Paris: 11 April, 1999:

The Perfect Day(s)

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11, April

I'm smokin' a 100% Cuban cigar I got from the train station for just under $12, It's 3:30AM in the morning on Monday (6:30 PM Sunday night for you Californians) and I've already been to an outstandingly COOL club/restaurant, Le Reservoir with a great soul funky band ("Baksheesh") and awesome food, a swell inexpensive sushi house near Le Jardin de Luxembourg in the Quartier Latin where the students go to eat sushi and chain-smoke, and I have been hanging out with Saji's girlfriend and her sister for two nights in Paris. I STILL don't want to go to sleep!

There is a vending machine in the lobby of Hotel Little that has Heineken's for 13 francs (at about 6 French Francs to the dollar just less than 2 bucks) 24 hours a day, a good bottle of Bordeaux is about 5 bucks at the markets, I've adopted the truly french/jazz time of getting up at noon and going to bed at 4AM because there's just too much going on after midnight here, I'm walking about 3-5 miles a day in my nouvelle' Catepillar shoes, the Cuban cigars here are the REAL thing, the women are all beautiful, there are great restaraunts EVERYWHERE on every corner from all around the world, and the coffee is fresh in the morning at the cafe/brasserie on the corner. And yes, the people are very friendly (if you at least TRY to speak french while you're there.)Yeah, life is pretty cool right now.

Yes, I am a Parisian, as of Friday, the 9th of April, 1999 and things are OK in my world. I've met some locals so I don't have to be a complete tourist, the guy who runs the bar on the corner plays my CD all day on the in-house PA over and over, the guy at the hotel loves it too, I've found a great internet cafe, Cafe Orbital to do my work at, and I think I've already lost about 10 pounds walking all over Paris (OK, that's wishful thinking...) but life kinda rules right now. I highly recommend to anyone thinking they should quit their job and move to Paris that they should DO IT immeditely!

This is the view at 3AM from my window at my place of residence for April, Hotel Little (pardon the "poor man's panorama," and the smoke from the Montecristo Torpedo...) Speaking of Saji & Nicole, this restaurant is Libanaise...

Note to self: Even at this hour, out of 32 cars I've seen go by in about 10 minutes, well over 50% of them (17) have been taxi's. So I'm confident that the necessity for transportation after the metro closes at 1AM is sufficiently padded by the plethora of inexpensive cabs in the City of Lights, and will accomodate after those late night gigs.

OK, a little teaser... Just because I havn't broken out the camera in all its glory yet, I still feel that I should give you a little view of what I see every day, walking through this fair city...

Ahh, the Champs-Elysées. Other than the Eiffel Tower, this is quite possibly the most recognizable image of Paris with the Arch de Triomphe in the distance.

The Gare de l'Est is walking distance from my palacial estate at 3 rue Pierre-Chausson.

More in the Images pages...

I've been here for the weekend already and I havn't even had time to take all those pictures I've wanted to. In other words I havn't been walking around with my camera strapped to my neck, looking like the real tourist that I am. But next week I promise I'll get right to it! Truth is, I'm happy to have been hangin' with the locals and not being a tourist quite yet: It's the only way to see the real Paris. But tomorrow is Monday and I'm looking forward to taking pic's of all the stuff I'm supposed to, while stopping at every little bar for un pression or un cafe' creme, grand (if it's before 4PM!)

The next items of business are: Find a place to live for May-Septmber, find some gigs, try to get some air-play on French jazz radio, and find the best wine for under 50FF!

More images soon. To all who care; I'm here, I'm friggin' happy, and I love you and miss you all See you in October. Now for the ole' site... Surf on, Wayne.