Strolling through Paris

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The bulk of my stay in Paris was clouded over with grey skies, rain, and predictably cold weather. But the last two days were unseasonably warm and sunny. So...since my bus (Euroline) didn't leave until nighttime I decided to take a stroll through the famous city, and see if I couldn't fall in love with it.

 
I started with Notre Dame. Entrance is free - after all it IS a church - and I walked the whole circumference. Sooooo many statues and altars and saints this-and-that and the architecture - the architecture! - is jaw-dropping amazing. It is a marvel to take in. From there I strolled to the little park behind the church and sat down for a little bit. Then walked across the bridge covered with people's locks. I think they are 'love' locks meant to symbolize couple's devotion to one another. Interesting but a bit too kitch for my tastes (last week I noticed the same fad growing on Frankfurt's famous bridge).  


I didn't enter the museum but I did walk through the Louvre's court yard and saw the enigmatic glass pyramid structure. Then onto the gardens with sculptures and tiny bush mazes. If you walk inside the bushes you won't find any rabbit hole but you will be amazed at the sheer litter of used condoms. Rubbers, rubbers, rubbers everywhere! I'm short so crouching through was not so difficult but I find it hard to imagine so many (short) people regard this as the perfect spot to screw...but there lay the evidence. So much for romance!

On the way back to the subway I could see the Eiffel Tower. I went to it last year so didn't feel up to walking to it (but it would've taken, maybe, fifteen minutes to reach it on foot)...plus I was hungry. Then a woman bent down and shouted, "Oh! I found a gold ring!" Indeed. I saw her reach down but didn't see her pick up anything. When she kept trying to give it to me I knew something was fishy.

1. No one in the history of mankind and the world has EVER given away gold
2. A poor person does not give away valuables to perfect strangers
3. This girl was a Gypsy -- and Gypsies ARE full of shit
4. This author is not a fool

The nerve of that chick! A very pleasant stroll otherwise. 

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St Christopher's Inn - Paris

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group pic in Paris hostel

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Stayed at St Christopher's Inn this last trip in Paris. I'd just left Berlin and slept at the St Christopher's Inn in Mitte, and really enjoyed their operation so...I looked them up when I hit France. 


My first night was a bust: rainy, chilly, and zero vacancy. Arrgh! So I went and bought a locker in a sauna and spent the  night inside warm, relaxed, and very, very clean....
Now back to the hostel: I slept in a 12-bed dorm room BUT it was a seriously spacious room and didn't feel cramp at all. My bed was comfortable and came with a reading light, two power outlets and a curtain for a little privacy and shutting out light. Great wi-fi connection. I ended up staying three nights.

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Racism in Munich

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Last week while in Munich I experienced a stark deja vu: racism.


More accurately this was a repeat; for deja vu means to sense one has encountered  the thing before. I wasn't sensing a fuzzy memory of anything...I was targeted because of my black skin -- and I know very clearly what that feels like.


Just like two years ago I was hurrying through Munich Hbf (main train station) and just like two years ago I was racially profiled and 'casually' stopped by a pair of undercover pigs who, naturally, were looking for drugs. (Naturally all black men deal in drugs -- or are illegal Africans.) They called in my passport number. They left disappointed. Less than two minutes later - more like 35 seconds! - ANOTHER pair of undercover pigs stop me from moving from the spot I had yet from which to move. They, too, demanded to see my passport and one of them actually tried to argue it, the passport, was inadequate/insufficient identification. Supposedly these two Bavarian assholes were of a separate branch of law enforcement than the previous Bavarian assholes.

Apparently Munich is the only EU member with borders

Let me get this straight: multiple branches of police patrol Munich Hbf and they don't communicate with each other...they don't share information?
And, if that is true, it is not only pathetic and unorganized but also MORE racist because it means I was independently stopped and searched by, not one, but two police agencies in less than 90 seconds apart in a big bustling train station...where, yes, I was the only black as far as my eyes could detect. (And two years ago it was during uber crowded Oktoberfest! But, my, racist pigs do have eyes like eagles.) Loads of travellers and backpackers pass through this travel hub but so long as those travellers look Oriental or blond or white or, maybe even, downright African with the tribal robes and stuff it is not as suspicious as a lone black man in Western clothes. Apparently Munich is the only EU member with borders. That the exact same thing happened to me also means this was not racist individuals but, rather, racist police training: the pigs were doing as they were trained to do: seek out dark skin travellers. 


I was glad to leave Munich because you want to know something? Freedom is mobility.

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Carpooling.co.uk

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I tried carpooling.co.uk again -the English side of mitfahrgelegenheit.de - and made a reliable contact owing to the website's new booking system. With the booking feature, both riders and drivers go "on record" as agreeing to go through with the trip. Should the driver or rider cancel for any reason then the agreed fee is still paid and, at the least, the other party gets an explanation or apology.


What really pissed me off with using mitfahrgelegenheit.de was that too many drivers just flaked out or overbooked, leaving me stranded and having to scramble a Plan B. There was no accountability. Now I only search for rides/drivers which use the new booking system to CONFIRM the trip is on.


The driver got us to Munich in three hours. The autobahn is a wonderful thing!  And unlike most German drivers he actually stopped for food break along the way -- and we still made it there in under four hours.  

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Bye-bye Berlusconi

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What a difference a year makes. Last year around this time I was in Rome - saw the Coliseum, Vatican City, the pyramid, Sistine Chapel! - and Prime Minister Berlusconi, the Italian version of George W (only a much more competent businessman), was in the midst of a vote of confidence. He barely won. But instead of mending the divisiveness he and his all thumped their chests and smirked and cheered, "Haha! We're still in power!"


Thirteen months later he's out of power...and humiliated -- much like his turd face friend Gadahfi. 


Bonga-bonga, baby!

Il mio paisano! Que paso baby?

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Fundburo (Lost & Found)

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As the saying goes, When in Rome..., only in this case Rome is Berlin and the very model German behaviour is returning lost items. (I would not so generously suggest turning oneself into a German. Nein, nein, nein. They are worrisomely serious (note the italics) about recycling, animal rights, and Green power.)


At least three times last month I found lost items on the subway in Berlin. One was a pair of ladies winter gloves then there was something else and the one I'm most proud of was a cellular phone. Don't misunderstand: I'm not bragging. Last winter I hopped off the bus to run and catch the S-Bahn line. Unfortunately my phone stayed behind on the bus. You can read about it here.

So...I saw this as a golden apple dropped by Atlanta, a test of conscience, an opportunity to complete the circle and repay the good that was done me. I ran ahead to the conductor and tapped on the window, waving the phone. He took his hand off the gear and rolled down the window. He smiled, "Ja, bitte?" (In NYC the smug motherfucker would've flat out ignored me and kept on roaring through that rat infested, poor excuse of a metropolitan subway system. I highly doubt American Lost & Found's have many reclaimed items. We have a saying: Finders keepers, losers weepers; or even more melodramatically heartless, Too bad, too sad.) 


"Someone lost this handy," I quickly explained and added in my limited German, "Fundburo?"


"Oh! Okay," he said. "Danke! Auf wiedersehen."


The exchange was so typically German I almost half-expected to turn around and see youth in liederhosen playing the tuba. Off he went into the tunnel and off I went to wrestling practice.


It was a really nice phone, too. Then again, temptation is rarely un-pretty. 

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Crossfit Mean Streets group pic (L.A.)

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Here's a nice nice group pic of the Mean Streets bunch. They're all smiling so this was probably snapped before the daily exercise regiment....  

Crossfit Mean Streets

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Joggers abound in Paris

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Parisians certainly do like to jog! The weather has been 90% cold and crappy during my visit yet the Parisians lace up their running shoes and trot out. In fact, this morning while having breakfast I looked up and saw a group of fit men in matching navy blue sweatshirts and red shorts jogging about. Not a one of them wore a skull cap or gloves. I think they were firemen recruits...but since I don't read French I couldn't discern what was written on the back of their shirts. For sure they were all white. Paris has lots of black - and I mean BLACK! - people but none of them feel compelled to run in the cold ass morning in short ass shorts and no head covering. Since there was no rainbow on these joggers' shirts and since it was also unfashionably cold as #%@! I don't think it was another homosexual rights group 

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Mitfahrgelenfucked

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Ridesharing, or hitch-hiking, in Europe is still common and lawful (unlike our free America). One popular connection site is a German one called Mitfahrgelegenheit.de, which is German for "rideshare", but, unfortunately the Germans who post rides on the website are less than typically organized and upfront. In fact, they are goddamn liars.


Twice - twice! - in one day last week I was burned by German drivers offering rides to Basel, Switzerland. Possibly it was the same jerk who posted two separate announcements but, either way, he flaked out and I was left stranded wondering what to do asap. In short I was mitfahrgelegenfucked. That is not a pleasant position in which to be. With my Swiss travel plans screwed I managed to get a bed in the very happening Berlin hostel, St-Christopher's Inn on Rose-Luxemburg Strasse, for 13.50euros.

In short I was mitfahrgelegenfucked

Stayed two nights when a last-minutes rideshare to Paris came through (50euros). It was through the same website BUT the driver/organizer was French, not German. The ride was twelve hours long but comfortable.
And unlike German drivers we actually took bathroom breaks! Yes, a stick-up-his-ass German would honestly try to drive to Paris, France, from Berlin, Germany sans any stop that wasn't related to a gasoline fill-up.


Arrived to Paris with no problems and plenty of good music en route. Unfortunately it was raining by the time of our arrival. A rainy night in Paris....

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