Bonjour Mademoiselle

6:00 in the morning across the street from my apt.

6:01 in the morning across the street from my apt.

((Just so you know - the white text reads as the main story.  

The photos have text to explain what it is.))

 

I wrote a mail to my family and a few friends but I forgot all about it and then I came across it while  farting around on my computer.  So I decided to incorporate it into this blog post.  Open this link and play the music in another window.  Listen to the music in the background while reading this post.

6:45 and I arrive at the airport.

When I was last visiting in California, Clarke told me that she was going to go to Paris this summer.  I got really excited because it was just the right excuse that I needed to get away from the nursing home.  I promised to meet Clarke in Paris if she was cool with some old creepy guy hanging out with her.  This would be my 3^rd visit with Clarke in Paris.

Security took forever for some reason but I had

plenty of time to get a bite before going to

gate B15.  Departure at 8:20.

I also have 2 other French friends that live right smack in the center of the most trendy part of Paris.  But it’s a bit of a yawn for me because I’m not really a party person.  But this gave me an opportunity to visit my friends since they were here in Copenhagen last year, right after I had my floors sanded.  I didn’t even have any furniture yet at the time. 

Gare du Nord - the old part and the new part.

I called Patrick and Fabien and told them that I was coming to town.  Great they said.  If we have time, we’d love to see you but we think we are going to be busy.  Long story about that but  I will spare you with all the details.  If you are really interested to know more, you can ask me next time we visit or the next time we talk/write.   

The newly renovated facade of the train station.

The newly renovated facade of the train station.

The newly renovated facade of the train station.

Anyway, I left Copenhagen at 6 am, Tuesday, July 29th.  Everything went really smoothly.  I paid  few extra bucks to get a confirmed seat....... TO Paris.  In just 2 hours and 5 minutes, I made touchdown at Charles De Gaulle airport.  I got on the train to the center of Paris.  But at the last minute, I decided to get off 1 station early.  I always go to the very crazy Les Halles train station - which I love.  It's just amazing all the people and all the underground levels and all the shops at the station - 5 levels underground.  Trains on the 2 lowest levels.

Croque Madame €9.50

House rosé € 11.50

Right across the street from the train station.

I’ve seen Paris too many times.  But I have not seen the area where train station Gare du Nord is located.  Sooo… on an adventurous fluke, I hopped off the train there at Gare du Nord.  I was soooooo happy that I did.  I don’t know what it is about train stations but I really like them.  And this one was a beauty.  After wondering aimlessly inside the station, I walked outside of the station to see the façade (which, btw is a French word) of the station.  What luck!  They were just about completed with a renovation of the façade.  It was all cleaned up.   Once I stepped outside, I wanted to get lunch in one of the open cafés facing the front of the station.  I was off to a great start.

I've had way too many horrible
Danish Mexican tacos to even
think about a Kurdish kebab taco.
And just exactly how traditional 
can a Kurdish taco even be?
Try 0 %

Once I was finished with my lunch, I got up and had my GPS point me in the general direction towards my hotel.  Google maps says, at a normal pace, it is a 40-minute walk.  But I was admiring the views, the buildings and doing a bit of window shopping.  2 hours later I finally arrived at my hotel.  I checked into my room, unpacked, and went back out on the streets where I would see many of the sites that I have see before - several times.  It was very hot that day.  My plan was to go to the Eiffel tower.  This must be the 8th time that I am in Paris and I have never been up the tower.   The situation was, I used up all of my energy getting up too early on departure morning and then the 2 hour hot walk from Gare du Nord train station to the hotel.  Instead, I just decided to chill and relax in the area of the hotel instead of playing tourist.

I must say - there are some very
beautiful structures in Paris.

Who inspired whom?  
The Beverly center -1982
The Pompidou center - 1977
Both known for their unusual outside and hanging-  
on-the-edge-of-the-building escalator.

Clarke and I made contact via Whatsapp and we agreed on one of 2 cafés we could meet at.  I was a bit nervous about how it was going to go but it went really well.  Weeks before leaving, I was thinking we would just have a cup of coffee and then we would be on our way.  But we spent several hours together, walked a bit, sat in another café along the Seine River and ordered a glass of wine.  Our day started with a bit of sunshine, then a pretty good splash of rainfall at the first café, then sunshine again, then wind and a sprinkle at the second café and then we walked to Notre-Dame.  There, it was very windy with a few sprinkles.  We would have loved to have gone in the cathedral but the line was probably over a quarter mile long.  Clarke and I said good-by there.  She was going to continue to the Eiffel tower.  I had consider going with her, but it was a long haul and I needed a little shut-eye before visiting my French friends. 

The historical Jewish quarter.

google translation

Fabien and Patrick wrote to me about 2 weeks before I flew out to Paris.  They said that they were so sorry, but it just wasn't going to work out.  There were too many things they had to do and didn't have the time.  Then the day before arriving in Paris, they said that they would be in Paris very late Wednesday afternoon and they would have time only then for me to join them for dinner if I could.  I said I'll be there.  I wouldn't miss it.  We had a wonderful visit.  I was so happy they could make it after all.

Suddenly, while walking around town, I had to 
take a pee.  And what better place to take a pee
than at the Pee-casso Museum?

The next morning, I met the guys for a cup of coffee in their home.  Suddenly Fabien remembered that he had to get to the post office immediately.  He had to send off some packages before leaving town again.  I followed him to the post office.  I had been looking for a post office where I could buy stamps but all I could find were mailboxes.  I would have never guessed the building we walked into was a post office.  But luckily, I was able to get 5 stamps.  Now I just needed to get 5 postcards.

My French friends live in Lay Moray.
But of course the French don't know how to spell.
They spell it: Le Marais. 

It is the most trendy spot in all of Paris.
Here is where you will find lots of gay bars,
gay restaurant, and gay shopping among
other things that are not gay but geared
toward people like you:
young, hip, trendy and loaded with cash.

I bet you don't dare click the this link to Naked.
But if you do, I promise you, you'll be 1 step ahead.

So, I know you are familiar with my SAS flight discount tickets and all the horror stories that go along with it.  This was probably the worst of all the stories.  The short version is:  I had to cut my very short Paris trip by 5 hours.  SAS was full.  It’s the last flight of the day back to Copenhagen.  Air France had 5 departures – 3 that I could use.  At 8 am, when I looked on the apps., each of them had space.  OK – I will just take the last Air France flight which is only 30 minutes before the SAS departure - 9 pm and 9:30 pm respectively.

There is this corner in town with about 4 or 5 gay
restaurants side by side.  They were empty on the
insides but filled up with people on the sidewalk.
The funny thing is, about 90% of the people
  eating, were not gay.  Well... they weren't really
 eating, they were all drinking.  I didn't want
 to be the only non-straight person eating dinner
 so I sat on the inside.  I wasn't really hungry but
 I ordered dinner anyway.  The only other couple
inside the restaurant were these 2 young hip guys. 
They didn't order food.  They ordered champagne.
What was most funny for me was that they would
not pour themselves champagne.  They waited for
the waiter to come and pour the champagne - each
time they took a sip.

Ok so the photo may look a little scary
but this was soooooo amazing - as
simple as it was: Chicken and rice with
the most amazing mushroom sauce.
I wasn't hungry when I walked in
but I wanted more when I walked out.

WC = Water Closet = toilet = restroom.
I think this sign was installed for Americans who
have problems with where total strangers take a piss.
This is pretty much the way it is all over Europe
and most likely this way in your own home too.

After coffee with the guys and our very quick dash to the post office, we said good-bye and I went to my hotel to pack and check out.  I looked at my employee ticket apps. and now all flights were full.  Air France had a total of 24 empty seats between 3 flights - but now were full and SAS was over booked by 3 seats.  I didn’t know what I was going to do. 

Coffee time

Well…….. I ended up walking at top speed to Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre.  It’s an hour walk from the hotel and an hour back.  I went there to get an overview over Paris.  It was melting hot that day.  I rushed there and I rushed back.  All the while looking for 5 lousy postcards.  My plan was to sit and have lunch before going back to the airport.  While eating lunch, I would fill out your postcard.  I found all kinds of souvenir trinkets but not one damn postcard.  Then… half way through my lunch, I decided I would later walk on over to the Pompidou Center as it is total tourist area.  For sure I must be able to find some postcards there.

more interesting facades

But as I am eating my lunch, I take another quick look into my SAS employee apps. to see how the seating situation has developed.  OMG – 2 empty seats opened up on the 4:30pm Air France flight.  I dropped the rest of my lunch, paid my bill and ran to the hotel to pick up my bag and then ran to Les Halles train station.  4 floors underground and here comes the next train to the airport.  Believe me, this is the short version.  I got off the train at the wrong terminal – Thanks to incorrect info from Google – really.  Then I took the sky train in the wrong direction and ended up at Terminal 1 parking lot.  I was trying to go to Terminal 1 as google directed me to do but Air France flies out of Terminal 2.   The flight was going to depart soon.  I had to hurry to check in.  Finally got to Terminal 2 – the correct terminal.  Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 are surprisingly, a long sky train ride away from each other.   I checked-in and ran to gate F29.   The departure board read:  Flight Delayed.   Oh brother.  The next shock was 7 stand-by Air France employees were waiting to board the same full flight.  And me, as an SAS employee, means that I am last in line.  There were only 2 empty seats available before I left the train station.  Now at the airport, the app. says all flights full.  I wanted to cry.  But if worse came to worse, there were still 2 more Air France flights and I could still try my original SAS flight - which was overbooked.     

Clarke and I met for brunch.

In the middle of it all there came
a lot of rain - which Clarke
actually loved.   She said she
loves Paris in the rain.

                      .  

All the full-paying passengers got on.  Then the Air France ticket man says: Ok, we have to do this quickly.  All you stand-by passenger come over here!  Hand me your boarding card!  This is an old procedure.  We hand over our boarding card, which has no seat number, and they hand us a new boarding card with a seat number.  When the guy said – hand over your boarding card, I just happened to be the closest person to him.  I practical stuck my boarding card in his face.  He took it, dropped it, then picked it up, then dropped it again and believe it or not, he dropped my boarding card a 3rd time.  Eventually and he handed me a new boarding card with a seat number on it.  I ran my ass off to the airplane, found my seat and thanked my lucky star that I was on.

Before any actual plans were made, I was
thinking Clarke and I would just meet for a
cup of coffee.  But we did brunch, chatted in
the rain and then moved on to a nice glass
of French wine along the Seine.

She even gave me
Netflix tips.

But seriously – how is it that the app. says all flights are full and then, this flight that I got on, actually had 6 empty seats?  I don’t know what happened to the last 2 stand-by passengers.  It shouldn’t have been possible for me to get on but I did and I was sooooooooooo happy.

Then we strolled on to Notre Dame to see the renovations.
We wanted to go in but the line was forever long. 

Anyway.... all that to say: I ended up coming home with 5 French postcard stamps.  So don't be hanging out at your mailbox waiting for a postcard from me - sorry.

 

Along the Seine.

This day was actually very wet and
cloudy but the sun came out for 7 minutes
and I happened to be able to capture this fancy
building with a bit of blue sky.

These are our good friends Fabien and Patrick.
Jens and I have known them for years.
Great guys.

Fabien and Patrick live in Lay Moray
aka: Le Marais

This is the Le Marais area.  It used to be a
zillion cars and moped squeezed into this area. 
The area is now blocked for traffic. 
It's only for pedestrians now.
Wow, what a difference.

 

It was my last day - the day that I panicked about being able to get home.  All flights full.  I wanted to do something.  It was hot and sunny.  I was supposed to be able to wander aimlessly around the city.  I had a list of things I wanted to do.  But I had to cut my trip short by 5 hours and make a mad dash to the airport.  However, I managed to put my feet in fast gear and walk the 1 hour tour to the top of Montmartre.

Eventually I found my way to the airport. Looking back, what now seems like a just a fraction of a second, I was suddenly back in Copenhagen.

If you follow the arrow,
in the above photo,
it will lead you to my front door.

What you see in the background,
is actually only 4 km / 2½ miles
away from our apartment.

Oh I was sooooooo glad that I was able to get on board and make it back home to Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen.  Of course now I had to go home and then go to the market to get some groceries to make dinner.  No way,  the heck with that.  I was dying for some traditional Danish food.  I know of a little spot in the airport that makes Danish food like Grandma used to make.  I was in heaven eating this roast pork sandwich.  

Had I found some touristy postcards, and had I the time to easily finish my lunch, I would have filled out the postcards, lick this stamp on it and send it to you - Yes, you!

 

Or ree vrar

or as the French misspell it:

Au Revoir