Sex museums in Paris, Disney and taking myself too seriously

2/9 - Paris has already been eventful. This is Angel's first time in Paris, and it's fun to see her squeal with delight at the sight of everything so new to her. It's also her first time Couchsurfing; she's lucky because our host, Pascal, is awesome! He's lived in this apartment for 30 years, so every inch of wall space is taken up by books, music or some sort of painting. There is ivy growing in the corners by the window, and best of all the flat is spotlessly clean. 

Pascal cooked some dinner for us after he finished with a massage appointment, and we shared the wine we brought for him as a thank-you gift for hosting, bought at a small, local shop from a dealer who says he only sells wine that is completely natural with no chemicals. We then shared some cheese and wine, one of my favorite snacks when in France, and many stories of travel, our school and some of politics. 

It turns out Pascal practices kung-fu as a way to keep active. He's 58 but looks 43. He walks as if he's in no particular hurry as if he's drifting along, and his hips move a little bit more than normal. Pascal is a person who likes to make contact on the shoulder or arm while in conversation, and he talked about not being a little bit scared of the perfect image portrayed by the Disneyland parks. It sounds as if the French really aren't that into Disneyland. But in all seriousness, this was an awesome place to stay, and Pascal was a perfect host. A total success.   

I had another moment today, a is-this-really-happening kind of moment. It was right around the time when I was eating escargot (snails in a garlic and butter sauce) while listening to an accordian in Paris. 

We visited the crypts of Notre Dame Cathedral, and while out front I took a small piece of bread from an older man and let the finches eat it right out of my hand. At points there were four birds attached to my hand. 

We attached locks to the love bridge, which is covered with thousands of locks to signify love, and Angel's Disney preconceptions of Paris were shattered when we took a stroll down the neighbourhood with Moulin Rouge and endless sex shops, strip clubs and sketchy groups of dudes who just watch you as you walk by. We took a break by entering an erotic museum and watching old, 1930s-era porn that gives new meaning to "Garden Tourism." 

3/9 - Certain cities have distinctive smells. Bruges smelled of Belgian waffles and ocean air. Milan and London have a stale, smoggy odor. Paris? You can't get away from cigarette smoke. People everywhere walk around with a fag, puffing. My friend Magda has smoked much more since she moved back to Paris in June. Perhaps this is one of the reasons people say they fell in love with this city. Magda and Pascal both said that; Paris has a unique smell, and it's alive. I like it much more than I did fove years ago, but maybe that's because the French were much less willing to speak English then. Now, as long as you try to speak French, they'll automatically switch to English for you.

They say Disneyland is where magic happens. That may be true for other Disney parks around the world, but Disneyland Paris is the black sheep of these parks. It doesn't make a profit and the French aren't the most enthusiastic about it. In the words of Angel and I, this park is "janky." It has the same rides as the parks in California and Florida, but there's really nothing new about it.

One goes to Disneyland to escape everyday life and to experience the illusion of magic. You'll get that, but as long as you bring plenty of money and have the patience to wait in exaggerated lines for everything, including for something as simple as a scoop of ice cream. After a couple of hours of that, it really is soul-crushing, and the inside of my head was like that girl who had a loud panic attack in the Haunted Mansion ride, probably because she was claustrophobic. Add in the presence of droning everything-is-snowflakes-and-sunshine-in-a-field-of-blossoms music, and my desire to retun has essentially been annihilated. But in an effort to be positive and not ruin Angel's time, I posed with Mickey Mouse and Spiderman.

I left Angel to continue her Disney geek-out (it later took her two hours to return because the trains just kept going) so I could meet up with Magda, whom I hadn't seen since June. But before I saw her I was distracted by a protest in the streets by French farmers and their hundreds of tractors. They were protesting the low prices of meat set by the government, and the noise from their horns and their scoops scraping the asphalt, mixed with the cheers and appreciative whoops of spectators made for some loud and eye-catching shenanigans.

Today is the first time I have used Airbnb. It's like Couchsurfing, but you pay the host and it's more like having a hotel room. It's less personal and you do it just to have a room, not to meet people. Like how I scored with Pascal with CS, Angel scored with Remy and his family as we have an amazing room with a balcony that wraps around two sides of the room on the fifth floor of the building. We have a home theater, ironing board, iron, hangars, kitchen and anything else we need until Monday. We have been incredibly lucky so far, and hopefully it continues.

4/9 - After miraculously finding Angel in the park this morning and talking to her, I realised I shouldn't take myself so seriously. I had to stop being a Disney hater and start acting like a kid. 

So from there I rode rides I remember well from childhood, like Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain and Star Tours. Everything is the same, except it's all in French. Thunder Mountain is a brilliant ride because the layout and scenery adds so much to the excitement. There's also the thrill of not knowing what will happen in the pitch black. I also surprised my friends by staying until closing time when the park put on a performance featuring sounds, film, water, fire, fireworks and the princess castle that assaulted the senses. 

5/9 - Today was a cross between seeing culture such as Van Gogh and Claude Monet paintings, and trying to shop while under the watchful eyes of suited Emporio Armani emplyees and doormen who know you have no shot of being able to afford anything, let alone the €850 blazer.

We went to the Arc de Triomph where we climbed stairs to the top to see all of Paris, and the Eiffel Tower. The best part was Angel's ecstatic reaction to seeing a famous landmark like that for the first time. I was like that 5 years ago when I first saw it. The Tower is incredible because it's one of those things in the world that looks so big, grand and beautiful it looks fake. So here's to traveling and its ability to make otherworldly landmarks seem normal.