Thursday, December 07, 2006

Montmartre Diary

It's now been more than 7 months of constantly moving around and living out of a backpack. Last night I counted about 35 different places that I'd slept in over the 7 months. After staying in other people's houses and hostels, having a place of my own feels great. I plan to stay here for 3 months but after travelling constantly it's a welcome break.

The owner of my studio is an architect who's spending a year travelling in Chile. As a result the place is completely furnished with everything that I could need. It's in great condition and the space is perfect for one person. My backpacks occupy a small corner in the closet and I feel like I just returned to civilisation. The neighbourhood is great and I love wandering around aimlessly. Montmartre was famous for it's history as an artists' enclave and also for the movie Amelie. I live in the less chic part of Montmartre and though it's less than 10 minutes to Sacre Couer there's a big difference in the areas. There are tonnes of African and Asian restaurants and grocery stores and after the whiteness of Bavaria it's nice to not get stared at and fit in with the very diverse group of people here.

Started taking French lessons from yesterday and I'm determined to not feel out of place here. I visited Paris 5 years ago for about a week and stayed with a friend of my parents in a very upscale area. After being overwhelmed by the beauty and grandeur of Paris for the first few days, I have to admit I got a bit bored. I didn't speak French, didn't have any friends or friends of friends to call or meet, very little money and not much of an idea of Paris beyond the main tourist attractions. It's been barely a week here but completely different from the previous trip.

And if anyone of you is interested in visiting Paris between now and March 1st, just let me know and show up. It's my turn to be the host.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I might take you up on that offer.
But we definitely need to go to Paris then and you have to show me around.
Anybody heard from Gathala? there was a tonrado yesterday and I do not which part of town he lives in but I hope that he is safe.
- Nishant

hansraj said...

What do you, B, and M think about the weekends around Jan 21 or Jan 28?
Any plans for new year's? Greetings to B whose email doesn't seem to work.

Anonymous said...

Any weekend except next weekend is fine with me. No plans yet for New Years. B's email has an underscore (_) and not a dot(.)

Deniz said...

i'll be there on valentines day :P