paris: part 9 of ???

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versailles

dudes, we went to versailles. it was at once AWESOME, and AWFUL. so much gold filigree. but the grounds were amazing.

french aristocrat faces. obviously. 

paris, part 8 of ???

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le louvre, le mosquee

so. we went to the louvre on a cold and rainy day. not perfect for standing outside in line for three hours to get in, but hey, if i took anything away from our time in paris, it’s that you have to wait in line. a lot.

i come by my nose honestly as you can see. [tiles from persepolis] creeeeeeepy.

after the louvre, we went to eat at le mosquée. the food was delicious, and the building amazing. fertig.

now *that’s* a garden!

le jardin des plantes. finally, the floral madness i was looking for. the mister knew what i was after, so we packed a picnic, and off we went.

then off to the palaeontology museum fertig.

paris part five of …?

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ballet, notre dame, shakespear and co

guys, i’m really far behind here. i don’t even live in berlin anymore, and i’m still posting about vacation. my goal is to get three posts a week up till i’m up to date. so let’s pretend…

we saw the paris opera ballet student exhibition. this is when the upper level students get jobs. directors from the major ballet companies across the world come to see who they think would fit well into their companies. no pressure.

we went to the luxembourg gardens. still too much gravel for my taste, but a sunny glorious day.

[is it wrong to internally laugh at the french park police uniform?]

the oldest street sign in paris.

then we went to notre dame. on this trip to paris, i learned the art of waiting in line. it was worth it though.

fertig.

paris: part four of?

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eiffel tour, marriage a freres, paris, pompidou

the eiffel tower was but a 5 minute walk from our fancy apartment.

our fancy apartment! then we went to the pompidou! this was an exhibition about the man who built my mom’s house! hassan fathy. then we went to the fancy tea shop!!!!!!!! i was stoked. theeeeeen back to the pompidou, because, well, eddie. fertig.

paris: part three of ?.

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food, paris, sacre coeur

we climbed the mountain, and i must say, the sacre coeur is one of the prettiest churches i’ve ever seen. i dig the relative simplicity.        lest you think for even a moment that any part of paris isn’t a theme park…

oldest vineyard in france. it belongs to the monks of the sacre coeur.

not nectar of the strawberries, but nectar of the gods. it has to be at 8€ a tiny bottle. worth it though.

paris: part two of?

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notre dame, orsay, paris, tulleries

life with eddie entails a LOT of museum going. seriously. in my 11 days in paris, we went to seven museums. the orsay was one of them…

one is not supposed to take pictures in the museum, but the french aren’t so rule bound as the germans, so i took some liberties. one of the coolest parts of the museum is their cafe. it’s BEHIND the clock. very “hugo.”

 

honestly though, i was disappointed by the tulleries. i was expecting an english style garden, but, well, it was mostly gravel. a little grass. that you can’t walk on. and a cool pond where kids were racing miniature sail boats.

notre dame was of course beautiful, though i think the sacre cour is more my speed, but we’ll get to that later we hit up shakespear & co., so i felt super hip.

aaaaccchhhhooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
allergies were a wee bit fierce.

space invader was EVERYWHERE. and really, that’s the best street art that paris had to offer.

the narrowest street in paris!

the first “street sign” in paris.

fertig[ish].

well. that was a bad idea. but then it got better.

it turns out, march ended on a rough note. after that saturday night in potsdam, my lungs gave up on me. on monday, at work, i was short of breath, and i felt pretty crappy. so, i dropped in at the doctor after work, ’cause hey, it’s free!!!!! thanks to my socialized health care! [not that i don’t pay monthly for my insurance, but my subsequent doctors trips are frei, and i pay about 1/2 as much as my american health insurance costs.] it turns out, my cold/allegeries had devolved into full blown bronchitis. my american self was like, “but i can go to work tomorrow right? i’ll just be coughing?” my doctor laughed at me, and said, “no no no. you’ll be out the whole week.” i thought she was crazy. turns out, she’s omniscient. i was down for the count. ruh roh shaggy. so there i was, alone, coughing, and crying on the couch, watching WAY too much internet television. also, it was iranian new years. the first one that i’ve ever had to spend alone. but i did right by my haftseen!

[and yes, those are painted paper fish. i can’t stomach the idea of getting live fish, having them live a bowl for a couple of weeks, and then die because i don’t have a tank/water filtration system for them. ]

then, pops decided to come and visit! so, as he’s known to do, he handed out three days notice, and then i was taking the train to tegal to pick him up! then, as a bonus, my first back at work in a week, i was greeted with a box of goodies from vermont friends!

mostly though, i spent the next week coughing, and showing off the sights. i come by love of food honestly. not even a stinky subway tunnel could prevent this man from enjoying his pastry.

pops as sherpa, carrying my 8kilo sewing machine to the shop to get repaired. i carried it by myself last time, and was thus comfortable taking a cab this time around, but pops would have non of it.

i carried the pedal. it was hard work.

feel better flowers from me, to me!

new apartment building…

we took a berlin “feel good” tour of the wwll monuments, the wall, etc.

i won’t say i was looking better, but i was feeling better.

on his last day here, the weather cooperated, it was sunny, gorgeous, and sunday. the best day in berlin. flohmarkts!!! his visit ended with a trip to a delicious iranian restaurant.

fertig.

oh what a night.

Tags

pirate party, postdam, singing cab

last night was good. it was great really. this morning however, has reminded me that in the words of dean & britta, singing the immortal words of the velvet underground,   “i’m not a young man anymore.” it’s noon, and i’m still in bed coughing, and contemplating get up.

my friend anne called me asked me if i wanted to go to potsdam, a suburb in the outer ring of berlin, with her to go to a party that the werkhaus was throwing. [the werkhaus is an artist residency project that our friend renee works with/on. i’m not going to go into detail, because i’m not sure of the details… but anne and her husband richard are designing a dope building on the premises ] anne & renee both were exchange students in cincinnati who lived with me in a group house. happily, i’ve been seeing a bit of anne since moving to berlin, but last night was the first night i’ve seen renee since 2001. zoinks.

i impulsively said “yes” when anne asked, though i had some re-thinking as i’ve been laid out with a cold since thursday. but i thought “hey, live a little”

thus i found myself on a saturday night, in the western suburbs of berlin at dancing my a#* off till 1am to techno/regge/ska surrounded by people in pirate costumes [friend fail: anne didn’t tell me it was a pirate themed party, so we had to pay to get in.] it was really fun, and as anne pointed out, there weren’t very many young people there, so we didn’t feel old! [until i said at 1:00, i’ve gotta go. i want to be in bed by 3:00] anne and joa, her portuguese friend visiting, were still dancing hard, so i felt guilty asking to leave. but then this happened on the train ride home. and i didn’t feel bad anymore. [living my “goodbye lenin” fantasy. [but holy crap, that must have been a really expensive cab ride that daniel bruhl took from east berlin to wansee, it’s a 40 minute train ride]]

but ladies and gentleman, as fun as my night was, the cab ride home was the cherry on top. i hopped into a cab at alexander platz thinking that it was a japanese woman driver. i was wrong, it was a japanese man with the most luxurious long hair i have ever seen, and it did awaken feelings of real jealousy in me. it’s a fantastically berlin thing, the minute you get into a cab, no matter what the driver was previously listening to, they turn it to a station that plays dance music. so here i am, 2:45, tired, and ready to be in bed, when my cab drivers turns the station, and the eurythmics start playing. the driver began to whistle along, so i thought, “why not?” and started to sing along. so we drove through the city, whistling, and singing, but never actually speaking to each other. it was four song cab ride.

fertig.

more subway signs.

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subway signs

i post these on instagram, but in the event that you don’t follow me, [what????[please note the sarcasm]], here they are! #6 #6b, the original name from before WWll nooooo! be careful, it’s slippery.  #7 #7b   #8 #9 #10 #11 #12

#12b

#13 [as of next Wednesday, our very own new train stop!] #14 #15 [Our stop till Wednesday…] #16 #17#18 #19 #20 #21#22 #23#24 #25 #26#28 #29 #30 [amsterdam] #30b #30c #31#32 [budapest] #33 [hungary] #34 [zurich] #35

#35b [my personal favorite.]

#35c

#36 #37 #37b #38 #39 #40 #40b

fertig.