So the first speed bump, I am a tad sick. I first noticed it in Windsor on Sunday morning, a little throat irritation. I was hoping it was just due to sleeping with my mouth open or something, but upon arrival at Gare du Nord on Monday, I had some congestion as well. It wasn’t terrible, but I had a feeling I might have a little cold or something.
I made it to the hostel, which has only 4 beds to a room but crappy crappy internet. The bathrooms here are fantastic… it’s interesting how many different flavors these hostels have! And to think I’m only getting a small slice of each city! There are dozens of these things in every city… I wonder if there are any reasonably priced ones in the USA…
Despite my maladie, I decided I would go balls out and try to eat in a French restaurant on the first night. I took French in high school and have used it jokingly every now and then… I must say that I have a new appreciation for people who travel without knowing the local language. I’m an outgoing kind of person, unafraid to talk to strangers, and yet the language barrier experience at dinner made me feel quite the opposite. I’ve heard that the French are very particular about using French, and attempting to begin the conversation in French is a must… so I’ve been having a problem where I start an exchange and then have no idea what response I get. So they respond in French and I have no idea. Mon dieu!
So yes, L’Ecrin was the nice little bistro I ate at… a google translate of L’Ecrin helpfully yields “The Ecrin.” The weather was beautiful, on the verge of shorts weather with a slight dusk breeze. The front of the restaurant was open to the air and my table was just inside. In any case, the rumors about French cuisine are true… I was quite hungry, but the chicken there was marvelous. In France, it’s common to order une carafe d’eau with water, which just means pitcher of water but the containers are all very unique. This one was more like a wide bodied glass flask with a very skinny neck.
Anyway, I felt like chatting it up with the waiter and asking him about his lovely little bistro, but I couldnt! In fact, I felt timid and afraid to sound stupid or silly. It was kind of silly, after the waiter figured out I spoke English he spoke it without losing his friendliness. He was a cool dude, and he said “Bonjour!” enthusiastically and quite baritone to everyone that came in.
It was really nice. After bustling around on trains all day and feeling crappy, it was just nice to sit there in the perfect weather and listen to Paris. The quaint little bistro somehow set a very pleasant and serene atmosphere right on the edge of a very touristy part of the city. When I told the waiter that the food was delicious, he flashed me a charming smile and said, “Of course, you are in France!” French folks say France more like Fronse, which has some sort of endearing quality to it. I felt as if the same restaurant could have been in a quiet sleepy town by the ocean or something with the same charm and serenity.
So yeah, nice quiet time to myself… after my meal I walked around for a while… and had my first negative difficulty speaking English. I stopped at a busy little grocery just to see prices… as I left, a man with no sort of uniform or anything near the door stopped me and spoke to me… I told him in French that I didn’t understand so he repeated himself. Finally he said, rather irritated, “I need to look in your bag!” Sheesh. It ended up being no biggy.
My friend Tricia is studying abroad over here, so we decided to meet up for a drink… so that was a nice excuse to get myself familiar with the metro. I bought a Carte Orange hebdomadaire (hon hon hon), which is unlimited public transport access for one week costing me about 20 euro. Not bad at all!!! I mean, it’s 4 US dollars a day, but unlimited on and off. Booyah. The pass is a little crazy though, they make you buy a little transit identity card for another 5 euro, on which you have to put a little photo and sign. The carte orange goes inside and then you can reuse the sleeve if you change cards. I guess they don’t want people to share the passes, which is both bogus and sensible to me… on the one hand, if I loan my pass to my friend why is that a problem!? But then with the internet these days, I’m sure people would set up pass passing (nice) schedules and stuff. Anyway, it was a bit of a hassle to set up… Tricia mentioned that they stop you sometimes to check it so I just took care of it.
The metro in paris is great, if you don’t mind changing lines 2 or 3 times no matter where you’re trying to go. The trains come every 5 minutes though, so that is amazing. And they have digital readouts that explain how long until the next train. Great. So yeah, not too hard to navigate… grabbing a beer with an old friend was nice times as well. I guess I only have one roommate so far, he didn’t wake up when I came in.
Today I feel a little more sick, although breakfast here is great. You get a croissant, cereal, and juice… they ran out of cocoa crispies but I’m getting mine tomorrow for sho! MMMMmmm. It’s really interesting trying to speak this language I used to study 10 years ago, it’s coming along though. I met my roommate, an eccentric Indian fellow  who is studying in the states. He’s quite interesting… very well spoken and I could tell immediately that he was very cultured and interested in culture as well. He recommended about 6 places to check out in Paris; he was here for the last 12 days. I was determined to get out despite feeling a bit under the weather and went to L’Hotel des Invalides.
I must say, I’ve never seen so much Medieval armor and weaponry in one place! They have this polished, full suits of armor just standing in rows and rows, and cases upon cases full of swords and crossbows and things. Even suits of armor for kids, like maybe 10 year olds or something. The helmets really struck me as well, many different styles and some of them I’m not sure how they had any kind of visibility. Pretty neat.
It also had a section for the World Wars, keeping my thought that Europe keeps the war memory close alive. Similar to the Winston Churchill museum, they had one for Charles de Galle, which was really neat to see since I had no idea really what he was all about. Sounds like another inspiring guy who had passion for his country and tried to make it better for all people. Although I spent the least time there, the main attraction of the place is Napoleon’s Tomb, which has a huge golden chapel dome which must have been really friggin expensive. There’s a giant sarcophagus for Napoleon himself, which is about the size of a small house! It’s like he’s the opposite of fat man in a little coat. Never mind. I’m surprised the French are that proud of him, I don’t know my history, but I’m pretty sure he failed to take over the world. I guess I should look it up…
The museum wore me out a bit… shouldn’t have, but I think my condition made me a little weaker than normal. I had chinese food for dinner and then chilled out back at the hostel. I ended up meeting some cool folks and hung out with them down in the lounge. One was a girl who was heading back home to DC the next day, and she gave me her calling card that she was never going to use. Score! Arvind showed up as well and had a seemingly rousing culture rich conversation with an interesting British girl from London. Man, every night in this place is an experience!
I’m starting to feel better, I think one more night of good sleep will put me back in normal operating condition! Hope I don’t get anyone else sick…
I was wondering how you were going to fair in non-English speaking country…not bad…I am impressed..:)