Friday April 17, 1998
We are staying the extra day here in Paris, and tomorrow heading off to Geneva or Stuttgart. Woke up around 7am kinda groggy, but better than yesterday. I ate a bagel and drank some water, but I am still Hungary (he he sorry Mom). Not sure what we are going to do today, but I think we are going to make our travel plans and do a bit of exploring. We started out as all good Americans should, at McDonald’s. We had breakfast and made plans for the day. We started to walk down the Champs de Elysais. I stopped into the Virgin Megastore and picked up a Jarre piano book, and a Mariah Carey photo book for Roger. After, we stopped into the Disney Store and flirted with the idea of going to Disneyland Paris.
Unfortunately for me, I could not convince the others to go. I managed some small token as we then headed out to the Grande Arche de la Defense – site of Jarre’s 1990 concert. After a quick Metro ride, we were there. I might add the weather was wet today, and some of the photos from the bottom, as well as the ones from the top might not come out very well. So much for Paris in the springtime.
We rode up to the top (only 40FF) in a spooky glass elevator, right out of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. At the top, there were the usual spectacular views, as well as an art exhibit, and some offices. I am sure it is even more spectacular when the view is clear. After taking in our 40FF worth, we headed off to the Hard Rock Café for lunch. It was a welcome sight: a greasy hamburger with Ranch dressing.
After lounging around there, we headed off to Printemps and the other major department store in Paris. They were something of a disappointment; most of the coolest clothes were available at Macy’s or the Gap. By now, we were very antsy about our travel plans. We decided that instead of trying to squeeze in Switzerland, we would just go to Munich a day early. We went off to American Express and booked an Air France flight and a hotel (Best Western). By then I was pretty tired, but I decided to do some exploring on my own. Nothing big, just decided to go around to some places I had visited with Nathan in previous years in the Marais. Afterwards, I headed back to the hotel for a some rest and a quick nap.
After 10, we headed out to find a pizza place in the left bank area. It turned out to be closed, but fortunately, Paris has more than one. The place we decided on had a very good Pizza Margarita and a decent size Coke. When we finished, it was back to the hotel. The rest of the group headed to bed, as I wanted, but instead I got dressed and went out to a club Nathan had mentioned. It was very different than I expected. For a world-famous club, it was a bit small and a bit intimidating because of the language.
I was sort of stuck there until the Metro opened at 5:30am, so I made the best of it. I danced a bit, but mostly people watched. No one gave me the time of day, which was OK because I didn’t really want to reveal myself as American (though I am sure they knew). It was funny because I kept seeing the same people roving around the club. On the Metro at 5:45am I saw an American who was talking to some Germans. He was doing his best to use his charm, but to no avail. he seemed like a nice enough person, but before I could strike up a conversation, I had to leave the train to transfer. I reached the hotel right before 6am and rang the door. I went up to the room and crashed. Roger would have had a good time at the club and it would have been cool to have someone to chat with during the night.
