(no subject)
Back from terrible couple of days in Paris with friends, friends' little daughter and friends' friends. To go to whatever Disneyland is calling itself these days, to attend David Gilmour concert (there's no other verb but "to attend") and walk up and down the Champs-Elysées a lot. Shitty 4 star hotel in posh Faubourg St. Honoré thingy. Bitterly cold. Shitty and smelly all over, more so than normal even for Paris. Managed somehow to have massive nosebleed on flight in (a first!). Managed somehow not to buy a single book and only 3 records. Managed to climb all the way up to Sacre-Coeur on foot, but not to even get near the Eiffel Tower (also a first). Managed to eat in a posh restaurant infested with mice (I kid you not). My reconciliation with Paris (in place since Christmas 1997) has been all but undone. Considering that said reconciliation was mostly thanks to visiting a cemetery, the Opera(old one, not Bastille) walking a lot, freezing a lot, and eating huge breakfasts in dubious places, I can only think that the several books I bought made the difference. Or maybe I'm not just a people-person as my previous nightmare in Paris(circa 1993) involved a whole busload of people from home. Very *loud* people from home...
Must make my peace with the city as soon as possible.
N.B. Avoid hot months, large crowds, shitty hotels, infested eateries ...
Must make my peace with the city as soon as possible.
N.B. Avoid hot months, large crowds, shitty hotels, infested eateries ...