the adventures of max & kaitlin in paris-part one

before i begin allow me to first mention that todays entry is being co-written or shall we say assisted by the lovely kaitlin, who is incedentally my partner in crime for the whole week in paris and sitting right next me right now so it's not like i'd write anything bad about her at least this time. good news is she is looking over my shoulder so there is a higher likelyhood of correct spelling, and she will force me to spell the french words with the correct accents.
episode one
in which max and kaitlin meet at the cdg airport. of course because it is the one flight of max's where there is someone waiting at the other side, everything does go wrong. but the reunite at the arrivals gate, there is hugging and most likely some squeeling but i won't say from whom, and they set out into paris together.
episode two
in which kaitlin is uber jetlagged and max attempts to keep her awake by leading her in totally the wrong direction (accident) and feeding her tons of espresso on an empty stomach. actually in truth k ordered the espresso for herself. they then walk to the cimetèrie du père lachaise and visited several important resting places including chopin, oscar wilde(covered in lipstick kisses-noted that this is not particularly hygenic), and of course jim morrison.
episode three
in which k &m feel revitalized after a light nap and lovely french supper and take a very very long walk (about four miles) all the way from their hotel on the edge of the bastille to the louvre. they admire the enormousness of the museum and how lovely everything is lit up at night, finally feeling like they are for sure in paris cause there is no way this could be faked (it's too big) and then, exhausted, metro back to the hotel and crash.
episode four
in which k & m once again navigate the trecherous french subway to their lent apartment in the spanish quarter. while the metro is very extensive, for some reason the stations involve very long walks to get from one line to another, resulting in a lot of trudging around dragging heavy luggage. after successfully locating the apartment they visit the eiffle, it is huge and so is the line, so they plan to return (very early) the following day to beat the queue.
-note-in this episode a crazy lady comes up to the girls while they are sitting at a chocolatiere and grabs one of their truffles off the plate. the staff chase her away and then replace the two complimentary chocolates with four very large ones, all the while apolagizing profusely.
episode five
in which the girls cook their first mean in the one person kitchen (rice and vegetable curry with orangina and some experimental pink champagne) and then head out in search of creme brulée and have to walk halfway across the neighborhood checking each blackboard menu in vain until they finally locate an establishment smart enough to serve this traditionally french dessert, and excitedly order two only to discover that they are gigantic. max valiently eats her entire serving and promptly feels ill, kaitlin is smarter and stops when she feels she can no longer carry on.
episode six
in which they wake very very early and make it to the eiffle tower ( 1,665 steps people) almost an hour before it even opened to discover an alarming line already forming and are somewhat worried. however within an hour of waiting (and discovering they still count as 'youth' here) they make it to the very top of the tower and have their beautiful views.
have at this point concluded that it is not in fact parisians who are rude, but the tourists in paris, who jostle so violently in lines and lifts that they cause many a bump and bruise on our innocent travelers. this type of conduct is of course completely unnessisary as it saves no time and gets you perhaps an inch further in line and just makes other people angry. don't do this please. everyone is waiting just like you, so be pacient.
episode six
in which they walk through the mouffetard food market (purchasing some miniature potatoes for dinner) and to the famous shakespear and co bookstore right across from notre dame which was once the hangout for such writers as hemingway, whitman aned joyce, and is floor to ceiling books and gloriously insane, though i might add, the staff is a bit on the snooty side. kaitlin agrees with this sentiment says 'oh very much so'
discovered a tiny hole-in-th-wall cafe (very strange-serving american and brazillian cocktails and what they thought was american food but with a irish pub atmosphere and covers of american songs sung in french) which served a very good burger (note that medium in france means slightly cooked but still extreemly bloody) and had an awesome selection of mustards for their fries or frites. walked through the jardin du luxenbourg and watched small children prod sailboads in the water with sticks.
episode seven
in which kaitlin and max spend much more time walking in circles then actually doing anything, first throughout all of montmarte (the moulin rouge is unimpressive in the morning unlit by it's charicteristic red lights) and up a disturbing number of steps to the sacré coeur which was a beautiful monument decorated in so many different gargoyles, and the veiw from the dome is argued to be one of the best in paris. from there we spent a long time lost and overheated and trying to locate the marché aux puces de st-ouen, the reputed largest market in europe with 2,500 stalls, but were disapointed to find that it was just like any market in the bay area but more of a suffocating crush of people.
episode eight
in which they stop at a rather touristy cafe along the champs-élyées only to discover that it was overpriced and didn't bring water when requested or even offer condiments with foods such as french fries! outraged at this preposterous establishment max proceeds to steal their pepper mill before departing as she and kaitlin have been wishing for pepper in the apartment.
stay tuned for qnother exciting batch of episode in the amazing adventures of these to mischeivious travellers and their parisian revels.