To Paris and back in 24 hours

So I got back from Paris around 7 pm today. I know, how cheesy is that, to be in Paris for Valentine's Day?! I assure you all it was a complete accident.
Myriam wanted to go to Paris on Friday night to see a concert. Saul Williams was playing at what turned out to be a reasonably small venue in one of the suburbs of Paris. Tickets were affordable enough, so I decided to go with her. Quell sera, sera! As you guys have read, this is now my third trip to Paris.

We took the bus for a change which worked out nicely. It took significantly longer, but it was half the price of even the cheapest train tickets on Thalys (the high speed train), so no one was complaining. But the ride was fun enough with Myriam's company. We talked mostly about a book of hers I'm reading right now on the way to Paris (it is called Cunt by Inga Muscio, I'd recommend it to just about anyone. In fact, I would even buy you a copy and mail it to you. It's a quick read, light on theory but heavy on emotion and opinion). On the way back Myriam handed me my ass well and thoroughly kicked in a game of Rummy.

So we got to Paris in the afternoon on Friday, just about the time kitchens were closing to prep for dinner. We walked around for a while but never found a suitable place for lunch. We had some odds and ends from a refrigerator case at one deli and called it a meal. Then we promptly walked across the street to and English pub called The Cricketer. Sat down and had a couple of pints before booking it for the concert.

The first band was Anthony Joseph and the Spasm Band. They played for the better part of an hour and got the audience tapping their feet some even danced in the aisle. They had a afro-carribo-jazz sound full of energy.



If you look closely- the woman in the crowd wearing a white sleeved shirt under a black tank top dancing like no body is watching is Myriam. Wee!
Followed by Saul Williams, I wish I had a clip for you but alas you'll have to look him up on youtube or saulwilliams.com I personally preferred his spoken word over his songs, but they were really good nonetheless.
The show let out around midnight and we headed back into the city to meet our Couch Surfing host. Pierre met us in the tiny little bar packed shoulder to shoulder with more quirk in one corner than I've seen in entire pubs before. It was nice to get off the Parisian beaten path for once. We stayed there until we were quite abruptly kicked out. I had to giggle at the experience, one minute we were chatting away in this dark noisy little place the next minute the proprietor flicked the lights on full bright and told us to get out in no uncertain terms. Not mean, just curt. No last call, no warning, just...get out. We wandered around a bit deciding if we were going to stay out or go home. In the end we decided to go home and have a few beers there. Pierre's apartment was tiny with an even smaller bed loft. We found out that we were in fact to be 6 sleeping there. Haha! He had 3 mattresses laid out in the loft and the couch downstairs. I ended up taking the couch around 5:30 am. Got about 4 hours of sleep and laid awake for a while until it was time to get up and pack to leave. Our return bus left at 1:30 which meant we needed to check in before 1.
We skipped breakfast and coffee to be on our way because I suspected the metro ride to the bus station was going to take about an hour. We made a pit stop at a convenience store and picked up some cookies and chips for the road. After we checked in at the bus station, we had a bit of time to kill so we ventured around the corner for a cappuccino and a croissant. That's pretty much all of my tale.
We did end up grabbing some rolls and cheese in the rest stop the bus stopped at en route for a bit of proper food. Topped the sandwiches off with tabbouleh and carrot salad, for lack of other condiments, that was a pretty descent sam'ich. Just in case you were wondering.