Gay Paree...Encore!

Bon Jour du Paris! I write this blog on the 28th of August, about a month after I was in Paris last. I am in Paris again, but this time it is just a stop over on my way to Dublin, and I found an internet cafe' with an English keyboard so I can blog until my fingers bleed and hopefully catch up on the last months adventures!

The second time around in Paris was, to say the very least, much better than the first time. I avoided any and all tango lessons this time, along with the Sacre Coeur which I just enjoyed from my hotel room. I decided to change hotels as the Andre Gill was not only a prison, but run by a women who calls herself "madame" and well, she is an absolute nightmare. She makes all Parisians seem happy and smiley in comparison. (in case you didn't know, Parisians are neither happy nor smiley.) I refused to give her my money and please if you are in Paris ever, do yourself a favor, avoid the Andre Gill and go straight to the Avenir, right next to the Metro "Anvers" in the Montemartre district by the Sacre Coeur. Okay, sure it's the red light district...but it is a great hotel, cheap and right down the street from the Moulin Rouge. The staff is very friendly and each room has a balcony that overlooks the street.

The first night I arrived back in Paris after being in Prague, Berlin and London for EVER, I decided to put on a sexy dress and head out to find some fun. Sort of a mistake, since you can't even walk down the street in a potato sack without every man, dog and tree shouting "bon soir!" If you make the mistake of saying "bon soir" back, you will be harassed and followed and thank goodness I am bold and say "piss off" but for those with less fortitude it could be daunting. So, I ducked into an Irish pub to get some relief and found out that it is one of the hippest placed to meet people in the neighborhood. People from all over drink there and if you can stand to pay $7 Euro for a pint ot Guinness, the conversations are well worth it. I met a bunch of Serbian kids from Australia, who in turn were meeting Serbs from Serbia and we all started chatting about the placement of kids during the Baltic wars and apparently, it was Australia and France who took the lot. One girl I met was about 22 and had been sent to Adelaide in 1992. Wow. So, we chatted and then I walked to the loo when I was accosted by a bunch of Bosnians and so we all started dancing and the next thing I know, I am in an apartment by the Stade du France with cousins, girls, boys, brothers, sisters...dancing to Bosnian music, drinking hot cocoa and smoking weird cigarettes until about 6 a.m. The apartment belongs to a guy named Naimi and his friend Bullim, both 20 and HYSTERICAL!

At this point, they turn to me and say "would you like to go to our cousins wedding in the country?" All this in French as they don't speak English and I say "sure...as long as I am back by tonight because I have a bus to catch in the morning!" So, off we go in a caravan, which included my ride in a blue Subaru driven by a crazy Albanian guy. Well, we get to said wedding about an hour later and I am still wearing my dress from the night before, and if you want a mind blowing wedding experience, I highly reccommend one in Kosovo! I ended up drinking Vodka, eating all kinds of weird food, mostly meat, dancing to insane Bosnian folk and techno music and I think I might have married a 90 year-old woman with a beard and a body to match! (She was about 4 foot 10, and 300 pounds!) Of course, they didn't let me go home and I missed my bus the next day, had to hang in Paris for 2 more days but it was worth it as this was one of those experiences you cannot buy in a gift store.

They got into thier side of the war a lot, I just listened and thought about the Serbs I had met a few nights before. A lot of these kids were also refugees accepted by France and ended up here. There are still a lot of wounds and bad blood, but apparently Bill Clinton is a national hero in Kosovo. Take that Anne Coultier and Bill O'Lielly! Ha!

Finally made my bus and was on my way to beautiful Switzerland...had to miss Bern but ended up in Lauterbrunnen for 3 nights and that story continues next. LATERS!