ok, so i did it. redid the captions and descriptions i lost yesterday. i think it's really important to talk about the things youve seen instead of just posting a bunch of pictures. people get a lot more out them that way. i hope you guys enjoy.

i have to say that just about everyone we came across in paris was so extremely pleasant and friendly and polite that when i came back to the US and had to deal with americans, i was disgusted. i don't understand what is happening to this country, but the attitudes of strangers are often unberable. more on that later.



This is the pompidou center. this is in front of the modern art museum of sorts. it also has a movie theater complex. notice how people are just sitting and chillin in the sun? there are many performers, singing, playing instruments, juggling, etc.









this is the actual building. it's super modern and spiffy.




one of many, many, chocolate shops.




just thought this would be a cool picture.




a parisian toilet.




the grand notre dame. the line was super long, but my family decided to cut. i hated it when people cut in front of me, and i would tell them they needed to go to the back of the line, but i couldn't do that if they cut and i would be left waiting in line forever, while they were inside.




not sure what this was, but everyone was standing around it, and my cousin told me we have to at least touch it with one of our feet facing...um south... i think?




inside of notre dame.




a miniature scene they had on display inside of how notre dame was built.




a huge candelabra.




these "free hugs" people were everywhere. i thought it was some kind of scam, where they wanted money, but they really just wanted hugs. i hugged this guy after taking the picture....and checked all of my pockets afterwards. why are we so cynical?



doggies are allowed in stores.




doggies are allowed in restaurants as well. here is a boxer chillin on a chair at the restaurant we ate in.




name your casing....any kind of casing!




these specialty stores are not so special in paris like they are here. they are everywhere, on every street, in every neighborhood, whereas, in the states, you only find them in swanky, trendy neighborhoods.



this was in the window of the restaurant we went to eat dinner at that night. it was an enormous pot of cabbage, potatoes, carrots and ham hocks.




faben said she would like to try escargot. she also wanted to try frogs legs, but they werent on the menu of any of the restaurants we went to. next time maybe.




my cousin had the escargot too.




my salad with warm goat cheese.



faben's potatoes, ham and cheese. it was really stinky cheese. i usually like stinky cheese, but not this one. she liked it just fine.




my steak and pomme frites. i ordered the stead medium, but it was mostly rare. i like my beef bloody but it was a bit too bloody. i noticed that their idea of medium was much different than our idea of medium cooked meat.




afterwards, we came upon a protest. i think the french like to walk in groups with torches and yell. kind of like they did in "beauty and the beast". this protest was about bringing back the franc and throwing out the euro. i guess the prices went up quite far after the euro was introduced. i can tell you, everything that was not food, was so expensive.








the view out of the hotel room.




every neighborhood has an outdoor market twice a week. this one was in ours. it was small by their standards, huge by ours. its not like our farmers markets, because they have meat, poultry, and fish stands.




their poultry still has the head and legs.








somehow, their vegetables look much bigger and more vibrant.




and more colorful.




candied items. fruits and stuff?




their fish also have their heads and gills and apparently their wings too.




mmmm....roasted chicken and baby potatoes.




this was our stop on the metro. paris has one of the best subway systems in the world. it transports approximately 4.5 million passengers per day (1.365 billion for the year 2005). It serves 297 stations.




when they were originally built, they predominant style of the metro was "art neuvou". that is one of my favorite art movements. that is the style of my tattoo.




we found an open air pet and garden market.












they have sleeping kitties in store front windows. why don't we ever see that here?




looks like they like gay people in paris.




this tiny church is called sainte chapelle. built in the 13th century, it only took 5 years to complete. that is amazingly short, given the fact that notre dame took over 200 years to build!




it is admired for the enormous 50 foot stained glass windows. there are 15 of them, depicting over 1000 biblical scenes. this was definitely one of my favorite sites.

Missing Image ;(

Missing Image ;(

we went to visit the catacombs. they give discounts to job seekers. this is the first time i've seen job seekers get discounts. but teachers get discounts everywhere.




we dared each other to touch the dead people.




these are tunnels underneath paris, that once were limestone queries. when disease was running rampantly throughout the city in the 18th century, they figured it was being caused by contamination from improper burials and decided to move the remains from cemeteries into these queries.




there are remains of about 6 million people here. the small part of the catacombs that is open to the public is about a mile long, but there are 186 miles of closed catacomb tunnels. there are secret entrances all over paris, that are found in the sewers, metro stations and manholes. i guess people sneak in all the time. they have graffiti dating back to the 1800's.




one would think that it would smell inside the catacombs, but it only has a faint mildew smell. no rotting flesh.




musee d'orsay. this is where a lot of the impressionists are housed. here is crazy vincent.




the huge museum is located in a former train station. why can't we convert our abandoned central terminal to something useful and beautiful?




degas, my favorite impressionist. when i draw, (charcoal) it is usually his stuff i copy.







brush strokes. i like to get close to the actual painting to see what kind of brush strokes the artist uses.




monet's strokes seem to blend into one.




van gogh's style is almost child like.




look, they have a picture of me, NAKED!




they have a lot of art nouveau furniture here too. i would love to have a few of these pieces in my apt some day.








licking the window, i was.




you can do just about anything in paris. why didn't i think of this?!?! this is a girls' dream come true.




this was an actual puppeteer. does anyone else think that this is almost unbelievable? like its out of a book or something? i mean, where do you see a puppet shop, with real, handmade puppets, anymore?




that night we went to a lebanese restaurant. it was quite an experience, as we didn't speak any french and the woman who owned it didn't speak any english. she was so sweet and welcoming. we just ate whatever she brought out for us. she decided what we should have from the menu. it was delicious. this was some of the hummus, our aperitif.

Missing Image ;(

this is the newest metro line that was built in paris; #14. it is completely automated, so that you can stand in the front and watch as you zoom through the tunnels.




there is glass all along the edge of the tracks so that people cannot commit suicide there.




we went to a pet store. i don't understand why every store that i've been to there just seems so much better? the merchandise is better, it's cleaner, more organized, better presentation and higher quality goods. i think europeans have different shopping habits. whereas we'd rather pay less for something in order to have more things, they'd rather have fewer things that are more expensive and higher quality. they will buy a very expensive pair of boots that they will wear for many years whereas we will buy much cheaper boots that we can change every year. i think this goes for just about all kinds of goods, including food. i've never seen a €1 store in europe, EVER.




a manga store that i went to with faben had this crazy collection of star wars figurines. they were terribly expensive though.












one of the art pieces located in the meto stations. i feel like i've seen this somewhere before. i'm thinking the philladelphia airport? the philly airport always has an art collection on display. it changes periodically, so i can't be sure if it was there or not.




a really cool scooter that faben wants.




a cool bed that i want.




one of the most expensive shopping districts in paris. what a stark contradiction. there are many, many homeless men in paris. i think it was even more than in NYC. there were people with tents set up on streets, with chairs and couches beside the tents. imagine elmwood, with homeless people pitching tents on the sidewalks and chillin on couches. i wanted to take a picture, but i was afraid i'd get my ass kicked. most of the homeless people also have a dog.

an NPR piece i listened to said that the homeless people are setting up the tents as a protest to make the homeless situation more visible to the public. like (e:paul) said; those europeans love to protest.




another cool picture, i thought.




ok, although this is a department store, "galeries lafayette", it is one of the most beautiful buildings i have EVER seen. it is indescribable how magnificent and breath taking this building is. the dome roof, is like a gigantic tiffany's lamp.




this is europe's largest department store. i didn't buy anything in here because it was so extremely expensive. i did eat here. i think they have around 12 restaurants and cafe's.








this is my gelato that i had for desert. real gelato is so unbelievably delicious that i would like to be buried with it in one hand and a spoon in the other.




a modern indian wedding dress?




more escargot.




who knew that the eiffel tower was so small?




it was nice that when we arrived it was dusk, so it was still visible against a blue sky but already lit up.








every hour on the hours for ten minutes they make the tower sparkle. you don't really realize how massive this structure is until you are standing close to it.




a view from directly underneath, looking up.




a view from the third level with one of the lights that rotate from the tower. paris looks beautiful at night.








a cute little fiat. why don't we have these miniature cars here? why does everything we own have to be so gigantean? bigger is NOT better, better is better.

FuCK FUCK FUCK FUCK....I HAD ALL THE PICTURES UPLOADED HERE WITH NICE CAPTIONS AND EXPLANATIONs OF EVERYTHING AND IT TOOK ME FUCKING HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS OF WORK AND NOW I FUCKING LOST IT.
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccck


fuck it. i'm going through all that again. you can just look at pictures on shutterfly, with no explanations, no nothing.





make sure you view the pictures as a slide show, otherwise you will have to click on each picture individually and thats a pain in the ass.

so I'm here at the impound with marvin (my ex), who has been a treasure because he has given me his car to drive for the past two days while mine is sitting at the impound. I went to city hall and paid all the fines yesterday but could not pick it up because the impund closes at 3:45. what fucking office closes that early? when i was leaving work yesterday, i was leaving to pick faben up from school. so when i found out that my car was gone, i had to call marvin to go get her from school. in the mean time she her school bus came and she called my work and cell to tell me, but my battery was near dead so i didn't know it rang. he was running around the school like a mad man, looking for faben who was already gone, while i'm calling him crying and yelling about my missing car and kid. when i finally figured out what happened he picked me up from city hall and ended up being an hour late for work because of my mess. so he gave me his car and said that i can keep it for yesterday and today and he would find a ride home from work.

so I get here (the impound) today and I tell the guy that I'm ready to pick up the car and he says fine but I hope you have a tow truck because your inspection is expired.

are you fucking kidding me!?!? I didn't even notice!

so thankfully I had hundai roadside assistance from the warranty that you get when buying a new car. i'm sure it is not intended for towing cars from impounds b/c your car is not inspected, but i just told them that it would not start and gave them the address of the impund. i figured i'd deal with the tow guy when he arrived. and when he did, he was super cool and was like i'll just tow you down the road and then let you go and you can go on your merry way. and i said cool, and reached for my keys, and realized that i didn't even bring them!

wtf!

so he tows it to marvins house and then we have to go back to get my keys at work and drive back to his house and then finally this nightmare is over. if it werent for him, i would have been totally fucked. thankfully, he puts up with my drama and lets what ever comes out of my mouth go in one ear and come right out of the other.

and so he concludes this two day adventure with "so do i get any ass out of this, or what?"

i am ready to leave work this afternoon and walk outside and am ready to go to my car when i realize that my car is not there.

my heart took a swim into my stomach.

they booted and towed my car!

fuck!

i can't believe what a fucking looser i am. i really didn't think they would do it.

pay your parking tickets, people.