Apres quelques jours...

One of the most intimidating things about Paris is the sheer amount of things to do. Be it museums, cafes, shopping, tourist sights, whatever, there is no lack of options here. Coming into Paris for a week or so the past two times, I’ve always found myself conducting some type of triage – deciding which sights are really worth it, which neighborhoods are the most Parisian, etc. This time, I’m faced with the opposite problem – there’s very little selection I have to do at this point. Since I’m so early in my trip, I can still hop on the Metro and get off at some random station, explore, and feel like I’ve spent a day doing something worthwhile. Random things, such as the Musee du Vin, or actually exploring the somewhat seedy neighborhood of Pigalle have become a lot more possible. So, while I’m constantly being inundated with a million new things to do, it’s great to know there’s a chunk of time always ahead of me.

Since I haven’t updated, well, since I got here, I figured I’d just write down some highlights and observations, since nobody wants to hear “I went here, then I went there and it was really cool, etc.”

Highlights:

- As always, the view from Sacre Coeur.

- Eating cheese and drinking wine by the Bon Marche today

- Realizing that my IES program is literally 90-odd percent female. Score.

- Having a Middle-Eastern night on Saturday, replete with Tunisian food and an Egyptian hookah bar.

- Spending 2 hours on Sunday just sitting in the Parc du Champ De Mars, staring out at the Seine and the Eiffel Tower

- My killer host family/location/apartment. The dad is high up at the Centre Pompidou, and gets all these art opening invitations and has special access to museums. The son is a musician/DJ, and I went to see him spin on Friday at a bar off the touristy part in Montmartre. The apartment is right on the Place de Clichy, so I’m a few minutes walk from Montmartre, but definitely not more than ½ an hour by metro from most of Paris, in addition to being 50 meters from a metro stop. The apartment is this really French 2-story place with a private terrace (which I have a prime view of), cool art, and a lot of charm

- The food in general – while everything is VERY expensive, I’ve been able to eat some decent food. They even serve Espresso at McDonalds (I only know that because all the McDonalds have WiFi).

- Seeing the art exhibit “La Melancolie” (how French) at the Grand Palais. It is the fashionable art exhibit now, and just finished on Sunday.

Observations:

- Less electricity. Parts of this apartment, such as the bathroom, are not heated (this makes for some very cold morning showers, despite the hot water). You also turn off lights/everything if you’re not in the room.

- Saying “bonjour” when you enter a place (ie: café or store) gets you a long way. Just acknowledging that you’re entering someone else’s space is key.

- Smiling here when you don’t know someone is seen as fake / disingenuous.

- Honestly, French people are very nice and accommodating, you just can’t expect good service by talking to someone in a foreign language.

- The women are so put together it’s ridiculous. Besides the fact that so many are just beautiful, they are always wearing a full outfit – sweatpants do not exist on the streets for them.