Random Photos from Paris

Okay, first and foremost, I must show y'all my favorite bartender in ALL of Europe .... everyone this is Guillome* .... Guillome, this is everyone.

Guillome is a HottieHotHotHOT bartender at Le Reservoir on Rue de la Forge Royale. This is a pic of him competing in the Flair** competition the bar was holding this night. I don't know if he won ... but he should have based on HOT factor alone.

"Hi Guillome, remember me?... the American chick sitting at the bar that kept staring and drooling. Yeah, hi ... I'm not so good at The Flirting with hot men. That I didn't fall down or wet myself shows improvement. But still not enough to make sure you knew that Buck is just a friend ... and that that was my last night in Paris ... and that I was madly in lust with you (well, that one you probably deduced from the staring and drooling). Anyway, just wanted to let you know that even though I'm back halfway across the world ... the drooling is still occuring (in only a non-Stalker fashion, of course. No, no ... really). So if'n you're ever in Portland, Oregon ... or want me to send you a copy of the video I took of you competing .... or if you just want to send me shirtless photos of yourself ... you can reach me here at the email address on this blog. K? K! Doesn't even matter that you don't speak much English and that I can't speak a lick of French ... we'll figure it out. Cool."

While on the topic of beautiful things (*grin*) ... how about some art from the Musee De Orsay?

Vincent Van Gogh's "The Afternoon Siesta" and "Van Gogh's Room at Arles"

Edouard Manet's "Moonlight Over Boulagne Harbor" and one of Claude Monet's "Waterlilies"

Two works I'd never seen before but loved: Vincent Van Gogh's "Church At Auvers" and Pierre Bonnard's "The White Cat"

And the interior of the Musee De Orsay, the museum building being a work of art in its own right:

A couple of pictures of Notre Dame:

Those blasted French keyboards I bitched to y'all about....

Stumbled across this while strolling the Champs Elysees. A model in the Hugo Boss store getting dressed in the window. Yeah, don't think I wasn't VERY upset to not arrive til after he already had his pants and shirt on. Only got to see the coat and the socks and shoes ... and, of course, the Hugo Boss cologne. Sigh.

Floor -1, please.

All y'all will be happy to hear that I did NOT purchase this purse as a souvenir. Can you say "1-800-TACKY"?

Took a picture of this ATM screen. They had some little animated squirrel help you with your ATM transaction. Weird ... and yet cute ... all at the same time! :)

The Eiffel Tower:

Me at the Eiffel Tower:

Now let me explain a couple of things about that picture folks:

First off- beside forgetting my camera battery charger, a voltage adaptor also did not make the trip. So the trip consisted of me either with hair dryer and no flat iron or me with a flat iron and no hair dryer. Hence, the hair ... not so good. So please go easy on the critique. The hair would start out bad and just get worse. This was at the "worse" stage. It looks better today ... I SWEAR! ;)

And secondly, I am NOT a wino! The picnic food apparently was IN FRONT of me for this picture and I realize it just looks like me half passed out with my half drunken bottle of wine. Which actually kinda cracks me up. Hence, the sharing. Of the picture. Not of the wine!

Pont Neuf:

So Buck and I are eating dinner at a little cafe near the Arc De Triomphe and I go downstairs to use The Little Girl's Room. Downstairs I find a sink, two doors marked Prive, one door with a pic of a man and one door with a pic of a woman. I walk into the one with a woman on it and find this toilet only. (note, no seat - just rim)

So I quickly do my business, while hovering, take a pic, wash my hands in the sink in the common area and head back to show Buck. But before I can show Buck the picture, he gets up and heads down to use The Little Boy's Room.

When he gets back he's all "you should see the men's facilities." I'm all "I KNOW ... was it like THIS?" (as I show him the picture on my camera). He's all "uh no, it's a hole in the ground with feet prints on either side. You should go take a picture". Which I would have done ... or he would have gone back down and done ... had it not involved climbing STAIRS again, folks! Have I told y'all about The Stairs?! HO-LY SCHNICKETY! And so, my apology, no picture of the men's facilities ... all because of The Stairs.

See, here's some examples on what we continually encountered:

The Arc De Triomphe and The Stairs you need to climb to get to the top!

The Sacre-Coeur with its Stairs:

And The Stairs it took to get TO the base of The Sacre-Coeur (unless, of course, you know that "Funicular" means "a railway to take you to the top". Which I do ... NOW! (grumble, grumble, grumble))

But the sunset view from the Sacre-Coeur which (almost? :)) made the climb worthwhile!

And besides MUCH stairs there is also MUCH walking. As in ... MUCH. (especially when apparently the Metro line you need closes at 1am and you are stranded at a Metro stop that is miles from your hotel. And you can't seem to flag a taxi. Yeah, much walking.)

Or the next day when you think it would be great to walk to The Grand Arch de la Defense. Until the more you walk, the further The Grand Arch seems to get.

Yep, much, much walking.

See?

The Grand Arch de la Defense (once relatively close):

And a view from the top of The Grand Arch (which, God bless them, had an elevator to the top! (LOVE YOU, Grand Arch)):

You see where I've labeled The Arc de Triomphe? Yeah, that's about where we started. No, no ... it's there, really ... see, here's a close up!

But luckily Paris had many yummy things to take the mind off the pain in da feet. Like this:

No, no ... errr, I meant ... like THIS!

This was a coffee drink called "Chocolat Viennois". Didn't know what it was when I ordered it but knew it had coffee and chocolate ... how bad could it be??? :) And in this case, it was like a strong coffee topped with much chocolate mousse and whipped cream. Hello?! ... can you say "heaven"?!

And those little tubes on the plate are packs of sugar ... because who doesn't need more sugar in addition to a ton of caffeine and the sugary goodness already whipped up in a goblet of chocolate mousse??! Love you, Paris!!!

And last but not least .... The Louvre:

"The Venus De Milo" and "The Winged Victory of Samothrace"

Hope you enjoyed!


*"Guillome" may or may not be his name. I never asked (that would have involved replacing the drooling with verbal coherency). But Buck seems to think so. So that's what I'm going with.

** "Flair" as in the bartending while twirling bottles. Kinda like in the movie "Cocktail". BTW, thanks to cutie-patootey Brazilian bartender Tony for telling us about this event. No, no, Tony ... really ... THANK YOU!