After finishing our laundry last night, we took a walk around the neighborhood. We were about three blocks from the famous Moulin Rouge, so we took the main street to take a few pictures and see what all the buzz is about. Moulin Rouge is overrated(according to Steve). The real action is the two blocks between the Moulin and the Pigalle metro stop. Nothing but neon signs for Girls, Girls, Girls!!!! It will put any adult block in the U.S. to shame. No matter what you are looking for, you can find it here. We hear only the red light district in Amsterdam is better. We will post some pics, but put the kids to bed first!!! No nudity though, we would have had to pay for that.
When we arrived back at our hotel around 10:30pm, our two roomates were just getting in from their night out. They are two 18 year olds who are traveling for the same amout of time we are before they do their three year manadatory service in the Israeli army. We talked about Israel a bit and that there is still some anti-semitism in France. They invited us to a Bar Mitzvah the next morning. Since we did not have any plans and the weather was supposed to be rainy, we decided to attend (Steve will do anything for a free lunch).
As we walked down to the temple, our new friends informed Kelly that the men and women sit seperately. Kelly was very surprised. Also, they said that the temple is closed to the public. We severely underestimated the level of anti-semitism; when we arrived at the temple, we saw that it is guarded every day, all day, by the French police. We had to show I.D. to get in. Since our friends are Israeli and speak Hebrew, it was no problem.
The temple is rare for the Jewish community. First, it was built under Napoleon but bombed during WWII and rebuilt; the unique thing is that it was designed and built to look like a Catholic church. It even has several stained glass windows and an altar. Of course, Jesus was not in attendence - he was replaced by the Menorah. The ceremony itself was very pleasant and we were honored to be invited. Everyone we met were friendly, helpful, and gave us a good sense of the french hospitality.
We then moved to our new hostel in the Latin Quarter - Young and Happy. We are overlooking Rue Mouffetard - a street that is a combination of meat markets, vegetable stands, cheese shops, cafes, and local and designer clothing boutiques. There are also several restaurants that show off Paris' reputation for serving cuisine from around the world. There is everything from Iraqi to Argentine restaurants.
We are having a ball in Paris - Steve even got his haircut. He does recommend knowing the same language as your hairdresser. You may not get the haircut you are looking for but it was a fun experience and he looks as good as he gets. Our racy pics will be up shortly!!!
hahaha that sounds like fun! What did you eat at the Bar Mitzvah?
ReplyDeleteIt was fun! We loaded up Steve's pockets with fresh fruit like clementines and bananas. Then we had something that was like tuna fish doughnuts (sounds weird but it was good), tuna fish pizza (which is big over here in Europe), smoked salmon, sliced salami, and something like cold omelette squares. We also ate some gummi bear skewers before we learned that they were for the kids!
ReplyDeleteKelly