I apologize for the lateness of this post but priorities remain priorities and things will never change : ie, blogging about me getting lost in a random part of Dubai seemed much more entertaining than my Parisian hols…Anyway… I came back from Paris, France from my little 8 day break just over a week ago now and feel ok, not at my best but still ok to enjoy what Dubai has to offer.
So back to France… I needed some ‘me’ time for once. Not like I don’t get any but Dubai has this thing where you seem to be with someone 24/7 and sometimes feel just a little overfed with news, gossip and general day-to-day routines. I needed to wind down and found the comfort of my folks flat in the heart of cosmopolitan city the perfect – cheap – getaway. Take full advantage of the beautiful weather there, amazing spring time out on the town, cycling around most of the time. Paris has this thing that you can only experience by foot or on a pushbike. If I can recommend something for our Cabin Crew would be to walk aimlessly in the backstreets of the capital and soak up the atmosphere, the real parisian way. Mix with the crowds, enjoy a beer at terraces, just watching people go by. The almighty occupation for true parisians on a lunch break would be picking the perfect spot on an outdoor terrace, filled with sunshine and order a nice special bitching outrageously at the people walking by. Judging them, finding what kind of life they lead, married or not, kids or not…. et cetera.
This is exactly what I have been doing all week there. And doing it with a good friend is even more entertaining. I did that with Tall Ben, who you know, just moved back there to pursue a career as Cabin Crew with one of our national airline. It was so nice to catch up on all the gossip and the new challenges we have to face.
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Tall Ben ain’t a real parisian yet and you can see it just by the way he walks down the street : eyes looking up when he should be looking at the pavement for smelly dogpiles and hazardous obstacles such as poodles taking a dump or grannies desperately trying to fit their oversized bread loaf into their shopping wheelie… The kind of stuff parisian avoid using their inner-body radar.
Riding the tube was another highlight of my week. Getting to smell other people from up close came as a shock. Cramped in a rush hour wagon with all sorts of people was scary as I really had to get used to the fact I had my nose 2 inches from that womens armpit…
Besides cycling round town, running over grannies and hoping over dung I met up with old pals from my highschool years and old work mates from the pubs I used to work for. Not missing on a leaving do organized at one of the venues in central Paris. Down quite a fair amount of Coronas with Danny Doodles and Co. Getting home absolutely drunk and brain buzzing with silly jokes and stories from the night.
The one downside to my holidays there was turning the TV on. I couldn’t watch it for more than 10 minutes as I would get so depressed. Every news was about people being laid off and a generally sad atmosphere. Topping things with the G20 summit happening just across the pond. Where, as predicted, our Short President did nothing but moan and pull faces while the Obamamania was unfolding in London Town. French morale is down these days and all you can hear on the streets is “C’est la crise…{insert random argument or fact}…. eh ouais, bein tu vois c’est ca la crise”. French people will do whatever it takes to blame it on the crisis, might it be the leak in their bathroom to the traffic blocking half a street in the most random neighbourhoods of Paris. It’s sooo sad to hear. Thankfully the sun was out so that toned down to “t’as vu le temps aujourd’hui, on pense moins a la crise quand il fait beau non ?” (translation : ” The weather’s nice today isn’t it, we think a little less about the crisis when the sun is out, no ??”).
The other good part of the break was being able to enjoy the very high speed internet connection my dad just got. In fact it’s Fiber Optic, a newly released means of data/internet delivery. He got a bundle pack with 200 channels of TV (nothing interesting though), free IP phone service, which will help Mother’s atrocious international call expenses (practically every aunt or uncle I have, including grandmother lives abroad. If you look at it closely, I have a family member on each continent excluding asia. And of course that HOLY MAHOGONY UBER-fast connection to the internet. I was downloading songs by the dozens in a matter of an eye blink and watching HD trailers whilst my skin was wrinkling in the hot bubble bath! You should of seen the scene ! Very out of this world ! ahahah. Jeeez I just had a visual… sic.
I didn’t buy a single thing, and that is a real miracle ! I did however go on a window licking session near Bastille which is the hip side of town and overlooked some cool clothes/t-shirts at Lazy dog shop… I will go back there soon I think. I was also on the verge of emptying the American Apparel store near place Vemdome but hold my Mashreq Debit Card deep down in my jeans pocket. Because at 18 euros a simple shirt, it gets a little pricey !
All in all, it was super nice to catch up with MotherOfSodwee and FatherOfSodwee, meeting up with friends in bars, cycling during the day and eating out every night ! I also forgot to mention I caught a cold and was in bed for 3 looooong days. Unable to move around and sweating like a pig anytime I fell asleep…. I can’t wait to go back and velib’ a little more. Thankfully, I will have a week in June to get over there and do more !
[EDIT] I am having a peak in visitors too judging by the stats I get. And the surge seems to come from Google where people are looking for me ! Word of mouth or press clipping ?? I have no idea, but I’m liking it :
Saw the doggie poo thing in a documentary by Lonely Planet on Paris. What’s up with that!!
On the other hand, It would be wonderful to visit Paris, and hopefully have you around to use as a guided tour