Day 2 in Europe (Paris)

Wow, I knew my French was lacking but never realized fully the extent until I tried speaking to someone who didn't speak a word of English. It's not the reading or writing or speaking that gets me, it's when they speak at a blistering pace and I can't keep up!

On my way to Montmartre there was a busker on the metro, which I found to be appropriate and yet reminiscent of NY.

The Sacre-Coeur was a bit underwhelming, but the location certainly made up for it. Paris is a rather flat city, so up in the bohemian Montmartre you get the best wonderful panoramic views.

I briefly strayed into the red-light district of Pigalle (I always seem to run into these places wherever I go) but like all the others I found it to be a depressing place to be.

I also explored Paris's old 'Chinatown' way down in the 13e, and I must admit I was rather disappointed. Firstly the wide Parisian streets just doesn't play well into my idea of Chinatowns, and secondly it was more Vietnamese than Chinese! Makes sense given France's history in Asia, but still...

At night there was a free Concert de la Diversité and the atmosphere was great (a mostly well-behaved crowd, something you don't get in Australia) but unfortunately I was only familiar with maybe three songs, so it wasn't that great for me personally.

After midnight I had some nighttime fun, which I won't go into detail here but it was definitely the highlight of my day!

The low point of my day was when I was in Chinatown and realizing that I was most certainly in the minority, not only for my Asian-ness but also for being Chinese. Imagine that!

By the way, I do have pics but I can't load them via iPhone so they'll have to wait!