I spent the weekend of November 14-17th in Paris. I needed a change of scenery and that is just what I got.
I went to see my first play entirely in French, most of which I understood. Les Hommes Preferent Les Blonds, it didn’t occupy the highest brow on the cultural ladder but I got half price tickets at La Madeleine so I went. It was a goofy play about a group of gay men and gay jokes are nearly universal so even if I didn’t get the exact meanings of some of the jokes I still got the gist!
I went to the newish Museum Quai Branly, at night the garden is illuminated by beautiful lights hidden in the plants.
I went to the Petit Palais which has always been closed when I have gone. I didn’t realize that the collection was free to enter. I walked around Le Grand Palais but didn’t enter.
I went to the Museum in the Luxumbourg Gardens which had an exhibition entitled From Miro to Warhol which was quite good. I couldn’t get tickets to the Picasso et Les Mâitres so I went here instead as there were a few pieces by Picasso.
I walked around le Marais and went to the Pompidou. I bought tickets to the Futurism in Paris exhibit, which was okay but I didn’t really know much about the Italian futurists and didn’t think they were so hot.
I walked along the Seine at night and earlier in the day I went to the Bouquinistes?
What else did I see? Le Congrès, the pyramid in front of the Louvres, not enough time to try to see anything in the Louvre, of course le Tour Eiffel, Place de la Concorde, Arc de triomphe, shopping on St Germaine, 4€ express at Café des artistes, etc.
I went to a party on Saturday evening at an apartment near Bastille. An American man from NY who lived in Paris and then in Moscow for 15 years was coming back through France on his way back to NY. There were very interesting people and we danced a large part of the evening. There was a woman who has been a war reporter in Bagdad for the last 4 years, but this evening she was dressed in a Chanel dress looking very ummmm Parisian, really there is no other description for how she looked. Very interesting contrasts. At one point a man started to speak to introduce the birthday boy and he did the introduction in English, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Russian, and German, and he was just the DJ. There was also the slightly bizarre but interesting nonetheless, man who introduces himself as Russian although he is half Russian and half Malian, he says when he enters the US jaws drop at customs, here is a shortish black man crossing the border into the US on a Russian passport, you think Arabs have problems he tells me. All in all, quite entertaining party.
On Sunday evening I went to Open Studios. In the Abesses neighborhood there was a Portes Ouvertes and over 100 artists had open studios. The event was extremely well organized. For 10€ you could buy a stack of post cards. There was one card for each participating artist. On one side there was a picture of their work and on the other side there was the address of their studio but also there was a number. The number corresponded with the number on the map you also received. It was very easy to sort through the cards to pull out the ones you were interested in seeing. Then you took the map and planned your itinerary. Since it was in Monmartre I also saw Sacre Coeur but from very different angles than I was used to seeing. On top of all this, one of my favorite things to see in open studios are the studios themselves. I saw some stunning studios that must be amazing to work in. Then of course you have over 100 post cards that you can send in the mail.
All in all it reminded me that although there is a huge dark cloud hanging over my head currently, life is incredible. Pardon my gushing but sometimes it is hard to see the silver lining when you do battle with only the clouds.
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Happy Holiday!
Thanks Bob, I was running a few errands yesterday and I ran into LIF in the city. He suggested we have a café but I said I had to get home to call my mother because I promised I would call her on Thanksgiving and he had forgotten it was Thanksgiving as well. It is easy to forget when you are living in the US.
I hope you don’t mind me asking a question. I found your website when I googled ‘credit cards europe’ or something like that.
My niece is going to Paris next week and I had a question regarding using cash and plastic. I was in Germany in 2008 for about 4 months so I am familiar with getting around there and I am wondering if it is similar in France in regards to using money/credit cards. In Germany my experience with using a credit card (Visa) was that a lot of places did not take Visa but I guess they did take cards with smart cards or whatever they are called. And I think most restaurants seemed to prefer cash although I did not eat out a lot. To me most of my German friends carried cash more so than Americans.
Questions are great, I hope my answers help. In France they do use a special credit and debit card with a “puce” on it so you have to enter a pin number. Most places that take cards still accept the traditional kind of credit card. Often they try to tell you they don’t but if the machine has the part you can swipe as opposed to where you insert the new cards they accept the card. Sometimes you have to insist. Of course some places still prefer cash but that is the same all over the world. I think the French pay in cash a lot too but I think it has to do with not using credit cards and racking up debt. Any touristy area will accept cards from all over the world, they would be foolish not to. SOmetimes you can get a better price for paying in cash. I got a 10% discount on a hotel room in Biarritz for paying in cash, although I would have preferred to pay with a card. She asked if I would mind paying in cash and I said yes I would mind, what is in it for me, she said a 10% discount, I said okay then. Nice rambling answer that maybe helps, use my contact form to contact me directly if you have any other questions.
Owen, just noticed this post. I saw one of your comments on a fellow blogger’s site mentioning that things were not going well for you. Here’s hoping things are looking up! Take care, Walt.
Things are okay, just lots of changes in my life right now. I hope to get back to a regular blogging and communication schedule though. I’m not much of a pessimist, so things are looking up.
I just noticed that LIF’s blog is gone! We’ll miss him…
I didn’t realize his blog was gone. I know he is working a lot more this year than in previous years so he probably has very little time. He’s still around so if you have a need to know about gay life in the area he can still be contacted. Anyway, changes are everywhere.
I just noticed the question from David about using credit cards in France. I’ve never had a problem using my cards even though they are not “smart” cards. But I find it more useful to use the ATMs to get cash. You won’t have a problem with anyone accepting cash.
This is a common question. I guess if you don’t speak French very well and a merchant tells you they don’t take non-puce cards it can sound definitive although it is not. Once in a while a machine doesn’t have the swipe area and it is not physically possible although they can manually enter your number but they pay a higher fee for processing. I always tell them how foolish it is to have gone the cheap route on the machine because any business travelers or tourists from outside of France are not likely to have the right card. You know business travelers and tourists, people just itching to spend money. One merchant even told me he doubted that the extra 50€ for the better machine would have paid for itself in the end. Oh well, habits die hard.
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I enjoy to read this….simply
arjohn
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