last day in Paris

Day 12

more cloudy weather in Paris
well, at least it wasn't raining
and it wasn't as windy as the day before
cold but bearable so we decided not to take the metro
but to brave a VERY long walk (2.5 hours)
to the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre
this turned out to be one of the best decision we'd made
It was well worth the walk
even through the seedier neighborhoods we accidentally traversed
we arrived at the Sacred Heart Church and the sun magically came out
the weather was now dreamlike
It was perfect timing
we sat at the bottom of the hill for a while and watched Gavin chase birds
then we let him ride the carousel
on the way to the top we took a couple of nice breaks
just sitting and looking out over the city
it was idyllic
i finally felt relaxed here
this was well worth the wait
after the church we then walked to a tiny southern French restaurant
Jayme had the best French onion soup of her life
and i had something we thought was going to be a tart
but turned out to be more like the French version of cheese fries
Gavin had bread
we thought about taking the metro back since it was still pretty cold
and a very long walk
but decided it would be more interesting to walk
so we did...
3 hours later we made it back to the hotel
i gotta say
the last thing i felt like doing today
was playing a show
i was really worn out from hoofing it all around the city
i caught a cab around 8
i noticed the meter started at 6.50 euros
great
by the time we got there it was about 25
as a staggered out of the cab with all my stuff
i hadn't taken 5 steps when a guy approached me
and exclaimed "salim nourallah!!???!!!"
yep
that's me...
maybe i was bigger in france than i'd expected?
was i gonna be mobbed by adoring fans once i
entered the Fleche d' Or?
don't worry
i wasn't
it turns out that my new friend
was apparently my biggest french fan

he owned everything
including pleasantry lane and a way to your heart
which i didn't even think were available in france
he said there was a cool indie shop in Paris
that stocked them
nice to know
anyway i invited him to have dinner with me
and we sat at the most absurdly uncomfortable
low mini table on a weird low couch thing
in the fashionable but not very functional restuarant
it was nice to have someone to visit with
otherwise i think this gig would have been really lonely
there were 3 other bands on the bill
and they were all good
chapter 9 from france
edison woods from new york
then david mead http://www.davidmead.com/
(whom i'm actually a fan of)
his debut cd "the luxury of time" is excellent
i was the only act on the bill playing solo
and up until this point i hadn't wished once
that i had a band
but tonight it felt like that would have been the
much better move
it was somewhat daunting standing in the middle
of the packed fleche d' or watching david play with his commandeered french
backing band
the stage and lights were so cool
a giant picture frame literally framed the stage
it was a great place to see a "band"
during my lonely acoustic set
there was a small group huddled toward the front of the stage
while the rest of the people toward the back
carried on and talked loudly
it was definitely the most uncomfortable gig of the tour
because the audience seemed at odds with each other
i didn't really enjoy witnessing it
afterwards it took me an hour to hail a cab
they just kept speeding by
my new english friend scottie
ran out into the the road
jumping up and down
while 3 drunk japanese girls intermittently wandered up
to me and awkwardly tried to make conversation
when scottie finally hailed a cab
he mumbled/explained he had no money
but was going to ride with me to my part of town
and then figure out how to get home
i'm glad he did
it somehow made me feel safer
it was a strange ending to my last day in
Paris