Paris Day 1

Once again, the Internet access was absolutely not as advertised. The hotel advertises Wi-Fi in the rooms. They don't tell you the exorbitant fee they charge for using it or that it requires special cards to be purchased from the front desk. Of course they ran out of cards before we got there. With a calm disregard that is so typically French, the concierge told us that he didn't expect them any time soon. If ever there was a candidate for boiling he is it.

The day began with a delicious Leon breakfast (chalky porridge, grainy muffin, and chunky protein shake). I hope it was healthy since it felt like eating and drinking wet concrete (not THAT bad though).

We walked for about 30 minutes to the Waterloo train station to grab the Eurostar train that goes straight from London to Paris under the English Channel, the Chunnel (get it? channel tunnel? you already knew that? right...).

My mom arranged for a hotel on arrival but we didn't know exactly where it was except for it's location in the St. Germain area. The rain made for an absurdly long taxi queue so we jumped on the métro. I guessed that the St. Germain des Prés stop would be close given it's name. Needless to say, I was quite a ways off. More than 30 minutes later, my shoulders and back giving way, we made it to the Hotel Le Royal. I think I lost several inches of height due to spinal compression over the course of today.



My mom poses with a little French "Smart" car. These are everywhere. So French...

Random Thought:
French people are much more stylish and better looking than the Irish/English. At least they try a lot harder, which can also end in disaster. Some of the more amusing people I've seen:
- A kid wearing a "death metal" shirt. It didn't feature a particular band. It just said death metal. He had the makeup and the whole bit but I couldn't help but wonder if he knew what he was wearing. I mean, skater kids don't wear shirts that say "skater punk". It brings new meaning to clothes as a label. Poser.
- Some people bring sagging to a new level here. The ground level. I've seen lots pants (the waist band) just about dragging on the ground. A couple guys were holding up their pants while walking around. That is, if they had let go, the pants would have fallen off. Way to win at life!
- The best though was the kid with a dreadlocks mohawk and purple paisley felt coat complete with golden Nike's.

I didn't take pictures of these people since it was mostly in passing that I saw them.

Another thing, people here are soft. Think of them as opposed to the Irish. It's hard to describe exactly, but there are several things you can look at. I don't think many French people try to stay fit (not that the Brits do either but at least they don't pretend at it. The French are definitely into their whole body/fashion thing. I guess if everyone's going to smoke anyway, what's the point?). It's not necessarily about being fit though, they behave in an particularly French way. For example, they have particular facial expressions that they use all the time that seem haughty and unfriendly. It's a contorted or crinkled face (definitely not a relaxed expression) that I'm talking about. Obviously not everybody does this but it bothers me (call me culturally insensitive, but it does). How's this soft? I don't know. It just is. You had to be there.

Random Thought #2:
British people really say "Brilliant!". They say it all the time. It's hilarious to me every single time. This is why I need more British friends. Really what I need is for someone to follow me around using the word brilliant at appropriate and amusing times. Or I could just start using it more...either way.