A Ramling Account of Times Now Past

So...
On Friday I had my wallet stolen. Awesome! It was turned in at some Hotel near the Sorbonne where it originally took off. Nothing was taken -- there was no cash in the wallet to begin with. Of course, the wallet was recovered after I had cancelled both my bank card and Mastercard. What a fiasco. I was about to be pretty upset after the disappearance of my wallet, but figured that such emtional outbursts would serve only to further disable me, and instead chose to "suck it up" and figure out what needed to be done. Perhaps creating and executing a plan was my way of dealing with an event that was otherwise upsetting and that could have made me feel helpless. I just had to remind myself that I still had some cash, travellers' cheques, and my passport, and that the theives gained nothing since I had no cash in the wallet and a very low, and somewhat used-up, limit on my credit card. Mostly it was a giant pain-in-the-ass for me, but not significant loss. I gained some satisfaction thinking about the pickpocket's dissapointment when she discovered... some junior high photos with cute notes on the back, old receits, ect. Hah. In the end I was very happy to recover said friends' junior high photos, not to mention the Edmonton Public Library card that I've had since I first learned to write my name, and the wallet that my parents gave me for christmas when I was 12 and swore that I would immediately lose. Proved them wrong. Anyway, suffice to say that money has been an "interesting" issue and paying for school down right "scintillating." Hopefully this stuff gets figured out. Meanwhile I wait for my new bank card and credit card to arrive in the mail. This could be a while.

In Other News...

I have spent most of my time in Paris simply walking. On Saturday I took the metro up to Port de Clingnancourt and walked just past the city limits to a giant (and well known) flee market. It's a good thing that I had no wallet because there were many cheap scarves, shoes bags, ect. I'm a sucker for this type of thing.
From there I made my way back into the city and around the north side of the Butte Montmartre. I really like this area, considered an "ethnic" area of Paris. Being an "ethnic" myself (Paris is supposedly 93% French), I fit right in. I walked all the way to up the hill to the back of Sacre Coeur, then slid down the east slope to the Barbes market, which was pretty much wrapped up by the time I got there. There were, however, plenty of "bargain" stores nearby which I wandered through. Let me restate: it's a good thing that I didn't have my wallet with me.
From Barbes I walked home past what I think was the Canal Ste Martain, and through the Parc Butte Chaumant. Quite a day indeed.

Yesterday was also spent walking. I went to the nearby Cemetiere Pere Lachaise -- famous last home of the likes of Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. Besides these illustrious name-drops, the cemetary is very old, very large, and very beautiful, although I must admit, I was surprised by the state of disrepair I found in certain areas. My walk next took me down the trendy Rue Oberkampf, through a boulevard to the Bastille, and on to the Seine and the island that Notre Dame is found on. I tried to find the legendary "super 8 street" said to be near Notre Dame, but I gave finally gave up and took the metro "home" I have some pictures from Pere Lachaise and the walk to the cemetary posted above. I can't figure out how to integrate them more appropriately yet. Maybe some day I'll figure out this blogging business. I must admit that some of these owe a lot to Olya, even if they lack her originality and technical proficiency.