The Inaccurate Tourist

42. Camellogue (Guest Writer: KD)

I spent ten glorious days in Paris and easily could have spent more. My list of things I still haven't seen is constantly growing.

During the week I was there I saw the Latin Quartier, I had an amazing french birthday feast, spent three days in the Louvre and didn't finish it, was constantly annoyed by American tourists who didn't get it, saw Notre Dame and the flying buttresses, went to the Pompidou where I'd like to see my own artwork one day, visited the Cluny where I'd like to ransack all their great medieval stuff, had crepes and real cider, met Ryan's really sweet landlady, steamed off the labels of all the wine bottles in Ryan's house, went to the mono-prix by myself, was treated rudely at the baguette shop, saw the famous lights of Pigalle, ate fabulous cheese, got hit on by old French men on my way to the metro, avoided stepping in le bombe du chien, and got to hang out with Ryan watching Futurama episodes but not in French.

My last full day there Ryan and I went to L'Institut du Monde Arabe (Institute of the Arab World). We walked through the Montparnasse cementary where I left a Canadian penny on Simone de Beauvoir's grave.

We also walked through a Saturday farm market where I saw freshly killed chickens have their feather's removed with a blow torch. As bizarre as that sounds, it was very hard for me not to want to buy a bunch of stuff and go back to Ryan's apartment and cook a feast on his hotplate. There was a lot of tasty looking supplies there and I love markets. But we carried on as we had a mission! On our way there, we stopped for a Croque Monsieur, the melted cheese sandwich which tastes infinitely better than our Kraft singles version in Canada. Or perhaps, it could have been the glass of wine I had with it...

We ate in a cool little family-run restaurant overrun with drunk little kids and all the owner's family members tucking in hardily to a bucket of mussels.

On our way to the Institute we passed a great lighting store. French lamp fixtures, though infinitely more expensive than those found here, are really cool illuminated pieces of art. Thankfully, Ryan shares my wonder of interior design and throughout my trip we stopped many times to window shop for lighting. I hope he brings several pieces back with him besides the Eiffel tower lamp.

The Institute for the Arab World is really a very cool place. It isn't mentioned in the Rick Steve's handbook and it really should be. Not only because the world could benefit from a little more knowledge and understanding of the arab world, but because architecturally it is a very cool place - much better than the achaeological crypt across from Notre Dame. The sides of the Institute are computerised irises that open and shut throughout the day with the sunlight. They are very beautiful and arab looking and I'd love to have windows like that. They would never build such an awesome building here.

Ryan and I had ventured to the Arab Institute because of an art show that seemed to be advertized all over the metro and the billboards Chevaux et Cavaliers Arabes (The Arab Horses and Knights).

There was a line up to get through the metal detector. Not surprizing given the tenor of the world of late. But it didn't take long to get though. Inside it was very crowded - mostly by Parisians and not tourists which was very refreshing. The exhibition showed images of horses and knights throughout the arab world and through history. Considering that very fundamental Islam is against literal images, it was amazing to see how much beautiful art they were able to assemble. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures due to security measures. I have to admit that I'm a little biased towards Arabian horses. I myself lived for six years in Saudi Arabia and owned an Arabian named Miss T, so I was getting very nostalgic.

After getting out of the very crowded exhibition downstairs, we went up in the scary glass bottomed elevators to the museum upstairs. They have archaeological items from all over the middle east. The museum is quite a good size and filled with many beautiful and interesting things including a goodly selection of carpets. My arabic is only slightly better than my French so really I have no idea what we were looking at but they were very cool. After wandering through three levels of arabic artifacts, we once again took the scary elevators to the main floor. They have an awesome gift shop there filled with all sorts of books and images. I was really tempted to buy a book in arabic but my suitcase was quickly becoming full of museum guides. I did buy a small French guide to the horse show since we couldn't take any pictures.

We then crossed the very cool courtyard to the Souk (shop). The courtyard has little embedded lights that morph color in the tiles.

As it was twilight when we finished in the Institute it was really funky looking.

The souk is filled with all sort of Arabic items like brass coffee pots, fabric, hubbly-bubblies (hookas), camel saddles and all sorts of items that I was familiar with growing up. The funny part was they are 4 times as expensive as they would be in a souk in Saudi. And it didn't look like they would haggle with you at the till. The other side of the souk is a tea bar where you can sit on poufs and drink very sweet Morrocan tea. Ryan and I tossed around the idea of staying but it was very crowded and we opted to go off in search of Mountain food.

We took the metro over to St. Germain des Pres.

This is a very vibrant area of town that reminded me very much of Robson street, though it is named after a cathedral.

Lots of high end shops, people cruising the streets, little cafes with people sitting outside. One of the cool things we discovered here while searching for Ryan's exact mountain food restaurant was a Taschen bookstore. Taschen publishes high-end art books. The color reproduction is pretty much unparalleled. They tend to be very pricey books in Canada. In France, they are very reasonable. Taschen also publishes a large selection of illustrated erotica. I was very tempted to buy a book full of erotic robots but was worried what Ryan would think of his crazy artist friend. I did buy a book for 3 euros of eccentric homes. I could easily have spent thousands of dollars here.

We passed several truffle stores. I was very strong. I didn't go running in and throw myself into a chocolate orgy. We went into a stationary store filled with very awesome stuff and once again I was controlled and didn't buy anything more than a postcard with my last name on it. What does the verb deviner mean? There was a giant silver store filled with what looked like pirate treasure that was very cool looking too. Also there was a store that sold Opera clothes, cloaks and masks that was lots of fun to look at. I could have easily maxed my visa card in St. Germain des Pres.

While continuing to wander around looking for the exact Mountain Food restaurant, we came across St. Sulpice which had very tall gothis columns out front.

I never get tired of seeing churches which is funny considering what a crazy pagan I am. But the church really was the center of the community in many centuries and I feel closer to the people who used to wander the streets of Paris when I am in a church.

Due to hunger, we eventually gave up trying to find the exact mountain food restaurant that Ryan had been to before. What is this mysterious mountain food? Fondue - Though the French think they invented it and not the Swiss!!! They probably did! Giant melting pots of Cheese - yum! We were escorted upstairs where Ryan had trouble standing lest he bump his head and got a nice little table by the window. We had a Kir to start and then we each ordered a giant pot of gooey cheese which I'm sure caused the waiter to laugh at us. Mine had Apple cider in it and Ryan's had Roquefort. They were served with bread, pickles and thin slices of parma ham. Fondue was always an ubiquitous part of my childhood. Cheese fondue was a regular at my birthday parties as January seems a good time to have it. These rolling, bubbling pots of melty goodness brought back a lot of pleasant memories. (I bought a fondue pot the moment I got home). We also had chocolatey desserts which is amazing considering how much cheese we ate but we conquered!

After dinner we headed back to Ryan's apartment for Futurama and some night cap Pims.

I was feeling very full and not really wanting to get up the next day and leave Paris. Despite the massive amounts of wine, cheese and Pims, I had managed to lose 15 pounds but I also had gained the tiny heart of a closet Parisian. I didn't want to leave this cultural paradise, full of very interesting and rarely rude people, exceedingly interesting visual history and the most tasty cheese ever. I constantly ask, "Why can't Langley be more like Paris?" But people just look at me funny and mention cows. Though you can buy clocks shaped like the eiffle tower cheaper in Langley than you can in Paris. I have asked for one for Christmas.

Posted by The Inaccurate Tourist at January 31, 2003 12:00 PM