Xmas in France, part deux
!!! I finally got on the internet from my laptop. But let me tell you, it wasn't easy.
After doing some more research, apparently Paris is blanketed with free wifi, just not in the area I'm staying. All of the public libraries have free internet, so I found one a few blocks away that happened to be in the mayors building for the arrondissement. It was unfortunately closed Monday, which I figured out 5 minutes before I was about to leave. So, I head over Tuesday around 5 (closes at 7PM) and at the entrance are two security guards. Meanwhile, in my backpack I'm carrying a HUGE and have transformer because my laptop chokes on the French power. They didn't end up frisking me but did ask where I was going. Once I said library, they let me through. Then, inside another woman comes up and asks me what I'm doing. I say library, and she points me to the 5th floor and elevator. Phew! Get in the library, find the last remaining seat, it has a plug, I pull my transformer out, and lo and behold, I get on the internet. Woo-hoo! First thing I did was check my email and then go through my work email so I'm not bludgeoned with 600 mails when I get home. Fortunately, most people are on vacation right now, so only 160 notes in 5 days.
After the library, head back to the apartment, and my brother finally shows up at 9PM. We immediately meet his girlfriend and some friends at a Lebanese restaurant for dinner, then back to the house, a bottle of wine, and thou... Next day is my first real tourist day. Get up early with my brother who is on his way to work at 8AM. Finally get out of the house at 9:30 or so and take the subway to the bottom of Montmartre, where the cathedral of Sacre Coeur resides. I take a walking tour of the area, seeing a bunch of places where painters like Vincent Van Gogh, Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec resided during the areas bohemian days. Visited the Dali museum which showed the breadth of the man's imagination. Finally ended up at the Musee de L'erotisme, an erotic/porn museum. This place was pretty cool. 5 floors of a tiny building dedicated to sculptures, drawings and paintings from around the world and throughout history. I'm telling you, we had NOTHING on the ancients in terms of sexual variety. They were also playing porn videos from the 20's in one area. Pretty damn funny. They definitely had different ideas of beauty back then.
Caught a subway to the Left bank/St. Germain-des-Pres and commenced another walking tour. This one wasn't quite as exciting . Getting cold, so I surprise my brother at his office at Place Vendome, then head back to the apartment before humping my way to the library for two hours. After that, back to the apartment to drop everything off, then another subway to the Champs-Elysees to meet my brother and a friend of his at the Cervoise, a beer place right off the Champs. This is us doing 3 rounds (1 apiece) of the beer sampler.
Oh, and the Champs was beautifully made up for the holidays, as you can see from the picture below.
Then back to the apartment for yet another bottle of wine and some appetizers. Get to sleep around midnight, and up the next morning at 9. Hang around the apartment until 11, and then off to my grandmothers to meet my parents and grandmother for lunch. My parents had just gotten in that morning. We have lunch, which is ordered in advance, and it's fish. Joy. No I don't like seafood, but my grandmother will never know that by how I chowed down. Had to borrow a jacket and tie from my brother for the lunch. I can't even remember the last time I wore a tie, definitely over a year ago.
Then, off to do some more shenanigans, back to the apartment, off to the library, which closes at 6PM tonight, in 20 minutes. And still have no idea what we are doing tonight, although I hope it involves a good meal and some strong drink. I only have two days left before we head to my aunt's outside Paris for 2 days with the ENTIRE family of over 60, of which the ONLY missing person will be my brother. Ugh. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures to annoy him. Seriously, that points out how tragic it is that he couldn't make it, as this will probably be the last opportunity for the entire family to be together in one place, especially with my 97-yr-old grandmother, who was surprisingly spry today, despite the fact that she had a mini-stroke yesterday, her 8th in the last few years. That's about it for part deux.
After doing some more research, apparently Paris is blanketed with free wifi, just not in the area I'm staying. All of the public libraries have free internet, so I found one a few blocks away that happened to be in the mayors building for the arrondissement. It was unfortunately closed Monday, which I figured out 5 minutes before I was about to leave. So, I head over Tuesday around 5 (closes at 7PM) and at the entrance are two security guards. Meanwhile, in my backpack I'm carrying a HUGE and have transformer because my laptop chokes on the French power. They didn't end up frisking me but did ask where I was going. Once I said library, they let me through. Then, inside another woman comes up and asks me what I'm doing. I say library, and she points me to the 5th floor and elevator. Phew! Get in the library, find the last remaining seat, it has a plug, I pull my transformer out, and lo and behold, I get on the internet. Woo-hoo! First thing I did was check my email and then go through my work email so I'm not bludgeoned with 600 mails when I get home. Fortunately, most people are on vacation right now, so only 160 notes in 5 days.
After the library, head back to the apartment, and my brother finally shows up at 9PM. We immediately meet his girlfriend and some friends at a Lebanese restaurant for dinner, then back to the house, a bottle of wine, and thou... Next day is my first real tourist day. Get up early with my brother who is on his way to work at 8AM. Finally get out of the house at 9:30 or so and take the subway to the bottom of Montmartre, where the cathedral of Sacre Coeur resides. I take a walking tour of the area, seeing a bunch of places where painters like Vincent Van Gogh, Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec resided during the areas bohemian days. Visited the Dali museum which showed the breadth of the man's imagination. Finally ended up at the Musee de L'erotisme, an erotic/porn museum. This place was pretty cool. 5 floors of a tiny building dedicated to sculptures, drawings and paintings from around the world and throughout history. I'm telling you, we had NOTHING on the ancients in terms of sexual variety. They were also playing porn videos from the 20's in one area. Pretty damn funny. They definitely had different ideas of beauty back then.
Caught a subway to the Left bank/St. Germain-des-Pres and commenced another walking tour. This one wasn't quite as exciting . Getting cold, so I surprise my brother at his office at Place Vendome, then head back to the apartment before humping my way to the library for two hours. After that, back to the apartment to drop everything off, then another subway to the Champs-Elysees to meet my brother and a friend of his at the Cervoise, a beer place right off the Champs. This is us doing 3 rounds (1 apiece) of the beer sampler.
Oh, and the Champs was beautifully made up for the holidays, as you can see from the picture below.
Then back to the apartment for yet another bottle of wine and some appetizers. Get to sleep around midnight, and up the next morning at 9. Hang around the apartment until 11, and then off to my grandmothers to meet my parents and grandmother for lunch. My parents had just gotten in that morning. We have lunch, which is ordered in advance, and it's fish. Joy. No I don't like seafood, but my grandmother will never know that by how I chowed down. Had to borrow a jacket and tie from my brother for the lunch. I can't even remember the last time I wore a tie, definitely over a year ago.
Then, off to do some more shenanigans, back to the apartment, off to the library, which closes at 6PM tonight, in 20 minutes. And still have no idea what we are doing tonight, although I hope it involves a good meal and some strong drink. I only have two days left before we head to my aunt's outside Paris for 2 days with the ENTIRE family of over 60, of which the ONLY missing person will be my brother. Ugh. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures to annoy him. Seriously, that points out how tragic it is that he couldn't make it, as this will probably be the last opportunity for the entire family to be together in one place, especially with my 97-yr-old grandmother, who was surprisingly spry today, despite the fact that she had a mini-stroke yesterday, her 8th in the last few years. That's about it for part deux.
posted by Alex de Frondeville at 11:17 AM
3 Comments:
Nun Gut! Hier! PALAVROSSAVRVS REX!
Yeh Champs!!
It never gets old. Yeah Champs! Nice to be able to say it again...
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