I went with Chin to make sure she got to her school on time.
We had to take an alternate route because the original route had a few stations
closed. The alternate route was to take
their “metro” or what we would call the subway.
Our hotel is over by St Michele on the South side of the Seine. Her residency is located directly West on the
other side of the Seine just blocks from the Eiffel Tower. The trip took about 20 minutes which isn’t
bad. As was expected with the busiest
subway in the world, the Metro, was very packed. We made it through the subway system with
only one change and everything went smoothly.
Lots of maps and directions allowed us to confirm we were on the right
train and going the right direction.
Getting off the Metro it was a 3 or 4 block walk to the
building. At first we went to the wrong
building. I followed my google map
address but failed to follow the correct address that I had flagged a week or 2
ago. While we ended up at the wrong
address it was just the wrong building.
We weren’t the only ones as a lady from Turkey walked with us to the
correct building a few blocks down.
After giving Chin her hug and kiss I ventured off into the
mean (more like smelly) streets of Paris.
Just kidding, the French are nowhere as rude as the Dutch (just as
smelly) or the people of Quebec (extremely rude). I walked the opposite way of the school and
headed for the Eiffel Tower. My goal was
to checkout around the Eiffel Tower and to view some side streets not far from
it. I wanted to see how much the
touristy stuff dropped off when you got away from the Eiffel Tower. The first interesting thing I stumbled upon was
all these people playing hide the ball games.
I will have to look up the real name of the game later. I think there might have been 7 dealers scattered
over 2 blocks on the street. With wads of cash people kept betting money on who
could find the ball under the three saucers.
I’m glad I didn’t try because it turns out my luck has turned for the
worse. I will expound on that later.
I made my way over to the tower and there were very long
lines of people to ride up the Eiffel Tower.
I just wanted to check out the area.
I took some pictures and made my way to the Defense building? Sorry, all these French words are meaningless
to me. Opposite of Trocadero and the Seine River
there is a very large park with square trees heading all the way to a fountain
and some very large building. I thought
I had seen this park in some informational movies before but couldn’t quite
place it. After walking through the area
I headed several blocks away from the tower traveling up an down the streets. I eventually settled on a café that was about
2 blocks away. I could see the Eiffel
Tower but when I sat down the buildings across the street got in my way. I ordered a croissant and espresso. At this point I can say that I got to cross off
an item on my bucket list. Earlier in the trip Chin got to do that when she
touched the Berlin Wall. I’m always
reading that the coffees in France are so much stronger than in the US. I think this was pre Starbucks or
something. With all the variations of coffee
drinks it only makes sense that someone would compare “coffee” to Espresso. Espresso is just a type of coffee when it’s
all said and done and would also say
that our Caribbean coffees that I drink are just as strong as anything I had in
Europe. The espresso tastes just like
any other espresso but the croissant is always fresh, flaky on the outside,
soft on the inside with a hint of sweetness. I’m definitely going to try and make these at
home. I spent about 30-40 minutes at the café before heading out walking
again. I headed towards the Siene River
in order to check out some transit stations that may or may not have been
closed. I have no idea if they are
trains, trollys or what have you because they are called GERS and the follow
the river. I figured I would just keep walking along the river till I got to a
subway station. The walk was very
interesting. There are a very many old
and immaculate buildings, statues and bridges.
Paris is truly one of the original cultural centers in the world. They have been able to save their history
even during the World Wars. 
Many more pictures later and several blocks down I find a
Metro station that I can use to take back to the hotel. I leave around 12:30 and the subway ride was
fine. Still packed, still very warm but
it is Paris. I got back to the hotel and
washed some of the dirt off me before heading back out for lunch. Istopped at a café just a short distance away
from the hotel. I had a salad that was
80% cheese and meat and a sparkling water.
Water here is very expensive. Think of a bottle of water in a hotel room
that you have to pay for. Well, just
about every bottle of water is around that price at the cafes and restaurants. I
headed back to the hotel for the rest of the afternoon to do some work.
The only interesting thing that happened in the afternoon
was when I went on our porch to work.
Did I mention that you have to step and duck your head to get out on the
porch? Yes, just like on TV it’s just a
big window. On the porch we have two
chairs and a table. The chairs are
opposite each other. I sat down on the
chair facing the Eiffel Tower. While
thinking “wow” and glancing at other building tops surrounding us I hear some
Jazz music playing. It was a surreal
moment. A view of the Eiffel Tower
sitting on a balcony with Jazz music in the background. Is this what it is was like for people a
hundred years ago? I’m not sure about
that but I do know that one wouldn’t work from anywhere they wanted to back in
the old days. I was only able to do a
little work outside since the internet signal was very weak. I ended up doing most of my work in the hotel
room.
Chin finished up near 7pm (19:00) and then made her way back
to the hotel by herself via the Metro.
When she got back and cleaned up we went out to a café for dinner. Nothing special but the food was fine. However, this is where my luck turned. Chin received some “exotic rice” which turns
out means nuts in the rice. We assumed
it was peanuts and I figured I would eat it since she has a nut allergy. Can anyone guess what it REALLY was? Yes, it was still nuts but it was
ALMONDS. I am allergic to almonds and
either my allergies have worsen in the last 2 years when I developed my allergy
or my body was run down and therefore it reacted very poorly to just a couple
of slices of Almonds. I could eat part
of a Hershey bar with almonds in the past with only some chest pain. This time however breathing was a challenge,
my eyes got very black and I got very tired.
We headed back to the hotel where Chin was scared. She asked the front desk where the nearest
hospital was in case I needed to go.
While she did that I had an espresso in the hotel bar. The caffeine helped a lot. It took awhile but eventually I began to
improve. That was my 2nd
worse allergy attack ever.
We headed back to the hotel room and checked out the Eiffel
tower all lit up like a Christmas tree.
It was cool and ofcourse we have pictures. We then both went back to work. With the time change of 7 hours from CST I
had plenty of work to keep me busy till past midnight.
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