Which looked pretty much like the other side, at the beginning. Slight architectural changes started to emerge. The houses were further apart. Church spires in every village differed in style and height were surrounded by low row houses and such. Farmland spread all around.
We got about 20 minutes into France and there it was. A friggin rainbow. Big, too. I had a good chuckle to myself and thought "Yup, welcome to France, the pot of gold, girl."
We pulled into Gare du Nord and I dragged my luggage out, following the crowds toward the terminal. I had looked on a map and thought I could take the Metro to my hotel, but was suddenly nervous that I didn't know where I was and opted for a taxi.
Error.
The queue for the taxis was a good 40 minutes long. Around 35 minutes in, I asked and English speaking guy behind me if the taxis take credit cards here, recalling my London experience. He had no idea, but thought most did. Great.
Most don't.
And of course, I had no Euros purchased yet. SO after my 40 minutes of waiting, I headed back into the station and bought some cash. When I got back ot the queue, it had expanded to a good hour wait. Oh well. I wasn't in a rush, right?
Finally I get to the front of the line and head to the next available car. Destination, madame? I gave him the address, twice, and the arrondissemnt and he shook his head. Non, madame. Pardon, I said? Whaddya mean "non"?. I will not go to zat place. Why not? It ees not far enough. Are you fucking kidding me? At this point I'm tired, hungry and pissed right off. We start to argue, partly in French, all the swearing in English ("Je ne donne pas un flying fuck qu'est ce que tu dis..."). The taxi queue is entertained as I inform the driver that his face resembles his own ass, and so does his mother's.
Another driver shows up and amusedly taps my shoulder and swishes me away in another car. He informs me that the cab company that I was dealing with "ees very bad". No shit. We very slowly distance ourselves from the train station. Traffic is insane. I should have taken the Metro. I could have walked, actually. Faster. We arrive at the hotel, I am wished a good day and I step up to the front desk to check in.
Some American man who speaks pretty decent French is standing there, telling the clerk about his shoe purchase. Now we all know, I'm one for celebrating new footwear, but I just wanted to get to my room and have a cup of tea. He finally noticed I was standing there and moved on. I was checked in and pointed to the elevator. The elevator barely fit me and my luggage, and was ancient and slow... sooooo slowwwwww.
Off on the third floor and I opened my room door. It was tiny, but clean with a desk, bed and closet and two bedside tables with a small shower only bathroom adjoining were brightly lit, with a Juliet balcony over looking the courtyard. I dumped my suitcase on the bed and unpacked. The kettle quickly came to a boil and I sat and updated this blog for an hour, as well as texted to Loic that I was in town.
I laid down for a nap, still feeling a bit jet laggish.
The phone woke me up, loud and piercing. It was Loic, let's have wine later, yay.
I got up and started to get ready for my first night out in Paris.
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Le Cave de L'Insolide
Loic had given me pretty clear intruction on how to get to the restaurant. It seemed prety straight forward. The only point of concern for me was the Metro. This would be my first outing on transit, and I had heard it could be fairly complicated. I had a Metro map and felt fairly good that I knew where I was going. I actually didn't do too badly. I got on the right line, just headed the wrong way. I relaized this before I had even goneone stop, so I was quick to turn around. I had to transfer lines at Strasbourg-St Denis and made sure I was going the right direction. Once I exited at St Ambroise I had to guess left or right, and luckily guessed right. Up the street a few blocks and there was Loic, smoking outside with a few of his friends, both girls, Mathilde and Akisi. I was introduced and we all headed inside.
The room was brightly lit, even though it was evening. There we four large tables with at least 6 chairs around each of them, all different heights and sizes. The front corner was packed with wine of all makes and sizes. My hosts had already been there for a bit, as the 1.5 l of wine sitting on the table was already 1/3 in. I was offered a glass and smiled as I recognized the varietal - Cahors. My recent favorite! Have I had this before? Ohhhh yeah. Tasty.
So then the conversation progresses in both French and English. I was told my French had no accent, which I took as a compliment. I realized by the topics that were coming up that I was with youngsters, but they didn't seem to care, so neither did I. They asked my what my favorite DIsney movie was. Loic suggested Snow White, I assume because he actually knows how old I am, dink. I thought back and said I guess it would be The Little Mermaid. They hadn't heard of it. I had a flash of the title in French and said La Petite Reine? Oh my sweet lord. They both started singing "Part of your world" but in French. Loudly. Loic blamed me for starting this. I mean they sang the WHOLE song. Which sounded like a pretty close translation to the English version, but anyway...
Once the song was over, we ordered another bottle of wine and some charcuterie and cheese, They also had a gorgeous Iberico ham leg (hoof attached) on display and I nodded vigorously when asked if we wanted any. Loic had a minor rant on eating Spanish ham in a French establishment, but the ham won.
The restaurant, it turns out, retails wine all day, then opens for service in the evening. Two slate plaques have the days meat and cheese selections printed on them and are presented when you want to order. You can wander over to the win and pick your own, which is then opened and brought over to you. They charge 1 euro for corkage. The 1.5 litre of Cahors, which was ridonk good, was 21 euros. By the end of the night, after 3l s of Cahors and a 750 ml of Saumur Champigny, cheese, charcuterie plus Iberico ham, each of us paid around 40 bucks. This is my kind of place. The owners were sweet and informed me I didn't need to go to any other place, I should just come back there every night. They were cute enough to tempt me. I'll definitely be back before I leave.
We closed the place down and headed out to our mutual Metro stations, but not before Mathilde asked me if I wanted to come to a party Saturday night. A surprise party of a friend of theirs who lives in St Germain de Pres and has a gorgeous old apartment I just have to see. One night in, invited to a party already! I accepted and we exchanged contact information. A dress up party no less! This may call for shopping!
I got to my hotel around 1 am and hit the hay with little ado. I was planning to take my first excursion to Sacre Coeur the nexy day and wanted to be rested. I had no idea how much rest I would need...
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