Saturday, june 10th
The alarm goes off at 7am, and James is not happy with that at all. After an hour, I drag myself out
of bed and shower, but then fall back asleep, to wake up towards 11am with a headache. What are we going to do, with me trying to get up at
7am, and James sleeping 'til 11? Next time I'll go through with my idea of going out and coming back by his waking time.
After a quick breakfast, we do the tourist thing on the left bank (before this, we stuck to the right bank and Ile de Cite). It's the first
day of heat (30C), and Paris loses some of its charm, becoming stuffy and dusty. After half an hour at an internet cafe, where James does
email, incl. emailing Chris abt the evening, and some wandering around, we go to the Musee de Moyen Ages (Museum of Middle Ages). It is
pretty awesome: remains of the old version of Notre Dame, fancy tapestries incl. the "lady and the unicorn" (see pictures), way too many
versions of "virgin and the child" (barely any non-christian pieces, in fact), some warrior gear, awesome trunks ...
Past La Place de Sorbonne (which is under renovation), and with a detour to the Pantheon (big, read about it but don't go in) complete w/ a
break on the steps, we go towards le Jardin Luxembourg (The Luxembourg Garden). Videos of cows at McDonald's make me want a vegetarian lunch
(and resurface my doubts about eating meat - at all? organic only? not sure?), and we try to find a Tibetan restaurant recommended in Lonely
Planet. No luck even after asking for directions, so James proposes getting some stuff at a grocery store and consuming it in J.L. Great
idea - cheese and juice and baguette and cherries (lots of cherries) go over very well. The Jardin is fancy and pretty, incl. the Palace and
the pond, but it's rlly crowded and hot, so we don't move much and stick to the shade.
Picnics on the grass aren't allowed: we (as well as others) get shooed(sp?) by the police and move to a bench (there're benches and chairs
all over the park). The fanciness is criticized, the park is compared to TO/Mtl parks, water is drunk, the game with many balls (NAME?) is
watched ... then we call Chris, who confirms that his gf isn't coming, so I decide not to join them. I am tired and cranky, so after a brief
attempt to walk towards the Eiffel Tower, we go home instead, having finally bought batteries (+beer+sunny d, yuck). A big salad and a bit
of rest do wonders. After J goes off to Chris' place having given me detailed instructions on using his laptop at the gay bar, I update our
expenses file and do just that - go do email for over an hour at the gay bar. It costs only 3.30 euros, for the tea! Wow. Seems like I
haven't done anything bad to the laptop, hopefully James will agree when he tries using it tomorrow.
Upon returning home, I typed logs for the first 11 days - phew!! Quite a long 10 days it's been; my total lack of desire to leave Mtl from the day of
departure is long gone, but I do miss Mtl a bit already. It's close to 1am, so I better go to sleep, with my grand plans of jumping up at
7am and heading to the market! Hopefully J is having fun at his 2am-5am hockey game with Chris.
Sunday, june 11
Up at 10 instead of 7, grr'ing at J for coming to our single bed "smelly and drunk" (in his own words; drinking always makes him snore too)
at 5:30am - in the end I go to the other bed (foldout armchair) at 6am so I can keep sleeping. As I leave, I find the door half unlocked -
grr! Upon return, he promises it won't happen again.
The market is everything I had hoped for: vibrant, big, loud (merchants sound like they're herding the buyers who're slowly browsing
around), and has everything you could think of: raw food (fish, mountains of veggies and fruit, meat), cooked food (whole roasted chickens,
bread and pastries, deli and cheese counters, ethnic foods incl. a frying pan of rice with mussels a meter in radius), clothes (can't try
on), shoes (cheap), kitchen tools (bought a small yellow cutting board and two wooden utensils for stirring and flipping), flowers ... even
has wild mushrooms! I took some pictures but they don't do justice.
I walk there and back (about 2 hours total) and only look at the map twice; I recognise streets/corners! On the way there, everything is
closed and sleepy ... on the way back, it's back to the usual vibrance and busi-ness.
Acquired at the market: kitchen tools (see above), a huge cucumber, several vine tomatoes, a small basket of strawberries, dill and basil, a
bunch of young radishes, some orange cheese (J thinks it's not the one I was looking at before; he doesn't like it but luckily I do), and
... that's it. Look around for skirts (longer free-flowing ones) but don't find anything that I'd like + matches the espadrilles + is
decently priced ... oh well, next time.