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Mini Eurotrip

a travel blog by waywardwahoo


Anthony Bourdain is smarter than you think.

My purpose? Technically: to practice French.

In reality... I have no idea.

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Dream? or nightmare?

Paris, France


I am currently in the le 6ieme arrondissement a Paris, au Square felix Desruelles, sitting on a bench by myself, with the bench left of me occupied by two red-headed...Norweigens? (maybe?) discussing who-knows-what and to the right a woman on a laptop. All this encompassed by pidgeons scavenging for yesterday's sandwich's bread crumbs and backdropped by the St. Germain des Pres cathedral.

Paris has been taking the initiative of installing Wifi in most public places, including parks, bringing her citizens comfort and incentive to head out. And providing me with a way to contact people to try and figure out where I am going to be in the next hour, tonight, and the rest of the week.

You ask: "But James, weren't you just in Shanghai last week?"

It's a funny world, my friends, that's all I can say. I arrived at around 7 this morning, eventually got to Paris, and have been "mozying around eversince. There's so much to say about yesterday at the airport, the flight, and what I've been doing for the past ~5 hours, but first I'm famished.

I'll be back after lunch, if the battery gods allow. And they better, because I still don't have a Sim Card and I need to meet up with people.

A bientot,

James

permalink written by  waywardwahoo on August 6, 2008 from Paris, France
from the travel blog: Mini Eurotrip
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Day 1...

Paris, France


What a day!
Leaving the square, the man sitting by me decided to talk to me. He was very happy that I responded to him, because whenever he tries to talk to Chinese people, they tell him “je ne comprends pas”. This led to a discussion/debate on les asiatiques and why some are open to speaking while others are not, different government types, etc. He kept telling me how I made him very happy, but really it was he that made me happy: I had a good conversation, mostly in French, with a French man. Isn’t that my purpose for being here?
Lunch. My school from three years ago was in the St. Germain des Pres area, I could use that metro stop to get to school. Ah the memories. The first day of class, my host mother told me that I should take the bus to school. I insisted on taking the metro; my memories of it then were all good. The metro was fast, cheap, easy-to-use, and most importantly, modernized. I took it every day and every afternoon to and fro class; even though I had three changes, it was the same length of time as the bus ride, so why sit on a bus for 25 minutes at the loss of being cool? Towards the end of that stay, I hated the metro. It was noisy, it was smelly, it was a pain in the butt standing and sitting. I preferred a quiet, 25 minute ride on a bus, allowing me time to listen to my iPod and just sit in the back rather than helping elderly people steal my seat.
Needless to say, I bought un carnet today and not a carte orange/hebdomidaire. Although, there were two options for carnets and I don’t know which I was supposed to buy…I bought the more expensive one just to be safe.
Walked around my school’s area, same old restaurants, same old area, what a great feeling. I stopped at one of the sandwich places I used to frequent, bought a sandwich pate and a coca lite. Went back to the square to: 1) see if the guy was still there (he wasn’t) and 2) get in contact with Helen/Wang Shushu.
After lunch was hectic, basically involving me trying to meet Wang shushu… without a cell phone. He kept saying that I didn’t show up at McDonalds the three times we try to meet. After a few hours, I was found by his didi and settled into the place, which isn’t bad. Although there is no AC. And now I am writing my blog without internet (they have wifi, I can’t figure it out on this damn vista business, and it’s starting to grind my gears.) Police ticket check at the end of the metro line! WOO…memories. Spent after settled in time finding an adapter (almost unsuccessfully, but thank goodness for Darty!) because the laptop plug has an extra pens (male part) and the tumi adapter doesn’t take it. Went over to a Helen’s, practiced Chinese, ate jiaozi; it was like I never left Shanghai . Now I’m back at “my place” 16 metro stops away, and melting even after I took a shower. (See: doesn’t have freaking AC!) I really should ask about the internet but it’s getting late and I’ve got a big day tomorrow. Or do I? My plans? Get some railway tickets, get some internet, maybe even bike tour around Paris… if my legs can handle it. I’m about to pass out so here’s to a long night’s sleep.
PS. Luolan: here it’s pronounced weefee.
Oh and McDonalds? Turns out, we were at two different McDonalds, or MacDo's, which were on the same road, nonetheless! Badabababa... Globalization...I'm lovin' it. Not.


permalink written by  waywardwahoo on August 6, 2008 from Paris, France
from the travel blog: Mini Eurotrip
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It's a big one

Paris, France


Damn the weather.
So to be honest, I haven’t really started backpacking yet. Which makes me feel bad because 1) backpacking is cool and 2) blogabond is for backpackers. Well the site also says for independent travelers, which is what I am.
Woke up late this morning, 10:30-ish, but my hosts woke up even later (with evidence of heavy snoring). I got up, washed up, got dressed and headed out. You do remember today’s goals, right? So first stop, the SNCF store down the block, which is for domestic train travel only (I think – there was a long line so I used the automated machine, and only domestic trips were available. I searched for Nice to Paris, which is the only domestic trip that I’ll need. 90E, maybe I should look into getting that rail ticket.
The southern part of the 13th arrondissement is known as Chinatown, and so as I mentioned earlier, it’s like I never left Shanghai. Kinda… it just feels like all my friends left, and all the teachers left, and all the prices jumped up exponentially.
As I was exploring, a woman called out to me across the street, asking me if I spoke French. This is not your normal occurrence, so I crossed the street and we had a chat. Turns out she’s a reporter (for what I’ll never know; when I realized I had no idea, I turned around and she had already made great progress down the street.) She wanted to interview me about the Olympic Games (hence her presence in Chinatown). She asked me my opinion of them and what I thought about them, and I told her that I really support the Olympics and that everyone should as an entire world and not mix in politics. She must have been a newspaper reporter because she recorded my voice on a little magnetophone. (What a random word to remember… that and brancher).
Went to a bunch of grocery stores, looking around. First stop was an Asian grocery, so that I could compare the Asian grocery stores in America with the ones in China. I bought some water and some PEACH DRANK. Drinks are always more expensive if you want to buy them cold. Example: can sitting on shelf .50Euros, can sitting in refrigerated shelf .80Euros, can of soda bought on the street 2Euros. Crazy, n’est-ce pas?
Went on to an Ed (French chain of grocery stores) to buy some cheese for my picnic lunch. After looking around for a while, I went with some fromage du chêvre, 1.85 Euros for 200g. Compared to the States, a lot cheaper, and I do love me some goat cheese. I bought a baguette and headed over to a park. ( I stopped by an internet café to find some more locations that have the Paris Weefee.)
I had lunch in the Parc de Choisy, which is really close to the area that I am. My lunchtime entertainment? A xiao pangzi seeing how many times he could bounce his pingpong ball on his pingpong paddle, because he had no one to play with at the pingpong tables. I ended my meal and got online, chatted for a while before trying to figure out what to do next, when it started to rain! I closed up shop and looked for the bibliothèque, so that I could continue my conversations/ stay dry in doing so.
Explored Chinatown for a bit en cherchant la bibliothèque (et aussi dans le matin). It’s funny because the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same (don’t you hesitate…Girl put your records on…). No I mean, the more different things are, the more the similarities stand out. Outside Les Frères Tang (the largest Asian grocery store in Paris) were two sketchy looking Chinese guys, who at first glance seemed to be guarding a door. The place behind them looked closed down, so I thought it was a shady place, but upon closer inspection, they had Styrofoam boxes standing in front of them on their small side, serving as a table for little zip-up-able discreet bags, filled with – you guessed it, fake DVDs. As I looked around them, there were lots of people standing there selling DVDs, five to be exact, in a trapezoidal pattern. Next to them were those people that write your name in funny little animals and things. Further down the street, fruits and prepared foods, all which were hidden until you got up real close. Shanghai much? Or even Chinatown in New York. I wonder what the Chinatown in Shanghai is like, I don’t think we ever went, although you should feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
The library also had this feel of consistency to it. The quietness, but more importantly, the over-proportional number of Asians. I don’t know whether this can be attributed to the fact that it’s a library or the fact that it was right by Chinatown, but I’m going to use it as a support, and thus I choose the former proposal. It was also a fight to get plugs, as everyone comes there to use the Weefee and stay dry. Luckily I had one most of the time, but selfish me shared with everyone around me, resulting in my laptop dying and so I went home to 1) recharge my battery, and 2) refrigerate the rest of the goat cheese.
The rain killed my plans to go to Paris Plage, to go bike riding around the city (on free bikes! Apparently these are common throughout Europe, in an effort to get people to go green, also while losing weight.
DIGRESSION.
Paris has gotten a lot fatter since I was here last. I thought I was going to make this a full digression, but I will have a whole section on since I was last here later.)
The rain was the kind that is like a flood, and then stops and clears up, and then God decides to rain on you very heavily some more. I generally like those kinds of rains because they’re cooling, and because the sun is out while it rains, it dries up right quick (and so you don’t have that lingering wetness feel), but this time, it kept going and going and going and it was not as fun as you think. And cold is cold, but sometimes it can get too cold.
I’m going to pretend this is where I stop, because this post is getting long. Here’s where I left my computer charging in my room and went to go explore without my laptop (gasp!).
I’m going out. Until I get back from my explorations.
James


permalink written by  waywardwahoo on August 7, 2008 from Paris, France
from the travel blog: Mini Eurotrip
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Paris, How do I love thee

Paris, France


And I’m sitting here in a full food coma, about to pass out. It’s almost 10 and my people left… I need to let them know that I’m leaving tomorrow, that I need to pay now, and that the internet is still not working! I dunno, I might be getting used to this whole not having internet thing… maybe it’s because I should be going out and doing things and not sitting here on the computer. Oh well. I’ll get back to this when I finish talking about my day.
Started out by deciding to walk to Gare du Lyon, to try and buy a train ticket. Same little yellow machine as the SNCF boutique, but I fiddle around anyways. I find one I like and try to buy it, but apparently foreign (American) credit cards don’t have the little smart chip so I have to go somewhere else to buy it. Zaogao de hen!. I then decide to walk along the Seine towards Paris Plage, because, the sun keeps coming out and fooling me into doing such things. Although I start out on the bank of the Seine basically, I accidentally walk the wrong way, and get lost towards the 11th. This is where I used to live, and I’m starting to recognize things. I think to myself how I should probably go to my old neighborhood, and maybe see if my pizza man (Pizza de Venice) still remembers me… maybe he would have even remembered my usual order (le vegetarian avec un oeuf), but my legs are in pain, and I’ve actually been craving pho all day (grâce à/ à cause de Helen telling my about it yesterday. I’ll let you decide which it is).
I take a train to Olympiades, the new stop right outside the library I was at, to first check to see if the library was still open (so that I could get back online). It wasn’t. Heartbroken, I came back home, but only after a stop to get some pho. I got a large, which came in a small bowl, but believe me it more than sufficed. There were lots of good meats, and lots of herbs to add in, perhaps even better than the number 1 I normally order in the States. Sitting by myself I watched people walk by and the servers hawk gaze on the customers. I ate all of it. I wasn’t hungry at all, I just chose to eat because I was really craving it…everytime I walked past a “traiteur chinoise, veitnamienne, thailandaise, laotienne” meaning Asian, I could smell it and it smelled so glorious. I had to have it, although I had already eaten the other half of the baguette I didn’t have at lunch. Man it made me miss home.
So now I’m here, about to fall asleep. I guess I’ll leave a note for Wang shushu he ta de didi.
Wan’an.
James


permalink written by  waywardwahoo on August 7, 2008 from Paris, France
from the travel blog: Mini Eurotrip
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Nice is... nice... :)

Avignon, France


The second Saturday of August in Zurich is a large, open-street rave called Street Parade. Based off of the Berlin Love Parade, it’s supposed to be one of the biggest parties of the year, with vans packed with loud speakers pumping music all around the streets. It’s supposed to be from 1PM-10PM, followed by parties at clubs and bars all around Zurich. Now I’m not much of a raver kid (oh the days where candy kids were so cool), but this sounds like an interesting thing that one should attend at least once in his life.
I am currently on the TGV (Train de Grande Vitesse) to Nice, France. After long discussions with Gabby, who really wanted to have a full weekend activity, we decided to go to Nice.
Told Wang shushu last night, paid last night, and got the internet working, (even though it was an excellent connection, it was a bit slow!) which resulted in me staying up for a good extra 2-4 hours. I’m not sure when I fell asleep, but I know I woke up in the middle of the night to fall asleep correctly and put away the laptop. (You know what, this laptop is a big pain in the butt!).
Made arrangements last night to meet Helen and drop off my suitcase. This morning, I wasted time, especially online, and headed out to 1) go get my ticket, 2) drop off suitcase, 3) catch my train. Well 1. took a bit longer than expected and so on the way to do 2, I decided I couldn’t miss 3 and basically rode the metro around for 2 hours wasting time (I passed the stop I was supposed to get off at and watched the words fly right by my face.) Needless to say, it was a frightening experience, and I thank God that I made my train.
TGV is very quiet, very somber. I get to watch the countryside of France, all while listening to the mother scold and love her child, who is sitting across from me and is right precious.
I guess I should stop putting off the inevitable. I’ll start with the TGV, which makes the most sense.
I remember…
- Last time I took the TGV, I was talking to James (the British tour guide at least a whole foot taller than me) about people that annoy me (who shall-not-be named). I can’t believe that five years ago, I still had a similar personality…I like to believe that I’ve matured but. Anywho.
- Paris being a lot busier than it is now. It might have been because this time when I entered Paris I entered the city at around 8 AM, when most were still sleeping. Also, because it’s August, a lot has closed down for the monthly vacation time. It’s everywhere: you can see it posted on the doors of creepy restaurants and brasseries, you can hear it being spoken about at the boulangerie, when the baker asks her usuals when they are leaving and where they are going, you can feel it in the service of those who are working and not taking their vacation… well not really the last one, although maybe I can use it as an excuse for rude people.
- The city is fatter. It’s gotta be. I blame… I dunno what I blame.
Paris has made me realize things about this trip and myself. But… I am getting nauseated from reading on the train (especially because of the way my seat is facing, I am riding backwards). I could switch seats because most people have gotten off to transfer on the way to Toulouse, but in the interest of also conserving battery power, I am going to log off. More to come when I get to Nice.
BTW, we have no housing in Nice, so hopefully I will be able to find something!
James


permalink written by  waywardwahoo on August 8, 2008 from Avignon, France
from the travel blog: Mini Eurotrip
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Woo, housing!

Nice, France


Nice, the “Miami of France”. I am currently at the Ville St. Exupery in Nice, a world-renowned hostel, claimed to be one of the world’s Top 10 hostels. It’s definitely crazy here, like a party scene every night inside the hostel, with 1Euro beers from vending machines and a bar open til about 1am. The first night I got here, I walked out of the train station and down towards an internet café, where I called home for quite a bit of time, freaking out about the whole trip. It’s possible to feel homesick if you haven’t been home for two months, and the four or so days at home were basically spent trying to recover from jetlag. Traveling without having any plans is definitely harder than it seems, especially because a lot of time is spent trying to find the cheapest places to stay and the cheapest ways to get there. The stress of being unsure about all this information, in addition to the quasi-home sick feeling, all topped off with doing everything alone has been harder to deal with then I imagined.
This hostel has been good in some senses and bad in others. All of the people here are mostly friendly. There’s that feel of solidarity among the backpackers, and stuff is just about safe, and it’s fun if you’re into that party scene, but… there might be a little too much emphasis on the partying as it’s loud into the wee hours of the night, and I dunno, there’s more of that “you’re pretty, I’m pretty, let’s talk” culture, which I am not too fond of.
After the internet café phone calls, I used the internet to book a room in the hostel and headed over. I took the tram to where the hostel picks you up, hoping to find une cabine telephonique there, but because they just put in this tram, there are no more. So I panicked and headed back towards the internet café, stopping people along the way.
People in Nice are a lot nicer than the Parisians, in my opinion. The first man I asked, who was walking his dog, responded to my “Desolé de vous déranger” with a “Vous ne me dérangez pas!”. He, unfortunately, couldn’t help me. The next two women, a bit elderly, were classic. They not only helped me and made conversation with me while walking their pup, they walked me towards my destination and even made sure I had eaten! They were so kind, and watched me off the hill.
I climbed the hill of death to get to the address that I had saved on my phone, and then checked in to Party Central. I should try to meet people.
A bientot!
James


permalink written by  waywardwahoo on August 8, 2008 from Nice, France
from the travel blog: Mini Eurotrip
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