Gay Paree 2024 Day 6

Day 6 we rented a car to go to Giverny and Versailles. Sure you can take the train there easily cuz its europe and has a very functioning infrastructure but we wanted and adventure and what an adventure it would end up being. We got up early, everyone got to the car rental place but i didn't have my passport so bob who was bringing up the rear ran and got it. We ended up with an electric BMW suv which had all the bells and whistles. We paid like 80 euros for gas fill up which later we were like what this is an electric vehicle what did we pay for? But later on we'd be glad we did that. Do you have to charge the car before you bring it back? idk but we'd be very stressed out and glad we didn't have to think about any of that.

the ticket that was supposed to be left in the car but wasn't. We ended up being fine.

are we having fun yet boys?

when in france, frolick

Giverny is Claude Monet's house and here he is looking like a bad ass rich artist

he had a sweet kitchen

on our way to Versaille we tried to find a cute lil town for lunch but went through a few kinda grimy not charming towns so we ended up eating acceptable to less than acceptable food close to the front gates of Versailles.

of course it started raining and we had no umbrellas and we had tickets but the place with swamped with tourists so there was still a line.

bobby had already been to Versaille but none of us had been so we went to look at the gardens while he stood in line but it was raining so we could only take a few min of this.

my illustrator pal Nico Delort who's famous for for his insane scratch board illustrations came to meet us because he lives inbtn Giverny and Versailles.

really nice time we're having

when bob went there were like 3 people but for us it was so packed it was almost unenjoyable.

so we all made appointments to get tattoos at this famous place in Paris so we had to zip out of Versailles early. I felt bad that Nico came out for and hour but we had to return the car also and make it to our tattoo appointments. At some point in the trip they called and told us some convoluted thing about returning the car to a different place and its down in whatever level of the parking garage. We got back late so bob hoof'd it over to the tatto place so at least he could get one and we started our crazy journey of trying to return the car. we finally found the parking garage but when we got to the subterannean level we were supposed to go to it was blocked off, so we kept going down until there was a total blockage going down and a blockage going anywhere else so we had to squeeze the car into this side spot and run around the parking garage as we split up looking for someone to help us. This is a foreign country and english isn't the primary language which added to the stress on top of we were missing our tattoo appointments. All the while eerie elevator music was playing through tin speakers. eventually after running the length of the parking garage on several levels i find a booth with a disgruntled old guy and a line of disgruntled car rental people. As he dealt with each person finally it was my turn and he begrudgingly locked the door and took me and ryan (whom appeared later after stumbling across this same booth) down to the level our car was stuck at. We were walking with this old guy the whole length of the parking garage so it was weird. he had to stand at the top of one level and stop traffic so i could back the car up this steep winding hill. While we were gone some woman in a sprinter van ended up in the same predicament as us and had to do the same thing. We finally were shown the spot to leave the car and we tossed the keys in the return box and hoped for the best and everything turned out fine.

we didn't make it in time for our tats but bob did which maybe worked out ok because he was the only one that was truly ready for a tat. His artist was this very young russian guy that fled so he didn't have to fight in the war on Ukraine so he was traveling all over europe getting hired at tattoo spots and was actually leaving the next day and didn't know what his life would become. This is bobs rebel alliance star wars tat in progress.

Jen and Ryan were drinking at La Troquet du Temple around the corner and when we met up the barman and pal were asking me where my shirt was from.

we went to a place I love, Chez Janou which was the best dining experience. Its a fun atmosphere, had the best waiters, and the price is right and the food is good.

i'd never had this before, farcis provençaux, stuffed provencal vegetables. This trio is a tomato, little ball zuccini, and a pepper and it was amazing. I was so amazed i made this when we got back and i think it might have been even better.

for me i love the giagantic serving of mousse chocolat that slap down onto a plate in front of you from a giant bowl. I asked for 2 orders and the waiter was looking at me a little weird and i knew they were big so i said , is that crazy ordering 2? and he said, you only need 1 and we all laughed. And we didn't even finish half of it cuz its so dense. We had some crazy digestifs. Ryan had the patis flambee shrimp and had visibly low energy....