Bercy

We had a late start on Saturday. Our shutters allow us to block out any inkling of light to the point that our apartment becomes cave-like. It makes it harder to wake up at a reasonable hour, especially when we finally didn't have some pressing obligation to attend to.

I'd been wanting to go to Bercy Stadium for a while now. Although it was constructed as an indoor sports arena, it has been re-appropriated to a certain subcultures of Paris who find its outer architecture to be a veritable skatepark. It really is a paradise for skateboarding. Something like this would never be permitted in the States. Any place that attracts this much attention from skateboarders or bikers almost simultaneously gets shut down by police and the city. Paris is certainly a different story. People didn't stop and scowl at us as we skated, but rather stopped and watched and took pictures.

Attempted to walk a small part of the Champs Elysées in order to go to a new H&M Super Boutique. We ran into some weird Pompiers processions which included mustaches and Newfoundland hounds (huge, fluffy dogs).

It took us forever just to walk a few block down to number 88 from the Arc de Triomphe. I think the only thing more crowded than the Champs that day was H&M. It was grand opening week-end and the place was a madhouse. It was a solid three stories complete with escalators, stairways, elevators, and motion-picture advertising--and by that I mean that the digital screens displaying models sampling the latest releases were moving around the store on tracks. I bought a hat and a thermal shirt; Lauren bought some dresses.

We ended the day by visiting our friends, Margot and John, up in Pantin. We don't like Pantin; it just seems removed and dangerous. Our friends place is really nice though. They have a nice garden area inside of a large inner courtyard. Their apartment is more than twice the size of ours, too. We watched Hot Fuzz (a British action comedy) until late and then went home.