Best T-Shirt and Best Couple Sightings - Day Two

Best T-Shirt sighting today goes to a 20 something young man with a sickly pale complexion and a thin, unmuscled frame. No doubt suffering from lack of attention his T-Shirt screams out, "Look at Me/Look at Me!". . . Now, while still contemplating the need for even one, "Look at Me," one is stumped by the requirement for two, but you realize that the second one is upside Down at the hash mark and that explains everything.
I am feeling a little bad about today's winner of the "Couple of the Day" contest. Yes, another set of "Guy Friends" has won today's prize as well. Now, as you know we are very supportive of the Gay lifestyle and are 100% sure they would understand and almost certainly be proud. With that covered, today's winners: Guy One; Tall, thin with a Woody Woodpecker haircut dyed blonde (At least that is what I call it) and tastefully tight maroon leather pants topped off with a delightful brown leather jacket and Orange scarf, black Beatles boots. Guy Two; Tall, equally thin and  also sporting a black Woody Woodpecker haircut, but with Orange slacks, red suede shoes and a  Buffalo Bill Leather coat with fringe up both sleeves and across the back. It was stunning! Thinking back on this, I know these two would be proud winners. Unlike yesterday's winners, these guys had worked very hard on these outfits and and put it ALL together. Congratulations. Sorry, no pictures. One just can't ask these prize winners to stop for promos pics.

Sit back! You must Relax!

One of the great joys of stayin' put for a few days is that you can take a day off from "Vacationing" and just chill. That's us today. We walked over by the Villages of St. Paul, but there wasn't much going on, so we hoofed it to the isle de St. Louis for some street walking. We bought some heavenly EVOO and snagged a falafel in the Jewish quarter and came home. 

Below is a picture of one of the many neighborhood fresh markets. Most are tiny with one guy running the place and selling the freshest of fresh fruits and vegetables. We go here everyday - sometimes more than once just to look, smell, touch and dream. 

When there isn't fruit and vegetables to sell there is always the essentials of life: PORK & WINE:

Two new Blog Features!

Today we are adding two new Blog Features: "Best Couple Sighting" and "Best T-Shirt Sighting."
We call them "sightings"  because in most cases we can't get pictures. In many cases It would just be rude or in today's "Best T-Shirt Sighting" - Dangerous!
Today's obnoxious T-Shirt  . . . STRIKE BEFORE BEING STRICKEN!. . . This being worn by a rather Neanderthalish looking brute with an I.Q. Of about 73. We stayed clear.
Today's "Best Couple" was a pair of "Guy friends" out of shape, in their late 50s with bad haircuts and bad dye jobs, but that was not the startling part. The thing that put them over the top in today's voting was their matching (?) outfits. . . Guy one was sporting long Bermuda shorts  in a charming pastel plaid with an unmatched, but still pastel, plaid shirt. Guy Two was also wearing plaid pastel shorts (different from guy one, but complementary) and . . . Wait for it. . . . . An outrageously flamboyant paisley shirt in several pastel shades, but with a decidedly purple cast. We nearly ripped the zippers off our Bagalinis getting to our cameras, but they were gone before we could grab the Canons. I'd pay serious money to have a picture of today's winning couple, but I suppose tracking them down and tackling them was out of the question. I must also add I've never seen a happier, more confident couple than these two guys. My hat's off to them. Whatever floats your boat!

At first we were going to a museum. . .

At first we were going to a museum, but the weather goddess said, "No Dummy! Don't do that, it is too nice out to go inside, Go Outside." So we turned around, caught the Metro and headed for Montmartre. Known mostly for the artist community that has lived there for centuries it also is the home of Sacre Coeur the giant white cathedral on the highest hill in Paris. 

The sign outside Sacre Coeur says, "For 125 years someone has been praying to The Lord 24 hours a day, 7days a week." All I can say is,"That's a lot of praying." They do have a nice church and we've got proof. There is a big intimidating sign saying, "No Photos inside," and there are several watchful guards. Still Paula was able to snap the following photo just before they hauled her off to a Paris jail to await trial. Luckily I grabbed the camera and am able to show you the sparkling interior ceiling mosaic. it is a stunning piece of art work! 

I'm hoping to be rejoined with Paula soon. She is a great travel companion. Now that I have her memory stick, however, I'll try to post some pictures that were taken before they locked her up. Did someone say, "Gargoyles?"

A Little bit about our home

To the left you'll find a picture of our living room. Our Landlord is a French Literature Professor so all the walls are floor to ceiling books. It is very comforting. About 10% are in English. Duane thinks he can finish them in 4 weeks. There is one book that has all of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture that weighs about 20 lbs. Duane will be inside this one for at least 3 weeks. There is also one of Andy Warhol's work. That will take 10-20 minutes.
We have eaten in our apartment 3 out of the 4 nights we've been here. Here you'll find our version of Tagliatelle and Pomodores . . . We find that with generous doses of Luberon wine, garlic and EVOO everything is scrumptious. There is a fruit market on almost every corner and when there isn't a fruit market there is a boulangerie, vegetable market or charcuterie. Life is Grand. We go nowhere without our bag in which to carry stuff home. We bring new meaning to the term, "Bag Lady."
"Walking About" notice: In Rome, one must watch out for motor scooters, they're everywhere, they're fast, but they won't hit you. In Paris, there is the added worry of bikers (As in Bicycles), skate boarders and kids on push scooters and they're all on the side walks!!! They aren't supposed to be (I don't think), but there they are! So far we've escaped major injury and we've only tripped up one or two ourselves, so we think we're ahead of the game. We're keeping a watchful eye and hoping for at least a draw. Tomorrow is another day. We'll try to play nice, but make no guarantees.

We hope you'll understand

Before you go any further you must know that we posted NO pictures of famous dead people's graves. Sure, we saw them (Chopin, Wilde, Seurat, Modigliani, Delacroix, Morrison, etc) but none of them figured into our picture show. Heloise and Abelard, however, did make it into our photo collection. Who could keep them out?!?!? The one thing that we found extremely interesting was the lipstick "Kisses" on Oscar Wilde's grave marker. This head stone is quite large (Probably 6' X 12' and 10 feet high) completely surrounded by a protective plexiglass wall five feet high (Supposedly to keep out the crazy people). The "kisses" required people (Women we assume) to load up with fresh lipstick, stand on someone else's grave and lean in over the plexiglass wall to "Kiss" his grave marker. This requires strength, flexibility, determination and a high powered fixation on a dead Irish poet. Fascinating!!! This requires some investigation.
The other cemetery oddity was at Jim's grave site (I know you expected something weird here). At the foot of his grave was a rather large tree wrapped in a bamboo sort of wrapping. That's NOT the weird part. The weird part was it was covered with splatches (Smashed wads) of used chewing gum. Most of these splatches had little messages written on them with permanent marker. . . Names, dates, love notes, tid-bits of affection, etc.. . . Now, I expect those who worshipped the "Lizard King" understand this. We do not! But it is rather nice (and creepy/nasty). Other than that all was normal. (Except for the stacking, of course.)

Soooooo Many Dead People

Today was Pere Lachaise Cemetary day. And when I say "Day" I mean the whole day! None of this half day stuff for us. Once again we walked to and from the Cemetery even though riding the Metro would have saved feet and legs. What can I say. . . "We love to walk in Paris." 

The guide books say this cemetery is around 105 acres, give or take a body or so. Now forget all you know about cemeteries. This is no giant green park with grass and trees and open spaces. This is wall to wall bodies from start to finish stacked on top of one another like dominoes. We believe whole families are stacked like cord wood in one small plot one on top of the next. Sorry about that Grandma.

One thing you have learned by now. . . We do very little research and make no promises as to the accuracy of this blog. We just report what we want and let it rip. Paula burned through one battery and started on the second before we ran out of steam and had to go in search of nutrition. 

I'll throw up some pics. There is little more to say. We loved this place with all those dead people and will probably come back with a freshly charged battery.