Day 2: Mission: Find Derek's Phone
So, the first place we went on Tuesday morning was back to REX theater to find Derek's phone, hoping against hope that no one had stolen that 33 euro gem the night before. We explained the situation to the man working, and he explained that we could return when the movie was over, a little longer than an hour. After some debate, we chose a place to eat some lunch (which was comprised of baguette-style sandwiches and delicious chocolate desserts) and pass the time. Finally it was time to return to the theater. Derek asked the man if he could go look in the theater, only to find that he had said the wrong theater number earlier. We were forced to wait again until the next showing had finished.
For the next two hours we walked up and down the street, browsed through a crappy bookstore, and stopped for a café au lait. We forgot to write down the name of the café, because we were so mad at the waiter. He was really rude. Most places we have gone, the people either wait until you ask for the check (which can be frustrating sometimes), or they bring it to you and don't come back for a while so that you have plenty of time to pay. This guy brought our check and stood there while we fumbled through our change purses searching frantically for exact change, cause you KNOW we were not about to leave that fool a tip. I'm sorry that we did not get the name of this place. But if you are ever near the REX theater in Paris, stay away from all cafés on this street, just to be sure.
After the café, we decided to start looking for boots for Brit (this was supposed to be our shopping day). We went into a shoe store and walked around the first level, but did not see anything that would work. It was at this time when we went back across the street for what seemed like the 100th time, and went into the correct theater. After about 10 minutes of searching in the dark, we began to give up hope. But we knew that the phone had to be here, this was the only place it could be. Unless, of course, someone had found it and taken it with them. Well, Derek started searching between the seat back and the seat cushion on the piece of curved metal that connected them underneath. Sure enough, on the second row of chairs he checked he found it! When we walked out of the theater all of the rain clouds parted, the sun came out, and it started to feel like a warm autumn day!
Because this was our shopping day, we immediately went to the metro to head for a certain part of town that we thought was supposed to be a shopping area for poor people. Turns out it's not. There were no stores that any poor people would ever consider shopping at, with the exception of Monoprix, but that does not count because it is a grocery store. Eventually we ran into American Apparel which almost lives up to the standards we try to set for ourselves. But we thought it would be ridiculous to buy "local California" clothes in Paris, not to mention they were even more expensive here than in the States.
So we gave up on clothes shopping for a bit and tried to find these two cool bookstores that were nearby. The thing is, when someone mentions the metro stop for a certain store, that is really not enough information to find your destination. The store could be located on any number of side streets connected to side streets connected to side streets that are connected to the Main street with the metro stop. The cherry on top was that it started pouring down rain in the midst of our searching. Immediately after giving up, we found the street that the bookstore should have been on. After walking this street twice with no luck, we decided to cross the bridge to go see Notre Dame.
We were not planning to activate our "Museum Passes"(valid for four consecutive days) until the next day, so we really only went to Notre Dame to find a bathroom. Well, we walked up and down the streets next to ND but don't find a single one. Then we spot this huge Port-a-John/Kiosk thing right across the street. This is great news, so we jump in line. The cool thing is that it is a FREE public restroom, and it cleans itself after each use. The unfortunate thing is that because of this, it takes about five minutes for each person's turn. We were about 8 people back. Derek was on the brink of wetting his pants. Brit stayed in line while Derek walked around the area. He found a sign that pointed towards the other free public restrooms so he grabbed Brittany and they went toward them. After following all the people down the stairs, we read the sign indicating that the restrooms were closed. We knew we were running out of options fast, so we decided to go to a café and relax for a bit, but mainly just to use the bathroom. We got to the café, took care of mother nature's business, then ordered. Brit got a chocolate crêpe and Derek got a beer. Surprise surprise. During this time, we let our feet rest, we reclaimed emotional control over ourselves and we enjoyed the break. After the very nice workers helped us to get a general idea of where the store "Shakespeare & Co." might be, we set off for what was left of the not-so-promising afternoon.
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Brit sort of went on a taking-pictures-of-lampposts kick.
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Side note. At Notre Dame, and all tourist locations, there are always people begging for money. Not just obviously homeless/mentally-ill people trying to eat, but serious money taking operations. Two years ago, these people, mostly young women, were telling various stories about a family member from some eastern European country who lost a limb and needed medical attention. This year there were young kids with clipboards and sign-up sheets. What were the tourists signing up for? To donate money to help a deaf/blind cause of some sort. Now, don't get me wrong...I am more than willing to give money to people when they need it- especially when this is a face-to-face conversation. But we are in France. Seriously. ANYONE can get medical attention if they REALLY need it. At the very least these organizations could have found a better way to fund-raise. They could get government grants and have more official looking flyers. They could all be wearing matching tee shirts. So obviously, this was not an official group. Now now all you hippies... I am not saying you need to be some sort of formal organization or NGO for me to support you. But here is my question: If these people are organized (and trust me, they are very organized), but are obviously not
formally organized, then to whom do these kids answer? To whom do they give these donations? My only assumption is to someone who is taking advantage of them in some way or another. Furthermore, am I supporting their oppression by donating money? Or is it possible that by not donating money they may not reach their daily quota and will be punished by their lord? We decided not to give the money. End side note.
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This is actually a picture from another day because we didn't have a camera on Tuesday. But, note the woman in the background who is an example of Derek's rant in the side note. Also, you can't really tell, but here I am wearing my new boots which I will get in the future. It's almost like time-travel gone wrong.
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We went back towards the way we came and crossed over the bridge. We walked a block further down the road. We crossed the street, and guess what we saw...Shakespeare & Co.! Yes, it was on the correct street, it just so happens that this street was divided by another street and not connected in any logical sense. Upon arriving at S&C, we noticed the sign that said it was closed. So we left. We then wandered for quite some time. Honestly, we don't remember what we did for the next few hours. But it was Paris. It was the Latin Quarter. It could not have been that interesting...
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Another future picture of when the store was actually open (cute, huh?) We wanted to spice this post up with a few pics, so we had to cheat and steal from other days where we actually took pictures.
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Next it was time to decide what to do for dinner. My first thought, "Crap. It's dinner again already"? We discussed the issue at hand then we set out for a hip, new pizza joint (recommended by the restaurant book from the tourist office) located somewhere on the other side of town. We hopped on the metro. Forty minutes and two metro changes later, we were at our stop. It was really dark at this point and the street was much creepier than expected. All the shops were closed, but this was obviously the place where we should have gone shopping. We had been walking all day, sometimes in the rain, and it was getting late. We were ready to have some good ZaZa- type pizza and then turn in. After the long walk to the the restaurant, we finally arrived. The place was tiny, it reeked of cannabis, and the only remaining seats were in the Volts Wagon Van they had stripped that was parked on the street. Derek was all about it. Brit was about to cry. We turned around and went back to the metro. We went back to area of the Opéra, where we had been the previous night. We spent slightly less time looking at all the menus posted outside the restaurants. Once Derek thinks he is going to have pizza for dinner, he will settle for nothing else. Luckily, this reduced our number of choices by about 50%. So at 21:00 we went into an Italian place, and it was surprisingly nice on the inside. And, it had really good prices for being right down the street from the Opéra. By 22:00 we were finishing our delicious pizzas and brownie dessert, while other people were just coming in to order (French people eat waaaaay too late).
We were finally able to go back to our hotel; we were falling asleep on the metro (not a good idea by the way). It was high time to get some rest before we began the more cultural aspect of our vacation: museums.
On the Agenda for Wednesday: The Louvre
Things to buy before leaving Paris: Boots, a children's book, an apron, a magnet (we are collecting magnets of each city we visit), a menorah, a Tin Tin book.
Successful purchases: None.
