Cars and food here will probably never cease to amaze me. Perhaps that is because those are two pretty huge aspects of my life. That makes sense actually.

Once I sat down outside (they recognize me now at the corner place) I had some decisions to make. What to start the day with?

Well even for a dorky tiny little mildly dingy and dirty corner restaurant, they have a decent menu.

Should I have an Omelet? Nos Sandwich? Nos Croque?

I started out with a cappuccino…and ladies and gentlemen, I may turn into a coffee drinker. It was freaking fabulous.

I ended up ordering…damn I wish I wrote it down…but in essence a lardon (ham) and potato omelet. Oh it was good. Oh it was so very good. I’m amazed that I haven’t had a disappointing meal yet (perhaps because I’ve eaten at 2 restaurants so far) but seriously…fan-tas-tic.

As I sat and made my daily automobile observations I noticed a couple things. One, there is a grocery store nearby because I saw a stream of people walking buy with bags full of stuff. I think I’ll follow them backward like a trail of breadcrumbs. Man I will look like a freak taking pictures of a grocery store. Doh.

Another was there was a lady reading the new Harry Potter book at another table. I was mildly amused by this…and wanted to ask her how it was. But she was like 3 pages in and very intent on her book.

Transportation here is very interesting. Obviously lots of cars…but also lots of people on bikes, and many rollerblading and on razor-style scooters. But unlike those that I see in CA they are using them for actual transportation instead of exercise. Maybe that is why there is a lack of obesity here. It certainly isn’t because of the food!

The cars are remarkably modern around here. Sure some looked to be from the mid 80’s…but none older than that. And they are all in pretty good shape…no obvious “beaters” with dented panels and blowing smoke. Sure some were a bit rough around the edges but the vast majority were very new and in great shape. Perhaps it is some sort of law?

At least 1 out of every 7 cars is a Ford. The rest are VW, Seat, Peugeot, Volvo (rare), Mercedes, BMW (rare), Opel, Renault, Citroen…and the occasional Japanese cars.

I sure as hell hope that GM owns at least 2 of those companies…otherwise it is obvious why they are crapping out. Ford has a huge presence here…and a lot of the cars looked like they would fit in on our streets. Citroen and Renault? Umm…a bit too space age for us…even for San Francisco.

I am curious why I haven’t seen a single Civic Si hatchback (the minivan looking one). Seems to me it would be perfect for these people. Odd.

One other cool car related thingie were these elevator trucks. They were mini pickups with a giant boom type thing on the back. They can extend this boom all the way up to the tops of the tall apartments (everything is 8 stories in this part of town) and use a sort of elevator platform to move things up and down. Extremely clever. I could have used one of those when I moved out!

Random thoughts…

-Paris men don’t have long hair. Like 1 in 75 do.

-I find myself slipping into Spanish now. It is very odd to me that I do that.

-I have yet to see one cat, but plenty of dogs…little ones though.

-The city is remarkably clean…and even when I see people miss the trash can they stop, pick it up, and put it in more carefully. That is very different than Walnut Creek even.

-It’s supposed to storm the next two days. Crap.

This morning I woke up with a mission in mind…a mission to do some serious exploring. Obviously this city has so many historical sights, so many museums, so many funky little stores and restaurants…it’s a gold mine for simply wandering.

But for me, it just isn’t that easy.

Here is a prime example. I wanted to explore that jungle place under the pyramid then head out of the area and check more places out. I started out with breakfast at the corner place (more on that later). The weather was perfect so instead of taking the metro I decided to walk it again. And I am so glad I did…nice light breeze, beautiful sunshine, and just warm enough.

I eventually made it over to the park and tried to figure out how to get in. After a bit of searching I saw people streaming onto an escalator going way down underground. Oddly enough there was a guy at the top searching our bags. Perhaps the London bomb scare? Perhaps…I didn’t ask. Needless to say whatever I had with me was OK.

Turns out that under that park and church is a pretty huge shopping mall. They had all kinds of things down there…store obviously, but also a movie theatre, a funky and disappointing museum, a giant pool/gym, and…the jungle.

The jungle was a big let down I’m afraid. You couldn’t get in to see it and what I could see was really dusty. Oh well. Mission accomplished regardless.

I came out again on the other side of the park, right at the side entrance to the church.

The church was…wow. Pretty much indescribable. I sat for a while sitting on the stone steps by the side entrance…enjoying the cool breeze and watching the people walk by. I spent at least an hour there sitting in quiet contemplation of where I was. The stone steps I was sitting on…I could feel their age. It was nearly overwhelming to just sit and think how many people had walked on those rocks…how many people from so many walks of life…with so many thoughts on their minds. History, what we read at least, is full of stories of major events…wars, discoveries, failures, and events that changed the world. But right there…I didn’t think about all that. I thought of all the simple people with their simple forgotten lives…the ones that didn’t make it into the history books…the ones that carried the stones there, that got married inside, that stopped for countless and unimaginable lunches. Dear lord, how many sandwiches had been eaten there? How many people, just like me, had sat there and just…just watched? It created a huge sense of safety in me honestly. A feeling of belonging to something so huge and complex…significant yet insignificant. It was wonderful.

So after snapping a couple pictures I had to go inside.

The church is obviously going through some major renovations, but it still is a functioning place of worship. Inside there were old chairs all laid out…waiting for service. I don’t know enough about religion to name the bits and pieces…but it was all there.

The ceiling…I’m talking at least 7 stories up and ornately carved. There were statues everywhere, stained glass, you name it. My words and pictures will be completely unable to give any weight to the immensity and beauty of the place.

I’m not a religious person. I’ve never been an avid church patron. But in all my life I have never before felt such a presence of…there simply isn’t a word to use here. Of awe. Of wonder. It was both humbling and uplifting at the same time.

Glorious.

I discovered something about myself today. Yes I do love the vastness of this place…of all places. I love the countless areas to explore and touch, taste, smell, experience. But I learned that one doesn’t need always need to go to “the place” to see “that sight”. Don’t get me wrong…I want to see those places…the places everyone talks about. But sometimes even the corner restaurant or the market down the street, or the view out your own window is enough to fill you with a sense of awe. Ain’t life grand?

This was taken from the steps of the church. Down in that square in the middle is one entrance to the shopping mall…Forum Des Halies, Porte Du Jour.

First I appologize for the lack of light in these pictures…I didn’t want to get all tricky with the camera. I didn’t feel it was right trying to be all picture crazy. Besides…I doubt the most high tech, bad ass, expensive and high quality camera on this planet could capture what should be seen with your own eyes.

The dirt on the walls, the damaged floors, the cracks in the statues, the faded paintings…that is what made this place real.

I wish this and the second picture posted back to back. Alas.

No need for words.

www.dehillerin.com

That is the website for the most amazing retaurant supply store I have ever seen in my entire life.

First of all this place was massive, and painfully cramped. But let me tell you, it had everything you could possibly ever want to run a restaurant (supply wise). I spent nearly an hour in there just walking around, looking at things…and sneaking some pictures in. I admit I felt a bit odd taking pictures of just pots and pans…but people…I just had to share.

This thing may not look like much, and now I’m wishing I had put something next to it for scale. It was nearly two feet in diameter and just shy of a 1/4 inch thick. It was HEAVY (obviously) and very well made.

Again I wish I had put something to help scale these (not the scale in the background. Aren’t I funny?). Anyway these were gallon sized pots. Rows and rows of them.

All 2 quart copper with stainless steel insides. Piles!

The thing is…all these picture account for less than a quarter of the size of this place. There were no people in this dark corner so I felt more…comfortable…taking picture of cooking impliments. Upstairs were all the smaller items (knives, spats, serving dishes, baking stuff, misc equipment.) From the look of things they have their own brand of knives and they were works of art. None were sharp though (they were in sort of piles in wooden boxes…perhaps they sharpen them for you after you purchase them?).

By the counter along a back wall they had, mounted up, what looked to be some seriously old knives. I’m talking a chefs knife that was easily 2 feet…perhaps more. Giant massive old blades. It was beautiful!

I knew I could find a treasure house if I wandered a bit. ;)

It’s just shy of 3 am and I cannot sleep. I slept for a bit but woke up after having this really strange dream that I was one of the cops from Law and Order (the original one, not one of the overly sad and/or boundary pushing shows where they attempt to see how much they can disgust us with human behavior).

Anyway I was chasing some criminal that wouldn’t give up. No matter how often we cornered him he would fight on…in a rather pathetic way honestly. Eventually I was yelling at him to be a man, to put down the gun, and fight it out. We did…and when I was talking to someone else, he ran away. I became very angry at that and woke up frustrated.

And you know what? I am a bit frustrated. I’m a bit frustrated because I feel, right now, that I’m not taking as full advantage of this situation.

Of course I had a blast today…and spent a couple hours walking around, seeing sights, taking pictures, all that good stuff. But I found myself wanting to go back here desperately simply to tell everyone about it. That’s a bit sucky I think.

So tomorrow I’m going to really check this place out. Granted yesterday was only my first whole and complete day here…and of course I miss you all very much…but I really need to do more living here…more searching…more finding of neat things. I purposely came here with very little knowledge and plans in order to just stumble on cool things.

Tomorrow, I do a better job of that.

And speaking of missing you all very much…I gotta say something.

Kristin, I miss you tons. Seriously heaps and piles. I miss you more than there are scooters in Paris. And trust me babe, that’s a LOT of freaking scooters.

I’m sure I’ll get all kinds of silly questions about that prior comment. That’s fine. Ask away. Bring it on world! I’m prepared…are you? (FYI “you” means the people asking the questions, not Kristin. It was a subtle attempt at saying something like “Can you, the question askers, handle the answers?”…which I’m guessing you, the question askers, can ’cause it really isn’t THAT complex or subtle or words like those ones I just used.)

Here is a picture of sunset from my little home. My home away from home. Paris is grand for sure…but without you folks nearby…it’ll never really be home.

I love you all tons.