Parislog 11
Mar. 21, 2006

I think that I said earlier that I was amazed at how clean the Metro stations were. Well I wish to revise that a little as I am starting to come across some of them that have that ubiquitous smell of urine. Oh well. Here I was thinking that somehow Paris had figured out how to get clean stations. Of course there are buskers (not sure of spelling of that) playing music for money. I felt a little bit like I was in LA in one station with a Tijuana brass band playing. Another interesting moment was when coming around the corner I came upon this picture. Across the tracks was a homeless man bedding down for the night. It was maybe 8 or 9 PM and he had created a nice little bed for himself on a banquet. He had a comforter of orange and yellow windowpane, quite clean, which he was underneath. He shoes were neatly tucking up beside the banquet and I can only guess that he had undressed for the night as his arms and neck, the only parts out from under the cover, were bare.

There is a metro station called Stalingrad. I am guessing that might not happen in the states. The picture is near metro Strasbourg- St.Denis.

Another day on the train, I finally realized that the lady sitting in front of me had this little dog sitting very quietly in her lap. It was maybe in mini Doberman or something similar with that coloring. It was as quiet as a mouse tucked up and leaning against her chest half asleep. Startling.

I hate to say this but two American institutions seem to have crept into every crack here. Starbucks and McDonalds. Sometimes you can't even walk a block without running into another McDo. It is just horrible. I want to go in to see what the food translates to in French but I also don't want to patronize a place that I hate even in America. Such a
dilemma.

I do enjoy looking in all the stores that we don't have in the USA but I don't like that fact that they all seem to be 80° inside. It can be 32° outside and you are bundled up to the eyeballs and then you go in the stores and you melt. Not only that but often the doors are wide open to the outside too. For a country that is normally really good about conserving its energy and resources, this is bizarre. Then when I come home it is only like 65° inside the apartment. Maybe all those workers are trying to make up for being cold at home by using the company dollar to be warm?

I have been told that I have a misconception about the suburbs and so I will correct that to say that they are either quite wealthy or really poor. I have not explored there and when I do I will let you know more.

I went over to visit H* the other day and arrived a little early so I thought I would stroll around little. Well, I kind of had to use the facilities. This is not a problem because Paris supplies free toilets on the streets that even clean themselves. Bring some tp though. The one I came across stumped me because the sign said it was co-ed and when I walked in it was a urinal only. I am guessing that there was some way to change the configuration but I couldn't figure it out. Also, I was totally stumped on finding the lock. I didn't have a problem with the one in the centre of the city. Oh the challenges. Oh and after a person leaves the unit it automatically cleans itself. Nice!

This is Canal St. Martin, a very nice place to live according to many.