September 2, 2006, 3:20 pm : Paris, Subway, Metros and Marilyn Monroe

I had meetings in Paris this past week and got to spend a little time off on Weds wandering the coolest fucking city I’ve been to so far in these 41 years. Man, I love that place. I stayed near the Louvre at this great little hotel which is cheap(ish), well located and air conditioned. I ran to the Eiffel Tower every morning and waved at the other (obviously) non-Parisians in their ‘Paris’ t-shirts and far too shiny Reeboks. Visited my favourite stores on Rue St Honore-Fauborg, Commes Des Garcons and Colette. I love them because of their hidesouly overpriced shirts that are far too small for my middle-aged gut, their $12E designer pencils and the staff that wear little white gloves and wipe down the display cases whenever you get within a metre of them.
I especially love Colette and CDG to people watch-it’s like an entire issue of all of the latest fashion rags, but acted out live as Kabuki theatre. I bought some cologne, tried on some Marc Jacobs Vans that were faaar too young for me and went to the Marilyn Monroe photo exhibition at Musee Maillol. The pics are all from Bert Stern, still stunning and sad after all these years. I had fun time in the Marais, visiting some cool stores (constantly looking for the latest addition to a comic or bear collection), great bars and finished off with dinner at Georges at Pompidou Centre, overlooking the city at sunset with a lovely glass of wine and the Eiffel Tower sparkling in the distance. Ah, I love my job. At CDG (the airport, not the store) I looked at the guy across from me in the lounge - it was the formerly fat guy in the Subway ads, being watched closely by everyone else who noticed him, as he picked at a plate of vegetables, which everyone secretly hoped was a plate of Cheeto’s and Ding-dongs with a beer to chase it down…

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