Paris...briefly Part 1

okay, here is the travel report. I'll make it succinct for the benefit of all of us.

Day 1.
Arrive at 6 am, in cab by 6:30, sit in early morning traffic for the next 45 minutes.
Get to the hotel and huzzah! our room is ready. we go up and crash for a few hours.
Get up around noon and head to the right bank.
Lunch: little smoke filled cafe in Les Halles. I have a french ham and cheese sandwich with a side of cigarette smoke and a 4 euro Coke. reminder to never order soda in a restaurant in France.
We head to the Pompidou and spend a few hours wandering the Big Bang Show. We see the Bill Viola piece "Five Angels of the Millenium." it is amazing as I expected.
We spend the next few hours wandering the right bank before heading back to the hotel.
Dinner: Le Bistro De Paris. Fucking fabulous restaurant. Right out of a French photograph. Old school waiters in black and white, escargo, etc...Escargo, hmmm. I had two. not so much. a little chewy for me. but my roast chicken was kick ass and we finished it off with a creme brule. I have my first French cigarette. It tastes sooooo good!
ended the night with drinks at the hotel bar.

Day 2.
The hotel programs our wake-up call wrong and we get it at 7am instead of the 9:30 we asked for. We proceed to fall asleep and don't wake up until 10:30. A little hung-over.
We head over to the Louvre area for lunch. we decide to treat ourselves and go to the the Buddha Bar. The Buddha Bar is supposedly this trendy hip expensive place in the midst of all of the couture shops. It sits behind the Hotel Crillion. It was pretty amazing. we were afraid it would be packed with tourists but it was all business peeps. Best of all, no Americans. Except for us. We are seated at a centre table right at the base of the stairs to the dining room. We can see everyone as they enter, and judge them accordingly. I spot my first French mullet. It was not pretty. The guy was wrestler big with a mullet to match. It was a sight to behold. Food was good too but I regretted not getting sushi. The sushi display was amazing. They also had the best spring rolls I have ever had! I ended up getting a stirfry beef thing. We left two hours later and a hundred Euros lighter.
We proceed to the Swatch shop because we realise that neither of us has an idea how to gauge what the time is. C buys a watch. I try to convince him to purchase the Mona Lisa Swatch but he is having none of that. He doesn't have a sense of humour. I am tempted by a Tin Tin watch.
We window shop our way to the Louvre.By the way January and February are the best times to shop in Paris. Everything is on sale, everywhere! We hadn't planned on shopping so I restrain myself but next winter...look out bitches we'll be back!

Back to the Louvre: I am about to test my Museum wandering skills. It is 3 in the afternoon and they close at 6. Can we see enough in three hours? It is a challenge I rise to! Luckily most of the galleries I am interested in are closed. That would be the ancient Egyptian relics. I'm a little pissed but it does make our jaunt much quicker. I am transfixed by the David's. I have studied French classical painting a bit in art history classes but to see them in person was un-fuckin-believable.
We manage to cover a lot of ground before they start kicking people out.
We head to the left bank and look for a bar. We end up at this American/Canadian/Australian themed bar simply because we have to pee. They don't have Guinness but a reasonable alternative. It is fucking freezing in this place. No heat. We have one beer and head out in search of dinner. We stop off and have a few beers at this random Irish bar with a giant Guinness mounted out in front.
Dinner: Chez Gandhi. An Indian restaurant in Paris. I just thought the name was funny. Food was good though. I had the Vindaloo which was not nearly hot enough for me.
I should point out here that by this time (late night Friday) almost noone has spoken English to us. C and I are having to make due with pidgeon French. Its amazing just how far one can get with "yes," "no," "thank you," and "please."
We make last call at the hotel bar. As it is Friday night the Americans have begun arriving at the hotel. There are a couple of extremely messy women, I think from New Jersey or Long Island, very loud and drunk in the bar. They bum cigarettes from us because they don't want to buy a 10 euro pack from the hotel.
More to come.


names....