i am a tourist
paris
- -
so i am travelling around europe in the middle of not only a german train strike but a french train strike. it has been equally fun and annoying. fun because of the random adventures. annoying because i am paying for things that i am not receiving.
right now i am on an a train leaving luxembourg again. everything is shrouded in fog and i definitely feel like i am in another world. i am leaving luxembourg again because it is the only train i could find that was leaving from paris. all the trains have been canceled. the strikers have even started sabotaging the train lines. i did not have a ticket and just got on the high speed line from paris to luxembourg for free.
it seems the sun is having as much trouble waking up as i.
i am on a new train now. i transferred in cologne. there was 5 minutes to make my connection and everything happened perfectly on time. there is a crazy german man in my seat. i picked a window seat so i could see the german country side. i told him that and he just shrugged. so it goes. i am drinking terrible overpriced german train coffee and he seems to be drinking grain alcohol. my coffee tastes like truck stop coffee. i miss paris. everything tastes duller to me now.
those were some hard days of walking. those were also some lovely days of strolling. paris is one of my favourite cities in the world. it just has a feeling that nowhere else i have been has. i won't really try to write about it because so many better people before me have tried - but it does feel like the whole city is a beautiful museum.
-
i arrived in paris on a friday night. late. due to the train strike. it must have been 10pm. i left the train station and it was chaos. there were hundreds of police and thousands of cars stuck in traffic. there were demonstrations and protests and just craziness. it felt amazing. i skated along the wonderfully flat and perfect for skateboarding slate sidewalks. i was meeting dominica at the eiffel tower at 10(ish). it was on the other side of town and i was already late. i played my odb/kool keith/misfits/just generally rowdy playlist and zig zagged my way along the parisian streets.
after a long long time i made it to the hotel room where dominica and diane (and soon to be me) were staying. hotel eiffel rivere gauche. room 320.
it was great to see her in paris. we wandered to the tower and along the riverbanks of the seine with a bottle of wine and had a superb time.
-
mmm. the train is going through a birch forest.
finally i am on my way to berlin. the whole purpose of this trip. well, adventure is always a big part of it. because of the strikes it looks like i will only be able to spend 4 full days and 5 nights there. hiho.
-
once again, like my time in luxembourg, i spent the whole time just exploring paris. this time with my lovely gal pal. i was fortunate enough to go to the louvre with an art historian (aka lovely gal pal) who showed and taught me about many of the pieces of art.
the only subway line that was working was the 'ligne 1'. we used it constantly to go from place to place. i found a great little coffee shop which i frequented everyday. we also found one of the most bizarre shops i have ever been to. i am still not sure what it was to be honest. i do know it was cool.
one night was spent in a gay bar near the inside out building. the night started off very quietly and was soon one of those ridiculous nights where we made many new friends and found ourselves walking many miles home along the seine in the pouring rain while laughing non stop.
-
ah, there it is. blues skies and sunshine.
-
i ate so many baguettes and chocolate croissants.
i drank so much cidre
i drank quite a bit of wine.
i ate a lot of cheese.
i walked and walked and walked. mon pieds!
- -
so i am travelling around europe in the middle of not only a german train strike but a french train strike. it has been equally fun and annoying. fun because of the random adventures. annoying because i am paying for things that i am not receiving.
right now i am on an a train leaving luxembourg again. everything is shrouded in fog and i definitely feel like i am in another world. i am leaving luxembourg again because it is the only train i could find that was leaving from paris. all the trains have been canceled. the strikers have even started sabotaging the train lines. i did not have a ticket and just got on the high speed line from paris to luxembourg for free.
it seems the sun is having as much trouble waking up as i.
i am on a new train now. i transferred in cologne. there was 5 minutes to make my connection and everything happened perfectly on time. there is a crazy german man in my seat. i picked a window seat so i could see the german country side. i told him that and he just shrugged. so it goes. i am drinking terrible overpriced german train coffee and he seems to be drinking grain alcohol. my coffee tastes like truck stop coffee. i miss paris. everything tastes duller to me now.
those were some hard days of walking. those were also some lovely days of strolling. paris is one of my favourite cities in the world. it just has a feeling that nowhere else i have been has. i won't really try to write about it because so many better people before me have tried - but it does feel like the whole city is a beautiful museum.
-
i arrived in paris on a friday night. late. due to the train strike. it must have been 10pm. i left the train station and it was chaos. there were hundreds of police and thousands of cars stuck in traffic. there were demonstrations and protests and just craziness. it felt amazing. i skated along the wonderfully flat and perfect for skateboarding slate sidewalks. i was meeting dominica at the eiffel tower at 10(ish). it was on the other side of town and i was already late. i played my odb/kool keith/misfits/just generally rowdy playlist and zig zagged my way along the parisian streets.
after a long long time i made it to the hotel room where dominica and diane (and soon to be me) were staying. hotel eiffel rivere gauche. room 320.
it was great to see her in paris. we wandered to the tower and along the riverbanks of the seine with a bottle of wine and had a superb time.
-
mmm. the train is going through a birch forest.
finally i am on my way to berlin. the whole purpose of this trip. well, adventure is always a big part of it. because of the strikes it looks like i will only be able to spend 4 full days and 5 nights there. hiho.
-
once again, like my time in luxembourg, i spent the whole time just exploring paris. this time with my lovely gal pal. i was fortunate enough to go to the louvre with an art historian (aka lovely gal pal) who showed and taught me about many of the pieces of art.
the only subway line that was working was the 'ligne 1'. we used it constantly to go from place to place. i found a great little coffee shop which i frequented everyday. we also found one of the most bizarre shops i have ever been to. i am still not sure what it was to be honest. i do know it was cool.
one night was spent in a gay bar near the inside out building. the night started off very quietly and was soon one of those ridiculous nights where we made many new friends and found ourselves walking many miles home along the seine in the pouring rain while laughing non stop.
-
ah, there it is. blues skies and sunshine.
-
i ate so many baguettes and chocolate croissants.
i drank so much cidre
i drank quite a bit of wine.
i ate a lot of cheese.
i walked and walked and walked. mon pieds!