gay paree

after all of my after hour partying, getting up in the morning is no easy task, especially for me. but, i always make it to breakfast about 10 minutes before we're to leave, grab something, then run to the bus. i know i'm pushing my luck, but there's so much more to see than what's just on the tour agenda!

well, we're staying at the hotel mercure, which is in the accor chain of hotels, like the ibis, but supposedly nicer. allegedly. the room is spacious enough, two twins pushed together, but it's no ibis. breakfast at ibis is a lavish, albeit expensive, buffet spread of local breads, fresh meats and cheeses, delicious juices and milk, all of this. here, we have a group area to meet for breakfast and it's a stripped down version of this, but way, way shittier. the eggs look like they're made from a mix, the meats are undercooked bacon and sausage, and the selection is very limited. i'm not impressed, even if i am on the verge of being late.

but i'm not even the last one on the bus this morning, luckily. after everyone loads up, we head to the palace at versailles. we take the tour through the palace, used during the reign of three or four king louie's...blah, blah, blah, oh, look! a kick ass garden! oh, wait, it's 8€ and we're leaving in :20...oh, well, another thing to see when i come back...

after versailles, we get dropped off in the latin quarter (or quartier, as the signs say) for lunch and some free time. the group has practice tonight in the american church in paris, but we have about four or five hours to do as we please and are close to the notre dame.

one of the interesting things, to me, about traveling with such a large group, is where everyone decides to eat. quite frankly, most of the restaurants are rip offs with maybe mediocre food. but you get to pay a lot for it! i'm not too hip on this idea, so i head off to find a sandwich or panini or something instead of paying these exorbitant prices. and, boy, howdy, did i luck out! i found a little crêperie on the street. money. for 4,50€, i got a ham, cheese, and egg crêpe. talk about scrumptious too!

after i got it and had started munching on it, sarah, liz, and stuart stop at the same place. now i have partners in crime! they belly up, get whatever they got, and we head across the street to eat in the park. after that crèpe, we go for a dessert crêpe. mine is nutella, a whole banana, a sprinkle of coconut, and, i didn't see him dose it with this, but i could certainly taste it, a bucketload of deliciousness.

with crêpes in hand, we head down the road to the notre dame. this is cool, not as cool as the one in amiens, but it's cool. we try to enter, but it's closed for a special ceremony. liz needs to buy some souvenirs, so we stop in a shop and start walking around. we get to the sainte-chappelle, a church that norbert told us about (located in a police station, the security is tough, but it has some beautiful stained glass and is worthwhile).

while waiting in line, they decide to go shopping because they don't have enough cash for it. we don't know how much it costs, so i decide to tough it out. we make arrangements to meet in front of the notre dame at 4:30, when it opens again.

this chapel is so beautiful. the room is buffeted on all sides by stained glass that seems to go from floor to ceiling. the colors are predominantly blue and red. there is strong evidence of the sun peeking out from behind the clouds. they should've spent the couple of euro to hang out, it was definitely worth it.

i go back to the front of notre dame to meet them and, of course, the line is outrageous, stretching all the way back across the square. i walk the line twice, from back to front to back again, and don't see them anywhere. so, i take my spot at the end of the line and figure they'll find me (i'm not small, should be easy, right?). i found out much later that they found an opportunity to sneak in, cutting much of the line, so they ditched me. jerks.

after wandering through the church (again, beautiful, but not as pretty as the one in amiens), i pop out the back to see about going up the stairs to the top. the line was about an hour to an hour and a half long, and we were leaving in two, so it didn't seem like a wise choice. unbeknownst to me at the time, the three of them were in that line, waiting to go up.

instead, i use my time meandering through the streets. i saw a ton of crowds, some killer architecture, and some interesting people (more to come on that in a minute). one of the caricature draw-er guys singled me out for my goatee and asks to use me as an example.

note about street vendors abroad: all these guys want to do is make a sale. if they can get the product in your hand, get you to participate in their scheme, or get you to talk to them, they have a chance. usually, they start with a sale of something. then they "give" it to you as a gift, asking for a donation of whatever you would like. if that doesn't work, then they try to guilt you into giving them money. the easier you are to be manipulated, the more cash leaving your pockets.

i oblige and take a seat. he goes through and does a half-way decent drawing of me (better than some of the other guys, for sure). once he's done, he shows it to me and i take a quick picture. it's an example right? rrrrright. "come on, i give you good price. i tell you what, i give it to you, you pay me what you want." "no, thanks, i was doing you a favor. thanks for using me as an example." i get up to leave. "you americans." "we love you americans," one of his mates chimes in. "see you guys. thanks again." "here. i give it to you for nothing, since you americans are so poor." "oh, yeah? thanks so much! that's such a great gesture." yeah, right. don't scam a scammer, buddy. i'm on to you...

so i totally score that caricature of me in paris. (and i don't feel one iota of guilt about it, either.) not too shabby. i've got a little over an hour before the group goes to practice at the american church in paris. after they get done, we're riding a boat down the seine to tour the sites on either side of the river. while they do their thing, i plan on finding an internet cafe for the hour and a half or two hours and then meeting up with them after. i head back to where we got dropped off.

now, here comes the part when i come clean...see, when we got dropped off, norbert told us that we might have a problem with the bus because of the parade that was planned for the afternoon. i really wanted to see this parade, but i wasn't sure that i would make it, but it ended up i could...anyhow, when i get back up the hill, i hear the music...

dooge, dooge, dooge, doon, doon, dooge, dooge, dooge, doon, doon

booming.

the street is covered in confetti and just up the street is a huge party. "so this is what they mean by 'gay paris'!" i think to myself, and i run to catch up to the biggest, gayest parade i've ever been to (admittedly it was my first, but still!), and it was in paris! i went flying up the side of the parade, walking the entire route, trying to take as many pictures as i could.

the floats, each of them booming music with their "acts" aboard (one of which was the bear float that's side proclaimed, "we are not teddy bears,' with all the guys baring their chests). the transvestites (all of which were topless, of course). the drag queens (including the older one, in her mid-50s, probably, dressed up all elizabethan style, fan and umbrella included). the dancers (even tried to get the picture of the five- or six-year old kid on the balcony dancing to the techno music like a professional). and as many of the crowd i could.

what a time! i was trying to represent. as e said, she's more butch than me. oh, and because i didn't plan for it, no, i was in my walking shoes, not like anyone would notice my flashy toes anyhow.

then, it was over. i met up with the group, went to the church, left the church for unsuccessfully seeking an internet cafe with saskia (our youngest member, at 13), her dad bob, and stuart, the second youngest (and quite possibly nerdiest) member of the crew. they ended up wanting to get something to drink, so i continued my search then joined them. i endured stuart's stories, although it was kind of cute, sort of like talking with some people at work. except that he hasn't come into his own yet, he's still all over the place.

we get back at the end of an evidently tense practice then head to the boat. after breaking through the crowd, i head to the top to save some seats for our group. after about :10, i figure i'd be scoping it out on my own, then sarah appears. phew. at least i won't be alone.

we go up and down the seine, not being able to hear the "tour," which is announced in a number of different languages and hardly a murmur over the crowd. sarah gets frustrated at her camera, but i get some good shots of the eiffel tower, even as it sssparkles. that's when the girls behind me start chatting me up (they just want the pictures that i was taking as their camera sucks ass; it was their last night anyhow). the two sisters, tara and taylor, are sitting behind me, io, their korean counterpart that was forced upon them by contiki (who they do not recommend as a tour group, by the way), and megan, their cousin. anyhow, i flirted with them until the ride was over. what's a guy to do?

finally, this day is over. but, what a day! there were so many memories created in this single day, definitely building my love for the city. at the end of it all, i will miss being here. just because i was there first, paris reminds me a lot of washington dc...they even have something that looks like the white house here (just 'cause we modeled it when we built the white house)! well...except for that "everyone speaks french" part...maybe if i learn it, it won't be so daunting...