to shower and re-pack before checkout time at 11:00. Then we had the entire day to walk around Venice, which pretty much consisted of shopping, eating some Italian food, shopping, eating gelato, shopping, more Italian food, and more gelato. Oh, and we made a pit stop at the gorgeous San Marco square and took a bunch of pictures. However, the 14 million pigeons starting freaking me out so we left.

We had about an hour to kill so we went to a park near the bus station (where we had to take a bus to the airport). This was the Park of Death. We walked in and it was all good. It was substantially cooler than the streets outside because there were a bunch of shaded trees and whatnot. Well, then we sat down on the grass and I proceeded to get bit by 6 bugs in two minutes. I was contemplating leaving, but when a bird crapped on Christina’s leg, that sealed the deal. We were outta there.

So we head off to the bus station and see a bus with “Treviso” on it, so we just hop on, figuring it’s going to the Treviso airport. No. It’s going to the city of Treviso (which incidentally is SUPER cute). So we get to Treviso and realize we’d messed up, but luckily the correct bus left from a terminal there in just 10 minutes. And the bus driver was so thrilled to practice his English with us that he didn’t even make us buy tickets. Sweet. We got stuck in quite a bit of traffic and were starting to freak out that we were going to miss our flight, but luckily we got dropped off an hour in advance and still made the flight.

The flight was a trip in and of itself. We flew Ryanair, which is a super cheap airline. You don’t get snacks or drinks or anything but at least the flights are cheap. Well, to make up for it, they try to sell you stuff like every 5 minutes. First, they come through with the drink and snack cart (all with marked up prices). Then they come through with the perfume cart. Then they try to sell lotto tickets. Then they give you catalogs to buy stuff on the flight. Then they repeat the entire process. During all this, all the passengers are just walking around and talking to people like they own the place. I’ve actually never seen such a lively airplane before.

Anyway, we FINALLY landed, and Christina’s super nice boss was there to take us home. It was awesome to be in a car and not have to worry about where we were going and how to make a transfer and pay money and all that.

So after 2 countries and 6 cities in 5 days, I was ready to pass out at 11:30 when I got home. Good trip.

Here are all the pictures:

Christina and I our first night in Venice eating dinner along one of the many canals.

Christina and I killing time at a local bar, since our train didn’t leave until 4 in the morning.

The tiny town of Ancona, Italy, where we boarded the ferry to Croatia.

The view of Split coming in on the ferry.

The walkway along the water in Split.

Me, Sebastien (our Aussie friend), and Christina at a beach bar. I swear Sebastien’s eye looks normal in real life.

A weird fountain thing in Split.

Part of the Diocletian Palace in Split.

The building our hostel was in.

Christina and me at the beach. Yes, I know my legs are extremely pale, but look at those cute painted toenails!

A view down the beach. That building is the beach bar we were at the first night.

Another view of the beach.

Christina and Sebastien in some old part of the town.

Me, Sebastien, Christina, and Georgie (another Aussie). That night everyone at the hostel went out for pizza, and then we went to an open air bar in some random plaza with ruins around it.

This is in Hvar, the island we went to. The water was gorgeous there.

From the island, you can see many other islands nearby.

This is just a cool building on the island, with the castle in the distance.

A view of some buildings in Hvar.

Some crazy people at a discotheque at 7pm who had absolutely NO dance moves.

View of Hvar, leaving on the ferry.

Cliffs of Hvar.

Sunset.

I will try to have pictures of Venice up soon, but unfortunately my digital camera was having technical difficulties toward the end of the trip and so I have to wait for Christina to get back to the states and upload hers. Soon enough, my friends, soon enough.

Hvar Island

2005-08-23T23:02:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we just walked around town with Sebastian, an Aussie guy we met at our hostel, and went to the beach. The beach here in Split is a little on the lame side, though.

So today we went to the nearby island of Hvar and it was awesome. The pictures will definitely do it more justice than my description but basically it was one of the most beautiful places I´ve ever seen. We swam in the ocean for a while, and laid out, me of course sporting my 30 proof sunblock all day.

Then at 7:00 we had to take the ferry back to Split and while we were waiting to board we passed this club and there were tons of people (95% guys) dancing around to techno/dance music. Did I mention it was 7:00? The sun was still shining. Oh, and these people had NO dance moves whatsoever. Man, you gotta see the pictures.

So tonight weŕe taking it easy in Split because I STILL have a cold and I am determined to get over it before I get back home. Tomorrow - more shopping, maybe a brief stint on the beach, then a ridiculous number of hours on ferries and trains to arrive in Venice at 6:00 in the morning. Yikes. Weĺl check into our hotel, sleep for 5 hours, shower, and check out, then have a short day in Venice before taking our flight home. This seriously is a fun but hectic and crazy trip.

Arrivederci!

Quick Update

2005-08-21T19:33:00.000+02:00

After a bunch of traveling (details below) Christina and I are now in Croatia. I will try to update the blog each day, but wont have pictures until I get back. And youre just gonna have to forgive the typos and crazy punctuation because Croatian keyboards are whack.

So we started out Saturday afternoon with Christina losing her keys to her apartment, meaning she couldnt get in to get any of her stuff for our trip. We kept thinking we werent going to make our flight, but somehow (creepily) this guy helped her break into her apartment and we got her stuff, took a cab to the bus station, took the bus for 1 1/2 hours to the Beauvais airport, hung out in that little shack for 2 hours, and made our flight to Venice. Then we had to take a bus from the Venice airport into the city, and finallz got there around 9:00 at night.

We had an excellent Italian dinner right along a canal (which is pretty easy to accomplish since everything is right along a canal and all Italian food is excellent). Our train to Ancona (where the ferry to Croatia was leaving from) left at 4 in the morning, so we decided to just stay up all night.

We found a plaza with cafes and bars and hung out there and talked to different people. We left around 1 in the morning, miraculously found a bus to take us to the train station in nearby Mestre, and arrived at the train station at 2:00. So we had two hours to kill. Nice. Like bums, we slept on a bench with a towel as a blanket. Then luckily the train came early and we hopped on board and fell asleep. We arrived in Ancona (cute little Italian city) and immediately hopped on the ferry. Slept the whole time on the ferry and arrived in Split around 3:30 in the afternoon. Checked into our hostel, took a much needed shower, and headed out on the town. That included buying corn on the cob from a street vendor and then going to McDonalds. Croatia has the best McDonalds ever. They have Greek Macs which are like Big Macs except in a pita and with tzanziki sauce. Sweet. And I got a cool java which is espresso with ice cream in it. I love this place.

So now were at the internet cafe and I cant find the apostrophe on the keyboard, but other than that, life is good. Tomorrow we plan to go to the beach and walk around the city, and the next day were going to a nearby park that has waterfalls. Should be cool!

Geez

2005-08-19T15:38:00.000+02:00

So my stupid internet is finally set up but it’s obnoxiously slow. And like I can receive emails (sometimes the same one 10 times) but can’t access any webpages. SO obnoxious.

Anyway, I don’t have much of an update. Yesterday I bought a bottle of contact solution for like $14! It’s a big bottle but still. So for any of you coming to visit who wear contacts, be sure to bring that stuff with you.

Oh, and the other night I was talking in my sleep in French. Like, I was talking so loudly it woke me up. Crazy. I was saying “But, it’s difficult for me.” What the heck was I even talking about?

Well, I guess that’s it for now. I don’t think I’ll get a chance to do an update tomorrow before I leave for my trip, so you’ll just have to sit tight until I get back next Thursday. But I promise some good pictures of Italy and Croatia for ya. Ciao!

C'est incroyable

2005-08-18T14:48:00.000+02:00

I think my head is going to explode. I finally found out that my concierge had accepted the package (with the modem and internet installation CD) for me. Um, when was she planning on giving it to me? She’s had it for 20 days!

Then I go to install the stuff and it says it’s all set up right and it says I have an internet connection, yet I can’t actually use the internet or send any emails. This is so annoying. I am so sick of going to McDonalds and the stupid internet café. I could just scream.

On a brighter note, had dinner and a movie with Philippe last night. We saw The Island and despite all the reviews I thought it was really good. Plus Ewan McGregor is hot and I look like Scarlett Johansson (or so people say) so it was definitely worth watching. I tell ya what, though, that movie theater was obnoxiously hot. And I was wearing a sleeveless shirt. And there weren’t even any cupholders. But no, I’m not complaining because I need to save all my complaining energy for my internet.

Odds and Ends

2005-08-17T15:26:00.000+02:00

Went out to dinner with Amber. We went to this awesome sushi place in the Marais, and since we just split everything it was super cheap. Nice.

Then we headed out to Starbucks for a little iced coffee action. Also nice. Met up with Leigh and Christina to catch up on things, though it’s not like there is much to catch up on since we had just spent the entire previous day together. Though a bit of good news is that I was finally able to book a hostel for us in Croatia. Everything I checked kept being booked and I was fearful we were going to have to sleep on the beach, but then finally this guy emailed me back and said he had room. Excellent.

Oh, and I’m still waiting to get more details on this, but apparently my modem was delivered on 7/25 and somebody else signed for it and took it! I’ll keep you updated, but this is NOT good.

Desolee

2005-08-16T14:29:00.000+02:00

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I went on two separate road trips for the past two days, plus I’ve had an obnoxious cold. But check out the few posts below to get updated on all the cool stuff I’ve been doing.

The Beaches of Normandy

2005-08-16T14:28:00.001+02:00

Monday, since it was some sort of holiday, the girls and I headed off to the beaches up north.

We stopped off at a convenience store outside of town and picked up snacks. I actually got healthy stuff, including this applesauce that you kinda squeeze out and drink/eat.

Then of course we had to have road trip music, including our favorite, “Sweet Caroline”.

We seriously LOVE that song.

We passed tons of cute little Norman towns on the way.

Then we finally got to the beach in Deauville.

Ah, look at that pasty white skin.

After a few hours on the beach, we walked around the city. It is super cute and has tons of half-timbered houses/buildings, which is actually what a lot of Germany looks like.

A random small town on the way to Omaha Beach.

French countryside.

View of the ocean from the city of Arromanches. Those things out in the ocean are cement blocks that were installed and used during WW2 to anchor down and connect boats and supplies and stuff.

Looks a lot like Missouri.

This is the church in Colleville-sur-Mer, the city where Omaha Beach is. Omaha Beach is where some of the most brutal fighting of WW2 happened. It is the beach where the largest number of soldiers landed. It’s hard to tell in this picture, but there is a huge photograph in front of the church that shows soldiers walking in front of the bombed-out church. It’s crazy because the picture was taken from the exact same angle I took the picture from, so basically, WW2 soliders were walking right there about 60 years ago.

Omaha Beach.

More Omaha Beach.

The girls at Omaha Beach.

This little girl was super cute. She was flying a kite and when we walked by she asked if we would like to take her picture. Definitely not modest. I like that.

Pass the bubbly

2005-08-16T14:28:00.000+02:00

Sunday we (me, Philippe, Daniel, and two of their Brazilian friends) took a day trip to the Champagne region of France. Here are the pictures:

We started off in the city of Epernay, the richest city per capita in France. The champagne house we visited was the Moet & Chandon house, where Dom Perignon and of course Moet are made.

There are over 100km of cellars beneath the Moet & Chandon house, which took over 150 years to dig. Because of the extensive cellar network, they are able to produce and house about 25-30 million bottles of champagne each year.

Philippe and me at the tasting afterwards.

Obnoxiously large bottles of champagne. The one in front of Philippe costs 2,000 euros ($2,500). Don’t worry, though, I already checked and those display bottles are empty.

Then we headed to the nearby city of Reims. Since Daniel had driven the whole way to Epernay, I offered to drive. Sweet. One of the cool things about driving in France is that the speed limit is 130. Granted that’s in kilometers (and is really only about 80 mph) but at least it sounds cool.

Reims is famous for its large cathedral, which actually looks a lot like the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

After that, we went to the city of Chateau St. Thierry, thinking there would be a chateau there. Unfortunately, the only thing they really had was a WW1 Memorial high up on a hill, so we just did a lap around the city, took at look at the Memorial from far away, and then decided to head back to Paris. It’s cool, though. I’m totally gonna get them back by opening a Waffle House that only serves squirrel meat. That’ll teach ‘em.

Now I'm really confused

2005-08-16T14:27:00.000+02:00

The bum has a NEW mattress. This is the third mattress he’s gone through in the month and a half that I’ve known him. This is insane. I don’t know how someone with such an innate ability to acquire mattresses has no other skills that allow him to get a job and subsequently a house. This guy truly baffles me

Sweatin’ to the Oldies

2005-08-13T17:28:00.000+02:00

Since my wounds have finally healed and I’m fat, I decided to go running today. I ran to the park and then all around on the paths there. Problem is, the park isn’t really that far away and there aren’t that many paths. I tried to stretch it out as long as I could but then I just got really bored so I came home. Total time: 22 minutes. Oh well, it’s better than nothing. And then I did 400 situps and 50 pushups so that’s gotta count for something.

Wow, I’m totally boring

2005-08-12T16:12:00.000+02:00

Helped out Eric (from The Long Hop) with some computer stuff in exchange for dinner. Sweet.

Then met up with Shannon, from craigslist, for a drink:

Not much to say really, but she’s super cool and we had a good time.

McDonald’s

2005-08-11T16:04:00.000+02:00

Apparently today is Weird People With Big Bags Day at McDonald’s because I can’t even count the number of weirdoes who walked past me with who knows what stuffed into their monstrous bags. Ick. And they all hang out by the trash cans a lot. OK, now that I think about it, I guess these people are bums. That explains a lot. After my whole McDonald’s experience in Lisbon (complete with lunatics, people with Elephantitis in the hands and feet, and actual crap on the toilet seat) I’m pretty immune to anything weird happening at McDo (as they call it here), but still, I could do without the birds’ nest hairdos and the incessant staring at me as they walk past my table.

Also, let’s talk about the music. The other day they were playing Snoop and now today I had the pleasure (?) of hearing “It’s No Sacrifice” by Elton John and “Do It To Me One More Time” by Lionel Ritchie. The saddest part is, I totally caught myself singing “Oh, give you one more chance, this heart, of mine.” I guess I don’t really have room to talk about the creepos in McDo anymore.

And randomly, here is a picture of Amber and me at dinner on Friday. Mmm, escargots.

Paris Plage

2005-08-10T16:16:00.000+02:00

Amber and I met up in the afternoon to go to Paris Plage. It’s pretty cool. I mean, it’s not like a real beach or anything but there’s sand and cabanas and street performers and cafés and tons of cool stuff. Here are a few pictures:

Then Amber, Christina, Leigh, Gorleigh, and I all went out to dinner. It was pretty good and then afterwards we walked down to the Italian ice cream place on the corner and it was SO GOOD. They give you three flavors and make it in the shape of a rose. Sweet.

Update on the bum

2005-08-09T15:39:00.000+02:00

I was walking to the internet café today and noticed the bum’s mattress and blanket by the trash can on the corner. I was a little worried, like, did he put it there or did the construction workers finally find where he was stashing it and decide to throw it away? I realized there wasn’t much I could do. I mean, I wasn’t going to grab it out of the trash, drag it across the street, hide it somewhere, and then write a note in French to the bum telling him where it was (though you can tell I thought extensively about doing so). So I just let it be. Well, when I got home later today I noticed the trash had been picked up, but the bum had a new blanket and a new foldable mattress. So now I’m wondering if he threw his stuff away on purpose since he got new stuff or if he is just that resourceful that he already got new gear within hours of losing his old stuff.

Also, I think he came into a bit of money recently because he has a new hat and some comic books. This guy baffles me.

In other news, this guy from craigslist called me and we finally arranged a time to meet. I totally ended up being late because I stopped off to buy some gifts for my friends (which I was totally able to bargain down after having like a 10 minute conversation in French with the dude!) and then I guess the guy was gone by then. Oh well. I really was just trying to be polite and meet up with him, I mean, I don’t really need or have time for any more friends. Whoa, that sounds really conceited. But it’s true.

Also, my friend sent me an email with some quotes and here are some ones I totally love:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

UpDate

2005-08-08T14:37:00.000+02:00

Last night I went on a date with Phillippe, the cute Brazilian guy. We walked to the Eiffel Tower and hung out in the park there, then got a drink, then got Pizza Hut to go and watched Conan O’Brien. Overall a fun time and I was home at a reasonable hour. I’m such a little angel.

Mmmm, fondue

2005-08-07T15:12:00.000+02:00

Started out the night at dinner with Amber, Amber’s mom, Christina, Goreleigh, and two of Amber’s friends, Marguerite and Sonya. We went to this fondue place and it was totally awesome. I got escargots for an appetizer and they were totally awesome too.

What wasn’t awesome was the drunk French guy at the table next to us that wanted to discuss (more like argue) politics the entire time. Hey buddy, I don’t really want to get insulted by you anyway, but especially not while I’m trying to enjoy dinner with my friends. Like, he started out nice, but then misunderstood a comment Goreleigh made and then it was unrecoverable after that. Then he told me that French people don’t even eat snails and that only Americans do while they’re in France. Um, so? I don’t care what French people eat – I like escargots and you can’t get good ones in St. Louis so I’m gonna eat them here. Seriously, who cares?

So anyway, I was late to go meet up with Biggie and this guy was irritating me so I threw a mini hissyfit in the restaurant and told everyone I’d meet them at the Long Hop. I think it was a very wise decision otherwise I probably would have yelled at the French dude, further confirming his beliefs that Americans are horrible people.

In unrelated news, my mom just told me my step-dad got a patent for some computer programming thing he did at work. Pretty cool! Plus he got paid for it. Bonus. I wish I would get a patent for something, but I’m thinking my invention of a tuna/camembert/fusilli casserole isn’t quite the innovative work that earns a patent. You never know, though.

Franglais

2005-08-06T19:34:00.000+02:00

I decided to call the internet company and see where the heck my modem is. That was quite the interesting phone call. First, it was a maze of instructions on which buttons to push to get to the right person. Then once I got connected to the person it was extremely difficult to say what I needed to say. But I think, if I’m understanding things correctly, that the modem has been sent and I should be receiving it soon. What confuses me is that they gave me some like 16 digit number and I have no clue what the heck that’s for. Oh well.

Other random note, I bought a package of frozen green beans and the language is in French and Dutch. In Dutch, they’re called sperziebonen. Isn’t that cool? It sounds really tough, like “Hey, what are you eating for dinner?” “Well, since I’m real tough I’ll be eating some sperziebonen.” Or maybe it’s just me.

Encore

2005-08-05T15:50:00.000+02:00

My friend sent me another picture from the 14th. Pretty cool too.

Americaine

2005-08-04T14:02:00.000+02:00

This afternoon I walked to Sephora to get my makeup done for tonight (so, like, am I lazy for having someone do my makeup or am I super cool for walking all the way there?) and to buy some lip gloss. On the way I ran into Amber on the street. That was cool. Like, how many people are in Paris and then I just see Amber on the street? I mean, OK, honestly I was kinda nearby her house but still. What are the chances her house is on the way to Sephora?

Anyway, I knew there was a Mickey D’s nearby by Sephora so I brought my laptop and was totally just gonna pop in and check my email real quick. Well blast it all because how the heck do you expect me to go into McD’s at 6:30 and NOT eat something?

I decided to venture away from the super-caloric Big Mac and get an equally obnoxiously caloric Royal avec Bacon. Huge mistake. Now, saying McDonald’s has greasy food is like saying Tom Cruise is certifiably insane – you’re just stating the obvious. But seriously, this is the greasiest burger I’ve ever had in my life. I didn’t even quite know what was going on when I took my first bite and all of a sudden grease exploded EVERYWHERE, including my laptop and my shirt. I mean, how could that much grease exist on a burger? And then continue to exist and dribble and make a mess during the remainder of the meal? I dunno, man, I think I’m gonna have to stay away from those from now on. Actually, how about I stay away from McD’s altogether. Oh wait, I can’t because my stupid internet STILL isn’t set up. The worst part is I got a letter saying it was set up and all I need to do is install the modem. Well, it sure would be nice if they would go ahead and send me that modem. I was supposed to get it Tuesday but noooooooooooo, it still hasn’t arrived.

And looking back at this post, I think I need to get some sponsorship from Sephora and McDonald’s because I mentioned their names a million times. That would be cool.

Chatelet Les Halles

2005-08-03T13:59:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I met up with this guy Byron I know (just a friend) to get coffee and then walk around the Chatelet Les Halles area. It was a super nice day and it was cool to get out and see stuff instead of just stay home and work on my computer all day.

We saw tons of street performers, but this guy was my favorite. I’ve actually seen him before and he’s really good. I mean, the guy moves the marionette EXACTLY to the beat of the music. The funniest thing though is that he has the most random music. Like yesterday he was doing a Rage Against the Machine song and I forget the name of the song but it’s definitely one with explicit lyrics and this guy is just making his little puppet cuss up a storm.

Then at night it was Sex and the City night again at Amber’s. We managed to watch 5 episodes, which I think is quite the accomplishment. Ah yes, my life is so busy over here.

Carte Orange

2005-08-02T15:36:00.000+02:00

So, yes, I’m an idiot. I bought my monthly Carte Orange metro pass and you’re supposed to fill out this card and take your picture so that way they know you’re not sharing your pass. So I go into the photo booth and take my picture. I only needed one, so I selected the option with just one picture because it was the cheapest. Too bad I didn’t realize that it pops out a 4 x 6 sheet, so my picture was huge! I totally didn’t feel like taking another picture and doing it again, but now I have to go back and pay even more money to get the 4 x 6 sheet that has multiple pictures on it, so that each picture is smaller. How annoying. Plus, what am I supposed to do with this stupid 4 x 6 picture?

Pizza Party

2005-08-01T15:18:00.000+02:00

Not much happened yesterday. Had a pizza party at Amber’s house and watched a sappy romance movie. You know, typical girls night. Also, I found out that it’s not just Sundays that it’s buy one get one free at Pizza Hut, it’s every time you do carry out. Oh man, I’m gonna abuse the heck out of that deal.

Bastille Day, revisited

2005-07-31T20:00:00.000+02:00

Here’s a picture that a friend emailed me from Bastille Day. He clearly had a much better view than we did, so I’m gonna just go ahead and pretend that this picture is mine and that that’s what I got to see.

Le Week-end

2005-07-31T15:37:00.000+02:00

I went to McDonald’s for dinner because I heard they have free WiFi. It didn’t totally work for some reason, like some websites wouldn’t get pulled up and my emails would receive but wouldn’t send and that whole thing is just baffling, but hey, at least it was free internet.

While I was there, I booked my trip to Italy and Croatia. It’s gonna be so much fun! Christina and I are both going and it will be the last week in August.

Then next weekend we’re heading off to Amsterdam. I’m certain that will be as fun as the last four times I was there.

Jealous yet?

Anyway, sorry for all the boring posts lately. I haven’t really been doing anything of particular interest, just sitting around hoping to get my dang internet installed. I received some letter that I think says it will be here this Tuesday so we’ll see.

Coming Soon!

2005-07-30T19:49:00.000+02:00

I typed up a (boring) post but due to technical difficulties will not be able to put it up until tomorrow. See ya then!

(Mom, I'm still alive)

Thursday, really?

2005-07-29T19:12:00.000+02:00

Not much happened yesterday. One of my neighbors was playing the violin for 2 hours and I was already kinda tired so it totally put me to sleep. That’s what’s nice about not having a real job - you can actually take an hour and a half long nap in the afternoon.

Later I headed over Amber’s house for a girl’s night of watching Sex and the City. Everyone brought snacks so of course it was a good time. Plus Amber lives super close to me. Sweet.

This morning I decided to do something a little weird. When I moved into my apartment, there was an apple and two lemons. I kept thinking about eating them, but then finally realized I wasn’t interested, especially not now after three weeks. I wanted to give them to my bum, but I didn’t want to actually talk to him and definitely didn’t want him to think this was going to continue to happen. So this morning I walked the dog and checked that the bum had left for “work” already. Then when I went to go babysit I casually set the apple and lemons on the ledge where he sleeps. When I got home today, the bum was there and the fruit was gone. Cool. Now I don’t feel bad for wasting it and he won’t think we’re friends.

Day in the City

2005-07-28T12:48:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I actually ventured out in the city during the day, instead of just working around the house.

I did some shopping around the Hotel de Ville/Chatelet Les Halles area (I had to replace my stupid shoes that broke on Saturday) and just walked around and looked at street performers and stuff.

Then I went to this café where they have free internet (for 20 minutes) as long as you buy something. I was a little bit flirty with the guy and got an additional 20 minutes for free. Then I ended up ordering something else and got even more minutes. So even though it was more expensive than just a regular internet café, at least I got a café au lait and a sandwich for my money. Pretty cool.

Je parle francais tout le temps maintenant

2005-07-27T12:07:00.000+02:00

The other day on my walk home from babysitting, I noticed this cute little restaurant by my house. They had a sign outside for some cheap sangria, so I made a mental note stop back by with Amber for just a drink. Well, when we stopped back by it was closed. It wasn’t even that late. So yesterday on my walk home I decided to stop in and ask what time they closed (they didn’t have their hours posted anywhere). I ended up talking to the owner for 5 minutes about St. Louis and Soulard and the city’s history and all that. It was really cool to be having a real conversation in French and actually knowing how to say what I wanted to say. I mean, since I’ve been here I’ve been very able to get away with speaking English, or like just a little French - “Je voudrais une baguette, s’il vous plait.” So anyway, it was cool to be getting better at it.

Later that evening I went out to meet up with Leigh. There’s this one metro stop, Sevres Babylone, where it’s best to do the transfer to the line I need for where we usually meet up. However, because of construction, it closes at 9:00 at night. So usually I end up walking to a different stop and getting on there. The walk is only 15 minutes and I don’t have to deal with the transfer, so it’s not too bad. However, since it was 8:30 I figured I’d try for this route so that I didn’t have to walk as far. Bad idea.

The train at my station took FOREVER and so I was off to a late start. We pulled into Sevres Babylone at 8:54. I walked to the other line and waited. Then I noticed all the people working there running around with walkie talkies and shouting stuff. Then they informed us that there would be no more trains. Are you kidding me? What the heck am I supposed to do? That is just so annoying. So I figured, fine, I’ll just leave the station and walk to the next stop and take the train from there. But no. Because you see, every time I tried to get out of there, the exit was closed. I asked one of the people working there which exits were open and he pointed me in the total wrong direction and I started to get panicky after the third exit was closed and was convinced I was going to have to spend the night in the station. Finally I found an exit that was open and got the heck out of there.

This teenager on the street came up and asked me directions to the next stop (my second entirely French conversation of the day). I told him I wasn’t sure but that I had a map and I was headed there too so we walked there together and it took less than 10 minutes so it ended up being no biggie. That’s still annoying though.

This morning I decided to get Starbucks. The train home was interesting. The stupid doors wouldn’t really close right, and they kept starting to close then open then close then open then finally close. When we finally pulled up to the station I transfer at, I got off the train and started making my way through the crowds. There was mass chaos. I mean, there were tons of people already on the train and tons waiting to get on and there was no room for them. Then I heard an announcement that the train was broken and everyone had to get off. Lucky for me I was already getting off but I felt so bad for all those people that now had to find a different way to go, especially since they were all on their way to work and were now going to be late. Oh well, what can you do.

Lundi Part Deux

2005-07-26T11:29:00.000+02:00

Apart from falling down and cutting myself in 18 places, not much happened yesterday. I babysat at the family’s new apartment which is really close to the Eiffel Tower and is super cool. I mean, the place is HUGE. So we went to a new park:

And since I’m 5 I totally played on the playground and swung from the monkey bars and did flips and stuff. Ah, sometimes that just feels good.

Je suis tombee (quelle surprise)

2005-07-25T14:42:00.000+02:00

I decided to go jogging today since I haven’t really worked out since I’ve been here. I’ve been pretending that walking around everywhere is the equivalent, but I don’t think so.

So I jogged to Parc Bressens and cruised around there a bit. It was great and I felt like I could jog forever. That is, until I totally bit it. I was running on a cobblestone trail up on this hill and somehow I tripped and TOTALLY lost control. I lunged forward and was taking huge steps because I’d had a lot of speed from the run, but my body was slowly getting closer to the ground. Finally, I hit the ground and totally scraped both knees and my left elbow.

Just add it to the collection of other miscellaneous bruises and scrapes. I swear, Paris is trying to kill me:

But hey, at least I’m tough and kept running another 15 minutes, even though I think each step I took just made that much more blood squirt out.

Tour de Lance

2005-07-25T10:55:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, Leigh, Lisa, and I went to see the final stage of the Tour de France. It was pretty cool. We had no idea where to go and at what time, but just met up at the Champs Elysees metro stop and walked around and within about 10 minutes, they were whizzing by. They actually did 5 or 6 loops past the same area, but after the third one, we were ready to walk somewhere else. I can only handle so much pushing and shoving.

Anyway, I only got one good picture, but I’d say it’s pretty cool:

After that, Leigh and I went to a café and had a coffee, then I went out to dinner with Julien at an outdoor restaurant in the Marais. I’d say it was a pretty Parisian day.

Samedi

2005-07-23T16:39:00.000+02:00

I gave the dog a bath today and it was a lot easier than I anticipated. Still, though, the smell of wet dog makes me want to gag. I’m kind of rethinking the whole pet thing and I actually think all pets are a little gross. Yeah, they may be cute, but it’s pretty nasty to think that my cat licks her butt and then comes up and licks me. And sorry to be talking about that, but I really don’t have anything else to say, since today is rainy and uneventful.

An 11 hour day

2005-07-22T19:12:00.000+02:00

I am the queen of multi-tasking. Today, while babysitting, Felix and I stopped off for 2 minutes at the internet café so I could send an email to my client, then stopped by my house to pick up George to take him on a walk, then went to the post office to send some postcards, which included a card to the company I want to work for when I get back. See, I work over here!

Also, I totally work out. I mean, until you’ve piggybacked (or Vicki-back as I call it) a 3-year old down the street and carried a chubby 5 month old all day, you haven’t really lifted weights.

Oh, and since everyone is just dying to know, Felix flicked a booger at me and I couldn’t find it. Like, I mean, it has to be gone by now and maybe never even hit me in the first place, but I can’t help thinking I’m still wearing it somewhere.

Parc Brassens

2005-07-21T21:07:00.000+02:00

Today I babysat for a few hours and we went to Parc Brassens. Here are some pictures:

Felix and the stroller on the street where George Brassens (for whom the park was named) used to live.

Felix’s grandpa, and a view of the street.

Felix on the merry-go-round.

Leo snoozin’.

Felix riding a pony.

Also, I must congratulate Miss Erin Lizzo on being the first person to send me a letter/package over here. It must feel cool to be named Vicki’s Best Friend. I wouldn’t know, but I mean, that just sounds cool.

Boring Day

2005-07-21T13:00:00.000+02:00

I can’t really say anything interesting happened yesterday. I did some work, took the dog on a million walks, ate, you know, same old boring stuff. I went over to Christina’s house at night and we looked up flights to try to find something cheap to Croatia. That would be pretty cool, since we heard it has the most gorgeous beaches and is really cheap. We’ll see.

More George

2005-07-20T14:17:00.000+02:00

This whole dogsitting thing is pretty cool. Since Europeans are super dog-friendly, I just take George with me wherever I go. I went shopping for postcards and then decided to just look around at clothes and other stuff in the shops nearby and George just walked right in with me and nobody cared. Then we went to the internet café and George just sat in the little cubby part of the desk the whole time.

I broadened my cooking horizons and sautéed a zucchini for dinner. Really, this is a huge step for the Easy Mac Queen.

George

2005-07-19T10:20:00.000+02:00

Christie dropped of George today and the dogsitting has begun. George is pretty old and doesn’t do much, so it should be pretty easy. He sleeps most of the time, and snores when he sleeps and it’s really cute. Well, it’s cute right now because I haven’t tried to fall asleep to it yet. But considering the girl across the courtyard has a cold and I’ve been right there with her for every cough, I think I’ll make it.

So me, Leigh, Lisa M, Lisa O, and 2 of Lisa O’s friends all went on a boat cruise along the Seine last night. It was pretty fun, especially considering I haven’t done anything touristy since I got here. I mean, I’ve been here 4 times before so I’ve seen quite a bit, plus when my friends and family come to visit in September I know I’ll get my fill of the remaining places, so I’m just planning on taking it easy up until then. But, then again, sitting on top of a boat is pretty much the same thing as taking it easy.

Leigh, me, Lisa M, Lisa O on Bateaux Mouches

Notre Dame, though it’s not a very good picture

Eiffel Tower, but I highly doubt I needed to say that

Sunday

2005-07-18T13:21:00.000+02:00

Today was fun. I ended up staying out pretty late last night, so I slept pretty late, but then I was uber-productive with all my website clients.

And I am just the happiest camper at the internet café now that I discovered I can bring my laptop. I just download all my emails and do a few quick things and I’m on my merry way. Though, there’s only one slight problem. I had gotten quite good at using a French keyboard, and would totally do it right at the café, and finally got used to switching back to my American keyboard at home. But now, when I use my laptop at the café, I’m still in French-keyboard-mode and so I type everything all wrong. I’m sure that will wear off soon, but it’s ultra-annoying in the meantime.

Anyway, I met up with Christina and her mom tonight and it was a lot of fun. We all totally agreed we wanted to take it easy (I mean, heck, even THEY were out pretty late last night) so we just went to a café in the Latin Quarter and talked. And Christina’s mom ended up paying! That’s so nice. I mean, French guys LOVE to pay but they totally expect something in return so it was nice to just hang out with cool people and have good conversations and not have to deal with the French-guy-aspect.

Oh and I totally forgot to mention this yesterday, but you see, there’s this bum that sleeps outside my apartment and he’s totally harmless (he’s about 5’2” and can’t possibly weigh more than 80 pounds) and Christina’s mom calls him my doorman. So funny. Except, not like I’m ever letting him near that door. He actually sleeps a little ways down from my building but just in case he can see me type my code in, I always add extra numbers in front of it. I figure he can’t possibly see/remember everything I type, so that should throw him off just enough.

Anyway, I suppose that’s it. Just another chill night in Paris. I’m really getting to like this.

Un autre samedi soir

2005-07-17T18:52:00.000+02:00

One of Christina’s friends was having a birthday party Saturday night and it happened to be near my house. So Jane (an English girl I met on craigslist), Christina, and Christina’s mom, all met at my house for some wine and then we walked over to the party together.

The party was fun, pretty much just a few girls sitting around talking, pretty much talking about Dirty Dancing all night. And eating all kinds of French hors d’oeuvres and having a little wine.

Amber, Christina, Christina, Lisa, me, and Jane

We decided to go out in the Latin Quarter so we rushed to make the last metro, stopped by a few bars, and then called it a night. Good times, but not much to report.

I still get excited about it

2005-07-16T14:27:00.000+02:00

So I was thinking about it, and there are several streets near my apartment where I can see the Eiffel Tower. And since I’m really smart (no one can TOUCH my ACT scores, except, well OK, my cousin got a perfect score, but whatever) I figured if I just went up the stairs to the top of my building, I could probably see it. Oh yeah baby, that’s right:

So last night I met up with Leigh and her coworker Lisa for dinner. We went to Pitchi Poi, a Polish restaurant, and it was awesome. It was in this cute little square with a bunch of outdoor seating. After dinner we went around to a few of our new favorite bars (well, actually, they’re Leigh’s old favorite ones, but they’re new for me) and ran into a bunch of people we know. That’s always cool.

I stayed at Leigh’s house again and it was I think 110 degrees inside when I woke up. I nearly died. This summer is definitely getting hot. So of course I just HAD to stop by Starbucks on the way home and get a venti moka frappucino. I drank it the entire metro ride home. Man, that stuff is good.

Pictures of fireworks never turn out ...

2005-07-15T14:29:00.000+02:00

I must say, I had a pretty uneventful Bastille Day. I spent most of the day doing my web stuff (I’ve learned my lesson not to talk about clients on blogs, but suffice it to say I have a client right now that requires a lot of … attention). Anyway, I met up with Leigh at her friend Lisa’s house. Lisa lives near Trocadero, which is across the river from the Eiffel Tower and is a good place to go on the 14th.

Getting to Lisa’s, however, was the hard part. It was just a short metro ride away and would have been great except that the train was super packed. And by super packed I mean, I mean I could feel other people’s sweat rolling off their bodies and onto mine. It was so absolutely disgusting. And there were some drunk guys on there who were actually being funny. This one guy kept acting like he was a conductor and would announce the next stop and would tell people to keep their eyes on their bags (can you believe I understood all that?). Then, since this particular metro line is above ground, he switched roles into more of a tour guide and started blabbing on and on about different sites in Paris.

Apparently that got boring to him and he started singing “Singing in the Rain” even though it’s not like it was raining and he thought the words were “Seeing in the rain, I’m seeing in the rain, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, I’m blah blah blah blah blah.”

Finally I made it off and my feet were super dirty from other people stepping on them. I went to Lisa’s house, we had a small glass of wine, then headed out to watch the fireworks. That was another lesson in patience since every place was crowded and people were pushing and then some stupid girl tried to get through the crowd with a BIKE and then Leigh and I just decided to stand off to the side until it was over.

After another small glass of wine at Lisa’s, we all decided to head home before the metro stopped running. Once again, it was ridiculously crowded in there. There was some cute little Asian lady in front of me and her son was like totally getting pushed and as a result was digging into my stomach and I made a face of pain apparently and so she pushed him and made all these people rearrange so that he wouldn’t be pushing my stomach and then everyone looked at me and then for some reason they all concluded I was pregnant (I had been kinda leaning back a little so my stomach stuck out a little) and then they all started talking to me in French and asking if I was pregnant and I like totally did not know how to have THAT conversation so I just told them I didn’t understand them. But for the rest of the trip (only like 2 more stops) everyone kept making extra sure I didn’t get bumped as people were getting on and off the train. Pretty sweet, I guess.

So that’s it. Home and in bed pretty early. Nothing interesting to report. But there is the weekend coming up so hopefully something cool will happen.

Mercredi

2005-07-14T18:58:00.000+02:00

Today I babysat for 6 whole hours, the longest yet. Really, I don’t know how I’m ever going to go back to a real job because I’m so spoiled here. Whenever I go out at night and people start to head home they’re like “Whew! I better get going! I have to work at 9:00 tomorrow morning!” and I’m like “I hear ya! If I don’t go to bed soon, I won’t get my 10 hours of sleep in time for work at 13:00!” They all hate me.

Anyway, we went to the park as usual and on the way an elderly lady asked me (in French, of course) how to get to Champion (the grocery store). And I was thrilled to not only know the answer but to know how to say it in French. Aw yeah baby! Score 10 points for Vicki.

After babysitting I rushed to the internet café before it closed and rushed to Champion before it closed and I was seriously irritated. Since tomorrow, the 14th, is a holiday, all the stores will be closed so everyone is doing their last minute shopping. I can’t really complain because I was there doing my last minute shopping too but it just annoyed me that it was so crowded and some dork took the last baguette and I need that baguette more than him because I’m going on a picnic tomorrow and now I’m going to have to use regular bread and wow I really sound like a spoiled brat but man, you just don’t know how rough life is until you can’t have a baguette when you’re using to having about 4,000 of them 5 feet from your front door.

And let’s not even talk about how the apathetic checkout lady took 5 TIMES AS LONG as the other lanes. Seriously, I just kept seeing people pumping through the other lines and ours was moving SO SLOW but it was too late at that point to switch lanes and then some guy tried to steal a toothbrush and toothpaste and she caught him and he came back in and was like “But you know me!” And she’s like, “Yeah, I do! It’s no problem! You just have to pay, but let me help these people first.” Except instead of going back to helping us, which at that point was my turn and I was all rang up and had handed her the money and just needed some change for crying out loud, she kept talking to him and he kept apologizing and then he kept explaining to everyone in the whole line what had happened and apologizing and I wanted to be like “Nobody cares, you stupid low-life. You’re holding up the line and I just want my change so get the heck out of the way.” But they didn’t teach us that in French class so instead I just gave him dirty looks and rolled my eyes and sighed really loudly and then he apologized directly to me and I rolled my eyes again and ignored him. Sometimes I’m not quite the rebel I want to be, but I suppose it’s for the best.

OK, but back to really exciting fun French things – I made my first Croque Monsieur for dinner! I love them SO much and eat them at restaurants all the time, but figured I should make them at home so I can have them whenever I want. Now, I just kinda made up exactly how you do it but basically it’s a ham and cheese sandwich with another piece of cheese on the outside of the bread and then you toast it. It was awesome.

And let’s not forget my side dish of little fried potato things called noisettes with a heaping spoonful of mayo:

Hmm, I didn’t notice until now how the fork is actually IN the scoop of mayonnaise. That explains a few things. I’m really looking forward to when I stop eating like a 5 year old, but I’m not quite sure when that’s going to happen.

Anyway, what’s really cool is I’ve totally adapted to not having a microwave. I’m quite proud of myself. And I’m like totally cooking and I never do that back home.

So after dinner I just stayed in and worked on a website for a client and got all caught up on my computer stuff. Leigh and I had mentioned meeting up but I figured since I had been out a little late the past two nights, that I would stay in, unless she called in which case it would just be rude to not meet up, right?

So she called at 11:15 and I decided to take the plunge and go out. I looked at my map and figured out the perfect route to take to where she was. It involved two transfers on the metro but was totally possible, and actually was like the only way to get there.

So I’m sitting on the metro, my new super cool form of transport, and happen to notice a little sign that says the stop I was planning to get off at closes at 21h00. Um, yeah, that’s not good. I looked up and saw we were pulling into the station right before the one that was closed so I had to think fast. I pulled out my map and looked to see if it would be better to continue on to the next stop or get off now. It looked there were more metro lines within walking distance of where I was than if I was to continue so I decided to get off. Except I realized the door hadn’t opened as we arrived at the stop (sometimes that happens) so I fumbled around with the handle and got off just in time. Whew.

OK, so now what? I looked at the map and realized that the other metro lines didn’t really take me where I wanted to go, and the best I could do was start a new route that involved two transfers. I was already running a little late as this point and the thought of waiting for all those trains, plus walking to the other station, totally sucked. I mean, it was already getting late. I took another look at the map and realized it would probably only take about 20 minutes to walk the rest of the way, so I set off.

And it ended up taking exactly 20 minutes and I didn’t even get lost once. And I didn’t even have to look at the map again. I am just so cool.

And what’s even cooler is I think I saw them filming part of the Da Vinci code. They were definitely filming something and there was some security at the end of this small street, preventing anyone from going up there. I couldn’t really see, but I mean, I know they’re filming the Da Vinci Code here right now and it was a small alleyway by the Pantheon which I totally think I remember from the book. Leigh knows someone who actually does security for the filming and they were supposed to be filming outside of Paris right now, but who knows. Let’s just all pretend that’s what it was because it makes my walk a lot more interesting.

Anyway, we ended up hanging out for a bit and then crashing at her place. We walked to Starbucks in the morning and I cannot even tell you how exciting that was. French coffee is really good, but Starbucks is the only place you can get iced coffee and when it’s 100 degrees outside, that definitely sounds like a better option.

I took the metro home without problem and then miraculously found a patisserie that was open and was able to get a baguette. I tell ya what, today is pretty good so far.

I've already run out of creative titles

2005-07-13T18:48:00.000+02:00

Not really much of anything happened yesterday. After eating and taking a nap, I just did my typical internet stuff, cooked pasta for the 18th time in a row (but I tell ya, it’s good every time), and then left to meet up with Christina and her friend Guillaume. This time I took the right metro lines to get there and I felt so cool. Like, yeah, I totally know which direction to go and which stop to switch at and where to go when I get out of the stop. Just call me a pro, you know you want to.

Had dinner:

Then met up with Leigh and that was totally fun. Guillaume’s brothers met up with us and we went to this one bar and totally ran into Leigh’s friends there. I can’t wait till I get to the point where I just walk around Paris and be like “Oh that guy? Yeah I know him, he’s my friend.” That’s gonna be cool.

I ended up staying the night at Christina’s house. I passed this on my walk to the metro this morning. It’s pretty cool to wake up in the morning and have this type of stuff be on your walk home:

The picture doesn’t do it justice, but it was just a nice sunny day along the Seine.

Busy Day

2005-07-12T11:24:00.000+02:00

Thank you, everyone, for not pointing out/noticing that actually, to be grammatically correct, the name of my blog should read “Ma Vie A Paris.” It would be too big of a pain to change the actual address now, and then if I just changed the title that would be confusing, so we’ll stick with it being grammatically incorrect, mmmmkay?

Anyway, today was a very productive day. I was determined to find a stinkin dish drainer, so I walked to Tour Montparnasse (that’s Montparnasse Tower in English) because around that area are a lot of big stores.

I had found a store online and checked that out first, but I decided a dish drainer wasn’t worth 69 euros, and so I ventured onward to Habitat. Totally scored one for 7.50 euros. Check it out:

I’m really looking forward to my dishes being dry 5 hours after I wash them.

Anyway, while I was out walking, I saw my first French gas station:

It hardly looks like a gas station, but lo and behold, it is.

It was starting to get hot so I decided to head home. But first I had to stop off at the grocery store to stock up on wine and ice cream. Honestly, I was going to buy a zucchini to have with dinner, but they didn’t have any. But look at this ice cream:

I totally cut my finger trying to open the stupid package, but it was worth it. I dug in (as you can tell) right away and I think I’ve found the next best thing to gelato. Good thing it’s expensive otherwise I would be pigging out on it all the time.

So this post may seem a little boring but really I’m proud because I had a very productive day. Honestly, though, I don’t know how I could ever have a real job here since it took me all day to buy a dish drainer and go grocery shopping. And you know I took a nap when I got done with all that.

Anyway, after all that Leigh came over and we talked and had some wine. Then we decided to hang out in her neighborhood and I didn’t feel like walking or taking a cab home so I just stayed at her place on what turned out to be a surprisingly comfortable futon. She had to go to work, so we got up at a decent hour, had some coffee, and then took the metro. She told me which stop to get off at and which line to transfer to. Right. Somehow I ended up going outside instead of transferring and I didn’t feel like paying for the darn thing again so I just walked home. For 53 minutes. My feet were KILLING me but at least I got my exercise in for the day.

More details

2005-07-11T13:30:00.000+02:00

I know the post from yesterday was really short but I was totally rushed. So here’s a better update.

The first picture in yesterday’s post is from this really cool totally Parisian restaurant we went to that has three floors and an open atrium in the middle. (I know technically all restaurants in Paris are Parisian, but you know what I mean).

Then we walked to this other part of town and passed the Eiffel Tower. Pretty cool at night. Julien told me a lot of interesting things about Paris and I told him practically everything I knew about St. Louis which is really a lot and I think is very interesting, like stuff about the Arch and Forest Park and the World’s Fair way back in 1904.

One of the last places we stopped at is right next to Café de Flore, which is a very posh café that all the celebs visit. Some of the waiters from there headed over to the bar we were at after they got off work and told us about some of the celebrities they’ve waited on – Robert de Niro and Keanu Reaves being among them.

Also, Julien and I were talking about craigslist and turns out he had actually applied to work for them (Julien lives in San Fransisco where craigslist is based, he’s just here for the summer). Anyway, so he applied and when he did he met Craig. I guess it’s funny to think there’s an actual Craig behind the list, but it totally makes sense.

Anywho, so that was last night.

Today I woke up and took it easy and was very lazy and then met up with Julien for coffee. He told me that he and his friend and friend’s mom ran into Sean Penn today. Apparently all the celebs are in Paris for the summer or something. Julien said that some little kid ran out in the street and his friend’s mom ran up to grab her to keep her from getting hit by a car and looked up and saw Sean Penn and she goes (she’s Brazilian and has a heavy accent and isn’t 100% familiar with American culture) “I know you! You’re Sean Connery.” Sean Penn burst out laughing and was real cool about the whole thing. And yes, I know I’m a dork for telling someone else’s celebrity sighting but so what.

OK, so I think we’re all caught up. Tomorrow I will have been here for one week. Oh, and from now on, if I write the blog from home the night before and then post it the next day, I’m just gonna let you guys try to figure out what the heck day it is because it’s a pain to switch tenses and it’s a pain to be like “I wrote this yesterday but I’m posting it today blah blah blah.” I mean, you still get the point no matter what day it is. OK. I’m done.

Wait, one more thing. My neighbors. I swear the neighbors above me must move their furniture. “Move the couch there. Perfect. Wait no. Move it over there. OK, now move everything else in the room. Hurry! It’s only 7:00 in the morning! If we want to move everything in this room five times by sunset we better get MOVING!” I mean, seriously, give it a rest.

And the people below me must hang pictures for a living because all I hear is a stupid hammer ALL THE TIME. And not to be nosy but we all know I am, could they possibly go to the bathroom anymore? It’s like all the hammering makes them have to go to the bathroom or something. Bang, bang, flush, bang, bang, flush. Combine that with the incessant moving upstairs and it’s just horrendous.

Oh, and I almost forgot the guy hocking loogies from 7 in the morning until 8. I don’t know where he was (the courtyard? his apartment?) and where he was hocking them (the ground? the floor of his apartment?) but he had a phlegm problem like none other. Then the coughing set in. You can seriously hear EVERYTHING in these buildings. I need to remember that.

Short and sweet

2005-07-10T17:36:00.000+02:00

So yesterday I took it pretty easy during the day. Did some internet stuff, cleaned the house, read my book. Then I met up with Julien, from craigslist and had a good time. We had dinner and some drinks and checked out a few places in the neighborhood. Here are some pictures:

Keep on going

2005-07-09T17:16:00.000+02:00

I went shopping at H & M yesterday (good/bad news, it’s only a 20 minute walk from my house) and got two long sleeve shirts and a jacket for 20 euros. Sweet. I really didn’t want to pay any more than that because I’m still in denial that it’s cold here. So hopefully my purchase will inspire some warm weather.

So then I went babysitting and it was good as usual. Ben, the father, is hilarious because since he’s Australian he calls his kids “mate”. Like if Leo starts to fuss he’s like “What’s wrong, mate?” So cute. If someone called me mate all the time, I don’t think I’d ever be in a bad mood.

We went to the playground and had quite the time there. It was pretty chilly so I held Leo the whole time to try to keep him warm. Well, all of the little French girls thought he was just the cutest thing so they came over to say hi to him. Fine and dandy except they were talking to me in French, asking me all sorts of questions, and that’s when I realized my French is barely at the level of a 4 year old. I told them (in French) that I don’t really speak French, I speak English and then this one girl had a puzzled look on her face and quizzed me and asked where I lived and I told her and she said she lived on that street too. Not surprising since the park is one street from my house, but still cool. And even cooler that I can totally talk to 4 year olds in French.

Not to talk about kids the whole time, but one more thing. I asked Felix what his favorite food was and he promptly replied with broccoli and salmon. Have you ever heard a 3 year old say that? Amazing. I’m sure he prefers a light red wine with dinner and a cigar when he’s done as well.

After babysitting I rushed home to get ready to meet Christina. The most horrible (OK, not really) thing happened. I need to charge my cell phone and turn on my hair straightener, and they normally share an outlet (alternating, since I can only use one at a time). Well, I decided to plug the straightener into my computer outlet since I was done with my computer for the night anyway. Bad idea. I totally wasn’t paying attention because I was trying to get ready quickly and just set the straightener down on the floor, not noticing it was touching the power cord for my computer. All of a sudden I smell something burning and look down and the straightener had started to melt and part of the computer cord was burnt through. I immediately unplugged everything and took the straightener into the kitchen where I used a fork to try to push the plates back into place. Then I got the brilliant idea to close the straightener on itself to use its own strength to push the plates back into place. Not a bad idea, except for the melted plastic on either side that now stuck together and, as I pulled the straightener apart, formed strands of quickly hardening plastic. Excellent. Still not sure what I’m going to do about that, but the good news is that I didn’t burn my apartment down and my computer cord still works.

So anyway, I finally met up with Christina last night and we totally hit it off. We went around to a few places and had a really good time. We ended the night at this underground club near the Louvre and it was pretty swanky. I ended up splurging and taking a cab home because I didn’t want to risk getting lost, and that was most definitely a good idea considering I went the wrong way when I got out of the cab. That was totally not my fault, though, because the guy dropped me off at the wrong intersection. Anyway, it was a good night.

Just a few differences

2005-07-08T14:24:00.000+02:00

So as I’m sure you saw from the pictures of my bathroom, I do not have a shower curtain, nor do I have a shower head attached to the wall. I actually had a dream last night that there was a whole other room in my apartment I hadn’t discovered yet that had a real shower with a real shower curtain and a real shower head. Imagine my dismay when I realized that was just a dream. Honestly, the only part I mind is how one arm gets freezing cold while you’re washing the other arm, and how your whole body gets cold when you wash your hair. I don’t really understand why they don’t just do it the way we do in the US. I mean, maybe some things they do over here are better but I’m hard pressed to find a merit of taking a shower this way.

Also (and no, I am not complaining) the light in my closet has a timer on it and so every time I go in there (which is a lot because it’s kind of like a room and ALL my stuff is in it) it’s a race to get everything done before the light turns off. I mean, I can always just turn it on again, but then I’ll probably be done in 5 seconds and the stupid thing will be on for another 30 seconds. Totally not a big deal, but it’s just a fun (?) little game I play with myself.

So I made pasta for dinner tonight. It was bowtie pasta, except here it’s called papillon pasta which means butterfly, and put some parmesan cheese and butter on it. Oh boy, someone should have warned me that real parmesan is extremely pungent and tastes like a mix between blue cheese and aspirin. Crikey, that’s some rank stuff. Good thing I didn’t buy it, it was left over from Clodagh. I put it back where I found it, and it will most definitely stay there until I leave.

On my list of things to do today:
• go to the internet café
• buy a mini notebook

Man, my life is easy. I started wearing the pedometer my mom gave me and am already up to 3,300 steps. Not bad considering I didn’t do much.
-----------
(OK clearly I wrote that last night before I had a chance to go to the café, and I didn’t feel like changing all the tenses)

On my list of things to do today:
• Buy a dish drainer (I have no idea how I’m going to do this. The supermarket didn’t have any and all the Ikea’s are in the suburbs so I’m all out of ideas.)
• Buy a jacket from H & M because it’s still flippin cold here. I looked online and found the location of an H & M semi-near me so hopefully this will prove to be a simple task.
• Babysit the cuties from 3-7.
• Meet up with Christina at 8.

I placed an ad on craigslist trying to meet people and have gotten an overwhelming number of responses (like 40 in one day). Most of them are creepy guys but there are a few guys that look cool and then Christina. I figured I’d start with her, and bring her with me when I meet the other people. Also, is everyone over here named Christie, Christine, or Christina? Just say yes because it’s true. It’s like when Erika and I came here in November and every guy’s name was Vincent.

Il pleut toujours

2005-07-07T15:17:00.000+02:00

Since Paris is a decent ways north of the good old US of A, it doesn’t get dark here until later, usually around 10:30. It’s crazy because I’ll feel like it’s not that late and then I’ll look at the time and it’s already 10 or so and the sun is still out. I mean, it’s clearly on its way to setting, but it’s out nonetheless.

Also, it has been obnoxiously chilly here. Yesterday was 68 in the evening and I know that doesn’t sound that cold, but when all you brought is tank tops and it’s July, you’re a little thrown. Everyone keeps saying it’s about to get dreadfully hot and I can’t wait. I didn’t pack all those cute summer clothes for nothing.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got for today. It’s drizzling and gloomy so I’m just going to stay inside and work on my book.

Les Enfants

2005-07-06T21:11:00.000+02:00

So I started babysitting today. I must say, those are some of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen. And bonus points that they really know how to behave themselves.

I started out at the apartment and Ben (the dad) was there and he explained a few things to me. He’s got a real good way of explaining things thoroughly without being condescending at all. A certain diminutive boss I used to have should take some lessons from this guy.

Felix, the 3 1/2 year old, loves his little brother so he sings to him a lot. When he was singing today, Leo started busting up laughing and Felix said in the cutest voice (he has a hint of an Australian accent from his father) “What are you laughing at, chicken monkey?” Ben told me later that he was saying “cheeky monkey” as if that is somehow different/more acceptable. Still incredibly funny to hear a 3 year old say that.

Then we went to the park. Here is a picture of Felix on the playground:

He was purposely making a face for the camera. The other day I learned in my French word-of-the day email that Frenchies say “oustiti” [pronounce wee-stee-tee] instead of “cheese” in pictures because “cheese” would be “fromage” and well frankly, that doesn’t make anyone smile. So anyway, I was taking the picture and he made his face and all the kids (who weren’t even in the picture) shouted oustiti and if I hadn’t have learned that word I would have been very confused. Oh, and in case you’re wondering oustiti is a type of monkey.

Here is a picture of Leo after I fed him:

Not the best picture but you try holding a 5 month old and taking his picture at the same time, all the while trying to be quick about it so the other nannies at the park don’t think you’re a total weirdo.

I took the kids back home and the day was done. Ben was so grateful to have a few hours to get some work done, and I was so grateful to a) have a nice boss and b) sit down and enjoy being outside for once. I am totally looking forward to this.

On the walk home, I decided to take a few pics of my building.

This is my street, facing east. It’s a very quiet one-way street that is almost entirely residential.

This is the courtyard in my building. Pretty cute. No one hangs out there, though, because there is no furniture.

This is my building, taken from the courtyard. My apartment is the one with the red curtain (bedroom) and the window to the left of it (living room). It’s on what the French call the second floor and what Les Americains called the third floor.

I just ate my toasted salami/camembert concoction and am looking forward to taking it easy tonight. Unless Dena calls, in which case I suppose I’ll schlep it all the way to the Latin Quarter to hang out with her on her last night. Maybe I’ll feel more up to it after the nap I’m about to take …

Write me!

2005-07-06T12:34:00.000+02:00

Here is my address in case anyone wants to send me a real letter or a million dollars:

20 Rue Plumet
75015, Paris
France