Hallo! Danke! Bitte!

In one day I've learned about as much German as I know French. Too bad I'll only be here for two days.

Left and Leaving

Tomorrow afternoon signals the end of my month long sojourn in the city of baguettes and the most well fed pigeons. My journeys will now take me through to Germany next and Le Blog will become Der Blög. Anyways I thought I'd breakdown the last thirty days in fun statistical facts!

Photos taken: 761
New Facebook friends made: 6
Most used French words: Merci, Bonjour, Au revoir!
Baguettes eaten: 13(estimated)
Macarons eaten: 1(the big chocolate ones)
Museums visited: Louvre, Musee d'Orsay(twice), Fondation Cartier, Musee Picasso, Pompidou, Computer Museum, Musee Rodin
Cones of Gelato eaten: 4
Croque Madames eaten: 0(shocking, i know!)
Crepes eaten: 5(2 nutella and banana, 2 egg, ham and cheese and one ham and cheese)
Space Invaders Found: 12
Favorite Tourist Trap: The Catacombs
Most Hilariously Named Electronics Store: Darty

Pulp Fiction didn't lie!

Here are some photos of a McDonalds as requested by my sister. I didn't eat anything but I was tempted to buy a McBeer. Yes, you can buy beer at McDonalds to wash down your Croque McDo.

1,001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die

So today I went to the Tour de France and all I did was feed the ducklings in the pond. Okay, no I didn't. That's a lie. For some reason this blog is painting me to be an animal lover. I swear, I hate animals. Especially ones who wear capes and save animals singing opera tunes(I kid...I kid). I actually did see the Tour de France with no furry distractions.

The one thing that stood out to me was seeing an old man carrying the book 1,001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die. Suddenly the book took on a more morbid meaning. Having obviously come from the Musee d'Orday, I can only assume he was on his way to the Louvre to check off the Mona Lisa from his book. I was just wondering how many he had left and if he really was on a mission to see all of them before he croaks. Forget the Tour de France that was happening next to him, there is art to see! Actually on second thought, it was probably genius of him to go to the museums today seeing as all of Paris were lining the streets, including me.

Okay here's a quick recap...three and a half hours of waiting and then ten seconds of vroooooom, pedal, pedal, pedal, vroooooooom, wait ten minutes and repeat another eight or so times. Next time I'm going to stay home and watch on tv.

Les Chats du Versaille

Today I went to the Palace of Versailles and what do I do? I spend the good part of my day playing with and feeding cherry cake things to the feral kitties in the gardens(I swear I'm not an animal person). So with that, I present to you my second photo series: Les Chats du Versaille

Wacky French Signs

Thanks for the warning, I was about to refill my water bottle next
to the French guy dipping his feet in the pool.

No speedos on the Arc de Triomph? Napoleon would disapprove!

No drinking wine in front of beer drinking women?

No soccer playing dogs allowed in this park!

Okay, whoever comments with the best caption for the sign below wins this bag of fried egg gummi's!

Les puces sur des chiens

Yesterday afternoon I went to the flea market Les Puces de Saint-Ouen and with that I present to you my new photo series: Les Puces Sur Des Chiens

Chien Une(2009)

Bitch Get Off My Chair(2009)

What You Looking At(2009)

Chien Deux(2009)

Rouge à Lèvres(2009)

* Galleries can contact me for viewing rights at jeffwhong at gmail dot com.

Dinner with Jim

I just got back from one of the most amazing times I've had so far in Paris. The attentive readers of Le Blog will note, I was highly anticipating tonight and I was not let down in the least bit. A few months ago I had signed up for a dinner party hosted by Jim Haynes who has been hosting these events for over thirty years. It was billed as a must do for anybody who is in Paris.

I was only one of the estimated 150,000 dinner guests he has hosted from all the years. People from around the world attend his dinners every Sunday night and as I can attest from the people I've met, it is a testament to how well known Jim's dinners have become. From Alberto to Boris to Joomi to Ankit to Maura from good ol' Iowa, every part of the world was well represented in this one evening. New York of course seemed to have the biggest number of representatives including Jim's own son Jesper.

And the food! The food is always cooked each week by a guest cook. Tonight's meal was from my guess either Greek or Turkish, but whatever it was it was one of the best meals I've had here in Paris so far. Maybe it helped that I was starving by the time 8:00pm rolled around, but a good home cooked meal is always appreciated when far away from your own home. The lack of a photo as I habitual have come to take these days is a good indication of hungry I was.

At any rate, for anybody who plans to visit Paris and happen to stay over on a Sunday, go to Jim Haynes website and sign up for one of these dinners. I enjoyed every second of it and you most assuredly will too.

Me with Jim Haynes

I'm setting bootie traps!

I think my title is racist; of course the Asian guy quotes Data from the Goonies. What other good Goonie quotes are there? "Goonies never say die?" "Sloth love Chunk?" "This is the men's room?" "This was my dream, my wish. And it didn't come true. So I'm taking it back. I'm taking them all back. "

Why am I even talking about the Goonies? Well, it's cause I spent Wednesday afternoon in the deep dank, squidgy(that's what the travel guide described the floor as, "squidgy". I would disagree) underbelly of the Paris underground with approximately nine million way dead Parisians in what's otherwise known as the Paris Catacombs.

Of course when I asked someone's opinion about it, they just said to go to KFC since all you see is bones. Surely, he wasn't impressed like I was with the seemingly endless human skulls and femur bones that were neatly stacked by some Tetris master in the old rock quarries. Or maybe he too had a tourist behind him repeatily say, "Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!" However, the lack of any other type of bones was disappointing, what no rib cages? Maybe they were hidden in the back somewhere. The heart difibullator at the exit of the catacombs was a nice touch. But everything else was just like the movie, the deep hole of stank water that held everyone's dreams and wishes, the skeletons of all the past catacomb explorers, one eyed Willie, the large octopus monster that got cut from the original movie, and of course the treasure! Okay so maybe not, but it was the best eight euros I spend on any tourist trap here in Paris so just let me dream...

Fête Nationale as told in pictures.

Fearing markets would be closed on the fourteenth, we went wine shopping the day before in preparation.Some cured meats and bread we had for lunch at a small cafe.

We headed to the cementary to pay respect to Jim Morrison.

Oh and Oscar Wilde too...I can only hope my grave will be covered with lipstick.

Lena brought me a PBR from Brooklyn!

Place de Bastille had two stages of very non French music playing.

We met up with newlyweds Ben and Rachel!

Red wine stain twins!

On the thirteenth all the Paris firestations hold parties.

This one has carnival games.

Steph concentrating.

We somehow made out with practically all the prizes with some negotiating. Paperweight, ballpoint pen and plate are seen here.

A day at the Musee D'Orsay helped start Bastille Day off right.

We went to a picnic afterwards with marching bands...

and tanks and helicopters!

Picnic with new friends.

I got my shuttlecock in my new friend Brooke's eye.

Glowstick buddies.

Fireworks and the Eiffel Tower make for a good combination.

Fin.