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| Hopping off the subway near the Novotel Hotel |
I arrived at Charles De Gaulle airport and went to get a train ticket from one of the kiosks. I had a flashback to when Ness and I came to France on our tenth anniversary a few years ago. It was August and over 80 and humid. We got off a red eye flight and were tired. This must have led to our confusion with figuring out the train system. That and we could not understand French very well. Turns out that our credit cards wouldn't work because they didn't have the security chips in them and the change machine was out of service. So we had to get in a queue of over fifty people waiting at a nearby cashier to get change. Fortunately someone came to service it soon after we got in line so I waited patiently behind the guy servicing it while Vanessa stayed in the long queue just in case he took a while. Fortunately he finished in a few minutes, but as soon as he was done and closed the door a French woman rushed in front of me and shoved her bill in. It was our first taste of French, and in particular Parisian culture. Apparently, December must be a better time to travel, as it went much smoother this time around.
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| View from the D'Orsay |
I headed straight for D'Orsay museum after dropping off my luggage with the hotel concierge for storage. Saw all the famous impressionist and romance era painters' works. Including a bunch of amazing statues. Finished up exhausted so grabbed a quick cat nap before heading out to a great little pub. I was the only American there and couldn't understand a thing going on. But I enjoyed trying to figure out rugby rules again, and watching all the people having a great time. I wandered around after that to experience some of the Paris nightlife for a Saturday night. Decided to stop at a "bar-club" in the Montparnasse district since the bouncer talked me in with a cheap drink. Since it was cheaper than the cafe I stopped at and left because I didn't get service, I thought I'd give it a try. Turns out it was a strip joint dive. What a surreal experience. I was the only person there other than the three stripper girls chumming it up in a booth together in the back corner, a bouncer, bartender and the older hardened female manager. The latter three in their fifties. It was very dark and dingy inside. The conditions and business was so poor, that i actually felt bad for the proprietors and employees there. That didn't stop me from only having my glass of whiskey and heading for the door. In the interim of finishing my whiskey, I did have to endure each of the ladies taking turns coming over to ask me where I was from and trying to convince me to hand them fifty euros for a five minute dance. I thought it was amusing as I'd turn one down, she'd walk back to the other two, have a chat, then the next would come over as if they were coming out of a dug out then returning after striking out. I took pity and wave the last girl out before she headed over, then tiring of the menacing glances I got from the employees for daring to come in and pay for nothing buy my drink, I made my prompt exit, having finished my whiskey.
