669. It's way past my bedtime.

The cinema near my apartment in the 20th arrondissement in the Bagnolet neighborhood shows movies in their original format with French subtitles. (Bravo!) The trailers are also in their original language, and all four movies previewed were American. Zodiac, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Lonely Hearts and Fracture.

Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Chow Yun-Fat grace the screen in the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
(aka Yummy, Super Yummy, and Mr. Yun-Yummy.)
You'll find me front row, center at the neighborhood cinema on May 23rd.

It took some google sleuthing to discover the previews' titles, because they were written in French. For expample, Fracture was La Faille and Lonely Hearts was Coeurs Perdus.

I'll be seeing the blockbuster hits not long after they are widely released in the states (in some cases before, as in the case with Spiderman–it was released on the 1st here), but it looks like I'll be seeing most films a month or two after you, my friends back home.

I saw Spiderman on Friday afternoon, so it's no surprise that the salle was nearly empty.

The movie going experience isn't much different here in Paris as it is back home. Of course, I had to say to the ticket-seller, "Je voudrais un billet pour Spider-man, s'il vous plaît." A silent, small, and secret thrill of life in a foreign land for me is getting what I ask for when I ask in the native tongue. A bonus–getting what I want sans a quizzical look.

Doesn't the coffee in the above photo look delicious? Well, it wasn't. It was crap. I don't understand why the French have such difficulty making a decent caffé. I complained to my Italian friend Fabrizio, and he said that it's because the Italians are the rulers of the world. Not a very convincing argument–hell, it's not even an argument–but, it is true that Italians do not serve bad coffee. I spent exactly one month in Italy and had zero cups of bad coffee. I've been in Paris for 6 days, and I've had 6 cups of crap.

It's no wonder then that when I stumbled upon the Starbuck's pictured above on the left, I felt relief. There's a mild comfort sipping a familiar disappointing latte. (Peet's, when are you coming to Europe? I'm waiting!)

The price for an espresso flavored cup of hot milk? Four freakin' €!

Ouch! €4 is equivalent to $5.43 as I type these words. I won't indulge in familiar disappoints after today, because I can't afford it.

I visited a very nice park today, Jardin des Plantes. It was a hop, 5 skips, and 14 jumps from Le Sorbonne. This image is of a gabezo at the top of the park's Labyrinth. I'm fond of labyrinths.

Pretty poppies.

Pretty door.

Pretty flowers.

Pretty... HEY! He's popping my head! I hate it when people do that.

It's election time here in Paris. I watched the presidential canditates' debate the other night on Frence TV. I could barely follow what was going on, but I didn't like Sarkozy. I thought he talked to Royal in a condescending manner, and he seemed too politician-y for my taste. Royal seemed genuine and passionate. I hope she wins.

Segolene Royal. She's a socialist. She smiles. She is running for president (of France).

I'll be watching the election results tomorrow night. The elections are so much greener on the other side of the fence. Huh?!?! I don't even know what I'm talking about, but that's because it's nearly 2 am. Off to bed I go.

But wait! I have a few more pictures to share:



A shoppe window shot.


And I thought I was having a bad day yesterday! This owner of this sign forbids the day and the night.

At least I had a good reason for being grumpy:


Until next time...