Of Paris, brothers, bicycles and races

Friday, July 27, 2007

Of Paris, brothers, bicycles and races

· 7/27/2007

Paris with Simon and meeting with Dominic Bowan. Perhaps this could be the job breakthrough I am looking for!

Fri - Eurostar to Gare Du Nord, a walk to my local church, St Denise near Bounne Nouvelle. A walk to Simons apartment in the 17th. A drink down by the river of the Paris Plages. Japanese for dinner with Simon and discussion of french politics and work.

Sat - Gym and Dance day. Workout. The kind gym operator lets me in for free. Thankyou kind lady. We do back and calves. Then we dance Salsa, my second lesson downstairs. The gym in near a red metro stop. Then we are on the motorcycle to go to the dancing quarter for my second ever Dance Classique ( ballet ) lesson, and Lazarelli, the instructor who danced in the Romanian Ballet Company remembers my name and I'm not too bad. We discover the church nearby called St Gervais. Beautiful church where adoration was on from 7 til 9. Then off to some more salsa dancing by the river Seine. Simon dances with about 7 girls, but I am not in the mood and so we go to a student bar behind the Pantheon where a girl grabs my butt. It was a welcome interruption and we talked for a while.

Sun - Back to my church that I love for a Latin mass. And then meet with Simon. I have to wait an hour for him. I am hungry, thirsty, tempted to go to Starbucks. I walk past it and spot a little french boloungeie just up the road. Starbuck beckons, but I am strong and enter the french place and order in my fractured french. I can survive in this city.

We meet up and get a vole - a Paris Cycle for one euro and we pedal in glee to the Champs de elysee. We watch the tour. Where no one is racing, just riding. Apparently it is not the done thing to race on the last day. Dinner tonight is in a small piano bar. We are eating dessert when Dominic Bowen appears. We chat, I ask him for a job he says maybe. This is the way to do business in Europe.

Then we drop by the Oz bar and the bourse, again on bicycle. Finally we go another bar and then to bed. Thanks Simon. Thanks Paris.

I am still yet to go up the Eiffel Tower and to the Louvre. Am I saving them for something special? A honeymoon perhaps? Je ne cest pas.