A Fairly Quiet Day

dear erik,

i always feel like i'm writing a winnie the pooh book whenever i capitalize things.

today we were supposed to go to the catacombs - the tunnels under the city that are filled with bones, but we spent too much time wandering around the train station, trying to figure out where to go to make a reservation for the TGV train to strasbourg using our eurail pass.  so, we're thinking we'll do the catacombs tomorrow.  anyway, now i have a little bit of free time, so i thought i'd post some pictures for ya.

okay, so as soon as i wrote that, we decided to go out for a walk around place des vosges.  it was very lovely, and there were Lots of people just hanging out in the park and wandering around the streets.  we went to victor hugo's house, which was mildly cool, and free, so that made it more wonderful.  then we just walked around the marais, which is the district we're staying in - there's lots of little boutiques and cafes and it's all very french - and looked at stuff in the windows. 

most everything we saw seems designed to sell to tourists and isn't that special.  plus, everything here is crazy expensive (like, 150 euros for a white t-shirt, which means you're paying about 195 dollars for a t-shirt.  a nice t-shirt, a French T-shirt, but still...) so there was very little i was tempted to buy, but window shopping is fun, regardless, and we were walking down all these narrow little streets with these beautiful buildings on either side with lots of shutters and windowboxes, etc.

i'm wanting to take a day trip to rouen, which is where joan of arc was tried and burned.  i'm a little nervous, just because i'm having a hard time finding info on how to get to the various sites (i did find a map of the town, but it's pretty minimal, and since i have no printer i'm not gonna copy out the whole thing) and megan won't be going with me, so i'll be french-less.  still - i really want to see it, so i think i'm gonna brave it.

there's a restaurant near us that has amazing reviews online, but since we don't have a phone to see if we can make a reservation, i think we're just gonna walk down there and see if we can sneak in as soon as they open and before any big muckety-mucks want to eat.  i'm not sure it's the most brilliant strategy ever devised, but it's worth a shot.

okay, so our plan worked and we got some dinner.  it was good, but not life-changing.  megan is very adventurous with food, so she ordered a dish where she didn't know what it was.  she also ordered a salad with calamari, and then when her entree arrived, it turned out it was pasta with squid in squid ink.  needless to say, it was a lot of squid for one meal.

all right.  i'm gonna attempt again to post some pictures.  we'll see if i can manage it before crashing the internet again. 

you know, just another day out walking...

this is the pont des arts - it's a bridge over the seine, and i guess there's something about couples putting locks on it and then throwing away the key.  not sure what it's about - maybe locking themselves together or something?  or maybe it's just  a slightly empty romantic gesture that people pretend is meaningful?  perhaps i'm a bit cynical?  anyway - it's cool looking, because all the locks sparkle in the light.

this is the ceiling of the chapel at the musee de cluny.  i know some part of the structure dates back to the 1300s, but i don't think this part does.  i also know that mary tudor lived there at some point (aka bloody mary - gotta love that) but i don't know if it was there then, either.  SO - this is part of a building that may or may not have been around a long time.  riveting stuff, this blogging.  you're welcome.

this is the cheese that was left over from my salad at the cafe de st. clair.  and some ham.  and this is what was there AFTER i ate the entire salad.  they're big on cheese here.  and meats.  it's pretty hard to get a salad that doesn't involve some kind of cheese and meat.  protein is important, but sometimes it's just silly.

this is the place de la concorde.  we were there looking for a joan of arc statue (which we never found.  we're not actually sure it's there.  perhaps some other "place") and the light was just beautiful.  not sure you can tell from this picture, but trust me - it was really lovely.  (that's just like being there, right?  "no, really.  it was totally pretty.")

all right.  i'm gonna go and try to read my book again without falling asleep.  so far i haven't been having much luck on that front, but perhaps tonight is the night!

missing you four and dad - hope life is good stateside.  love you!

Ver...sigh. (Get it? A Pun!)

dear erik,

unfortunately, last night our internet crapped out completely.  this morning i went downstairs to the shop that's owned by the guy we're renting the apartment from (his wife is russian and they sell beautiful russian folk art) to see if the girl there could re-set the wifi.  i would have just called him, but we have no phone. 

you know - 'cos we're roughing it. 

at any rate, shop-girl got us up and running again, so here i am.

yesterday i went to the musee cluny, which karen morrison recommended.  i remember her bringing mom lots of pictures from there in a little book when mom was sick.  they also have the unicorn tapestries, which were very cool to see.  i remember having a book about them when i was a kid. 

mostly, it's just so incredible to see these sculptures and paintings that are anywhere from 600-900 years old.  some of the faces are amazing.  i got an audio tour, which was fun, although they always want to tell you lots about some doorknob or something, and then the extraordinary painting you can't figure out what it's about, they don't even mention. 

it was also nice because it's a smaller size, so you can really spend some time in each room and still see everything.  it had smaller crowds than a lot of the other museums, and it's in this amazing OLD building with a wonderful courtyard where i could sit and process a bit when i came out.  i did sneak a picture of this (even though i can't figure out how to turn off the flash on my camera.  pathetic, i know.)

it's a wooden statue of jesus coming into town on palm sunday.  (the mule is on wheels.  it's kind of surprising - like a big toy) it reminded me of my favorite part of mom's sermon - where she talked about jesus and his followers coming into town so humbly, while at the other gate the big noisy romans are having an enormous procession and making a big to-do.

most important, i managed to get there and back by myself!   of course, i had megan double-check my metro plan before i left, but still!  after the museum i walked (using a map.  i'm so competent!) to the cafe de flores, which is a famous cafe where sartre and de beauvoir and hemingway used to hang out and drink.

it's right next door to another cafe called deux magots, which gets much more play around here as their hangout, but flores was the one i read about originally, so that's where i went.  it was much bigger and busier than i had expected (which is silly, since it's kind of famous and it was the middle of the afternoon.  not sure why i thought it would be some nice quiet little retreat) but the host and the waiter graciously put up with my not knowing how things worked and basically just pointing at the menu.

i wanted a croissant, but the guy said all the morning pastries were gone, so i pointed at 'cake' and he brought me that.  i imagine other people already know this, but apparently 'cake' means 'fruitcake'.  still, after he brought it i felt like such a jerk i just ate as much as i could and moved on with my life.  honestly - we're still making fruitcake?  what's that about?

then last night megan and i went to see the musee d'orsay (shout out to babs and ruth!) which is open late on thursdays.  it was also very wonderful, but way bigger than the cluny, so we're adding it to the list of things we want to go back and see again.  megan loves the impressionists (i think they're usually kinda dull, but what the hell do i know) and i guess they're known for having a lot of their work, which is nice. 

we also ate at the fabulous restaurant (the food was fine, but the place is fantastic - all glass chandeliers and ceiling paintings.) which was really fun.  there was some kind of fashion show going on with a string quartet, so we got to go through the galleries with a lot less crowds than usual since everyone was watching anorexic girls try to walk on stilletos.  always a hoot, but in this case we thought the art would be even more wonderful; which indeed it was.

THEN today we went to versailles.  i have to admit - not so impressed.  it's certainly extraordinary, and they're doing an amazing job restoring it - the gold/gilt on the outside of the building alone is crazy.  it looks like the place that 'the real housewives of palm springs' dream of living.  it is enormous, and certainly impressive.  i suspect there's even a lot of beautiful things in there, but what i'm really interested in is what life was like for the people living there, and there's really almost none of that.  they've taken out all the furniture except for a few beds and chairs, so at this point it's mostly huge rooms with paintings and statues in them. 

we also did a tour of the gardens, and of marie antoinette's little rustic fantasy-land, but again, we couldn't go into any of the buildings, so it just looks like a really pretty little disneyfied version of farm life.  what would have been fascinating to me would be to see what her bedroom looked like in this "rustic" little english thatched cottage surrounded by sheep and goats.  was it simple, or did it look like a room from versailles had been transplanted there?

when we bought our tickets, the woman at the ticket counter was hilarious.  she was a perfect caricature of all the bad things people think about french people.  megan asked her very clearly for two full tickets (i forget the word, but she asked for two tickets that got us into everything, not the limited tour tickets) and the woman gave her the wrong tickets.  megan Very Graciously pointed out that the woman had given us the wrong tickets, and the woman literally rolled her eyes and gave this enormous sigh, like she just couldn't believe how stupid we were.  then she said (in french) "FINE."  and gestured for megan to give the tickets back.  then she gave us the wrong change, and when megan pointed it out, the woman looked at the person working next to her as if to say "can you believe what i have to deal with here?" before grudgingly giving us the correct change.  really - a raging bitch.  it must be so exhausting to go through life hating everyone.  i'm happy to not have to do that.

i realize this is a super-long post, but i'll add some pictures anyway.

this is me getting some perspective at the louvre

 notre dame.  it was actually a really rainy, cloudy day, but it cleared up for about five minutes so i could get some pictures.  :o)

and...my internet keeps crashing, so i guess that's all the pictures for today.  hope you guys are good!  love you!

Rainy Day in Sunny Paree

dear erik,

i'm going to attempt more pictures.  the wireless here is a little wonky (at least, i'm hoping it's the wireless and not my little netbook.)  megan and i have just come home from the louvre - it's pouring rain and we're sitting on the couch having tea and typing.  all very civilized...

this is my 'room' in the new paris apartment.  it's really lovely, and it's nice to have our own spaces to retire to at the end of the day.

the dining room.  there's also a living room and a little kitchen.  we have a clothes washer - 4 hour cycle, which Almost gets your clothes dry.  :o)

i was thinking of mom and dad in (germany?)  i can't remember for sure where it was, but i remember them talking about hearing the billy joel song 'allentown'.  this morning we had breakfast at cafe hugo down the street and they were playing 'california dreamin'.  trippy.

today we went to the louvre and notre dame.  we didn't have too long at the louvre, because we spent a long time just walking around the streets looking at paris, which is beautiful.  unfortunately we seem to have brought the british weather with us. 

as for the louvre, we plan to go back, but it's clearly the kind of place where you could go every day for a month and barely make a dent.  seriously - the place is frickin' EPIC. 

the wireless isn't letting me upload any more pictures at the moment.  hopefully i'll be able to load some tomorrow.  it was wonderful to see notre dame - i can't figure out how to turn off the flash on my camera (sad, but true) so i couldn't take any pictures, but megan took some for both of us.  it's really exquisitely beautiful.

i always get weirdly emotional in cathedrals/churches.  i'm sure that recently it's partly missing mom, but i've always been that way.  i can't figure out if it's some kind of spiritual thing, like the idea that there's a larger purpose to everything, that there's a reason for everything, that Someone has a Plan?  or maybe it's because the people who created the building had that belief, and that emotion lingers in the place itself? 

i think as far as the great cathedrals, i also find it so moving that people used to (maybe still) have the belief that they were creating something beautiful to last forever that would change people's lives by representing the glory of the eternal.  i dunno.  at any rate, it was pretty emotional being in there.  truly beautiful.

it's supposed to rain again tomorrow, but it's a good excuse to spend lots of time in museums.  i think tomorrow we're going to do the musee d'orsay, because on thursdays they're open at night.  we're taking babs' reccomendation (thank you babs!) and having a meal there - the restaurant looks amazing!  (we like to do a lot of our planning around where and when we're going to eat.  for real - it's a big thing.)

all right.  the screen has taken to flashing and doing weird jaggedy things.  time to sign off. 

sending love - mer

I Like Paris in the...well...in September.

dear erik,

we've arrived in Paris!  we are staying at a really cool little apartment.  a small living room, dining room, kitchen, and two separate lofts with beds, so we each get our own 'room'.  i will try to post some pictures tomorrow.  at the moment, it's not even 9 pm and i'm totally wiped out. 

megan is up in her room reading - she's still not feeling well.  i keep trying to convince her that maybe if she gets enough sleep/drinks liquids/stays warm she can avoid things getting any worse, but she's not having it.  still - in my case, hope springs eternal.

for those of you considering a trip to europe, let me suggest taking cabs.  we have been doing the underground/metro thing, which is amazing because i'm so not used to cities where you don't have to have a car.  however, when going for major trips (say, from london to paris) or when going someplace you've never been, in the rain, a cab can be a beautiful thing.  while i have great respect for the swiss, who made my rolling suitcase, even they can't anticipate cobblestones.  and lots and lots of stairs.

that being said, we've been really lucky, and it is totally fabulous to be in these cities where you can WALK places, and where they have Public Transportation, so you can get around easily!  wonderful idea, that!

we took the 'chunnel' to get here - that's the train that goes under the english channel.  i thought that it was one of those trains that goes almost 300 miles per hour,  but we definitely didn't seem to be going that fast, so i think i was just confused.  still, it was amazing to be in london and then just over 2 hours later, here you are in paris. 

the train itself was a bit worn-seeming, and someone had graciously put us in a car with six or seven families with young children.  while the children did very well, all things considered, they are still, in fact, children, so lots of yelling, loud talking, crying, screaming, etc. 

i could feel my character growing with every moment.

in their defense, not one of them kicked my chair.  also, they took turns with the crying, and there were long stretches without any tantrums.  that sounds sarcastic, but i mean it seriously.  2+ hours is a long time to sit still if you're three years old.

they coolest thing about it was that the train itself was super-quiet, almost silent.  also, it was a really smooth ride - very little rocking, and much more of a gliding feeling.  amazing, given how fast it was going (my guess would be about 100 mph most of the way.)  remarkable what they can do nowadays... :o)

judging from the sounds outside the apartment, lots of people in paris ride motorcycles.  the area we're in is all narrow little streets with cool little shops and restaurants, and lots of art galleries.  (i think it's called the marais?)  right down the street from the place des vosges, which i hear is a big deal but am not totally clear on why.  megan said something about it's one of the oldest gathering places in the city. 

she's been trying to teach me some important french phrases ("how much?" "where is..." etc.) but i'm not convinced it will get me through the city on my own if we get separated.  happily, people here all seem to speak more english than i speak french, so there's hope i won't spend eternity wandering the streets alone. 

i keep thinking of dad and mark twain and their love of the french.  still - twain did write a great book about joan of arc, so there's hope for all of us.  someone online pointed out that most people's first experience of france is in restaurants, and since there's very little tipping here, servers tend to be considerably less attentive than in other parts of the world (say, the usa...) so people mistake that for french people being rude.  i thought it was an interesting point, for sure.  so far, everyone we've dealt with has been very pleasant. 

i can feel my brain crying out 'isn't it time to go to sleep yet?' so, i guess it's time to go to sleep.  i still haven't worked out my body clock yet.  i'm averaging about 5 or 6 hours a night, but i'm in bed for at least 9 hours a night, so i'm hoping that by getting lots of 'rest' i will partially make up for getting a bit less 'sleep'.  i'll let you know how it turns out.

And Yes - British Weather

yesterday we were treated to some glorious Weather - very cold and rainy all day.  we had planned to head out to spitalfields, partially because there is a really cool 'museum' there that we wanted to see, and partially because it is where mary kelly lived, and where most of my mary kelly script took place, including The Ten Bells: a pub where at least two of jack's victims were known to drink, and which is still around today.

anyway - after a hearty breakfast, we braved the elements (both of us congratulating ourselves on our foresight in bringing collapsible umbrellas.  perhaps that doesn't seem terribly impressive to some, but i'll take what i can get :o) and headed out.

only to find that the tube line we needed was closed for the day.  so we found an alternate route, got to the exchange location, and found that the OTHER tube line we needed was closed for those stops.  third time's the charm, and an hour later we alighted (alit?) in spitalfields.  of course, then we managed to get ourselves completely turned around, and so ended up taking a cab anyway.  (are you impressed about the umbrella yet?)

at any rate, we finally arrived at the dennis severs house.  the idea of the place is that it's a house restored to look as if you've just interrupted a family at their home from the early 1700s to the late 1800s.  you go through the four-story house silently, and the whole place is lit only by candle-light.  there are lots of smells (in the kitchen, someone has been cutting leeks, in the bedroom, someone has been eating an egg and toast, etc.) and you can hear the family's voices and the sounds of life (a baby crying, a carriage pulling up outside, a dog barking, etc.)  you can also hear the footsteps of the other people going through the house. 

i'm describing it poorly, but it's kind of an amazing place. 

when we came out, we wanted to just sit somewhere and process a bit, but spitalfields has a big market that is very popular shopping, and also the football (in the british sense of the word) game was on, so all the pubs were packed, and it was raining, so all the restaurants and coffee shops were super-busy as well.  it definitely made an impact to come out of this otherworldly place where you've been moving around in silence and whispering, to walk into a pub full of people shouting at the tv.  amazing.

we eventually found a restaurant to have some soup and tea, and then wandered around for a bit of shopping.  (although neither of us bought anything.  i'm working my way up to it.  at the moment i'm still kind of dazed at being here and wondering how the trip will progress.)  i had forgotten to look at my old whitechapel map before i left.  i remember all the street names, but i forget why i know them.  which ones had what businesses on them, things like that.  we did visit christ church, which i wrote a brief scene about where mary sees a young girl leaving a baby on the steps...

they've very recently renovated the church, which made me kind of sad, because although it's all nice and clean in there now, i picture it doesn't look anything at all like it used to.  almost no stained glass, lots of white walls and lighter woods, with modern art behind the cross in the chancel.  both megan and i were already a bit suspicious, since there was lots of literature all over the place about evangelism, and the baptism font had been taken from the 'society to convert the jews' or some such.  still - i sat for a few minutes and had a chat with mom while megan looked around.  mom wasn't crazy about it either, but had more generous things to say than i did.

we finally got to the ten bells, where a lot of my script takes place.  it seems they're trying to disconnect their business from the ripper legacy - they also underwent a renovation a few years back, and they've finally removed the sign with the names of the victims from the front of the pub, which was the only remaining vestige in the pub proper.  on the steps leading down to the bathrooms, there is still a copy of a front-page police illustrated news which i recognized.  i don't remember for sure, but i think it was after annie chapman was killed.  at any rate, that was the only connection, and the servers who i asked seemed surprised and a little confused, which surprised me.  i have to assume that lots of the 'jack the ripper tours' end up there at some point. 

i'll spare you the rest of my musings on the ten bells.  suffice it to say, it was very interesting being in the area and wandering around in the streets that i had researched for so long.  it's very un-ripper-y (next to the ten bells is an organic health food store), although someone had spray-painted a portrait of james maybrick on the wall by commercial street.  (maybrick was the purported author of the 'jack the ripper diary', which in my esteemed opinion, was rubbish.)

all right.  i'll leave it at that.  today megan woke up not feeling well, so we've cancelled our plans to go to high tea and see the tate modern.  i'm sorry to miss out, but being back here i've accepted that if i don't come to live here, i will at least have to return every few years and spend lots of time here.  so, there will be other chances. 

i hope life is good with you!

Pictures!

dear erik,

apparently, my body-clock hasn't quite worked things out yet.  it's almost 6am, but i've been awake since about 4 and just can't get back to sleep.  normally ten hours would seem like plenty, but i'm a little worried about missing a whole night.  that's gotta be not-so-good for you, right? 

i am going to attempt to load some pictures.  think happy thoughts.

this is megan and i upon our arrival at the hotel.  europe here we are!  the geisha lady is on the wall next to megan's bed.

this is the geisha lady next to my bed.  we got a 'studio'.  'cos we're fancy.

this is what you see when you walk out the front of the hotel.  look kids - big ben!  parliment!

 this is queen boudicea (sp?) and her daughters.  she was a warrior queen who led her people against the romans.  i know, 'cos i saw a tv movie about it.

the london eye and the aquarium.  i was very pleased we got a suitably 'british' day for our first walk.

missing mom in the gift shop of the national theater.

strange foliage by the thames.

we couldn't tell if this guy was helping his friend up, or was kicking him in the face.  "this is MY roof!  don't come up!"

all right.  i'm off to do some research about what fabulous, touristy things we can do today!  i'm also kind of excited about breakfast in a few hours...

At Long Last...London

dear erik,

i apologize in advance for this post, because my brain has pretty much left the building.  it's just after 5pm, and both megan and i are happily tucked into bed.  another raucous friday night for mer...

my travels went well.  my friend jason got me to the airport in plenty of time, the flight took off on time and even landed a bit early.  seriously - i don't know who 'economy class cabins' are designed for, but it's certainly not for anyone over five feet tall.  lordy. 

anyway - i haven't been sleeping great for the past few days because i've been so hyped up and excited and nervous about the trip, so i was kind of worried i would fall asleep on the plane and snore loudly and everyone would be too polite to wake me up and would just quietly resent me while they tried to sleep.  however, british air is one of those awesome airlines where you get your own little tv with lots of tv and movies to choose from, so after a few victorious rounds of sudoku (with minimal cheating) i just turned that baby on and tuned out.

watched wanderlust (silly but pleasant), hysteria (enjoyable), rewatched the dark knight, which is still too long but really good, and then watched john carter.  the flight was landing so i missed the last 15 minutes or so, and it's an indication of how impressive the movie was that i wasn't upset that i didn't get to see the end.

anyway - when i landed i told the lady at customs that i was meeting a friend who was flying in on a different airline from a different city.  apparently that's the first time anyone's ever done that here in london, but she told me to ask the people at the information desk when i picked up my bag.  trouble was, there was no one at the information desk...

long story slightly shorter, turns out heathrow airport is about the size of long island.  after i took a ten minute bus ride i got to megan's terminal and we dealt with the driver (who we had reserved ahead of time to take us to the hotel) who was very upset that he had to pay more for parking than expected, since i took so long to get to terminal 4 from terminal 5.

i have to say, as soon as i stepped out into that chilly, gray air, i had a rush of exhiliration.  i don't know why i love it here so much, but i do.  something in the air just makes me happy.  maybe it's all that history dust floating around.

we are in a very swanky hotel, in a beautiful room with a disappointing view of a back street.  i will try to figure out how to post pictures tomorrow.  as expected, today was fairly uneventful, with the two of us spending most of our energy just trying to stay awake long enough that we can just go to sleep and wake up tomorrow, rather than falling asleep at noon and waking up at 4am.

i am so excited about being here.  at the moment i am also very excited about going to sleep.  i just had a bath in our gloriously clean tub, and now my plan is to lie here in my pajamas, try to read for about five minutes, and then go to sleep for about fifteen hours.  we'll see how it all falls out.