Montparnasse Cemetery

The Montparnasse Cemetery is one of two cemeteries located within the peripherique in Paris. Heather, Christian and myself wandered through for a while looking for a few celebrity graves, more discussion on how odd that is here. (via Christian). There is some real beautiful gravestones there, paired with some odd ones (see the faux-ruins above). I'm not sure how I react to cemeteries - usually I'm pretty detached from the whole landscape. I typically only react when I see the graves of people my own age.
Going to the cemetery really made me think about two things:
1) The book I'm reading right now - White Noise by Don Delillo. The protagonist (and his wife) really struggle with inevitability of death, your own death. Why don't all people constantly fear ceasing to exist? How do you escape this fear, if it permeates your everyday life? This probably isn't the best elevator pitch for the book, but I really recommend picking it up for your next read.
2) The Normandy American Cemetery, - the last cemetery I had visited until Montparnasse and undoubtedly the most powerful thing I have ever seen. Really, this all happened before our time so I don't think we ever really grasped the enormity of D-Day, or its importance to the free world in Western Europe. France likely would not exist if it were not for the United States. There would be no France! Think about it! When I left that site I remember thinking "Man, France really has a short memory. How dare they treat any American poorly!" Who would think it; I really sounded like a red-blooded Republican (I'm not).

Which leads me to another point - international relations are incredibly dynamic. The same sort of short term memory that currently posits United States in unfavorable light to France also has its benefits: Japan is now an ally! I was treated extremely well by the Japanese when I visited, and by my previous logic, I should not be welcome there at all. So, its a double-edged sword, that international short term memory.

Eros/Mitterand Library

I'm a really big fan of the National Library by Perrault (officially the Frances Mitterand Library). This is something I visited last time I came to Paris, but was really happy to see again. The teak shutters are really elegant, as is the sunken courtyard with the massive teak (?) trees. We were lucky to hit this as the sun was setting so we had some nice light - and the giant eros X turned on as we watched!

The birds came out of the courtyard as the sun was setting. It was beautiful. There were two densities of birds: the sparrows and the cackles (not sure really, but something like them). I joked about how funny it would be to see all of them pooping in unison. Then I got hit right on my left index finger and left shoulder. I thought it was raining! Check out lowercaseh soon, as I expect Heather to post the video and picture soon.

I have one big complaint about this place though: you have to pay to enter! Five bucks for one day! Also the courtyards are completely inaccessible.

Poop!

I made this photo small for the weak-kneed. Click if you dare!

Le Social Club/Sommette

Did you know that in France, electro music = hardcore music? Well, we didn't. Friday night a bunch of us found ourselves in the middle of a sweaty, hot cauldron of 18 year old dudes dancing in no particular fun way on Friday night. So, we tried to make the best of it, but there was only so much we could do. Also, there's nothing worse than a disorganized coat check system at a club. In the photo is Ann, Sarah, Ann and Pre-Euro haircut Christian.
Saturday was a pretty awesome time though. I spent some time with my aunt and Uncle in Sommette, just by Ham and St. Quentin. There's nothing like some great home-cooked food!

Les Keys

One of the first things you realize when you move to Paris is how different the keys to your apartments are. They are epic! If someone found my key in America, they'd be really jealous of the old-world mansion it suggests. This shot is from a key-maker who was also still open at 9 pm. Here's a sampling of the options he has for you:

Los Dos in the news

The intent of this blog is to focus on my time here in Paris. However, I'll also post the occasional story on Laredo.

First of all, I'm not a fan of Glenn Beck, and that's putting it mildly. He's the leading sensationalist on CNN.
I will endorse him, however, for his coverage of what his happening in my hometown of Laredo. Here's an interesting excerpt of an exchange between our Representative Henry Cuellar and our Sheriff on his show. This was a shock to me for a few reasons: Henry Cuellar has a history of representing the district with a really high level of credibility nationally. Also, this is the first instance of a local official bringing national attention to the problems in Laredo. Laredoan politicans often accept news on the troubles in Laredo as a criticism of the city and its people, and react very defensively. For example, our mayor, Raul Salinas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ-UUIRHTQM&feature=related

Le Connetable

Here I am! Man, this place was out of control! This picture is a bit old though, as this night was my first Saturday in Paris. This place was especially cool, but an especially bad place to take your girlfriend. Those French are really, really forward. Also, it stayed open after-hours! One thing I remember from this place was that I got called out by a guy from the Canary Islands for not "really" being from Mexico. You see, I think that I probably get treated better when I over-emphasize that side of me, so I try and play that hand as much as possible. He called my bluff! He fooled me by leading off with some French for a while, before switching languages.


For those of you who weren't there, its 55, rue des Archives in the 3rd.

Astroturf Car

This was a nice little treat today. It's an astroturf car! This is on Rue Abel Leblanc, just outside of our studio.

Two Puppies in a Tub

Guess what, RSAP had a kickin party last night! Thanks Kai and Mary Ann!

RSAP Studio

This is the studio here in Paris. That's Heather there on the left with Christian. She knows more people in Paris than you do in your hometown! Anyways, today was a studio day, but Mary Ann and Kai are having us all over for dinner and drinks, so maybe the next post will be more exciting. Also, maybe I will finally post a shot with either a) daylight or b) myself in it. Maybe it'll be a twofer!

Lazy Day

Usually when I travel I have the problem of falling asleep and staying asleep, so its a shock to me to be having the opposite problem here in Paris. I couldn't get out of bed until a little past 1! I guess my body clock still isn't set. Anyways, with what was left of the day Christian and I got our apartments and personal belongings insured and tried to take advantage of the national soldes that are going on. On our walk we saw a demonstration being performed in front of the Hotel de Ville for Ingrid Betancourt, a Columbian politician of French nationality being held hostage by the FARC in Columbia. Oh yea we also tried rolling our r's in the french-phlemish way for a while.
We are still working on getting the internet working at our apartment, but we may be stuck just hopping online at the local cafe or at school. This is most unfortunate.

Walk #1 in Detail

Christian put together this google maps walk through the city:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?f=q&hl=en&time=&date=&ttype=&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=48.856979,2.352018&spn=0.023464,0.067635&t=k&z=15&om=1&msid=115650996407847856445.0004434e1633acdfd635b

Check it out!

Canal St. Martin

Here's the Canal St. Martin. This is taken from Christian and I's first walk through this cool part of town close to our apartment. Notable site on this street include a great bicycle shop that sells this really indulgent hot chocolate, and Picard - God's gift to frozen food. We also ran across a purely organic supermarket full of different types of food sold in bulk. More to come from this area as we explore. Off to Le Perle in the Marais!

First Walking Tour

Today Francoise Fromonot took us on our first walking tour of the city. We met at L'Arsenal, wandered through the Ile St. Louis then to the Ile de la Cite, through Notre Dame, then back to the right bank, up into the Louvre. Some of the streets on the Ile St. Louis really reminded me of Charles Street in Boston - similar scale and types of stuff being sold. Of course, this preceded Boston by quite a bit of time.
We meandered through the Palais Royal, site of some serious leftist thought, and down this Galerie. This is one of the first arcades here in Paris - its sort of like a shopping prototype. Francoise's words described it as the "root of the geneology of the modern shopping mall". We saw the unfortunate Le Halles area, before gaining special entrance to the Le Centre Pompidou even though it was closed! When we walked in we even had the bonus of Shigeru Ban walking just past us. His temporary office set up on the building's facade is pretty great.

Shown in the picture is the Galerie.