paris etc spring 2006

so, i'm back from france (and amsterdam), but i don't have my crap hardly together yet, so sleepy, so the pictures are on the compy at home, so you'll just have to wait. we ran around paris for three days, not enough time at all for paris for the first time, but warren didn't mind, being prejudiced against the french and all like he is. we rented bikes in burgundy and rode through the vineyards and tasted and ogled. i made myself try all the famous local dishes, boeuf bourguignon, etc, and made myself right sick. we stayed in an old hotel which was built right into the ancient city wall in the 17th century. ugly american that i am, i kept reacting to the oldness and beautifulness of everything with, "this is retarded!" speaking of being american in europe, everyone was actually real nice, i think it helped that they could tell that i spent years studying their language, and also they couldn't wait to tell us how much they hated bush. anyways, we decided to go to amsterdam and did. and it was so ridiculously amazing that we have decided never to go anywhere else when we go somewhere. of course there's the 17th century architecture everywhere and the canals and the houseboats and the little footbridges and the weed. but the best part was the people. socialism deeply embedded into a culture and the lack of radical class disparity is cool! everyone spoke english and was friendly, if a little suspicious at first that we might be fundamentalist christians. the music was a little cheesy, lots of reggae-infused housy downbeat stuff everywhere, but i found myself somehow able to get into it. it was fun being a tourist, with no expectation to fit in. i blithely waved around my maps and asked people if they spoke english and where things were, much to the mortification of poor warren, who had designated himself security chief of the whole enterprise, which came in handy when we got off the metro at the gare du nord to catch our train to amsterdam into a crowd of soccer hooligans (alsace) who wouldnt let me off the train, i was screaming "help, help" because our train was departing in minutes, and warren swooped in and grabbed one of the guys shoving me onto the train by the jugular, much to the alarm of his buddy who screamed "doucement!" which means "gently", and the guy let go. it was sunny and warm practically the whole time, even in amsterdam, and there where flowers blooming everywhere. we got sick of not eating east village home cooking and missed the mimi girl, though. so we were very, very happy to get home. especially since the view of the skyline from the plane was the best i've seen yet. an orangey-grey sunset shimmering silver on my city, ever becoming gradually all the time my home.

sproing

good year for strikers

wow, they gave the students what they wanted! they won! even if you don't agree with them about what the best economic policy is for france, you have to be heartened that the people really do have the power sometimes. maybe especially in france. gosh, i can't wait to get there! the other night i overheard two washroom attendants talking to each other in french--they were african--i drunkenly went up to them and asked them, in french, if they could understand me, and then proceeded to have a whole converstation with them. my french is ok, but i'm glad i'm not going to have to circumnavigate riot police with it.

revolting frogs

i'm off to france next week. good thing they're having a revolution. they're tear-gassing people right near where we're staying in paris. i quipped to someone the other day that i hoped they "put the students down before we get there." you know you're really a bourgeois when....

i've always fantasized about being a revolutionary hero. i've always fantasized about a trip to paris. now maybe i can have both dreams all rolled together in one....