Joyeux Noël

Man, it has been a while since my last post! Almost 4 weeks have gone by. Have you missed me? I knew it...

I have so much new info to talk about that I need to break it up into a few posts, so please bear with me. I will get it all up though over the next week or so.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday so far. I don't know about you, but I only got to take off 3 days for Christmas (Noel) and New Year's. But I have a friend in town (Danielle Francis) and we should be partying it up, Paris style, in no time. I have no doubt in my mind that the French will be excited wish her a Bon Voyage after the next week. No offense D...

Joyeux Noël.
First off, I am not sure whether the normal Parisian gets the eve of Christmas off, but this American did not. I worked until about 6pm with only my Creative Director. Everyone else was, in my mind's eye, eating lots of food and partying. Mon patron (my boss) took off at about 5:30 and asked what I had planned for the evening. I wished that I had something amazing to reply with, but, "luckily" for me, I had come down with what I would consider to be flu-like symptoms the day before. So my night was full of laying in bed and reading a book about someone Else's turbulent travels in Paris. He understood, went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of champagne. He told me, "Sometimes, this is the best medicine..." I agree and wished him a Joyeux Noel.

On a side note, I have not noticed a single hospital in Paris yet, so when I became sick I decided to do a little research on how to get treatment. I came to the conclusion that France is far ahead of the US in this arena without a doubt. There are some major differences that I found a bit strange. For instance, doctors work out of their apt. So you may be living next door to a pediatrician, optometrist, gyno, etc... Seems a bit weird and unsanitary, but very convenient I suppose. Also, the doctors have a system of home visits that is quite amazing and reasonably priced. You can call a phone line (something like you might call an ambulance in the US but not as serious) and a doctor will be at your doorstep shortly after. He will treat you for what you have and be on his way. I have even saw this in action with my boss. He had some serious illness and called a doctor to come to our office. The doctor showed up very quickly, diagnosed him, and gave him a shot, all within the office. They give you your shot in the ass here too. LOL. Weird, right? Yep my boss dropped his trousers and laid face first on the office couch to receive his buttocks injection. Also, the only place to but anything with any type of medication is a pharmacy. Now these are located about every 20 feet and nearly impossible to miss because they all bear a neon cross that hangs just above the store front on the sidewalk. This is the spot you must go to if you need anything from contact solution to penicillin to a medicated shoe pad.

The sign above every single pharmacy in Paris:


Ok, let's get back on track here. So I spent my Christmas Eve "medicated" reading a good book called A Year in the Merde (merde means shit and it is refering to Paris). But then on Christmas day the fun began. I decided that even though I was a bit under the weather, I still wanted to do something memorable. "What is a better way to spend Christmas than in a cemetery?", you are probably asking yourself. I couldn't agree more, so in light of this I decided to go visit Père Lachaise Cemetery which is one of the most beautiful and historic cemetaries in the world. Before you get all creeped out by my trip to the land of the dead, you must understand that this is a very popular tourist destination as well. In fact, it is supposed to be the most visited cemetary in the entire world. It is not just a trip to a cemetery. It is a trip into the past.

The story of the cemetery is that it was established by Napoleon in 1804, but noone was having their funeral and getting buried there. In order to increase it's popularity, he began to bury famous people here. This eventually worked and it became the powerhouse of a cemetery that it is today. The first 2 famous folks to be laid to rest in this historic place were La Fontaine and Molière. Both were transfered here from other cemeteries. Even back then they had to "sell" people on the idea and apparently celebrities have always been a good selling point. In case you are not up on your 18th century hipsters, La Fontaine was a super famous French poet and Moliere was "the" top playwright/actor of his time(comedy was his thing, think Ben Stiller). Anyway, a couple other people of note were Georges Méliès, filmmaker, who created A Trip to the Moon, Jean de Brunhoff who created Babar the Elephant (loved that as a kid) and, my reason for the visit, Jim Morrison, singer of the Doors. One grave I think is worth mentioning is that of Victor Noir. It isn't that he is super important as a person, but his grave certainly provokes interest. In fact I may model mine after his design. As you can see in the photo below, he appears to be at least partially sexually aroused, his penis pushing his part-unbuttoned fly open. This site has been a symbol of fertility since it arrived and women have been seen kissing his face and rubbing his "area". So much, in fact, that in 2005, they put a fence around the site due to deterioration. What better way to "rest in peace"?



Here are some more photos of the cemetery:




I am not entirely sure what is going on here, but it doesn't look good:


This guy had the right idea, "Never Give Up":






As far as Jim Morrison's site is concerned, it is nothing to write home about (even though I am). He died at age 27 of an unconfirmed drug overdose. The French doctor was kind enough to declare heart failure as the cause of death, so no autopsy was ever required. Anyway, he was laid to rest in a modest grave. Nothing too exciting, just thought I should at least pay some respect to one of the greatest poets of our time. Take a look for yourself:





After bidding Pere Lachaise adieu, I wanted to spend the second half of my afternoon with more dead people at the Catacombs. I had not previously heard of the Catacombs until I watched the film, 2 Days in Paris by Julie Delpy. Excellent film, by the way. I could really relate to what the American in the film is going through. Here is the preview:



Anyway, in the film, the main character, who grew up in Paris, describes the Catacombs as her favorite place to go in Paris. Now even though this movie is fiction, I still believe there to be some truth in her conviction about the Catacombs. This is the reason I added it to my itinerary for Christmas. So I took the short Metro ride over there only to discover that they are closed for renovations until Feb 6th. What kind of renovations happen to a tunnel of death? Someone please elaborate... For anyone who is unfamiliar with what the Catacombs are exactly, please read the following... Apparently the Catacombs came into existence originally as a series of mines or quarries. Then in the 1700's cemeteries within the city limits of Paris were being overfilled and causing health concerns for those people who lived nearby. So the solution was the turn the mines into underground cemeteries. This sounds to me like it would have come from the mind of the times most prominent horror author, but no this idea was from the city. Anyway, all the cemeteries were moved to these underground tunnels and cemeteries were outlawed within the city until 1804 when Pere Lachaise opened. Today, the Catacombs are open to public self-guided tours(unless your name is Chris Abbey, in which case they will be closed during your stay). Take an online tour here or check out these photos I found online...









That was about the extent of my excitement on Christmas day. There was some drunkeness and Hard Rock Cafe dinner involved, but it wasn't worth talking about. So to conclude my reentry into blog world, I would like to introduce you to my new friends here in Paris, Mag and Clem. Mag moved to the US when she was 16 and then went to college in San Fran, but she is originally from Paris and just recently moved back and Clem Is also from Paris. He moved to the US for a couple years and just moved back with Mag. Here are some random party pics:







Oh yeah... And this is Peter. Peter is a Canadian Rocket Scientist who works for NASA and lives in Los Angeles. What are the chances we would meet in Paris?


Well, I hope that was enough to keep everyone satisfied for a few days. I have a post about my trip to the Eiffel Tower almost ready to go. There is even a trip to the top in 60 seconds so get ready... Talk soon...Bonsoir...

La Nova Radio.

Birthday.
I feel very productive right now (at this moment in time and in life). Today, I worked 8 hours, then had a 1 hour french lesson, then I went to the gym for an hour, then I went grocery shopping, I am now writing this post and afterwards I am gonna play guitar for a bit. That is a freaking full day.
For those of you who don't know, I am 27 years old now. (Je suis vingt-sept ans.) I spent my birthday weekend in Amsterdam. It was one wild weekend including the weather. The rain was relentless! Regardless, I managed to survive the weekend and have one pretty damn good time as well. Anyway, I will have a post about the whole experience very soon, but for now...

La Nova Radio.
Oh man! This is a very important topic. La Nova happens to be the radio station that I listen to at work (against my will) all day. Let me pass on this info: they only play about 15 songs on loop all day, which they cal: Le Grand Mix. It is ridiculous! And just so you can experience the same misery that I go through every single day, I have included the names of some of the songs that are played regularly.

Just go to this website: DEEZER This site is actually very cool. It is considered online radio. And because of that, you can access any song you can think of at anytime. You can't download the songs but you can listen to them whenever you want. Anyway, just go to this site and type in a few of these songs so that you can feel the pain I go through on a daily basis. If you are limited for time, at least listen to the first one. Believe me, it will be well worth the effort... LOL...

The Songs.
Worst:
Ska Cubano - Soy Campesino
Hocus Pocus - Recycle

Better:
Little Dragon - No Love
Jack Penate - Learning Lines
Radio City - The Hop

On the upside, on Friday nights, they seem to expand on the basic 15 songs with some remixes and stuff. 2 weeks ago I heard a very cool mash-up of Radiohead and Busta Rhymes. Very interesting!

Keep an eye out for my next post that will cover my trip to London from 2 weeks ago...

Work. (again)

OK here is a super quicky. Just some footage of my walk to work and a couple photos.

Have a look:


The sky can be so beautiful here:



Everyone here rides a Moto of some sort:

I am still here.

OK so it is time to catch up on some of the stuff I have seen and been doing over the last 2 weeks.

Le Cabaret
Let me start with Le Cab. Check out their website here. I was invited here my a friend of my friend Sydney (we worked together at Current TV). The friend's name is Rachel. I didn't really know what to expect so I checked the website first to see what I should prepare myself for. I found it on many of the "Top 10 Clubs in Paris" lists, so I knew that I was gonna be in for a night and a half.

So at first we almost didn't even get past the bouncers because one of the guys we were with was wearing sneakers, which as us Vegas people know, is a big no-no. But then this lovely girl comes out from the door and has a few words with the bouncer (none of which I understood). After a about 2 minutes of discussion, he unclips the velvet divider and let's us pass. I greet him with an grateful, "Merci" and cruise on through. I asked her what she said to him and she explained that she just flirted with him a bit. Shit, in the States, only money and bribes work at the clubs. Here you can just do a little flirting to make it past the gorillas.

There was no cover for this particular evening because there was a special event going on, but to give you an idea of the normal cost, the site lists it as about 30-40 euros. On top of that, my first venture to the bar set me back a cool 13 euro. Yeah! That's right, 13! And that was for a Heinekin beer. What the hell? But who cares right? It is an experience either way. So on I go to end of the bar and chat with my new friend, Rachel and explore the rest of the club. I was very impressed with the decor. Take a look at some photos:





I will tell you what I was not impressed with though, the music. How can I describe it to you? Let's see... OK, go back in time to the mid 90's and try to remember the candy-ravers and electronic beats. Exactement! That by far has been the worst part of Paris as a whole. The music here is like taking a time warp back 10 years and reliving the electronic side of the 90's. So just as I was coming to terms with the state of things, a strange thing happened. The next song came on and it was The White Stripes. Yeah, it didn't fit the style at all, but then something even stranger happened. Everyone started humming the beat of the song. Just to be clear, they were not singing the song, but like kinda yelling the beat to the song. If you can understand... It was very strange to say the very least.

Anyway, I danced for a bit and brought the night to and end around 1 am cause I had to work the next morning. I headed over to grab my coat from the coat check, which by the way, is common at all clubs in Paris, and costs 3 euro (just to leave a coat). Shit. how much am I making again? hahaha... I exited the club said goodbye to Rachel and her friends and headed towards the taxis. This was the very peak of the evening to me, because I only had to say my address once and the driver understood perfectly. Hell yeah!

Design Contre Design


I also want to mention this very cool design show that I attended at the Le Grand Palais. Check out the video on this page here. It was a furniture design showcase from the past 200 years. My favorite part of the show was that it was difficult to tell when a piece was created. This just goes to show that truly good design is ageless. Honestly, there were pieces that could have been for sale at a trendy furniture shop today and they were created 150 years ago. It was very cool to see where we have come from and where we are today, even where we are heading in the future.

Some Favorites
NOTE: These photos were taken directly from this website.

This section was more my taste in terms of classy design:

I love the random pieces of the couch that line the wall and floor. Random is great!


The table here appeared to be shaped out of a single piece of wood.


This radiator fooled me too. So beautiful...


This was called "The Womb House". It was in fact a womb of a woman and had all the aspects of an actual house. Kitchen, desk, toilet and bed complete with a vaginal opening for the children to enter the way they came out. LoL.


Finally, this was my favorite section in terms of creativity and fun. Everything is just made from leftovers or random junk:

Coolest dresser ever:


This chair is made out of old clothes:


This is 100% shredded newspaper:

Unchained Melody.

Although this post has nothing to do with Paris, it has the world to do with me being in Paris. This goes to the girl that fills my thoughts all of of the time. You deserve the world...



Je t'aime!

Interpol.

Ok, so we are back a little earlier than expected. I am am gonna jump ahead a bit and show you what I did this evening because it is fresh in my mind and worthy of an immediate post.

21 Novembre
Tonight, I went to an Interpol concert. It was more than amazing! They are a great band and even better live. The concert was help at a place called the Le Zenith. This place was a proper venue. The people here were really into them. I was shocked that so many Parisians loved American music. I will say this though, the majority of the kids at this concert were very clean cut. No one out here has tattoos, at least from what I can see. I haven't seen any tattoos the whole time living here. I stand out like a sore thumb...

Look how packed Le Metro (subway) was on the way home. It took like 20 minutes to catch a freakin' train:



Here is Le Billet:



Anyway, I am gonna keep this post short. Here are some videos to lay your eyes on. The first is of Interpol playing "Evil" live (hosted on Youtube):



The second is the trek back home from Le Metro:



Well, there you have it, more video content. Voila!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the U.S. I miss you all! Save me some stuffing...

Monoprix.

Bonjour once again! Welcome back and thanks for taking the time to keep up with my travels. I appreciate it very much. Sorry it took me so long to write this one, but this is a bigger process than I expected...

Grocery shopping.
Where shall I begin? Ah yes... Monoprix:



Inside (notice the electronic price displays):



So I went grocery shopping or "faire des courses" on Sunday for the first time. Let's say that it was an experience! First of all, at this point I knew zero french. This means that unless I could visually identify a particular item, I was just taking an educated guess as to what it was. I would say that about 50% of what I bought that day was a guess. LoL... Here is what I purchased. Take a look:



Le Fromage.
So here are some things that I noticed when shopping on this premiere occasion. First of all, Parisians love cheese. There are way too many kinds of cheese in this country. They have Chevre (goat, "chevre" actually means goat), Gour Noir (goat, very tastey), Compte (cow, has been made for centuries), Brie (cow, goes well with Champagne) and the list goes on forever... I ended up only picking up about 3 different kinds to begin to figure out which I liked the best... Gour Noir was my favorite! I really didn't like Chevre. It just tasted gross (kinda moldy)... Oh well, no problem. I have about 250 more kinds to try...

Le Jambon.
Next, there seemed to be a lot of "le jambon" or ham. So I asked one of my friends why? They told me that pork (le porc) is a favorite meat in France. In the lunch meat aisle, there was ham everywhere, but only a couple selections of Chicken (le poulet) or Turkey (le dinde). I guess I better learn to like ham.

Here are some other interesting facts. Everything is in the metric system, which in and of itself is fine. But it changes the way everything looks as far as packaging is concerned. For instance, milk does not come in 1 Gallon containers. It comes in 1 Litre containers. All the nutrition information is also worded a bit differently due to the metric system. So instead of it listing a serving size and then the calories, fat, protein, etc. per serving, it lists how many grams the product weighs. Then, it lists it like this:

Poids net: 120g (total weight of the product)

Pour 100g (per 100g)

106 kcal (Calories)
447kJ (Joules = high school chemistry? what the...?)

Proteines 22g
Glucides 1g
Lipides 1,5g
Fibres <1g

Notice that instead of a period as a decimal point, they use a comma. It seems to be in all number related items. No clue...

Le Pain.
Also, bread doesn't come packaged as it would in the States. Here it is fresh and on shelves. You simply choose the one you like and wrap it up yourself. Weird, but it tastes delicious!

Finally, here are a couple comments to wrap up the whole grocery store debacle. THERE WAS NO PEANUT BUTTER! What?! They had almond butter, caramel butter, chocolate butter, but no peanut butter... That was a disappointment since it is like my favorite snack. Also, there are zero medical related items in a grocery store or any store in France for that matter. Even for contact solution, you need to visit "une pharmacie". These are small, cozy store fronts where you can get anything from hydrogen peroxide to penicillin.

So there is my shopping experience in Paris. Hope you enjoyed:) Check back soon for updates on my night out at Le Cab (one of the hottest night clubs in Paris). As well, as a full detailed story about my trip to London to see The Arcade Fire.

A Bientot.

Random Questions and Answers.

OK so, I think from now on, I am gonna take a more freeform approach to this blog thing. I have been receiving some random questions here and there, so here are the answers to most of them.

Time.
Paris is 6 hours ahead of you guys in Eastern Standard time. So just take whatever time it is there and add 6. For those of you on the West Coast, add 9.

Les Toilets.
No, Biff, the toilets flush the same direction. You are thinking of the Southern Hemisphere weirdo. And the toilet paper is just fine. Better than alot of places in the States.

Work.
I work with 4 other people (3 guys and one girl). One of the guys is the creative director. His name is Patrick. The main producer is Jacques. There is another designer who seems to be doing alot of the print design work currently. And then there is one more girl who works hand in hand with Jacques. Her name is Hermine.

So far I have been working on Noel (Christmas) Designs for the Station called TF1. It is the largest TV station in France. They are also broadcast through much of Europe from what I understand.

The computer that I work on is mostly in French which is interesting. I can get around most of it though because I memorized where everything is. But the keyboard layout is also different. Here is a pic:





Drinking Age.
In France, the drinking age is only 16. And it is not common for anyone to ask for an ID unless the child is way too young. The other night at the concert, I saw someone who looked like they were about 14 drinking a pint and chatting with his mates. Very strange to see but apparently, it is very common.

Money.
Currently, the Euro has an exchange rate of about .69 to the dollar. This means that for every dollar you trade, you will receive .69 euros. For instance, when I arrived, the first thing I did after Customs was to exchange some money. I changed in $380 and received back about 264 Euros. Here is what they look like:



The cool thing is that you can use your ATM cards here in any ATM. My bank (Bank of America) even has a partner here with the biggest bank in France so that I don't get charged any fees. Also, you can use your credit cards everywhere. I haven't even been to a place that doesn't accept credit cards or debit cards. Tres facile (very easy)...

Electricity.
So, they have a different kind of outlet here as well as a different Wattage (Thanks to Keffer for clarifying this for me) Not to much to tell you about this but here is a pic of what the outlets look like:





Speaking French.
I took my first lesson for French last night. I enjoyed it very much. I will be taking about 10 hours a week (2 hours a night). Hopefully this will get me up the speed very quickly.

After last night's lesson, I am able to count from 0 - 100. I can hold a very basic conversation saying who I am, where I am from, say my birthday and explain that I am single. LoL...

Addresses.
Will you all please send me your addresses? I have some post cards and things that I want to send out asap. I would greatly appreciate it. My email is crabbey1@email.com

Cheers!

Le Louvre.

9 Novembre

Bonjour! Well, here it is, my second post. Yey! Everything is still terrific. So let me begin where I left off...

Friday morning I woke up with a bit of a headache and hangover from the evening before. :( But it was ok since I had such a great time. Work went smoothly and I had to finally go to le dejeuner (lunch) alone and make my first purchase while not intoxicated. It went well. When entering a business here in Paris, it is respectful and common to greet the owner when entering with: Bonjour Madame, Monsieur. So I did. So far, so good. I went to the same Bagel shop once again since it was familiar and less intimidating. "Deux Grand Central, s'il vous plait", I said. I ordered 2 so that I also had some dinner waiting for me for later:) Mister prepared! After work I locked up and headed home with a couple red beers from Belgium. I just sat at home played some guitar and drank. Very relaxing and enjoyable:)

Here are some bikes for rent in the city. It is a cool concept:





10 Novembre

I awoke at about 8:30 and made some coffee and began to plan out the day a bit. I picked up my copy of the Lonely Planet's Guide to Paris and began reading. I settled on Le Louvre for the days activities. Walking seemed like a good way to learn a bit about the city, so I did just that. I did in fact learn something, Paris seems to have a lack of street signs. LOL. After a little exploring and map searching, I was able to come across the street that I needed and proceeded on my way.

Along the road to Le Louvre, I came across many interesting sights. For instance, I came across this example of how NOT to lock up a bike, or maybe where to not lock one up?



Look, they also have Midas!



I also wondered through this staple of Paris called the Place de L'Hotel de Ville. It was beautiful. Take a look:











All of the architecture here is very detailed and refined. I have not seen one building that didn't make me look twice. Which means that I have a lot to see:)

After snapping a few photos at L'Hotel de Ville I stayed on track towards Le Louvre. The road to Le Louvre from my flat is along La Seine (the river that flows through Paris). This made for a beautiful walk during a fridged autumn day. All along the riverbank were small booths selling different second-hand merchandise such as books, small furniture and artwork. It is almost like sensory overload for a foreigner like myself. So much to see, hear and smell all at once.

Which brings me to the next fun fact, chestnuts. Haha, what, you ask... Yes! Chestnuts or at least what I believe to be chestnuts. Upon crossing the road to Le Louvre, I spot this guy standing next to a shopping cart. From my previous experience, I regard him as just a homeless guy asking for change, but as I get closer I realize he is selling, what appear to be, chestnuts. Yes, he has his cart setup with a tray sitting on the top and he is offering roasted chestnuts for sale. Very interesting. Since this first encounter, I have run across numerous other "Chestnut" vendors throughout the city. Gotta love new things:)

Here is what they look like:



So I enter Le Louvre's exterior wall and here is what I see:







It is massive. It is said that it would take 9 months to glance at every piece of artwork within these walls. That is just crazy. Good thing I got an early start:) Once inside the museum, everything was pretty much par for the course as far as museums are concerned. Don't get me wrong though, this place used to be used as a Palace before being repurposed as a museum in 1793. So the building itself is as much a work of art as the pieces held within.

The security here was no joke either.



I must admit that the Roman religious artwork was, to me, the most moving. I have, for some time now, had an interest in this type of artwork. It is very beautiful and was usually created by the master's of the time. The church always had the money to pay for the best...

Anyway, instead of me going on and on about art, I will just show some of my favorite pieces and some of the most popular. Take a look for yourself:































Venus de Milo:



The Mona Lisa was quite popular:





Some Egyptian works:







OK that is enough for now! More to come this post:)

PS: Here is a random walkthrough of the city:



Au revoir