The Trip Was Expensive

In the morning of the day I left for Paris- the tenth of March- I woke up to realize the morning had a lot of lag in it.  However, my friend wouldn’t allow me to be lazy.  I had already packed but also had a list of things to grab on the way out.

My friend and I caught an F and noted that the light at Octavia was out and traffic extended for a few blocks in every direction.  We got off at 5th and went to Blue Bottle then we took BART to 16th to stop by the bank and get a cup of coffee before going to SFO.  Once we went through the security checkpoint at Terminal G we had pizza and bought some things- mostly candy.

On the plane I had the middle seat between the window and aisle.  Focusing on my newspaper, I tried hard not to think about the birds during takeoff and up to dinner at around five.  The airline had a great interactive map which gave me information about the trip.  The lady at the window fell asleep and my friend watched three movies.  I only saw one having chosen to focus more on music and TV shows.

The staff were hard to interact with because I didn’t speak French.  However, my friend got me a few free drinks.  She was able to sleep a bit but we had a hard time in general.  She thought the flight at nine and a half hours was long.

Near the end of the flight breakfast seemed silly because it was nearly 11p SF time but it was served at the right time of the morning Paris time.  We arrived a bit after finishing our meal at around 1030a.  We had arranged for a taxi but it was late so I suggested we take the train.  However, the driver arrived shortly after that.

The traffic on the road was a bother but not as bad as traveling in California.  I noted that the driver took us through a variety of urban locals and later it was apparent that had no reason to drive us around the Arc de Triomphe or the Champs d'Elysees but it was nice. The trip was expensive but I didn’t mind in the end.

The hotel turned out to be cramped but also acceptable since it was relatively close to everything we wanted to see.  Being exhausted we helped each other unpacking.  We walked through the sixth district then and I noted that my friend's directions were confused by the small irregular blocks.  Eventually we found costume– it had been recommended by Sprudge.  The coffee it was delicious. I had a muffin which stand my pants.

I started to interact with my European compadres.  While meeting one wasn't likely to pan out the others seemed to look good.  Later we went to an art store because my friend had to purchase an eraser and a pencil.  After that we stopped by a pharmacy and I picked up some water.

Then we returned to the hotel to drop off our materials and look for a pizza place.  However, when we were on Cannette street we decided to go to a pub for burgers.  We discussed the birds. The burgers were good and I went to bed around 10.

We made it to the hotel kitchen by eight and I noted that the waiter had trouble interacting with us but someone in the café volunteered. Later my friend wanted to know how to say thirty-two in French.  We walked to a cool cafe and I wanted to try the place. I felt embarrassed by my language skills but managed. My friend wanted to go to Les Puces but we couldn’t figure out the metro tickets so we sat back down at the cafe and tried to figure it out.

When we had purchased our Visite tickets we rode to the end of the four line.  Then we followed an English couple to the flea markets.  We thought we would have to sit down and check the map but we quickly found it.  We immediately found stuff to look at and I bought some lead type.  I then dragged my friend  to another alley hoping to get us lost.  We found ourselves at the beginning again and this time chose some other alleys.  I tried to get myself lost this time but by then I had found a map and ended up buying some stamps for mom instead.

We found a fabric shop and my friend bought a pattern and some lace.  I impressed the shopkeeper with my Google Translate skills and then we headed over to a cafe where I had a glass of J&B and she had some sparkling water.  Then we walked through the furniture market.  I noted that we had seen a bunch of interesting bikes.  She had seen her old and current bikes while I had inspected a Raleigh with bolted seat stays.

When we had grown tired of the market I managed to find a way to easily escape and we boarded the Metro at Clignancourte and headed to Barbes and Rochechoart where we walked to a restaurant.  From there we went looking for the Marche de Saint Pierre but I took us to the the wrong entry in our book- a random park on the east side of Barbes.  Later we found the shops though.

From there we climbed to Sacre Coeur and sat idly at Nadar.  Later we walked through the plaza at Norvins and then descended to Blvd Clichy.  We got some cookies on the way and we ended up seeing the Molin Rouge at Blanche station then.  I was sad to discover that we would only pass through Place Pigalle and not get to see it because we needed to head back to the hotel to rest.

We got off the train at Sevres then and walked to a cafe.  Later we walked to the Marche de Saint Germain and had dinner.  Then we walked to El Dante and I started to write in my notebook.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.