Right now, Phantasmaphile is in London for work, which leaves me home alone with the cats. I do what any self-respecting idiot would do when she's not around to notice what I'm doing: I sit and stare forward for minutes on end, watch television for a bit too long, open and close the fridge, and argue with the cats about who really deserves to eat my dinner.
On the night she left, I watched pro wrestling for two hours, then a bit of News, and then Animal Planet for a bit. Pathetic. I also had some beer. Which was truly pathetic, as I was alone.
The upside to all this weakness: On Friday I am off to El Camino Real to talk about Jesus and stuff some more for my job (what happened?), and then I'm off to meet her in Paris for four days.
So...crew...what should I do in Paris? I've never been.
About Me
- Freeman
- Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.
9 comments:
If these things are pathetic. I don't know who I am anymore.
Oh no!
Do. Not. Kill. Yourself.
...yet.
Paris? Don't know it as well as I'd like, so here's some of the obvious but necessary ones for me:
Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, the two modern art museums, the cemetaries (Pere Lachaise, Monparnasse), walk around a lot, so much beauty just there to find.
If there's a beautiful night, dusk, watching the sunset from a bridge over the Seine. I wandered into this my first night there and was stunned to tears by the LIGHT. Aha! I GOT Impressionism!
I'm sure there's great food, of course, but I was poor and living off bread and jars of nutella, so I have no idea where to go on that.
Ah, Paris... As wellvtratk as those mentioned, the Pompidou (though you've just missed the Herge exhibition - go TIN TIN!), the Rodin Museum, the Picasso Museum, Napoleon's Tomb (bizarre) and the Musee Cluny, which I loved - a real mediaeval herb garden outside and it has that beautiful tapestry of the Lady of the Unicorn. Don't forget the gardens, the Luxemburg Gardens are especially lovely, though I suppose it will be cold, I think it's snowing there. Wander through the Marais and find a nice cafe and treat yourself to a slap up lunch in a cosy restaurant with wooden booths and nice French posters. Avoid the internet charlatans around the Pompidou. Try the Moroccan restaurants.
Drink red wine with every single meal.
That's what I did.
Because the Musee d'Orsay was closed and it was sleeting all over the Eiffel Tower.
Alors, c'est tres French.
Oh man , you've just made me so homesick ! I haven't been home since last september 2005 and it wasn't for happy circumstances when i did.
Okay...
soo...
one thing that is really awesome ( and i still love doing it ) is taking one of the boats that go around for 1 hour on the seine. The best place to get them in at St Michel ( metro stop) and walk down to the seine and just pay and hop on. it's called the bateaux mouches . It's really a cool and beautiful way to see paris and they tell you fun facts about all the bridges.
the musee d'orsay as everyone else said.
also, in Les Halles ( metro stop) there is a really cool fountain , right by the forum des halles , designed by Niki de St Phalle. It's one of my favorite things ever.
go to the Pont Neuf at night. ( it's a bridge just ask) . it's just beautiful and so freaking romantic.
if you want to buy french music or plays , go to the FNAC stores.
at st michel, where you will catch the boat, you can walk around ( it's the student quartier latin and one of my favorite areas) and eat really good cheap kebabs.
watch out for pickpockets in the subway as they are a plenty. meaning, don't carry a backpack with your wallet right there because they are so quick and so good at just putting a blade through it and you don't even feel anything happen to you and your wallet just drops in their hands ! so keep your valuables not on your back !
i've got so much more but you only have 4 days. enjoy it !!!!!
it's not cheap but you'll have a great time.
do pay for the subway because fines are hefty if you cheat.
You MUST do three things...
Start a random conversation about poetry over a bottle of wine... mine was in a stairwell of a hostel - but location doesn't matter (neither does the poetry... but I drink White wine... allergies)
Walk along the river Seine - but Really along it... there's plenty of places you can skip off the overlooking footpath and actually get down to the bank, crossing under creepy bridges and stuff... don't fall in!
Walk - just walk... and look around (don't care if you look like a tourist - seriously!) there is more beautiful statuary in that town than any other I've had privilege to vist thus far...
I'd be more specific - but everyone else already said the "smart" things.
The sculpture garden at the Musee Rodin is truly one of the most wonderful places in Paris. It's probably too cold to sit outside at the cafe with a cheese plate, but do at least visit the museum and take a walk around the gardens. The Louvre and Orsay are great, but also enormous and somewhat overwhelming. The Rodin is much more manageable.
Musee Marmottan is another terrific, smaller museum in a beautiful townhouse. It's known for its Monet collection.
And if you speak any French, see if you can get in to see a play at the Comedie Francaise.
Buy lavish and extravagent souvenirs for your dearest and (especially) blondest friends.
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