Jet Lag

I woke up today at noon. Ask anyone, that's out of character for me, I'm generally up and about around 8. Our first night on our IKEA bed, it was an improvement, but it wasn't bliss. We've always had a queen or king bed and I think the full mattress will take a little getting used to- I noticed I woke up in the exact same position I went to sleep in- I don't think I moved all night long- according to my neck- I didn't. Nevertheless sore or not, I was looking forward to the baguette, creamy cheese and apricot jam I was planning to eat for mon petit dejeuner.

We had a list of things to do today, get Sylvain an adaptor for his laptop (endless problems with Sylvain's Acer Laptop), try and get another convertor for my electronic things, we had keys made for me, but one of them ended up not working so we need to remedy that, and another baguette.

We were going to be walking 2 miles to the store for Sylvain's laptop, I love cities like New York, London, Chicago etc because you can get decent exercise just by running your errands. Still I wish he would have mentioned our itinerary before we left the apartment so I would have worn tennis shoes instead of cowboy boots. On the way we found a chinese grocery which was perfect because he wanted General Tso's which uses a lot of soy sauce and you can buy it in large bottles here. We also picked up some noodles and will probably end up being regulars, we both love asian food and it tends to be cheap to make once you get the basic vinegars and sauce bases.

Whenever I think of Paris I think of the Paris that I've seen as a tourist. As a tourist in New York most people venture very little outside of times square and chinatown with the addition of central park. But Paris is far more sprawling like London. Thus outside of our walk through Montemartre, we've seen very little that strikes your eye as utterly picturesque or beautiful. It's true the architecture here is ornate and pretty, but from having been inside about 5 Parisian apartments, one would start to wonder whether only the rich can afford a Parisian apartment with any room or charm.

Something that strikes me as unexpected here is the graffiti. In Valparaiso there was beautiful street art anywhere there was an empty wall, but it wasn't simple tagging it was generally figurative and done by an artist. In Paris the tag is dominant, and thus far less engaging and there are endless bits of what for me is more along the lines of vandalism oftentimes somewhat vulgar. Paris is well known for it's street artists, but it's also well known for it's angsty outspoken youth (often for good reason, especially along racial lines) so it would appear to me, that unlike New York, London, and Chile, France has some issues it needs to deal with. Obviously New York, London etc have their own issues regarding youth, immigration and a million other things. Paris is meant to be what you measure all other city beauty by, but at least for me, this is a crown that the French have let slip away.