Virtual Gypsyz

November 22, 1994
Janelle and I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport on Saturday late afternoon. Our hearts were practically pounding out of our chests from excitement. We took the 37 franc train to Gare de Nord and proceeded to the Metro to “Volontaires.” There we found our American Hostel, Aloha Hostel. It was really nice for 85 francs/person. The receptionists all spoke English, there was a sitting/eating area, a full-equipped kitchen, and hot showers down the hallway on our second floor. We got settled in, found a map, and hit Paris.

Although we could have reached the Eiffel towr in about 15 minutes, we took a very roundabout way and took about double that time. It was beautiful at night. I couldn’t believe my eyes were beholding something I had been learning about for four years in high school - wow. Then we proceeded across the river and walked and walked along the Seine. It was a chilly night but our blood runnng profusely through our veins kept us warm. Then we reached the Louvre. Another WOW. There was that ghastly pyramid in the midst of the classic original architecture. It was pretty neat, anyhow.

Our feet hurt so much that we took the metro home and found Dave waiting for us in our room. The dork didn’t think to go out on his own and explore. Day wasted for him. Lia had to spend the night in Calais. There had been no more trains that day when she had arrived on the ferry. Poor “chickypie.”

Next day we got up early and bought day passes for the Metro (me stumbling through my French) for 28 francs each. We went around the Louvre area to find the Loyers’ (Janelle’s French friends) hotel. We were early to meet them so we saw the Louvre by morning and then hit a church for Chapel credit. Stayed for 10 minutes, then went to meet the Loyers and separated from Dave. They took us on a brief tour around the city giving us facts in broken English. They were super nice. Then we drove out to Saint Maur to have lunch with their son Nicholas. He was a quiet type. Didn’t seem too enthusiastic about anything. I had coq au vin which was pretty good but not awesome. At least it was Frenc and the Loyers paid for it. I was so grateful, though. I really enjoyed speaking French with them. They encouraged me so much that I had to force myself to get over my nervousness. I think I would very much like to live with a French family and immerse myself into the language and culture. I’m also thinking of staying with Mamita in Puerto Rico for a few months to finally learn my own language. I’m sure she will have patience with me. Besides, I never really got to establish a relationship with her or Papito. This will especially be a nice option if I decide to stay at cheap PBA. Although I would like to make some money to buy a car.

Then the Loyers took us to a Patisserie for dessert and I got a yummy “religiouseux” which means a nun. It was “sinfully delicious.” Then we took a train back and went to the Lourve to meet Dave. We couldn’t find him but we find Courtney (Janelle’s friend from home studying in Germany) and suprisingly Lia! We were very happy. Little did we know Dave had waited around outside for 40 minutes and then went back to the hostel instead of going in. What a dork. Another waste of a day. The Louvre was cool, and so was Mona Lisa, but other than that I feel like I’ve seen it all. Oh well. At least I can say I’ve been there.

Then we called Dave at the hostel and arranged to meet him at Notre Dame. While we were waiting for him some guy wanted to sketch Lia and I for 250 francs - chyaaa! As if! The cool thing about him though, was that I got to use much of my French. It’s so funny how it kept coming back to me little by little. All I had to do is get over my nervousness.

Then Dave showed up and we attended a mass at Notre Dame for Cahpel. It was nice to hear French.

Then we went to the Rue de Huchette to find dinner. All along the New Orleans-type streets were people prostituting their food. Then some guy in a Greek restaurant tugged me by my hood and told me that we were eating there. We gave him skeptical, cheap looks and he said, “Free wine.” We said, “Sure!” So we hurried in. It was an intensely lovely atmosphere with loud people eating next to us. It was rather expensive, but it was totally worth it. The host threw dishes to the ground that broke into pieces, he performed a little dance with Courtney, took our pictures for us, and this guy sitting next to us gave us fries and black olives from his table. It was way cool. Even my salad. I was sad to leave. Then I wanted to see the Pantheon but I could not navigate correctly and Dave was getting on my nerves so we went back to the hostel. I went downstairs to browse the information thingy and these guys started asking me if I was Italian. Big fucking surprise. I said no, and was feeling sociable, so I sat down and chatted for a while. They were all American and I told them about London blah blah blah.

I went upstairs and talked with Lia about sex and when I opened the door there was one of the guys passing through the hallway and let us know how thing the walls are - oops! Ha. It was funny. His name was Rob.

Next day we went to the Basillique de Sacre Coeur, climbed up to the dome and saw Paris from the top. Great panoramic view and pictures. Then we went to the difficult-to-find Dahli Museum. Expensive, but way cool. We separated from Dave and Courtney (who went to the Lourve) and Janelle, Lia and I went to the Champs Elysees to walk along it and people watch. Our feet were tired so we found a bench to take it all in. Three boys came out of nowhere and started getting friendly. They were, uh, like 13 and 14 years old. Ugh! How rude! This was where my French got us into trouble because I was trying to be funny. I asked on if he was looking for a girlfriend and I was going to proceed to say that he wasn’t going to find out on this bench, but then I couldn’t say it properly in French. AAA! So they were literally hanging on us even with our protestations, running away from them, and saying, “Au revoir!”  But then I tricked them as w were getting on the Metro. My ticket, for some reason wouldn’t go through and they had already jumped the tills. Fortunately, Janelle and Lia hadn’t gone through so we made a run for it and walked to the next station. On accident, but very timely. We made it back to Voluntaires and bought supplies for dinner. We cooked spaghetti and sauce and ate French bread with peanut butter as substitution for butter. It was yummy. Then we saw Rob again and invited him to the Eiffel tour with us. We went to the top (53 francs!) and it was breathtaking. Wow! I was so happy I smoked a cigarillo with Rob. Lia and I made a wish on it before we flicked it over the side. It was dreamy.——->>>>>>