"I got blisters on me fingers"

Today is Sunday, the day of rest.  The past two days have destroyed my yet to be travel hardened feet.  Poor guys.  Blisters.  Painful.  So today I will be putting my feet up and writing.

My usual goal of getting lost in the city was not accomplished yesterday.  I woke up in a slightly self-destructive mood and decided to head to the most touristy area in the city. Some might say the world.  The Eiffel Tower.

I don't understand the point of taking photos of these things sometimes.  A photo of you in front of the tower (or any really famous touristy site), okay, understandable, I was there and I want to prove it so I can show my friends and family and they will all be jealous.  I get that, I guess. It is what you are 'supposed' to do when you visit a place like Paris, the guide book said so.  But trying to take scenic photos of something like the Eiffel tower is incomprehensible to me.  What photo are you going to get that hasn't been taken 1,000,000 times before ( in the past year alone) and many probably with better equipment, angles, photographic technique and  is already available in thousands of books, magazines and on the internet around the world?  Maybe you are a budding photographer and are practicing technique?  I have never been a big fan of of taking photos though.  Not really my thing.  If someone could explain this to me I would be forever grateful.

Don't get me wrong, I think everyone should travel and see the sites such as the Eiffel Tower at least once in their life, and when visiting places we are all tourists, but for me, going where everyone else goes just doesn't get my juices flowing.

I guess for me traveling isn't about going around and seeing the sites and taking redundant photos.  So sometimes for fun, I turn my camera away from the site itself and onto the people visiting the site themselves.  But, again, that's just me.

Anyway it wasn't long till my tourist allergy kicked in and I had to get out of there before and I headed on the metro to the other side of the city.  To a cemetery, so I could pay my respects to an American poet. 

The Lizard King

Ah, Jim, good to see you again.  I paid my respects, made the required sacrifices (goat, frog and a human liver) and moved on.  While this site does bring a lot of visitors to it, there were only 20 people visiting the grave site when I was there. Much more sanity than the 20 billion (give or take a few) at the Eiffel Tower, so my allergy wasn't too bad.

That night Marco ended up taking me and four french Canadians out to a bar.  The bar was okay, it was in a... let's say open minded district of Paris.  We didn't stay there too long and at about 230 we hopped in the car and Marco gave us a night tour of Paris.  The highlight of which must have been the catfight we saw happening on the Pont de Neuf.  Hair pulling and everything good about girl fights.  Of course all the guys were standing around looking confused because unlike fights between guys, you do NOT get in between two girls fighting.  You are likely to get killed doing that.  Now unfortunately we didn't see the outcome, we drove away when they were wrestling around on the ground in the middle of the street. 

This was the third fight I've seen since I arrived three days ago.  I saw one where one guy jumped another from behind and they fell down a large flight of stairs in front of the Sacre-cour.  The guy who did the jumping then started throwing the skull of the other guy on the cement over and over until he was pulled off.  They went their separate ways, and the guy who had his head thrown against the concrete multiple times climbed the stairs and started smoking a cigarette while looking quite dejected.  I imagine he needed some Tylenol later. 

Later that night, just a hundred yards away from the first fight, I saw a girl get into it with a one-legged guitar player.  They were yelling and there was some pushing going on.  I don't know how the one-legged man stayed on his foot, but he did.  There was a group of friends and acquantinces who were being mostly vigilent about keeping them apart, but they got at each other briefly once or twice.   Very interesting to watch that one even if it didn't get too far.

We then drove down the Champs Elysee's and ended up in Charles De Gaulle Etoile.  CDG Etoile for those who don't know, is the large round-about around the Arc De Triumph.  It has 8 roads leading into it and used to be 8 lanes.  I say used to be 8 lanes because a few years ago they got rid of all the lanes, so now it is, as far as I can tell, a free for all.  There is a reason that auto insurance in Europe does not cover anything that happens in this round-about.  It is absolutely bonkers.  Sitting on a bench and watching the madness unfold here during rush hour is a great thing to do if you are bored.

So the next time you hear from me I shall be in the countryside.  I will start writing soon on how to travel in Europe cheaply, from finding cheap (or even free) accommodations and how to get from place to place cheaply, stuff like that.  For now though, I am just going to hang out and prepare for my trip to the west side of the country tomorrow.