Two nights in Paris - February 6, 2009

Okay, so Stephane had to go into Paris for work and you all know that means some days on the town for me. I decided this time I went to Paris, I was going to see the things I hadn't been able to see the last couple times we went. We decided to stay in Chinatown because it was near where he had to go for work. And we love Pho! But you may already know that because I write about it everytime I go to Paris. We stayed in a hotel called the "Arian Hotel"! LOL It wasn't a palace but it was cheap and fortunately our maid was not Hitler. Anyway, our plan for the first night was to go see some sights together. But when we arrived we quickly realized that it was the Chinese New Year and we were in Chinatown. Stephane literally dragged me to the parade. But, I'm glad he did because it turned out to be great! I got some pics from the street and pics from our sixth floor window. Check them out in the photo section. I guess it is the tradition to have a parade and also to bless the stores and restaurants. This blessing is done with drums, and two like "Dragon Dogs" things. The shopkeeper or restauranteur comes out of the front door with an "offering" of food for the Dogs (The Gods) and the Gods (Dogs) take the offering and in turn give them a blessing for a prosperous New Year. To add to the drums and the excitement of the Dogs, they also light firecrackers off to seal the deal. And I mean a lot of fucking firecrackers! The streets were lined with red remnants of paper from them. So after we had something to eat at a restaurant with crappy seating but good food and took a nap after. We then went out to Stephane's families house for dinner and a little Wii. Just wanted you all to know that on the Wii, as in my real life, I am a kickass bowler. LOl I have been made fun of for this before, but gosh darnit, it's true. I will whoop your ass at bowling! The Frenchies were very impressed. We spent the evening with them and then went home around midnight. Stephane left early in the morning nd I slept until ten. My plan was to go to the Louvre and attempt to meet up with my friend Crystal but it ended up she was unavailable to meet so I ended up going by myself. It only costs 9€ to get into the Louvre. I saw the Egyptian artifacts section this time and walked the Greek and Roman sculpture rooms again. I decided to walk across the Seine river and try to go to the Musée d'Orsay but it wasn't open. Last time we were in Paris we had passed a cute little area with lots of shops near the Musée. This time, I decided to check it out. Totally awesome little area near the Rue Du Bac Metro Station. After this I was pretty cold and decided to just go back to the room, check my email and rest until Stephane got back. Then we went out to eat PHO! Hells yeah! We ate, wandered a bit and then came back to the hotel to crash. In the morning, Stephane and I got up and had breakfast at a McDonald's (I'm not gonna lie) and then he went off for work and I had another day in Paris. This day was blue skies, but freezing cold! I was on the hunt for beads and Valentines gifts for Stephane. It was freezing but I shopped my ass off! After an unsuccessful search for beads I decided to hop on the Metro to check out the so-called "Dreadhead " section of Paris at Metro stop Strasbourg/St. Denis. Turns out you can only buy hair extensions, cosmetics and ugly shoes in this section. No Beads. After this I headed to find Notre Dame. I swear you are gonna think I'm retarded when you read this next part. Now you can see Notre Dame from the bridges over the river. It is huge! I took the Metro to the Cité station which puts you right on the island where Notre Dame is located. I got off the Metro and just followed the tour groups. I looked in both directions and saw what I thought was Notre Dame. Turns out, after thinking it was lame, taking photographs of it and giving up on waiting in line, later on Stephane told me it in fact WASN'T Notre Dame, but some other cathedral. I had just mistaken it because it was on the island and there were millions of tourists. The real Notre Dame was located on the other side of this extremely small island and happened to be somehow "hiding" behind these other buildings in the square so I didn't see it. I felt like an ass when he told me. LOL SO, next time I am in Paris, I am going to go to the REAL Notre Dame and then post some pics. What a jackass! Okay, so, after an unfortunate mistake with Notre Dame, I travelled across the river again to a street called the Rue de Seine. On this street was supposedly a bead shop (anyway I need beads for my dreads I'm getting next week - hence the exhausting search for beads in Paris) which turned out was not open. But they had some really cute shops, tons of art galleries and outdoor cafes (of course). I decided to have a cup of tea in one of the cafes. What is great is that it's totally normal to sit by yourself in Paris restaurants. Okay, so after that I decided to head to the Pigalle section of Paris for some more shopping and lunch. I ate at a sidewalk cafe. I sat outside and basically froze my ass off just so I could smoke. I was there for like over an hour, but again, this is completely normal for Paris. After my lunch I walked the streets of Pigalle which are quite interesting. I bought a hat, a necklace and also two scarves. I need two scarves like I need a hole in the head, but they were cute and cost a total of 10€ together. I also got Stephane a couple gifts which I cannot mention because he will read this and hasn't yet received them. :) It was cold and getting late and I was exhausted but I still had a couple hours before meeting Stephane at the station to go home. I decided to just hang out in the train station for an hour reading (across from a woman with SEVEN little Paris Hilton lap dogs in bags) then headed to a restaurant across from the station which is our rendevous point always in Paris. We met up at 6 and headed home to Lyon, which is a two hour train ride. It's Friday night. In eight days I'm heading home to the states for a month ( itinerary posted in last note). Next Wednesday or Thursday, I'm getting synthetic dreadlocks , which has been a hippie fantasy of mine for years! YAY! I'll post pics when I get them.

So, most likely my last blog for a while. Hope to see some of you on my trip home.