OK so I'm in a bit of a pickle. Vancity decided, right before I left to change their debit network from Plus to Cirrus. Normally, of course I wouldn't give a shit. I only give a shit when I've been in Europe for 2 weeks WITHOUT THE ABILITY TO WITHDRAW CURRENCY. So yes, I'm angry. I'm trying reaaaaaallllly hard not to let this affect my experience here...but when the whole city runs on cash and the places that do take Visa only take it after 10 euros, things get...challenging. Vancity's solution was to get me an emergency cash advance through Visa as I don't have a PIN for it. I'm waiting on my second cash advance now, and I'm pretty much stuck at the hostel until I get it. Thanks, Vancity.
I say deja vu is appropriate because, when I was here studying, I had very little money to work with. Now I come back, I'm not loaded but I brought a bit to enjoy this place a little more. And I can't get to it! Fantastic.
But in reality, I'm still loving every minute of this place. I have a place to sleep, a pair of shoes and a camera. I've already half-filled my 16GB SD card and I've barely started my trip! Oh man, I can't wait to see some of these properly on a screen bigger than 2.5". I'm also hoping they're all in focus from my manual focus 50mm. Thank you Rosie for suggesting that purchase, it's made my trip so far...I love that thing...
So back to Grandma. So we got up the next morning after arriving, and walked from the hotel to the Musee D'Orsay. I went before but I saw some parts I never saw before. I'm quite proud of how much she has walked so far. We found a little store that sold italian linen, I helped her buy a new shirt because damn it's been hot out. We wandered through most of the museum; there was a Van Gogh exhibit, including the famous portrait shot. Pretty cool. It's funny, my only (young) French friend Johane pointed out that when she was in New York, she found it odd that people take pictures of themselves in front of paintings. That's a very American thing to do, and she's right, it doesn't make sense. You take a picture of yourself in front of a building or monument or sunset on a beach that's one thing. But a painting? You're supposed to look at it. And then you might tell people you saw it. But it's art, people know what it looks like, why do you need to show that you stood in front of it?
Anyways, there was some awesome furniture in the museum too I never saw before, and maybe I appreciate more cuz of my job. I didn't realize how cool designer furniture was around the late 1800s to early 1900s. Almost art deco-y but not. We had tea at the restaurant there; was alright, more like a tourist trap than a real tea house, even though the setting and the waiters uniforms might indicate otherwise.
We then hopped in a taxi to the Monet exhibit at Grand Palais...aaaah...SO awesome. We jumped the line again (thanks Grandma!) and I actually took one of those radio guide cell phone things along. Well worth it for this. They basically pulled in all of Monets big works from around the world to create a chronological tour of his art. You could follow how he developed his style, how his relationships and surrounding influenced what he did...so awesome. he painted over 2000 pictures in his lifetime! You want inspiration and story about a man who LOVED what he did, read up on him...Apparently when he was well known, he painted some works in the Gare St. Lazare in Paris...the station pulled in trains, moved through people and even put coal int the stationary trains to give Monet more lighting effects for him to study from the steam. The only downside to it all was in the recordings, they had 'Monet' chime in every once in a while to really 'enhance' the experience....unfortunately the voice acting was TERRIBLE, and Monet spoke in an affected and ridiculous English accent. The quotes were so randomly placed sometimes too. He would just chime in for no reason. Say this in your best crusty, old man, top hat-wearing, monocle-sporting, pipe-toting English accent "I WANTED TO DO THE...ELUSIVE..." I thought I was listening to some shitty Margaret Atwood book on tape or something...
We ate a full on french Brasserie meal at L'Atlas in the St. Germain area. Pretty damn tasty. Grandma had Pear and Lemon sorbet for dessert...what? Yeah, it's good.
I went to meet Johane, my one and only French friend around my age. It is very true, french people even confirmed for me that Parisians really don't have any interest in mingling with foreigners. In the south of France near the social latin cultures you have more luck. But Parisians are very cliquey. They hang out in the bar at my hostel and there's foreigners everywhere but they don't even try to mingle. I'm gonna venture a guess here: I'm gonna say that they're pussies. Usually when people don't want to talk it's because they're shy or scared. I think they're happy to not have to try to speak english or even french to others because they're happy in their own bubble. Johane is an exception and there are a few after her. She came up to me in one of my classes back then because she was studying english and wanted to practice speaking and learn about my country. She's awesome, and she's a perfect example of a beautiful french girl...minus the not-interacting part. Very strong opinions in politics and other things too. Good humble personality. I have to admit I appreciate that aspect of her personality. She's not self-centered in any way and it's awesome. She said she found New Yorkers when she was there to be nice at first but totally transparent, and would say one thing and you'd call the next day and they would bail out. To be honest, at this hostel I'm staying at, I just hung out with this one Senegal-French black guy named Hubert and a couple from Brasil. I met plenty of Canadians and Aussies, but I've got along best with non-native english speakers, they've been much more down to earth.
I got to hang out at a little house party for a bit...I miss those. Cheese and bread and meat and grapes on the table. 1664 Kronenbourg beer....yum. I met her colleague from work, he was pretty cool and we all had some good laughs. I'm glad I've got to practice my french alot here, and relearn some colloquial terms.
Got home and was talking to Visa till 330am...ugh...
Ok, my time is up. The sun just came out. I'm walking to Sacre Coeur.
B
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