Montbéliard France

Us getting trapped in Paris was a blessing in disguise. For one, we get to stay in Paris longer. And two, we were invited to a movie screening by our good friend Vins (we stayed with the first time in Paris). Vins is a talented independant film director and producer. A short film of his was chosen to be shown in Montbéliard France, about 5 hours by car east/south of Paris. So the theatre owner invited Vins to come and speak before the screening. Vins asked us if we wanted to tag along with him and of course we accepted! The cool thing is, he has two reels of the film, one in French only and one in French with English subtitles so he brought the reels with subtitles just for us!

This gave Elaina and I a great opportunity to see some of France's beautiful contryside that most tourists probably would never see. We drove through Champagne, France were champagne was first introduced. They own the rights to the word so most of the world's champagne comes from here or they get paid just for the use of the term. If not, it can only be called sparkling wine. We also passed near the city of Dijon, France and you guessed it. There are mustard fields EVERYWHERE!

We stopped along the side of the road for a quick lunch. When I say side of the road I mean it, we just pulled off to the shoulder like in Mexico.
Now in Montbéliard some time later and the city is very small and quiet. Just what you would expect small French town to be. NO ONE over the age of 30 speaks English at all so we were lucky to have Vins once again.

Here's the trailer to his film, Vivre, jusqu'au bout, it translates to Living Until the End. Elaina and I were really impressed with the film and thouroughly enjoyed it.

Since Vins was the guest director he got to choose a film to be shown after his short as a double feature. He chose the American independent film White Lightnin'. He wanted something totally different from his film style but still wanted to expose the viewers to something different and probably something they would never see on their own. I highly recommend this film as well if you can find it. A little dark, but here's Vins speaking before the screening.
We were invited back to the home of the theatre owner. He was a really nice guy and opened is cool house to all of us. He refused to let us pay for any food or drinks either. Everyone was really nice. This is his place in the foreground, behind his house is a sweet castle!
At the screening we met up with one of Vins long time childhood friends Eli. I first met Eli about 5 years ago here in California as they were touring with his band The Hellbats. They are an awesome band with a really cool style. Since we were so far from Paris and it was late already we were planned to stay with Eli at his place just 20 minutes from the town we were currently in. He lives in a cottage style home that's a couple hundred years old!

The next morning we were greeted with the usual awesome coffee we always had. But we got to have some of the best sausage. Yeah, that's the sausage cooking in Eli's wood burning stove that's built into the wall INSIDE the house. No matter what I try to do here at home I can't get sausage like that to taste that good!
This is Eli's dog. He looks like an old man and he's a slobber machine.
Even the French dogs like wine.
They may have this here in the states but we've never seen it. Rum and Coke pre-mixed in a can ready to drink.
This is the outside of Eli's place. There is a stream and pond that you can fish from.
Just down the little road is Eli's uncle's home. I really like the architecture and it was a total standout in comparision to the surrounding homes.
Elaina wasn't feeling good this day. She saw these flowers and liked them a lot.
So I picked one when no one was looking. She felt a little better for a short while.
Getting ready to leave back to Paris and the 5 hour drive. Here's Me, Eli, Vins, and Elaina. Thanks again for everything Eli and hopefully we'll see you soon here in the U.S.!!!
Home sweet home, back in Paris now later that night. Yup, that's a water bottle filled with piss. It's good to be back to what's familiar to us.
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Paris (round 2) Part Un

So we're at the train station in Amsterdam and the place is PACKED, it's like a madhouse and we don't know why? So we booked our Paris train and asked what was going on? They said something about a volcano in Iceland. We were like, whatever, got our tickets for tomorrow and went back to our hotel. We jumped on line and found out that this "volcano" is actually a big deal (no need to fill anyone in on HOW big a deal it was at the time). There was nothing we could do so the next day we just made our way to Paris.

We had a stop off in Brussels so time for more Belgium beer! Don't forget the Pringles either, the 'Paprika' flavor is the best but not available in the U.S. They're gonna take over the world one can at a time. In Mexico they even had fish flavored Pringles.

So we finally arrive back in Paris and it was a bit of a homecoming. Although it's a foreign country, it's so familiar to us now the second time around. This time we stayed with another Parisian friend of ours, Laeti (pronounced Letty). When we arrived she had an aperitif waiting for us, beer and snacks!

After the beers and snacks we hit the bar. Here's Elaina and I along with Laeti's boyfriend Arthur. We had a great time and then Leati told us that she would be staying at Arthur's place so we would have her flat all to ourselves! Again we had our own place in Paris. How nice!!!

After the bar (and a few pitchers) we went our own ways on the metro. See you guys later!

Back at the flat we felt at home. We did have a job however, we had to take care of the REAL owner of the flat, Bebert (beh-bear). He's a cool kitty and very personable, he would lick my head in the morning and a couple mornings I woke to him kneading my stomach as he laid on my chest.

One reason Elaina was glad to be back in France. She's addicted to these and even ordered some online from Europe to be shipped into the U.S. It's a hazelnut yogurt type of desert.

So since we're on the last leg of our trip and we've done most of the "touristy" things, we ate back at home a lot more. Elaina usually took care of dinner and I made breakfast.

Another night Leati and Arthur invited us to a show. It was a hardcore show along La Siene. This is something that Paris is beginning to implement on their metro system. It's a protective plexi tunnel with doors that protect riders from falling onto the tracks as the metro approaches. It's a little funny looking but it does the trick.

Almost at the show, we walked through the national library. It's a new library that's designed to look like open books standing on end. There are four buildings total and pretty cool looking.

Now at the show. The venue is IN the belly of an old tugboat. This will be the first show for Elaina and I inside of a boat. The boat never leaves the dock but you can feel it move.

I snapped this walking down the stairs to where the band was. This is pretty much sea level so while you watch the band you are below the water.

If you don't know, it's okay to drink alcohol on the streets in Europe. So between bands we would walk off the boat, buy a 12er of beer, pound it, and get back on the boat before the next band! That's way better than buying beers on the boat for 10euro ($15usd).

Leati's boyfriend Arthur works for Road Runner Records so he got us in for free. We met a few of their friends and everyone was really cool and spoke english really well.

Back on the boat and time for another band.

A French hardcore pit looks just like an American hardcore pit. There was lots of 'karate' going on (hardcore fans know what I'm talking about) so I jumped in and gave them some American Circle Pit flavor. I didn't know Elaina followed me up to the front to take some pictures.

On the way home after the show. This is Arthur's friend that was going the same direction as us. Cool guy.

The next morning we were woken up by the gardeners so I had to take this picture. It's hard to tell but there are no Mexicans to be found! They're all Arabs and Blacks.

Well today we finally received word that our flight home would be canceled. There was no rescheduled flight or any idea on when flights would commence. ALL of Europe is shut down and NO ONE is getting in or out. Luckily for us we had a place to stay as long as we needed since Laeti had now left Arther's place in Paris and went to visit her parents in Vichy. She told us she'd see us sometime in May if we were still stranded as a joke. Later we found that we were rescheduled to fly home eight days later! So what do you do when you're STUCK in Paris? MORE SITE SEEING!!!

The next day we went to Montmarte. It's the highest hill in Paris where you can see the entire city. But first we need to stop for a Grand Marnier and Nutella crepe! See! She's actually pouring Grand Marnier on the crepe!!!

It's hard to tell but it's a pretty good hike getting to the top. The view is worth it though.

Now at the top and what a view! Robot got a free ride to the top so he wasn't even out of breath. The sky is a little grey and hazy due to the volcano ash slowly blowing over Paris.

Hey, there's the Eiffel Tower!

Now the walk down.

I guess this doll was being bad so it got thrown through the window.

On our first tour of Paris we never got to see the Eiffel Tower up close at night. Now that we have this second chance to see things we missed, we had to go. It looks really cool at night and you can see it from almost anywhere in Paris.

At the top of the hour the tower lights up for five minutes with thousands of strobe lights. Everyone OOO's and AAWWEE's once it starts lighting up.

We didn't OOO or AAWWEE.

The photos don't do the strobe lights justice. Here's a little video of them in action.

The following day we just walked the town. No rush, no hustle and bustle. Just normal everyday life when you 'live' in Paris. What should we do tomorrow?

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