Paris – Page 3 of 8 – Rasmenian Detritus

Paris: Real & Surreal

August 4, 2010August 5, 2010 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

There are certain places around the globe you can go to that just don't seem real. Standing before certain buildings, monuments & natural wonders can often be a very surreal experience, feeling less like a day out of real life & a lot more like being on a movie set.Or, more accurately... in an actual movie.Whenever I go to Washington D.C., it feels bizarre to me, as though I've been inserted into the middle of a news report, or some exciting action flick. I've constantly got my eyes peeled for a bad guy to come tearing through the crowd, pursued by a determined hero with a pistol in his hand. I periodically check the skies for aliens, who as we all know, only land in major cities with well-known buildings & monuments.As anyone can imagine, Paris is no different. In fact, for Americans, it's probably even more surreal. Seeing something like the Eiffel Tower for the first time is an...

Flirtation & Fashion Shows in the Produce Section

June 22, 2010November 23, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

I was having lunch with a couple of French friends when the subject of grocery shopping came up. One might expect that walking into a store, looking for food & paying for it would basically be the same from one place to another.Basically, that's true. Basically.What surprised them was when I mentioned the fact that on occasion, an American shopper might be hit on in the grocery store. Of course, we all know that the frozen food aisle isn't exactly ladies' night with half off Tequila shooters, but it does happen. There's even a movie about it, though I won't be surprised if you haven't seen it.I told my friends about an incident that took place about 10 years ago. I was in the soup aisle of King Soopers trying to make a serious decision between Progresso & Wolfgang Puck. Unshowered, in dirty sweatpants & T-shirt, all I cared about at that moment was the can of soup that would...

Becoming a Germaphobe

June 3, 2010November 24, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

I used to laugh at germaphobic freaks like me. I'd see them with their Lysol, alcohol pads & sanitizing gel, talking about "that bug that's been going around" & I would shake my head & laugh.Paranoid freaks.Sitting at my desk, in the office where I worked, I'd watch my coworkers as they passed around a can of Lysol. "Keep that shit away from me," I'd tell them. When someone would offer me an alcohol pad to wipe the germs away from the receiver of my phone, I would reply with a "thanks, but I like my phone dirty".I was a drinking, pack-a-day smoker, happily surrounded by millions of dirty microscopic organisms & I enjoyed watching my coworkers sniff, sneeze & hack among the sound of misting Lysol.Not because I'm that sadistic, but because I never got sick.Then I moved to Paris.Once I moved to Paris, I moved about the city the same way as millions of other Parisians: public transportation. ...

Lebanese Cuisine: A Love Story

April 1, 2010November 23, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food." -George Bernard Shaw *In the winter of 2004, I had the brilliant idea to take a trip to France. I thought to myself, "Sure... this'll be great. I'll go out there all alone. I've been talking to that French guy on the Internet for the past few months... yeah, this is a good idea."Ok... so it was a little wacky. But, my gut said that it was a good idea, even though my head was making fun of me constantly, using words like "careless" & "daft".But, hell... since when do cautious & rational have all of the fun?It was November. The plan was set for me to spend 2 weeks in France during April of 2005.Fast forward to April in Paris.Skip ahead to me & him, in his apartment in Montmartre."I rented a car," he said. "I thought that next week, we'd take...

Storming the Beaches

March 19, 2010November 23, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

It seems that most people, when planning a trip to France automatically plan a trip to Paris. I suppose that's because if you're going to come to France, you just HAVE to see the Eiffel Tower.Yawn.For many people, Paris IS France - there is nothing at all worth seeing that exists outside of Paris, so they spend their vacation strolling on the Champs Élysées & gawking at the Arc de Triomphe.Snore.Of course, standing around in museums, staring at a painting of a bowl of fruit is a really good time. Shopping for over-priced clothes is a real kick in the ass, too. Right?Ugh. Whatever.There are some other people who comprehend the fact that there is a France outside of Paris. Maybe those people are taking bicycle tours through Provence, are sunning themselves on the Mediterranean coast, or are taking wine tours through Burgundy. Good for them.Maybe they're history nerds on the beaches of Normandy.Olivier & I have been to Normandy...

There & Back Again, Part 5 – The Last Stage

February 18, 2010December 1, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

"No vacation goes unpunished." ~Karl Hakkarainen"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." ~Lin Yutang"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land." ~G.K. Chesterton * * *When the guy across the aisle from us began discussing stabbings & which mixture of drugs enabled him to best endure such an incident, I knew that I had had enough of fucking Greyhound.We arrived at the Greyhound station in Denver after our brief stop in Amarillo. We had 2 hours to stand in a line in front of the door where the bus would arrive. Sucking down our mediocre & over-priced nachos, Olivier & I observed that while the bus station in Denver was larger & cleaner than what we'd grown accustomed to, being forced to watch Fox News on...