Ahh, Paris... 5/22/08

In the morning I found myself packing up my stuff again. The hotel I was staying in only had this one night available, and unfortunately had filled up for tonight which meant that once again I was out on the street. That was ok though, because this particular hotel was way too expensive for me to stay in anyway. I tried to get in touch with some of my friends in the area to see if by any chance rooming with any of them was an option. However unfortunately, it wasn't. Again, I continued my search for an open hotel. Thankfully, this time I didn't have to go very far. This area was a goldmine for cheap hotels. They were all over the place, and one of them was bound to be available eventually. The further toward the red light district, the cheaper they got. I soon found another hotel with 2 more nights open at an increasingly lower cost, so I booked the room both nights. Once I'd had the hotel situation figured out again, I opened up my map to decide what to do today. It seemed that most things I wanted to see were all over by the Louvre area. The Notre Dame was only a short walk away, as well as The Place de la Concorde, and all of the streets that Les Miserables took place on. I hopped on the metro and headed down that direction.

I got off just a couple streets away from Notre Dame, and as I walked through the streets surrounding it, I listened to the soundtrack of Les Miserables. At Javert's Suicide, I stood on the bridge where it might have happened. At the song, On My Own, I walked down the silver pavement and along the river she speaks of. I wandered around the slums of St Michel (which aren't so much slums anymore), where Gavroche was from. At Rue De Marche, I looked for where the barricade might have been standing. It was so cool to see the spots that Victor Hugo had mentioned. I'd performed a version of Les Miserables in High School, and the streets I had in my minds eye were these very streets I was walking on now.

I eventually found my way over to Notre Dame, and stood at the entrance. I actually expected it to be a whole lot bigger. It was beautiful, that was for sure, but it didn't look quite as massive as what's perceived in particularly the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In that movie, the place looks gigantic, as if you wouldn't even be able to see the top. However, in reality it's even slightly dwarfed by some of the surrounding buildings. Upon entering, I realized that what the Notre Dame lacks in height, it certainly makes up for in depth. There were several alters, and corridors leading to regions deep inside. It took quite a while just to walk all the way around the ground floor inside. Above were several layers of balconies, riddled with doors and corridors which seem to lead to nothing. I could see how you might loose a hunchback in this Cathedral. There would be many places for him to hide. I sat on the pews and prayed for my journey, as I listened to opera music play through the speakers in the main hall, showing off the amazing acoustics.

After Exiting, I got a message from Vivian (the girl I met in Italy) saying we should meet up at Ponte Neuf near the Notre Dame. I agreed, and we planned to meet there in a hour. During my hour, I made my way towards the Louvre, and bought a Crepe on the way. I walked around the park there until it was time to meet up with Vivian.

I waited for her at Ponte Neuf metro station, and leaned against the bridge. I tried to look as cool and appealing as possible, but the sad truth of the matter is that I look like someone who's been traveling for 3 months, or been cast awayed on an Island. However, I suppose I also looked pretty similar to this when I met her, so I'm sure she expects it. She showed up just a couple minutes after the hour on the wrong side of the street. I noticed her, and called out her name. She looked over, and then crossed the street to meet me. We made small talk, catching up a little since we last met. She doesn't speak very much English, and I don't speak any Chinese nor very much Italian, so it was interesting at first, to try to communicate. She does however, do very well at, at least understanding English. So I found that as long as I keep the words fairly simple we got along fine. We walked over around the other side of the Louvre, near where she was living and stopped at a cafe and ordered some drinks. I just had water, and she had 7up. The waiter was quite confused with our orders, but finally gave in and gave us what we wanted. We talked about each other, asking questions about each of our lives. I was particularly interested to learn about her life in China. We talked about the many differences between China and United States. She's never been to the US, and I've never been to China. She said that she was an only child, and most families in China are only allowed one child per household, so her family is very small. I mentioned in contrast, that my family is the biggest, loudest bunch you'd ever see. I talked about my family some, and she seemed quite interested. We got to talking about professions, and I asked her what her plans were after school. She's already completed her bachelors and is working on her master's in some school in Rome. After all that is done, she wanted to move back home and teach music. She plays the Koto, which is a Chinese stringed instrument, similar to a harp but it's played horizontally rather than vertically. She told me some about her roommates, and mentioned one who speaks fluent English. She wanted to take me to meet them afterwards so that, she said jokingly, I could have a good conversation speaking English.

After we payed our bill, We went back to her apartment where I got to meet her 3 chinese roommates. There was one who spoke French, Vivian spoke Italian, and the other one, Ya-ya (she had me call her), spoke English, and of course they all spoke to each other in Chinese. The last roommate, I met briefly just as she was going out, but she wasn't there for any of the rest of the time I was. I had such a fun time talking and laughing with the 3 of them. Vivian happens to be an excellent cook, and she made us all a very traditional Chinese meal. Afterwards, they argued over who had to do the dishes. They've been playing "rock, paper, scissors" all week, and somehow Ya-Ya was undefeatable. Once again, this proved true but they made her do them anyway because the others were tired of doing them all week. Vivian and I sat on the couch/bed thing in the center of the room and watched a Beyonce concert on her laptop. I wanted to ask her on a date since I first saw her here, but now at the right time, Ya ya was still right there in the room, and I couldn't bring myself to make a complete ass of myself and blurt it out while Ya ya was standing right there. I took out my Blackberry and flipped to a notepad. On the screen I wrote out: "I'm trying to figure out some way to ask you out on a date... How would I do that?" And handed the phone to her. She took the phone, giving me a strange look and then began reading the text. As she read it, her cheeks blushed and she held in a smile. She looked up at me and asked, "What, right now tonight? Or tomorrow?" "Tonight if possible..." I said back. She didn't say anything more, but got up and said something to her friend in Chinese, and then put on a jacket. "You ready?" she beckoned me up. I got up, and followed her out the door.

We decided to go walking towards a museum which Cara and Carolyn told me was free tonight, however I couldn't remember the name of it. We made our best guess, and decided it was probably the one very close to here. As we walked, we talked a bit more. "You're very smart (clever)," she said to me regarding the way I asked her out, and then she'd smile and blush again. She inquired into my life a bit more, seeing as how we were now on a date. The museum we came to was closed, so instead we picked a direction and just started walking. Along the way, we found a gelatoria and bought ice cream. The lady giving the gelato shaped mine into a rose, which was pretty amazing, so we took pictures of it. Continuing on, wandered into the courtyard of a big beautiful church. The church was famous, but I can't think of the name of it. Then in the gardens we stopped, and sat down on some concrete steps around a massive sculpture near a trickling fountain. We ate our gelato and talked some more, and when we'd finished off our gelato, we got walking again.

In the gardens, she asked me if I had a girlfriend back home. I told her no. "How could that be?" She said with a smile. "That's a very long story," I replied back. She let loose a shy laugh. "It's probably a mixture of several things," I added. Then I changed the subject to her. "What about you? Is there a special someone back home in China?" I don't know why I expected the answer to be no, but she hesitated and then said to the floor, "I met someone here in Paris; a Chinese boy." "Oh..." I said trying to sound encouraging, but I must have let slip my surprise. "Don't be sad!" She said patting me on the back. "He's the chinese boy with the motorcycle I told you about earlier." I hadn't remembered anything about that. There was a long silence, and then I broke it. "Well so are you and this Chinese boy 'together' then?" "Well, no" she said hesitating again, "he's not my boyfriend." Then she went on, "I told him I'd have to think about it for a while. We barely know each other, we just met here in Paris. We have to be friends for a long time first, otherwise it won't last, there'll be a big painful breakup, and we can't even be friends anymore." "I see..." I told her. Then a thought occurred to me. "What if there was a guy who was just traveling around, and only had a certain number of days to be here in Paris." "A guy from China?" She said confused. "No, well...ok, sure" I stammered. "Anyway, this guy from 'China'," I mimicked quotations with my fingers, "and you, could be together for the time being because there would be no messy breakup. In the end, the guy lives way on the other side of the world, so you wouldn't have to see him everyday, or keep a relationship." "But he lives in China..." She interrupted, still not getting it. "No, he lives in America." "What?" Now lost and thoroughly confused. "No no, look" I stopped and tried to start again, but instead I looked at her and said, "Look, I guess what I'm trying to say is..." I paused for a long time, trying to figure out how to say it. Finally I just blurted it out in plain form. "Can I kiss you?" The words sank deeply into the moment, and saturated it. She was visually somewhat taken aback, and she looked down at her feet and bit her bottom lip. "That's a very hard question," she finally said. "You're absolutely right! That's a hard question, but I put it out there, and now it's out there." I was nervously rambling and I knew it, but at this point I just figured I had to go for it. Sometimes just saying what's on your mind bluntly is the best way to go, and this was as blunt as I could make it. "That's a terrible question," she said, looking up at me with playful distain. "You're right, I totally agree! Bad question, it's one which has no answer." We were playing back and forth now, listing all the ways we could attack that question. The playful banter broke the tension, and she commented, "It must be very different in America. In China we never ask 'Can I kiss you', we just find the right time and do it." "Actually," I replied, "we don't usually ask in America either. I just was hearing you're little shbeil earlier, and thought I'd better ask before trying anything or I might just get a clear cut slap in the face." She laughed. "I'm not going to slap you!" "Good to know," I made a mental note, taking a hint. We walked a little further under one of the arches of the Louvre. I grabbed her by the hand, and pulled her gently towards me, then began leaning into her. She laughed, and pulled away leaving me in a very awkward pose, halfway into a kiss. "I didn't ask this time!" I said in playful frustration. "Let me think about it a while," reenacting what she told the other guy. "Ok." I replied cooly, and smiled as she waited for me to catch up. She lead me around the courtyard of the Louvre, giving me the grand tour of the place. She was noticeably gitty, and I was happy that she was happy. She walked me through the fountains in the spaces between the big glass pyramids out in front, and had me get up with her on the base of the main pyramid. We talked about some unrelated things, and eventually moved over to a bench across the way. We sat down there and made small talk until the sun started to go down, and the lights of the Pyramids, and of the Eiffel tower, began to shine. We sat in the dusk, talking about this and that. At one point, while I was in the middle of a sentence, she just reached out and stroked my beard. I stopped whatever I was saying. "You having fun?" "Yeah" she replied. She asked me several questions about my beard, and asked if I had a picture of me without it. I didn't, but I told her that it used to be just a small goatee, and then I grew it into a travel beard. She laughed, like she does often, with a simple coyishness, and said she wasn't all that fond of it, but she understood that one had to have a beard for a journey such as this. She told me I was certainly something interesting with my long beard, asking for kisses. "I'll tell you what," I said "Let's play a game." I pulled out my compass, and turned it face down in my hand. "I want you to guess which direction we're facing right now, and if you're wrong, I get to give you a little kiss." Her face lit up like she wanted to laugh again, and she stared at me like "are you serious?" She didn't say anything though, instead she looked forward and searched the sky for some signs of which way North was. "It's still dusk," I told her "There aren't any stars out yet." I grinned proudly, and she looked back at me in disbelief. "What's it gonna be?" I continued, knowingly. I wasn't worried. What I didn't explain to her was that compasses don't point to true North, just magnetic north, and magnetic north is somewhere over Canada. You have to subtract the number of degrees depending on what part of the world you're in, in order to get an accurate reading. Here in France the dial is off by about 30 to 45 degrees. Even if she got it right on, which she didn't anyway, the dial on the compass would still show something different. "South!," she said finally after much deliberation. "South? Are you sure? Not south east, or east by south east, but due south." I gave her a grin and was about to turn the compass over. "East!" She said at the last second. I stopped, "East? You sure? Final answer?" "Yes," she said confidently. I flipped over the compass. The needle spun and turned, and finally settled North East.

"So sorry," I said in a quiet voice, with a friendly smile. "She turned to me, looked up and bit her bottom lip again. "Ok" She stared straight ahead. "Ok?" I confirmed in almost a whisper. Her lips drew up into a small, half smile and she raised he chin slightly. I slid in a little closer, and held her gently against me. As I leaned in, I halted for a second hovering my lips just above hers, and then touched them down softly. Pulling back again, I checked her face for a reaction. She opened her eyes, and took in a long deep breath. "That's a good game," she finally concluded. I cracked a smile and leaned in again, this time she met me halfway.

We kissed as the sun finished its decent into the earth, and the only light came from French street lamps and illuminated monuments. Behind us, the Eiffel Tower shone brightly in the distance. A choir from in the side the halls of the Louvre was performing, and completed the beautiful ambiance of the moment. A while later, she pulled back and looked at her watch. "In a couple minutes, I want to show you something." She said excitedly. I reacted as any man reacts when a woman he's kissing wants to "show him something," I said, "Ok!" And did a little dance in my head. However, of course, it didn't turn out to be that.
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