Addendum to Dorca's and Dan's Paris Blog

Dorca and Dan say they were excited to check out "la ville des lumieres" back in April, but was I ever excited to receive them! For one, it has been too long since I have seen these good friends (see my Barcelona blog). But, for another, they are travellers more informed on their destination city and its "must-sees" than even good ole' Rick Steves. D&D came armed with a mile-long list of restaus, streets and shops to check out (Lenny Kravitz's L'As du Falaffel cafe being only one of the many highlights). This list, and many of its sites, will now be incorporated into Carina's Tour of Paris, for the benefit of future vistors!

Despite their superb blog about Paris, those jet-setters the Shaymanzars neglected a few details. They say they loved their hotel because of the hoppin' neighborhood and aroma of sewage, which then turned out to be delicious cheese. But, I think what really drew them to this quarter of the 6th arrondissement was the Catalan Cultural Center one block away. Coincidence? I think not. I think they are so entrenched in their Barcelonian ways, that they turn their noses up at us French (and our stinky cheese). They would have dined there on tapas every night if I (and Lenny Kravitz) hadn't pulled them away...

Where their adventurous side came out was in their eagerness to tap into the unusual. The wealth of free Parisian sidewalk toilet stalls is certainly not normal. So we all made a pitstop. Not only was it an educational experience, but social too. We found ourselves discussing the logistics of the toilet's "sanitizing system" with fellow anglophones in line. The picture below is so sweet that I think it should be framed next to their wedding portrait. (As you can see, by the man in the background getting his picture taken, this stall was a popular backdrop.)



I learned something else on their trip: Docra and I are museum compatible with each other, incompatible with Dan. Here you can see Dorca and Dan in the Musee D'Orsay sharing ther iPod to hear the Rick Steve's Audio Guide of the museum. Dan is already ready to move on. Just right after this picture was taken, he got fed up with Dorca and me for going through the museum at the pace of turtles and ditched us. (Maybe that explains why I had to plead with the museum guard to let us run through the that rooms we had missed before closing...)



Besides several cute new restaurants and neighborhoods, D&D introduced me to oyster stands. Sure I had seen them everywhere, was even intrigued, but never dared try them. Maybe it was new-found knowledge of how to use the port-o-potties that made us willing to risk food poisoning. And now you can see clearly that, if they were willing to eat raw seafood from the street, Dorca and Dan were quite open-minded eaters, not at all stuck on eating Catalan.



And, finally, a truly sweet picture, one that really should be framed next to their wedding portrait. Thanks so much for visiting me, and showing me so many new sides of Paris. The City of Lights---and I---miss you!