Navigo is the French version of Chicago's Ventra card, or of London's Oyster. The difference is that for Navigo, you need to attach a small picture of yourself onto the card in order to be allowed to use it. Here's mine below.
All of the Metro stations have a photobooth type machine called "Photomaton" where you can spend 5 euros to get a few passport-sized pictures of yourself.
Marais - Monday evening
If you read my first post (which you have to if you want to read this one. Legally, you have to) then you'll know that Paris is separated into 20 districts - the 1st one in the center of the city and the rest spiraling outwards from the city. In the 3rd arrondissement, there is a small area called Le Marais, literally "The Swamp". I don't know much about the history of the area, but it is the historical Jewish quarter of Paris, as well as a recently-chic part of the inner city. Kind of like a cross between Jerusalem, Soho, and well...Paris. Anyway, I walked around Le Marais for a little bit yesterday and bought a delicious sandwich at L'As du Fallafel, a falafel place in the area. The area has some unbelievable bakeries and restaurants, plus some cool art stores. And recently (unfortunately) they have a lot of armed soldiers guarding synagogues and stores.
Monday night
By last night we had mildly recovered from our jetlag, so we decided to head to the Eiffel Tour - Le Tour Eiffel. Of course, we bought a few (6) bottles of wine on the way there! When we stepped off the Metro, we saw the Eiffel Tower. I've been there a couple times before, and I think that its the most overrated and underrated site in a Western major city.
Overrated because of the absolutely insane amount of hype and symbolism around the building. Underrated because, no matter how many times you see it, the Eiffel Tower is a beautiful, proud structure - as well as a testament to human ingenuity and industrial prowess. The Tower had 2 spotlights and sparking lights on it when we stepped off the Metro at the "Bir-Hakeim" stop. I couldn't get a good picture of that unfortunately, but here's one from a few feet in front of the Tower.
We spent our fair share of time gawking at the Tower before making our way down the street to the Seine, the river that cuts through Paris. We spent about an hour hanging out on the river, bracing the cold, drinking wine, and celebrating the 21st birthday of Saisha, who's on the trip with me. It was a fantastic night and between all the activity and the wine, we slept like babies. Bye bye jetlag.
Tuesday morning
The night before I had gone to a Pharmacie to buy shampoo and conditioner. Except, apparently conditioner n'est pas un chose (isn't a thing) in France. The physical substance that we know to be "conditioner" exists. But it isn't called conditioner. It's called...apres-shampooing, which means "after-shampoo". Those creative French people, right?
Tuesday morning
The night before I had gone to a Pharmacie to buy shampoo and conditioner. Except, apparently conditioner n'est pas un chose (isn't a thing) in France. The physical substance that we know to be "conditioner" exists. But it isn't called conditioner. It's called...apres-shampooing, which means "after-shampoo". Those creative French people, right?
It's now Tuesday afternoon as I'm writing this. I've spent the past couple hours wandering around the 6th district, which contains St. Germain de-Pres and a lot of cool history. I also spent some time walking through the Luxembourg Gardens, which is a vast and beautiful park south of the Seine. Until next time, keep it trois cents.
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| Luxembourg Gardens |
