Still in Paris. Still doing things.
Yesterday was productive. I went to the Orange store (big telecommunications company) and got €20 worth of time for my cell phone. Tested a new communications tactic there: adopted an odd foreign accent, based on toned-down version of that of Rolf from in the Tintin movies, in order to helpfully signal to the nice employee-people that I’m a foreigner and they’ll have to use little words. It’s either that or speak with relatively little accent and then stare dumbly for a few seconds while attempting to formulate a response to whatever they say.
A bunch of us CUNY exchange-students had a collective appointment at MICEFA at 2:00. I left at 1:00 and succeeded, I believe, in getting a Passe Navigo, all loaded up for the month of February. Found out, at MICEFA, that there are still a couple forms I need to take care of, but so far no major catastrophes.
I discovered my cell phone didn’t work, and went back to Orange with other students who were getting phones. It transpired that, apparently, after 6 months of inactivity a SIM card will commit seppuku. After that it no work, period. I got a new SIM card and all was well. Was too flustered to use foreign accent, managed to make sense of technobabble anyway.
In the evening, took a lovely rush-hour train to the Cimetière Père Lachaise, because I’d had the last line of Le Père Goriot stuck in my head and the whole “It’s you and me now, Paris” vibe seemed worth appropriating in a more optimistic tone. The train was packed. I noted that it seemed to have more headroom than NYC subways. This was appreciated. The area around the cemetery was deserted and rather boring. I walked back, which was a bit of a trek, but not terrible. I can now attest that, if you want French people to give you odd looks in the street, the thing to do is to walk down l’Avenue de la République at night singing Gilbert and Sullivan. Also noticed a supermarket chain called G20, wondered if it was a loose pun on “J’ai faim,” didn’t ask anyone, ergo am still in the dark on this matter.
Discovered a nice little gyro place, possibly a chain, don’t know, on Boulevarde de Rochechouart near the hotel. Lacking anything more to say, I shall post more hotel-room pictures:
Pretty lighting fixture! These actually are quite nice, give a good diffuse kind of light—nice thing about hotels, unlike dorms, is that even the cheap ones don’t go for the Depressing Institutional look.
Observe the mirror, so placed as to not decapitate people of reasonable stature such as myself!
And the view outside the window. Innit pretty? It pretty.
