in a nutshell, unbounded space
We arrived in Nice yesterday, got lost in the city center, wandered for an hour with our suitcases, and finally broke down and paid for a taxi to the hostel. The Villa Saint-Exupery is far, far away from the town proper, but it's a state in itself. It sells food, there's a bar, and it has free internet. I've seen places like this in Paris and Amsterdam, enclaves that provide small worlds apart for backpackers. In Amsterdam it was the Bulldog: hostel, restaurant, bar, coffeeshop, and a souvenir store to help you remember 3 days and 2 nights of smoking until you forget everything.
Dispatches:
- Our last night in Paris, we went to the Ten Bar, a student dive with good sangria and a great jukebox (Bowie, Dylan, Rolling Stones, Otis Redding). Sat next to two locals; Jeff is a computer technician, Julien is an architect. Sara, being blonde, outgoing, and female, carried the conversation with the guys for the first half hour. Then the songs I'd bought came on. "The Man Who Sold the World" and "Everybody Needs Somebody" from the Blues Brothers.
"Ahh," said Jeff, "You like ze Blues Brothers movie?"
"Shit yes! You know it?"
"Yes, yes. You know French movies?"
"Not so much. Just Jeunet and Caro. Amelie, City of Lost Children, Delicatessen..."
"You know Delicatessen? Not even many French people know Delicatessen."
"Yeah, I love black comedy."
The French don't know that Amelie was huge with Yank students. They were surprised when I told them that you can't go to a concert in a college town without stomping a few Audrey Tautou lookalikes in the pit. From there, greased with the international language of movies, it was a lot smoother. And it culminated in the following exchange.
Jeff: "Where are you from?"
Sara: "Ohio. We lived a while in California."
Jeff: "Ahhh, San Francisco! Vroom vroom, Steve McQueen!"
Me: "Wait... Bullitt?"
Jeff: "Yes, yes."
Me: *about two minutes of laughter*
- Again, gorgeous Australian girls in our hostel. I don't know how that country does it. Take a bunch of Brit convicts, put them on a whopping great island, and ten generations later you have the most beautiful white people on earth. They were straight off the road, tired and bedraggled, and they still looked like they belonged in a museum.
- I already miss the Metro. Got a picture of myself in Scrabble-decorated Concorde station. Tried to find dirty words in the text on the walls, but my French is no good at all.
- Finished the last of the Shakespeare I brought with me. Never realized that most of Othello is just watching Iago be the smartest man in Italy. I was rooting for the guy at the end, but I guess he just picked the wrong wife. He shoulda taken Goneril.
- Final snippet of conversation:
Julien: "Wait, you know Celeendion?"
Me: "Celine Dion?"
Jeff: "Yes, yes."
Sara: "Oh, I LOVE Celine Dion!"
Me, Jeff, and Julien: "Aaaaauuughh!"
Dispatches:
- Our last night in Paris, we went to the Ten Bar, a student dive with good sangria and a great jukebox (Bowie, Dylan, Rolling Stones, Otis Redding). Sat next to two locals; Jeff is a computer technician, Julien is an architect. Sara, being blonde, outgoing, and female, carried the conversation with the guys for the first half hour. Then the songs I'd bought came on. "The Man Who Sold the World" and "Everybody Needs Somebody" from the Blues Brothers.
"Ahh," said Jeff, "You like ze Blues Brothers movie?"
"Shit yes! You know it?"
"Yes, yes. You know French movies?"
"Not so much. Just Jeunet and Caro. Amelie, City of Lost Children, Delicatessen..."
"You know Delicatessen? Not even many French people know Delicatessen."
"Yeah, I love black comedy."
The French don't know that Amelie was huge with Yank students. They were surprised when I told them that you can't go to a concert in a college town without stomping a few Audrey Tautou lookalikes in the pit. From there, greased with the international language of movies, it was a lot smoother. And it culminated in the following exchange.
Jeff: "Where are you from?"
Sara: "Ohio. We lived a while in California."
Jeff: "Ahhh, San Francisco! Vroom vroom, Steve McQueen!"
Me: "Wait... Bullitt?"
Jeff: "Yes, yes."
Me: *about two minutes of laughter*
- Again, gorgeous Australian girls in our hostel. I don't know how that country does it. Take a bunch of Brit convicts, put them on a whopping great island, and ten generations later you have the most beautiful white people on earth. They were straight off the road, tired and bedraggled, and they still looked like they belonged in a museum.
- I already miss the Metro. Got a picture of myself in Scrabble-decorated Concorde station. Tried to find dirty words in the text on the walls, but my French is no good at all.
- Finished the last of the Shakespeare I brought with me. Never realized that most of Othello is just watching Iago be the smartest man in Italy. I was rooting for the guy at the end, but I guess he just picked the wrong wife. He shoulda taken Goneril.
- Final snippet of conversation:
Julien: "Wait, you know Celeendion?"
Me: "Celine Dion?"
Jeff: "Yes, yes."
Sara: "Oh, I LOVE Celine Dion!"
Me, Jeff, and Julien: "Aaaaauuughh!"