One week in

I have Friends!!
It's very exciting, honestly. I don't know what people did before the internet- just hang around in a bar on their own, hoping an other lonely soul will come and talk to them? Now we have the wonders of facebook and couchsurfing, millions of groups for strangers in Paris, even multiple versions of 'Au Pairs in Paris 2010', we can speed things up somewhat. Might not be the most natural way of making friends, and I doubt I'd do it at home, but needs must!

So after posting my desperate plea for friends on said website and getting some replies, yesterday I went to meet (blind-date style) 2 girls of whom I knew nothing except that they also look after children. Luckily they were both cool and not psychos, one a fellow Scot and a girl from Germany. We bought very expensive coffees near the Louvre, wandered in and- like most people- went straight for the Mona Lisa. It's a shame that they make you stay so far away from it- what is the point of having such a famous painting on show, making people queue to see it, then cordoning off about 5 metres in front of it? Even if we only go to see it because it's famous (which isn't true!) surely it's better to actually SEE it and be able to form some sort of opinion... better off with a postcard sadly.
It's really easy to get lost in there too. While looking for the 'sortie' signs I liked to test myself guessing the artist of paintings I recognised, art geek? Yes I am.

Had my first ham and cheese crepe yesterday, followed by my second today. Yum.

Later I met a girl who I'd met at the au pair cafe, for a Starbucks and a film. I know- why go to Starbucks, go to a real cafe... but it's damn cheaper! Anyway found another nice one at Odeon (a place near me with lots of cinemas) with big people-watching/sketching windows upstairs, perfect for hiding in from the rain. Saw Wall Street in english with french subtitles. Subtitles were good, when the film was a bit slow I could test my translation...

Later still met the weegie girl from earlier for a couple of pints, unfortunately duped by totally deceiving menu&signage and paid 8euro each, twice. Shudder.

Up again today and went to meet some different girls- this time American, Romanian-Swiss and Hungarian. (I think.) Coffee and the now-usual questions: Arrondissement? With family or in a studio? How many kids? Ages? And the parents? Do you have to drive? Cook? What did you do before this? How old are you then?! (So far mainly this one directed at me- but 23 is not that old!!)
To Montmartre, passed on the second-hand shop knowledge, up to the Sacre Coeur, (crepe), back down, getting the hang of the metro, meeting people is really tiring, home, 'theirs' for dinner, washing, back here to write this, soon going back to theirs to sleep because I start at 5.30am tomorrow.

Missing Nuit Blanche.
Trying not to think about it.