Thursday, July 9, 2009

Postcard from Paris


Visiting Paris was an afterthought -- I'd put much thought into strategizing my tour through Southern Spain and Morocco; and all I'd done to prep for Paris was book flights in and out and arrange to couch-surf with Martine, a sweet woman who lives in the 19th arrondisment (section). The last time I was in Paris I was 20... Then I had my series of 20-something adventures: I'd met some kids who lived out in the suburb of Melun, attended their all-night parties and then got got waylaid at the Gare du Nord train station by an older man who'd invited me to have a drink with him when I should have been boarding a train to Amsterdam. (I ended up spending the night in the women's bathroom sharing my sleeping bag with a French girl who'd also missed the train.)

This visit was decidedly more adult--I attended no all night parties and no one managed to take advantage of me:) Martine took me along with her to one of Paris' summer festivities for Parisians . It featured an hour-long boat ride along the Ourcq canal and then dancing on a barge to a series of performers who belted out traditional French songs and such. The next day I took in tourist-Paris--visiting the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and indulging in a boatride down the Seine.

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