Bon Soir from Paris

Paris has it going on. It’s definitely my next destination for living abroad. It just seems like such a livable city–much more so than, say, London. It’s a big city on a small scale, if that makes sense. I’ve been to France more than any other country on the continent (six times, now that I count), and I like it better every time.

Of course, it’s also the land of a million beautiful brunettes, so that helps. For every person, there’s a country (or ethnic group, I suppose) out there full of the ‘type’ they find most attractive. France is the clear favourite for me.

There are too many tourists, though. I’m city in the tiny, charming courtyard of my hotel (hurray for insanely-priced wifi), and I can hear some irritating drunk Brit singing “Light My Fire” at the top of his lungs. There’s nothing one can do about that, except go on nightly tourist-hunting trips. I’m a tourist, too, so I can hardly complain. Mind you, you don’t hear me belting out Doors classics on Rue Saint Michel.

I arrived in today, headed immediately over to my hotel and took a three-hour, jetlag-killer of a nap. Then I meandered down to the wonderful Jardin du Luxembourg, easily my favourite spot in the city. From there I wandered down to Cimetiere de Montparnasse and found Samuel Beckett’s grave (more info at the always handy FindaGrave.com). It was, appropriately, very plain (I was reminded, strangely, of that scene at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade–what does the cup of a carpenter look like?). Then it was sushi for dinner (my jetlagged palate wanted familiar and fast, as opposed to long, French and complex). I took a few photos, but they didn’t turn out particularly well.

I’m not sure what’s up for tomorrow–I’ll see how I feel in the morning. I’d like to see the Sacre Coeur when it’s not crawling with tourists, but that may not be possible.

UPDATE: Here’s a Wired article about the conference I’m attending, and I forgot the obligatory tag: lesblogs.