Misadventures in Paris

Sometimes, Paris is a bust.

Misadventure #1:  The one where no one told the author her event was invite only

My grandparents had shared with me that Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat Pray Love) would be doing a talk in Paris my second day in the city.  I'd gotten the run around with opening a bank account and also locked out of my apartment, so I thought that getting out of my apartment to be bookish sounded good.  I followed her on Facebook and she posted all day about the event, so things were looking up.  Until I arrived at the Columbia Global Centers | Europe.  I told the guard I didn't speak French and then asked in English where I could go.  He rudely scoffed and pointed at a woman with a clipboard.  I told the woman I didn't speak French and she asked me where my ticket was.  I said I didn't have one.  She asked if I was a student there.  I said I wasn't.  She explained it was a ticket-only event that was already at capacity.  Apparently, no one bothered to tell Elizabeth Gilbert that before she posted up a storm on Facebook about seeing her in Paris.  Defeated, I left.  Just in time for the rain to start.

Misadventure #2:  The one with the terrible day that got worse

Then, the following week, I had a terrible day.  I booked tickets (my first week in Europe) to Oslo to see a friend who plays hockey there.  Of course, the odds were not in my favor and the hockey gods scheduled an out of town exhibition game in Sweden for the same weekend I was supposed to be in Oslo.  MAJOR bummer.  Both my friend and I were out the money for the tickets AND we wouldn't get to see each other.  (I have since rebooked the tickets, incurring "only" change fees.  Of course, the hockey gods laughed at me and said to the team "Thou shalt have a team trip and it shall be when Emma is scheduled to visit."  C'est la vie.)  I spent the rest of the day really frustrated and thought I would go to the resto (where my landlord dropped off my new apartment key for me to pick up) near my apartment for dinner.  I waited until 7:30 to go down for dinner, went inside and asked for a table for one.  The guy looked at me and asked if I had a reservation.  I looked around the half-empty restaurant and said I didn't.  He said they were all booked up for the night and I would need to visit another night.  Seriously?!  I am but one small person.  Who eats rather quickly.  Who doesn't take up much of the space you supposedly have reserved.  I tried not to punch something, said a meek "merci," and went home to my apartment to eat a bowl of knock-off Special K red berries.

Misadventure #3:  The one with the long lines

On Valentine's Day (which I did NOT spend in Oslo as anticipated), the RATP sponsored an event where 4 metro/train stations were set up with Studio Harcourt photo booths.  For those of you who don't know, Studio Harcourt has done [mostly] black and white headshots for celebs since 1934.  The photos are iconic and all of the official shots have the studio's mark in the bottom right corner.  The photo booths were FREE (a total rarity in Paris, especially for something like this) and you got to keep the photo that came out.  I was SO EXCITED about getting my very own Harcourt photo without paying 1200 Euros for it.  I left work at 5:00 PM to venture to the closest sponsoring station and when I got there at 5:15, the line was long.  So long, in fact, that most of the people in front of me wouldn't have the chance to get their photo taken before the even stopped promptly at 6.  (Each photo took at least 2 minutes for set-up, taking, approval, printing.)  What a waste of metro tickets.  Thanks, RATP!