Heh. You got me with the countdown.

I would look for:

- Burned-out vehicles. In certain suburbs of Paris, the ethnic minorities take to burning cars as a hobby. You probably won't go there, but you might travel through it.

- Habits of the middle and lower classes - metropolitan and non-metropolitan. Sure, check out the big touristy things that must be seen, but I'd just observe the culture too. Try to figure out how people behave differently than they behave in my world. Try to figure out why.

- I would go to where the people shop, not to where the tourists shop, to see how that is.

At least once you should take a nap during the day, and go out at night and plan to spend all night checking out the nightlife.

I used to live in Fontainebleau - its a nice day trip to the countryside and there are some nice buildings and gardens to see.

Last time I was there was '83 and I spent a week sleeping on the streets - I had about ten bucks to make it through the week. Long story.

The big thing about Paris is just walk around a lot - there are so many cool things to see off the beaten path. Do the main stuff, take the pics then throw the map away, rent a bike and head off somewhere. Make sure you spend some wandering time on the left bank - thats where I remember the bohemians and artists hanging out. Probably lots of cool art galleries there.

You won't be bored.

You can't just drop that in there. New thread please.

I'll tell that story one of these days.

Sure you will. Just like BigV will tell us the story of building his beautiful kayak.

I remember a colleague I served with on a committee. He was complaining that he was being sent to Paris again. Now it may be because his wife was expecting and/or this might have been his 5th or 6th trip, but I did find the comment odd.

Of course later I went from never having to travel on business to about 8 trips to California in 2 years. While it was nice to have all of my meals for free, I didn't have much time for sightseeing and with the work schedule I was sometimes eating dinner at 8pm. So maybe this guys business trips in Paris involved sitting in meetings all day looking out at the Eiffel tower, having to entertain clients, etc.

I hope you do get the free time, Ibram.

I never sleep well on business trips. Strange hotel room. Strange bed. Working long hours. Thinking about the work to be done the next day. Miss my wife sleeping next to me. etc. etc. It's not like vacation travel at all.

petit dejeuner

smelt n'est pas un mot vrais

les berries d'ages elevees

I'm baaaaa-aaack!

Didjya miss me?

Stories. We wants stories.

Oh man, where to begin?
The foiled pickpocket that attempted to spit on our rad tour guide but instead hocked one right onto a meek little asian girl in the group?
Coming outta the closet to a TAS student (thats not in the GSA), finally?
Almost getting lost in the catacombs?
Nearly freezing to death under the Eiffel Tower, buying a (FIFTY EURO) jacket the next day - and then being too hot the rest of the week?
Dancing in the freak snowstorm in "Blwah" (Blois)?
Being pelted by painful hail at Chambord?
Marching for a bit in the high-school protests that were going on while we were there?
Developing a (very nasty and not good at all) crush on my teacher/trip leader's 18-year-old daughter?

All of it!!!

Especially the crush, it has all the makings of a great story.

Spill ibby, SPILLLLL!!!!

C'mon! Tell all!

...those were the stories. I think theyre pretty self-explanitory... 'cept the crush which i dont wanna talk about.

Coming outta the closet to a TAS student (thats not in the GSA), finally?

Developing a (very nasty and not good at all) crush on my teacher/trip leader's 18-year-old daughter?

:confused: