Paris part Trois - Get Your Graffiti While Its Hot
Trip Start
Mar 18, 2008
1
3
Trip End
Apr 07, 2008
Paris,
France
Monday, April 7, 2008
This will be my last weekly update from Paris as I am leaving to go back to NYC tomorrow evening. The time
went by very quickly and I've had a lot of fun.
The saddest part of my trip was when Frenchie's goldfish died. He hung on for 2 1/2 days, then that
was that. Frenchie doesn't seem to really care that I'm leaving tomorrow and that there will be no one
around to take care of his other goldfish that I still haven't killed. Fortunately, my friend Karina has
offered to take in the fish until Frenchie returns, so I'm bringing him over to her place tonight. She lives
just a 15 min walk from where I am so that shouldn't put too much stress on the fish.
The homeless guys have now officially become a tourist attraction. The other day I was walking by and saw
these two girls taking their picture with them. In case you are in Paris and want to put them on your
list of famous sights to see, they can be found under the train tracks at Metro line 2, Juares stop. They've
also acquired a pup tent the other day, so it looks like they are planning on staying for a while.
As you all know I've mostly been wandering around the streets taking photos. I've done a lot of walking, and
if it wasn't for all the yummy chocolate and baggetts I've been eating these past few weeks I would be
skinnier than Kate Moss right now. So the one thing I've noticed about the Parisians is that they have no
concept of personal space and will not budge an inch to let you pass on the sidewalk. I have literally been
forced off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic because they refuse to move. I've stopped being so polite, now
I just do what I normally do in NYC, I don't step aside either and I hit them with my body as I'm
passing, or I just stop and stand in their way. Both equally effective ways for getting the point across.
Another very important tip for future travels to Paris: the water here sucks! It is so freaking hard
you might as well be washing with and drinking pebbles. No wonder the goldfish died. If you are
planning on being here for more than 3 days I highly recommend that you bring the most strongest body and
face moisturizing cream on the market - this is true for men as well as women. My skin is so dried out it
looks like I've aged at least 5 years. Hopefully I will be able to turn that around when I get home and
return to my normal routine.
If you'll recall in my 1st update I told you about this bad area that I went into and the amazing
graffiti art I saw but was too afraid to take a photo of because of all the shady characters hanging around?
Well I got up the nerve to go back there this morning. This time it was totally different, Charles Manson
wasn't there and there weren't any shadesters hanging around. I was able to get some photos of it, but
unfortunately there were all these cars parked along the street next to the graffiti wall and it was really
hard for me to get good shots.
So the moral to my story is - if you let your fear and apprehension get the best of you, you can miss a great
opportunity in life. The opportunity may present itself again and you may be in a better frame of mind
to seize it, but the conditions may be less optimal than when originally presented. You can still make it
work for you, but the key is you'll have to really work it to make it work.
Ok, so that's it, in exactly 24 hours it will be Au Revoir Paris, Salùt NYC. I'll send links to my photos
as soon as I get then posted on line.
