The thoughts & opinions of Sassarella, the Queen of Sass as she cavorts in 's Gravenhage & beyond. Brought to you by CES's (Chief Executive Slaves) of Big Skanky Ho Inc.
dude!! i just figured out how to put comments in your journal! i rock the muthafuckin house! posted by Rocketbride at 1:46:04 AM
Friday, June 21, 2002
Sigh. No Bosnia. The trip went to someone else unfortunately.
On the other hand, I am currently in Paris. It's kind of an up and down day, huh?
Let's see. What have I done today?
When I first got here, I spent about an hour deciphering the metro system and the worthless map that I paid three euros for. I finally got to my hostel with only one wrong step; I missed my stop, Pont Marie, and went to the next stop, Sully Morland, which was not only the wrong stop, but frankly didn't sound as good. Sully Morland could be a stop anywhere. It just doesn't have that Paris zing.
Finally sure that I had a bed, I took myself off to the nearby Seine where I hopped a Batobus, which is one of those silly boats that will take you to scenic locations along the Seine, of which there are many. I headed straight for the Eiffel Tower along with every other tourist on the planet. But I'm a rebel, baby. Instead of crowding like sheep into the elevators that zip up the side of the tower, I opted to pay 3 euros to take the stairs. Up to the second floor. The entire time all I could think was: "Butt and thighs. Butt and thighs. I am doing this for my butt and thighs." It was bizarrely soothing, though in my asphyxiated state, I don't know if I did anything any good. I certainly didn't see anything at the top until I'd downed a bottle of water and had a 5 minute sit-down. Then I took an elevator to the 3rd level, but only because they don't have any more stairs. Bitches. Don't they care about my butt and thighs?
Oh, but it was so worth it. Wicked, gorgeous, beautiful view, only slightly marred by the lovestruck couples necking around every corner. All of Paris spread out like a carpet at my feet. I leaned on a railing for a little while and played mental Godzilla. With a wave of huge claw I took apart Les Invalides and the Notre Dame in the blink of an eye. On the ground, I am short. On the Eiffel Tower, I am a giant, city-destroying lizard. Hee hee!
After the Eiffel Tower, I walked over the Ecole Militaire, which is a tiny hop, skip and jump away, and then Les Invalides, which is also a tiny hop, skip and jump away. Gorgeous, beautiful, wish you were here, want to buy the postcard, etc, etc. I want to live in Paris. More specifically, I want to live on a houseboat on the Seine. I want to be so surrounded by gorgeous things that I don't even notice them anymore. Afterwards, I wandered around the Trocadero, which is just over a Seine bridge from the Eiffel Tower, but was driven away by a loud outdoor concert, though I actually suspect that it was a loud outdoor soundcheck.
At this point, I began to notice that the clothes which had been so sensible in the Dutch early morning weather were actually quite disgustingly sticky in the French midday. So I ducked into the public underground WC and changed. But...I only did my laundry last night, so actually I was putting on a bunch of icky wet clothes. On the plus side, there is no better way to stay cool on a hot summer day than to be wearing wet jeans. Except for maybe nudity, or air conditioning. Still, for a true Parisian experience, nothing beats struggling into wet jeans at the underground WC, an experience which I paid 50 euro cents for. Yay me!
After a quick hop on the Batobus, I wandered into the Musee d'Orsay more attracted by the fact that it used to be a train station then the whole art museum thing. They have this wicked glass floor over a 1:100 model of St. Germain, the general neighbourhood of the Musee, so I got to play some more mental Godzilla, but this time I was actually the right size! Is there no end to the fun in Paris?
But actually, the Musee is pretty wicked. Not really my cup of tea as far as art goes, but still lots of cool stuff. And the whole train station thing is kind of neat too. All sorts of fun metal staircases and things and a huge arched ceiling. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous.
Then, I discovered that Paris has a Muji. Flipping through my borrowed Paris travel guide, I came across this store and remembered that a friend had commissioned me to buy things from there from my aborted trip to London. Checking my worthless map, I discovered that I wasn't far from Muji. So I went to Muji. Or more precisely, I spent about an hour and a half getting lost and then eventually stumbling onto Muji. And let me tell you, Muji so isn't worth it. Muji sucks, Minna. So there. But I did get your stuff.
So, here I am in the Latin Quarter in some ghetto internet cafe for students. After the Muji debacle, I headed over to the Eglise St. Sulpice since I was pretty well right on top of it, but didn't bother to go in as my Muji irritation would definitely have soured the whole experience. Instead, there was a poetry fair on the St. Sulpice square, so I went and vented my frustrations by mocking and then beating some poets. Thanks heaven for easy targets.
Following this escapade, I decided to head to Shakespeare and Co, a bookstore that my travel guide raves about. I got sidetracked several times by the fact that there's a street music festival going on. I checked out some metal, some reggae, some funk, some indie rock, and some house, all in the space of 5 blocks. Very cool. Not so cool was me getting lost again and then finally finding the street that Shakespeare and Co is supposed to be on, only to find no Shakespeare and Co. What the dilly-o, Shakespeare and Co?
But I did find this lovely internet cafe and I did find a ton of decent-looking restaurants, so I may vanquish the hunger yet. More tomorrow, I guess. If I find this place again.
Also, props to my Korean friends for their World Cup efforts. That Italian guy is a big jerk.
Wow. I'm not so consistent with posting to this thing, am I?
How sucky of me. Well, sadly, the reason for this is basically that I have nothing new to report. Still waiting on the Paris trip.
Actually, one new and exciting thing. I may get a working trip to Bosnia for a week in June. Sweet. It's kind of a twisty turny thing, but I may not find out whether I'm going or not until the day before. Still, it's not like I'd have to take time off work or anything. Yay Bosnia! I have this feeling that my parents would not approve, if only because they would feel that if I'm going to visit a former communist country that's recently had a war and is still in turmoil, it should at least be Armenia. That makes sense, I would reply, but nobody is paying me to go to Armenia. So there.
In other important news for all the Virgos out there. According to British Marie Claire, it seems that this year is our love year. Sometime this year, specifically late August, early September, we will fall in love, whether with our current partner or someone new, they don't know. Suffice it to say, there will be love and it will be a healthy, wonderful kind of love. So put that in your palm pilots, nerds.
