Don't worry....be happy

It was quite a Thursday. After waking up early in the morning to the AirFrance bag man bringing my luggage, I was in a great mood to hit up Paris and show you what goes on in my hood. See I was watching this episode of "cops", Paris style of course, and I decided to check out the local scene. I met up with the teen gang the Kingz, who are famous for writting stuff on walls after they have committed a crime. This was taken after my initiation in the Kingz gang in Paris. Yea I had to tag a wall after my initiation was complete...... (and if you buy that, my friend George has some Ocean Front Property in Arizona for sale, he might even through in the golden gate for free!!!!)





Really I just wanted to get your attention... first impressions have been on my mind this past week or so, and they really can be a doosie. Also, I just thought it was a pretty cool wall to take a picture with. Matt and I went met up with Brandi at the Eiffel Tower. He had to take a picture for his uncles birthday and thought it would be awesome to get the tower in the background. Having my camera now powered up, I decided to use my skills and take some photos as well.



I have eaten so many Milka bars (The French Wonka Bars) that I've grown to be as tall as the Eiffel Tower. I actually tried picking it up, but it's still pretty heavy. We took this shot right across the river from the Eiffel Tower. It was such a beautiful day, for the middle of winter. The sky was so blue, and the sun was out, I really enjoyed just playing in Paris.

Having Brandi as our day tour guide was pretty neat. After the photo shoot, we walked to the train station and jumped over to the "Red Windmill." See I had been hearing a lot about this whole Red Windmill thing and figured we should investigate. Tickets however are like 80 Euro's a show. It's not really my scene that much either. I mean seriously it was a pretty RED district in Paris. Oh btw Red Windmill translates to French as Moulin Rouge...

After walking around and noticing the History of Sex muesum, which had some very liberal articles in the front window, we headed over to Sacre - Coeur. A famous Church on top of the Montmarte hill. Montmarte used to be an old village north of Paris back in the 18th century. A farming village if you will. Now it is a huge tourist trap, but it is easy to see why. It is absolutely an amazing view of the city. I mean breathtaking.

You climb up these stairs and along the way tons of africans try to stop you with 3 strings. Luckily Brandi was there to inform us that they take like 10 mins to tie a little friendship braclet thing on you, all while talking about some African fable....after they are finished, the braclet is to tight for you to take off and you have to pay them or else you are stealing. I mean talk about hustlers, these guys are good.

We went inside the church and it was beautiful. I made it about 10 feet and snaped a picture of the altar when all of a sudden a small indian looking french man rushed me and started barking at me in French. He told me to leave, that photo's weren't allowed and all this stuff. I mean I didn't even get a good picture, as you can see below. But it just sucks that churches seem to be tourist spots/museums instead of Churches... maybe it's just my first impressions, but it still just seems odd. I mean it's beautiful. I stand in the back for a couple of min's and then exit as asked.
The Trouble making Picture.

Afterwards we sat on the steps with a pretty decent size crowd and just listend to a local musician singing typically English songs. It was awesome. I tried to catch a video for you. You can see Paris in the background and hear the man singing. It was perfect for the day. I mean I could totally come and just sit on the steps, have a picnic and waste a day during the spring. Matter of fact I think I will. Here's the video.




DON'T WORRY.....BE HAPPY!!!

Afterwards we walked through the streets to the little Painters market. There are some very talented artists. It kind of reminded my of New Orleans, where the painters have their own little block. Of course the hustlers walk around trying to sketch your picture in Charcoals and charge you for it. We stop in at a little cafe and have a late lunch. Sitting and talking is always so good. The food was decent, I had a fish pate' and a steak with potatoes. The mustard however was....how can should I say..... nostril opening! It was very awakening. Of course I had some dessert, just a little glasse (ice cream) which was amazing.

We then head to the Chatlet les Halles area to walk around. As we hop down on the train, my nose starts to bleed. I'm a little embarrassed and thankful Matt has a tissue. I am trying to stop it all while a small French boy sits next to me and his mother beside him. He was adorable. I felt bad because I almost bled on him, thankfully I dropped it on my sweetshirt instead. It was precious though when Matt started asking him names for body parts. He'd point to his nose and ask, Qu'est-ce que c'est? And the little boy would answer. *SIDENOTE.... we totally need to get a tutor, or even a babysitting job to learn from the little kids vocabulary words....*

I wish I could have spoke to him but it was awesome. The kid was very young and didn't know them all, so sometimes he'd ask his mom. While others he'd quitely answer. Matt said yes when the boy was correct or just nodded his head when he had no clue what the real answer was.

At Chatlet les Halles there was a protest by the Palestinians about Gaza. That lasted a good 2-3 hours. We walked around, grabbed some cafe/ hot chocolate and sat. Brandi left to met a friend for dinner, while Matt and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire. Matt had said it was a great movie, I was skeptical thinking it would be in French and we'd be lost.

While in line a Canadian couple in front of us were going to see it. It was so comforting to be able to understand what others are saying and have conversation with them. (I don't know if you realize it or not, but my one hang up is not knowing French!) We made a joke though about how movies weren't big here, and how there was a whole 86 seats left in our theater. I laugh thinking it was like the other one which probably only holds 100 max. Nope this theater was HUGE, like a giant IMAX. Seriously it was hard to find 2 seats together for Matt and I. It was packed. We watch the movie, which I highly recommend, and then head back after one amazing day.

On the train there is a massive attack dog muzzled. This really freaks me out. I mean not as much as the armed military guards who patrol the subway systems and the Eiffel Tower and such, but seriously pretty crazy. Heres a pic of the sucker.