Quote:
Originally Posted by OndrejSc
Perhaps his English was bad and he meant to say "pipe organ concert" and "ticket holders only".
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That could very well be.....
As far as today's installment....
This is another pretty much off topic again so avert your eyes at the proper moment.
I arrived in Paris today. I went to the FNAC record store where the autograph session took place back in 2013 was it? I went here to buy 3 of the Les Enfoires dvds, mainly as a way of supporting that cause. I'll keep one. I'll give one to DannyMac to give to the Boston cultural society and then I'll give one to Marguerite who does the translations for me.
Another reason I wanted to get them at this particular store is I wanted to thank one of the women who had helped us out so much during the autograph session. I wanted to get her a little gift if she was still working there. So I went in and looked all around and found this woman I was 90% sure was her. She was helping another customer. They were searching for something on the computer for him and I patiently waited by, but she seemed to get irratated I wouldn't go to someone else. Now if that other guy looked like Brad Pitt, I could understand her actions, but this was more like Jubba and I was standing there patiently; willing to wait how ever long it took, but she seemed to get more and more irratated, so I shelved that idea. By the way, the store pretty much looks like it did back then.
Now we've discussed in here at certain times the French personality and what I think it the bad rap it's taken over the years. Now this woman's behaviour is probably typical of what I'd expect from the reputaion, but it's my experience that she is the exception.
When I arrived at the Bastille metro station near my hotel, I found it was a maze of streets and the streets are not marked very well over here. So I asked a middle age woman if she knew where my hotel was. I had the reservation with the address and a little map. She tried to think hard of where it was. Couldn't figure it out, but took out her phone, called the hotel and got directions. By the way my phone wouldn't connect here.
After checking into my hotel, I decided to go over to the area where the shootings took place a few months ago. I went to the Metro station and they had a system map mounted low on the wall so I had to kneel down to look at it. A young man I would say no older than 20 with a few piercings, came up to me and asked where I was looking to go. So first thing I think is what is this guy's angle? How much does he want, but no, he just told me the best way to get to where I was going was take this line here, then this line there.
After seeing the theater where most of the killings took place, I then went further down the same road to a place that was about 100 yards from where that scene from Amelie took place where she was skipping stones on the canal. I saw several restaurants in the area, but couldn't figure out which one. Now I asked about 5 passerbys where it was, but none spoke English, but they were all pleasent about it. Then a good looking young woman came along. She spoke English very well. She said she lived in the area and we turned out having sort of long conversation. She told me she had lived in Egypt for a couple of years and told me about the culture of how they treat women and people in general in that part of the world. She explained to me how to get to some of the other places too.
So I had 3 very nice experiences and 1 bad one and that is typical of what I find in France. A lot of good people who get their reputaions ruined by a few.
So after that I went to the church to say some prayers for those victims and this is where anything to do with Alizee comes to an end, so I suggest anyone who doesn't want to view off topic, leave now.
So I went into Notre Dame to just say some prayers for those victims. When I got in there, I noticed something new. They had a couple of glassed in areas with signs saying "confession dialogue". I hadn't been to confession in close to 40 years. One thing that kept me from going is I would've needed a hard drive the size of Mt Everest to list all my sins. Plus the catholic church, the more sins you have, the more pennance you have to do of saying prayers. I figured with my rap sheet, I'd be in there a month saying prayers. But this new "dialogue" thing had me interested.
So I went in and luckily the priest spoke English very well. In fact, he had been a priest in Boston where I live back in the 1970s. I told him everything and I mean everything. I even told him I'd cuss in a manner that would make the devil blush. But it didn't phase him and in the end, I had my absolution. How long will that last??? But it was an intesting end to a very good trip.