Paris: 27 June, 1999

Voyage To the 20th

Well, I made it into my new place, the one I was yakking about on the 20th of May. It's a great place! It's in the 20th arrondissement which is a little ways away from the hustle and bustle of the center of town, but only 15 minutes away via the metro. It's quiet, and the coolest thing is that the windows have these shades on them that crank down, and when closed you can't tell what time of day it is because it's so damn dark! I love sleeping in like this, especially after a late night out and about in Paris. The sun comes up and it's like midnight in here. I'm really happy to be here. Thanks again, Guy! Here's the well lit poor-man's panorama, facing the windows.

Lots of chairs and sunshine! The balcony looks out on Rue Saint Fargeau. The right side of the living room with the "office." The obligatory new office set-up. The salon (another room) is to the right with the door closed. It's great! I've got a phone line hooked up to a local server that talks to my server at home for 30 Francs an hour (5 bucks) so I can get all web-work done from home. It works well. I highly recommend for anyone travelling to use the iPass System. It allows you use your existing user name and password to connect to your home server through a vast network of local servers all across the planet. Paris has six numbers I can dial into, other cities less, others more. Well moving always sucks, but at least this time I didn't have as much crap to move as when I moved out of Alameda. This is the last shot of the place on rue Mademoiselle, pre-exit. Bye-bye, 15th. Bye-bye rue Mademoiselle, rue Commerce, 3 Ducks Hostel. I'll be back to visit soon. Now it's time to haul all the crap to the snazzy new place... How exactly did I do it you ask? Why I rented a fabulous sports car, of course. How else does one move around in Paris?!? Bond; James Bond YES! My new favorite past-time is driving in Paris! It is a RUSH! Steering wheel in one hand and the trusty-dusty Paris Pratique in the other. Here's the sexy Alfa Romeo that I got instead of the Renault they promised me because they ran out of cars just as I got there. So I got this little fire-plug of a five-speed for the same price! WOW, it's fun! I highly recommend it, although it is dangerous. You gotta watch out for pedestrians crossing right in front of you, lanes disappearing right before your eyes and other cars squeezing into you "space" at 40 mph. Not for the faint at heart! OK, so steering wheel in one hand, and the Paris Pratique AND the camera in the other! Just a couple of shots for the road: Miguel and my newest buddie, Rabah. (Yes, another Rabah.) He's Kabyle too, but he talks like an Italian: always with his hands! He thinks he's Frank Sinatra as he's always singing "My Way," and Miguel thinks he's Mike Tyson. Here he is chatting with some locals walking by. He's always chatting people up, especially the cute young female ones! It's impossible to take a shot of him without his hands in the air in expression! He's a workout fanatic. He boxes, that's why Miguel calls him Mike Tyson. This guy was at first very scary. He's very well built, kinda looks and acts like a gangster, and has this huge scar on his neck, but once I got to know him under the tough guy exterior, he's really a sweetheart

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