paris in a nutshell [part 1]

this is a quick write-up of the weekend [11.08.07 through 13.08.07] in paris with L.G. paris deserves more, i know, but i'm writing this at schiphol airport and i don't have much internet time left. besides, paris would have gotten more play on this blog and the fact that it didn't is really paris' fault.

two things about paris. where are the camera stores (so i could get a battery charger or a new charged battery for my camera) & where is the internet? i looked high & low for both those things (since my camera battery died fast & furious just as i was about to snap my seventh night shot of the eiffel tower). & i needed the interwebs so i could touch base with G.S. about istanbul. jeez paris. bienvenue to the 21st C.

anyway. paris was a comedy of errors in a sense, and not only because my stephen harper accent en francais was on display.

L.G. arrived the day before me. we arranged to meet at galleries lafayette (huge fancy department store) on the 7th floor, where a fashion show takes place on tuesdays at salon opera. we neglected to indicate a time. neither one of us noticed this oversight. but i figured she meant around 4:30 or so since i arrived at charles de gaulle airport at 1:30, had to go drop stuff off at the place we were staying at (a place leena found, renting a double room from a woman named M who lives in the belleville section of paris), get keys & get myself to galleries lafayette (hereinafter known was the "bermuda triangle" or "BT").

i get to BT and see that the 7th floor is (like a portal to john malkovich's mind) in existence only when that fashion show is on and at all other times, disappears. the door to salon opera was closed with everything interdit written on it. there was no other way to go to the "7th floor". there was a terrace on the 8th floor. which i went to. not there. i waited on the 6th floor where the tourist crap & food is. not there. i walked around and around and around looking for the 7th floor. it was not there. as you continue upstairs from the 6th floor, you get to a landing which is apparently the "7th floor" and then it continues up to the 8th floor terrace. so i waited there, looked around, bought myself a lego keychain on the toy floor, waited some more, had vastly overpriced miso soup (5 f'ckin' euros) & sushi (don't ask). then decided to go read my book somewhere else and just catch up with leena later. back at M's place. went to the louvre, sat around in the jardin there, read my book (a autobiography of helmut newton --- fascinating life!), kicked around. checked my blackberry. L had found le seulement cafe d'internet in all of paris and sent me some messages -- the last one said she'd be at this french restaurant on the left bank (st. germain area) at 8 pm. i could make it there. i wasn't too far off. [please note that in my desire to wander confusedly, i decided not to have any maps of the city with me except for a map of the metro that i got at CDG airport from the info desk, but it was in portugese. anyway. i was just as lost as the lisbon contingent.] i made my way to the restaurant. but was thwarted by the metro randomly stopping one stop shy of notre dame, and then having to transfer to a bus to get further in the austerlitz direction. the bus took 1/2 hour to get between those two stops because of a car accident on blvd. st-germaine. goody. anyway. i ran to the area, started asking around for rue haut-feuille (which L had been told was a "main street". HA) and in my horrible stephen harper accent asked people for that street, no one knew what i was talking about. finally, i found it on my own and was barreling toward no. 5 (the restaurant) hoping L hadn't given up on me. suddenly, i hear my name being called out. it's L. she's across the street at a vietnamese restaurant. the restaurant we were supposed to meet at is closed because it's august and paris is fermee. tous est interdit, especially eating good food. so we embrace. and weep with joy. turns out we were just walking around the BT & missed one another for 2 hours!! phuck.

okay, i have to do more of this tomorrow or later since my flight's going to leave for istanbul. anyway, i'm sans laptop so will check up as soon as i can.

a bientot.