One of my roommates is a young woman Shannon's age who studies art history in Prague. She and I, unlike Donna and my kids, are complete opposites. She is painfully shy. Short. A smoker. Doesn't like Paris! So, my mantra this year is to learn to be kind. So after the communal dinner last night, I invited my 3 roommates to join me going back to St Denis on market day there. To my shock, all 3 said "yes" or "maybe" and Marianna showed up at 9a ready to go. The other 2 did not: one went to Versailles and one overslept. Marianna came to Paris to visit a friend here but her friend has a new boyfriend so Marianna tours Paris on her own since her "friend" is spending all her time with her boyfriend. So we went to the market and split 2 kilos of awesome. Clementines after seeing St Denis - since she is an EU student, she gets in free.
We are going to have lunch in front of Notre Dame from bread and cheese and beer (sort of a regular lunch for me) as I'm going there on the way to La Chapelle and she's going to see ND earlier. We had lunch then I went to St Chapelle but it was closed and she went off to see some gallery. I have a 4p meeting with a realtor to see an apartment then a 5p call to Megan. Tomorrow is my last full day, this trip. In less than 3 days Donna and I will be together in Prague!
The realtor meeting was interesting: she didn't call the owner and he was not there so she could only show me the outside. But its on the second (we would say third) floor accessed through a secured gate and then an earlier courtyard than the one on which it looks. Thus it's quite and lower and more secured than one would expect here. Very dodgy staircase, as I've come to expect. If we rent somewhere here I'm going to clean the stairway to our floor!
Originally I thought to go outside Paris to a more sedate village and ride in. But I love the excitement of being in the city. This apt is €1200/mo ask so probably €1,000/mo to lease for a year.
We've got to make a decision on Ukraine when I get back in late May and - if no to Ukraine - then Donna in September will look for a final choice for several months or a year.
So I went today to the comedy show I tried to go to yesterday: "How to Become a Parisiene in one Hour". It was very funny, as advertised. Not sure if it was worth the €24 to get in, but....
Then walked "home" about 3 miles. Getting lost in Paris and figuring it out using celestial navigation and observing the contours of the land - my hostel is near Montmartre which is a tiny mountain of the martyrs. So getting home eventually means walking uphill.
I love Indian and Chinese food. I would eat it everyday. But the love of my life isn't enthused about it so we only go once a month or so. I'm piling it on before she comes to Prague Monday morning. Last night was no exception. Restaurants that have the word "Traiteur" in their signs are not the homes of French traitors forced to wear a scarlet announcement. No. It means "Take Out". So I got take out chicken, one with mushrooms and one with citroen (which means lemon). 100g each. Ate in a park in front of this church. [Photo] With a Heiniken! Then ordered a Spring Roll at another place. I discovered that here they are 4x the size of US spring rolls, are good but not crunchy,and are eaten cold. But only $2.
Bought a bottle of red wine (€3, as usual) to take home to share with neighbors in the common room. Algerians, Brazilians, Germans, Italians, English... but seldom an American so I've been a curiosity this week. They are mostly mid-20s so I'm the age of their grandfathers! Talked until 1a. Went upstairs. None of my roomies had returned! Bon nuit!
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