Of a Tower and needing a drink...

[sublimatedangel]

Our first destination of the day was the Arc de Triomphe. This is a fabulous piece of architecture at the head of the Champs-Elysees (the most famous street in Paris). When I came in June of 1999, the tunnel to reach the Arc was filled with artists hawking drawings and paintings of Paris to the tourists.... this time it was empty except for a few other visitors. Perhaps it was too early in the morning or perhaps they no longer congregate there... The guards-with-machine-guns were also absent from the monument which was a pity as I wanted a picture of them.

The fog was very thick this morning - we were not sure if our plan to see the Eiffel Tower later in the day might have to be adjusted. We did some shopping along the Champs-Elysees - mostly souvenirs and postcards. I was sorry I had forgotten to bring my address book as there were a couple people whom I should have sent one to. I did pick up a set of four square ones, which I intend to frame for my Parisian-themed kitchen. As we turned back along the street, we began running into Japanese tourists who were desperately searching for people willing to purchase Louis Vitton bags for them (everyone in the party had reached the maximum limit). I declined to help them, and it seemed like they were having little luck with others. We suspect they planned to pay for their trip by selling the bags at a markup back home. By this time, the fog had mostly vanished, and so we checked in at the tourism office to get a few brochures, and then went to see the Eiffel tower.

We got off the metro at a military school which makes for a scenic walk to the tower. Once again, the autumn trees were looking beautiful, and as we walked through the park towards it I got a few good pictures. The lines were slow, but eventually we were ascending in the elevator cars - I remember it being more scary the last time, but I'm not sure if the ride has changed or my memory has. It was very crowded - we'd been wondering if perhaps today was a holiday - and so we did not stay for long at the top. Stasha was tired and decided she just wanted to go down and wait for me. We arranged a meeting place, and then I took pictures of the city below from the second and first levels. The first level also has an exposition... this time it was on the history of the Eiffel tower, and it was really interesting... I could have lingered longer but did not want Stasha to have to wait too long, and my feet were getting tired, so I went down to meet up with her. Apparently she'd been having adventures of her own - strangely the police around the tower were among the few people who didn't speak much English, and she had to explain through pantomime that an exhibitionist had ah, pleasured himself and then left as the police approached. After that she fell in company with a young Italian who braided her friendship/luck bracelets and then sold them to her.

We took the metro back to Montmartre and got some dinner at the place with the fountain that we had eaten at before - it was less charming this time as the staff was slow and hard to communicate with.... I ended up getting whiskey and coke... separately... I had tried to order a drink but was misunderstood. I mixed them together, which meant my drink got weaker as the night progressed. Stasha wanted Tequila but we could not discover if they had it or had even heard of it, so she settled for vodka. They spoke only a little english and I suspect french was a recent language for them as well.... We still managed to get quite giggly between the long day and the drinks. A young frenchman from the bar came over and asked why we were laughing - I'm not sure if he was trying to join in the fun or if he thought we were laughing at him and was offended.... unfortunately the explanations dulled our high spirits and getting the bill was again very slow, so we decided to renew ourselves and get drinks at the bar very close to our apartment, Le Botak cafe. Stasha had been swooning to me about the bartender since I first arrived, and he was indeed pretty and charming, with long hair tied back and a black shirt reading "Wanna play with me?" in English. We sat outside as he brought our drinks - Jack Daniels which proved harsher than whatever whiskey I'd had at the bistro, and was hard for me to drink, and vodka again for Stasha as he did not have tequila. She finished her drink quickly but unfortunately the place got really busy shortly after we arrived and the bartender was stuck inside. Eventually I went inside and managed to get his attention - I tried a Le Botak since I wanted something sweet and girly after the JD - it suited the description, complete with glowstick stirrer, but had something in it I didn't like - guava perhaps? So all in all did not have as much fun at the bar as we would have liked, but were content enough to head up to the apartment for the night.