July 24th, 2009:
Yay! Free day! Thank god! We slept in late today and then went shopping shopping shopping, as if we hadn't already done enough. We took the Metropolitan to the south east part of the city because we wanted to see the cemetery where Oscar Wilde and James Morrison are buried. By the time we got there, it was already closed for the day. So we did the next best thing: we went shopping some more! We had heard of a massive flea market in the north western part of the city, so we turned around and headed for the opposite end of Paris.
As night fell, Julia and I parted with the group because we wanted to go walk around the Montmartre area of Paris.
That was a lot of fun. Julia was excellent company and we walked around for hours talking and enjoying the sights and sounds of Paris.
We returned to the hotel and I was starving, as was Iggi. So Iggi
and I literally walked out of our hotel, which sat next to the Gare d'Lyon train station, and across the street to the nearest restaurant we could find. Iggi, in classic American fashion ordered the Cheeseburger. I, on the other hand, was eyeing the pork chops. Through his broken English, the waiter recommended that I try the pork chops and that is what I did. That proved to be the single best meal on the entire trip! It was so delicious and flavorful! I couldn't have been more satisfied.
Two funny things happened while we were finishing our meal. First, we heard wailing from nearby that sounded like a human siren. Finally the wailing kept getting louder and louder until we realized it was a homeless, crazy woman yelling unintelligible gibberish. The maitre d shooed her away, but not without her wailing at the top of her lungs every step of the way!
We were safe and quiet for about 5 minutes when the wailing returned and so did she - this time with no pants or underwear on! The woman literally was wailing away with her cooter hanging out for us all to see without a care in the world. The maitre d helped pull her pants up and shoved her in the direction she had original come from.
Our server came up to us and said, "Parisians, we are so crazy."
Iggi and I just turned to him and laughed. We told him we see crazy people all the time in Los Angeles.
The second funny thing happened when the server brought us our check and we were paying him. He asked me if I liked the pork, or at least that's what I thought he was trying to say.
"Oh yes, I loved it. Merci! Thank you!" I said.
"Ok. your be buck," the waiter replied.
"Huh?" Iggi and I both questioned him.
"You be buck," he repeated, this time a little clearer.
"You be buck?!" I said to him, questioning.
"Yes," our server said, smiling. "You be buck, like Terminator."
And that's when we finally got it. You'll be back! Iggi and I both laughed at finally realizing what the hell the Frenchie was trying to say.
"Yes, we will 'be back' like the Terminator!"
Some of the gang had already gone out for the evening. By the time Iggi and I met up with everyone that night in the Latin Quarter, everyone was already really wasted.
We all were drinking and laughing and really enjoying our time until we realized that Jenny had had her wallet stolen from her! That put a complete damper on the night for all of as we all love Jenny and couldn't help but think: "what if that was me?"
On the walk home, Jenny was really upset and Ernie bought her $100 worth of roses to cheer her up. It cheered her up a bit, and we all walked home that night comforted by the fact that we had each other.
We got back to le hotel and we all went up to Iggi and Ernie's room. Julia, Jenny, and us three boys all slept in their room like a "Comforting Jenny" sleeping party. I think, despite it being cramped and despite the snoring, we all slept well knowing we had one another to depend on.
