Re: [FairfieldLife] Free Man In Paris, v2.06
You have an innocent smile Barry baby - hard to believe all that paranoid, delusional garbage spews from this same man with that seemingly innocent smile. Oh the wonders of this amazing creation !!! On Sun, Apr 7, 2013 at 4:40 AM, turquoiseb wrote: > ** > > > I know that a few here have been hoping for more of a travelogue in these > epistles than a rantalogue, and today I may be able to provide one. So far, > I've been literally commuting to Paris -- working here during the week, and > going home to Leiden on the weekends. But this weekend I decided to stay, > because I have to look for a more permanent apartment, and it's difficult > to do that while working. > > Yesterday I did just that, and hopefully have found a place that is > PERFECT for my needs -- it's a one-bedroom apt, with a full bed but also a > remarkably comfortable sofabed that accommodates two more people, should > any of my extended family choose to visit while I'm there (and they will). > Just outside the door is the Metro stop that will take me to work, and the > area is just littered with great cafes, restaurants, sushi bars, and > hangout bars. Steps away is rue Mouffetard, one of the great streets of > Paris, full of markets, shops, and even more bars and restaurants. I hope I > get it -- the only issue is that Paris landlords are pickier than Judy > Stein (imagine that!) and want you to document everything about your life > before they'll rent to you. I felt comfortable signing the agreement to > provide her with my first-born male child if I default on the rent (since > that's not likely to happen anyway), but one can never be sure she'll go > for it. I hope she does...it's a great place in a wonderful location. > > Right now I'm staying a little further away, in a lovely (but tiny) > apartment in the 5th arrondissement. The building is old and historical, > and used to be (get the irony of this) a cloister for the nuns and priests > who taught at L'université de Cardinal Lemoine. These days it has been > converted into upscale apartments: > > [image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8523/8626604507_d9a0713621.jpg] > > although the rooms are still nun-sized. Fascinatingly, next door is a > cabaret/strip joint: > > [image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8525/8626603253_ae4192.jpg] > > so the nuns must be restless in their graves. I think one of them may have > visited me in the dream plane last night. I turned her down...she was old > and gnarly and frankly far too frustrated from a life of denial for me to > even think of trying to rectify that situation. :-) > > The apartment-hunting hopefully over, I decided to walk along the Seine > this morning and find a nice cafe with free Wifi (often here charmingly > called "Wistro") at which to write this over un petit dejeuner of cafe > creme, jus d'orange, croissants and tartines. On the way, I walked over the > Pont de l'Archevêché, now famous because lovers have decorated it with > padlocks with their names inscribed, as if to declare their undying love. > Color me unconvinced; in one particular area I saw at least ten padlocks > inscribed with the name Pascal, each one with a different woman's name on > it. Pascal got around, and his sense of undying love seems to be a lot like > Maharishi's idea of how long promises to his TM teachers were to be kept. > > [image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8122/8626606361_5f9f6d7e34.jpg] > > Then I walked past Notre Dame de Paris, celebrating its 850th year. I > didn't go inside, having been there done that far too often; the photo of > me in the FFL Photos area was taken on its roof. But I did pause for a > moment outside the front entrance to photograph one of my favorite > mini-monuments to the French mindset: > > [image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8384/8626608325_62d317266e.jpg] > > This is called "Point Zero." It is the point from which all distances in > the known physical universe were measured. In other words, not only did the > French consider their country (and thus themselves) the center of the > universe, they had an actual point in space that was the *exact* center. > It's sorta like how Buck thinks of the Men's Dome in Fairfield. :-) > > After that I walked over to St. Michel, always one of my favorite > people-watching areas, and settled in this cafe, which is right outside one > of the exits from the Metro/RER stop there: > > [image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8103/8626608551_d573287d07.jpg] > > Yes, it's touristy later in the day, but at this hour it's 1) mainly > empty, 2) has heaters on the terrace so I can sit outside, and 3) has > Wistro, so I can post this if I feel like it. (Although I'll probably wait > until I get back to the apartment because I have photos to process and > include.) > > This is My Kinda Heaven. Buck can have his "heaven on Earth" in Fairfield. > Sipping a cafe creme in Paris, watching people walk by, writing about what > I see, and smiling big-time. Spring is as late here as it is in most other
[FairfieldLife] Free Man In Paris, v2.06
I know that a few here have been hoping for more of a travelogue in these epistles than a rantalogue, and today I may be able to provide one. So far, I've been literally commuting to Paris -- working here during the week, and going home to Leiden on the weekends. But this weekend I decided to stay, because I have to look for a more permanent apartment, and it's difficult to do that while working. Yesterday I did just that, and hopefully have found a place that is PERFECT for my needs -- it's a one-bedroom apt, with a full bed but also a remarkably comfortable sofabed that accommodates two more people, should any of my extended family choose to visit while I'm there (and they will). Just outside the door is the Metro stop that will take me to work, and the area is just littered with great cafes, restaurants, sushi bars, and hangout bars. Steps away is rue Mouffetard, one of the great streets of Paris, full of markets, shops, and even more bars and restaurants. I hope I get it -- the only issue is that Paris landlords are pickier than Judy Stein (imagine that!) and want you to document everything about your life before they'll rent to you. I felt comfortable signing the agreement to provide her with my first-born male child if I default on the rent (since that's not likely to happen anyway), but one can never be sure she'll go for it. I hope she does...it's a great place in a wonderful location. Right now I'm staying a little further away, in a lovely (but tiny) apartment in the 5th arrondissement. The building is old and historical, and used to be (get the irony of this) a cloister for the nuns and priests who taught at L'université de Cardinal Lemoine. These days it has been converted into upscale apartments: [http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8523/8626604507_d9a0713621.jpg] although the rooms are still nun-sized. Fascinatingly, next door is a cabaret/strip joint: [http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8525/8626603253_ae4192.jpg] so the nuns must be restless in their graves. I think one of them may have visited me in the dream plane last night. I turned her down...she was old and gnarly and frankly far too frustrated from a life of denial for me to even think of trying to rectify that situation. :-) The apartment-hunting hopefully over, I decided to walk along the Seine this morning and find a nice cafe with free Wifi (often here charmingly called "Wistro") at which to write this over un petit dejeuner of cafe creme, jus d'orange, croissants and tartines. On the way, I walked over the Pont de l'Archevêché, now famous because lovers have decorated it with padlocks with their names inscribed, as if to declare their undying love. Color me unconvinced; in one particular area I saw at least ten padlocks inscribed with the name Pascal, each one with a different woman's name on it. Pascal got around, and his sense of undying love seems to be a lot like Maharishi's idea of how long promises to his TM teachers were to be kept. [http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8122/8626606361_5f9f6d7e34.jpg] Then I walked past Notre Dame de Paris, celebrating its 850th year. I didn't go inside, having been there done that far too often; the photo of me in the FFL Photos area was taken on its roof. But I did pause for a moment outside the front entrance to photograph one of my favorite mini-monuments to the French mindset: [http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8384/8626608325_62d317266e.jpg] This is called "Point Zero." It is the point from which all distances in the known physical universe were measured. In other words, not only did the French consider their country (and thus themselves) the center of the universe, they had an actual point in space that was the *exact* center. It's sorta like how Buck thinks of the Men's Dome in Fairfield. :-) After that I walked over to St. Michel, always one of my favorite people-watching areas, and settled in this cafe, which is right outside one of the exits from the Metro/RER stop there: [http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8103/8626608551_d573287d07.jpg] Yes, it's touristy later in the day, but at this hour it's 1) mainly empty, 2) has heaters on the terrace so I can sit outside, and 3) has Wistro, so I can post this if I feel like it. (Although I'll probably wait until I get back to the apartment because I have photos to process and include.) This is My Kinda Heaven. Buck can have his "heaven on Earth" in Fairfield. Sipping a cafe creme in Paris, watching people walk by, writing about what I see, and smiling big-time. Spring is as late here as it is in most other places (global colding), and it was 0 degrees Celsius this morning, but now the sun is starting to come out and warm things up. It's all just so PARIS that I have a tremendous smile on my face that I do not seem to be able to remove: [http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8537/8627720330_2354db4318.jpg] Some people here seem to get uptight when I write shit like this, claiming that I'm bragging about my life or making myself seem more im
