Saturday on the town

Last night, I was planning on meeting the American expat group. I decided to go even though I was limping everywhere. Unfortunately I got lost on my way there and 30 minutes after it was supposed to start I passed an Australian bar and decided to give up and go in and get a drink. It was a nice bar that felt familiar.

Not really sure the French have the same ideas about bars as Americans, Brits and Australians. They have cafes that serve alcohol and nightclubs. I think that if I lived in Paris, I would probably be going to Irish and Australian bars quiet often.

In the Australian bar I met a nice 60 year old women who was from New Zealand. She has lived in France for 30 years and currently lives outside the city. She was a real interesting person who has traveled the world and done many things and so she became my drinking buddy for Saturday.

She ended up taking me to a Spanish gay bar around the corner where we drank sangria and I ordered a ham omelette. But this was no omelette that I was used to. It was REALLY good. More of a egg pie with potatoes in it and the ham and veggies were in a separate bowl. It was delicious. Barbara, my new friend, told me this is what I can expect in Spain. Sounds good to me. Also, though she said it was a gay bar, you wouldn't know by looking. There were lots of straight couples there. I talked with Barbara about her daughters, her life in Paris, about when she worked in Iraq for two years with the 'Food for Oil' program, her marriage, politics, etc. It was very enjoyable.

Barbara finally had to head home, so with several drinks in me, I was on my own. I went to the first Irish bar I could find and they had a 'rock & roll' band playing. I went in, ordered a 8 euro Guinness ($12US) and was seated in a packed room where the band was playing. The band basically was a cheesy cover band that was moderately good at best. But, the audience LOVED them. I had a good buzz on and must admit I found the whole thing rather funny. Possibly there is a big shortage of US rock cover bands in Paris. Also noticed that the volume of the music was very low compared to what it would be in the US.

I ended up hitting two other bars on my way home and bought a foot long sub at the first Subway shop I have seen in Paris.

Needless to say, I woke up a bit late this morning.