I left Hamburg on the night train on January 6, 2008, and arrived in Paris the next morning. I stayed with Isia Rogowska and got to meet her children and grandchildren. I got on the train to London on January 14.
The France morning from my crappy couchette.That's where I slept, in the bottom third.Whoa! Just like in the movies!Gare du Nord train station.A sunny day! I was excited.Montparnasse tower.Does every town need a Ferris wheel?Place de la Concorde.Le Grand Palais.Le Petit Palais. How cute!Pont Alexandre III.The "traveling backpacker" look is one I was trying to avoid.Arc de Triomphe.The tunnel leading to the Arc.The tomb of the unknown soldier.Scooter town.Reminds me of Goldfinger.The Trocadéro.Bad-ass French soldiers.No throwing snowballs.That is rad as hell.The motor that drives the elevator.This dude is attached to the elevator. It's scary the first time you see it!Looking back on the Trocadéro and La Defense from the second level.Self-portrait.Love in Paris.How many steps there are.Napoleon is buried under there."No tourist."Stickers outside the Rodin museum.Bra brassiere.Jardin du Luxembourg.The Statue of Liberty.The Panthéon.Notre Dame.Gargoyles.Place de la Bastille.Fucking French police and their goddamned contrôle d'identité.Ice skating in front of Hôtel de Ville.Look closely at this tower.A space invader!The park on Pont Neuf.Me in Shakespeare and Co. bookstore.In Versailles.French gardeners come from geometry world.The Grand Canal.Quincunx.Marie Antoinette's little farm.Calypso the cat.The steps of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.Inside the Louvre.The Venus de Milo.Hippos!Charlie's Angels.Me and Isia.Shop til you drop.Père-Lachaise Cemetery.The tomb of Oscar Wilde.Another space invader!Sounds dirty.Place de la République.Where I had lunch with Arthur and Lydia.Not a space invader, but Q*bert!Me and Lydia.Centre Georges Pompidou.Broken ticket machines.Not Q*bert, but a Mac OS trash can!This is how you know you're in France.Bibliothèque nationale.Arthur and Lydia.Arthur's university.Dinner with Isia.Gaston the bird.Cesar as a ghostly skateboarder.Oliver.Inside the church where Marzena renovated the artwork.Looking at the family tree.Cesar.Balthazar.
