It's warm as a hell in Paris. We just woke up at the crack of noon. For one, we were out at a bar around the corner, with Laurent and Caroline (his, not mine), until 4am. She had to be up to work at Printemps department store at 11am otherwise we probably would have stayed another hour as no one else seemed to be leaving (people were still waiting in line to get into the club next door). The late wakeup hour is also the jet lag kicking in; I could go back to sleep for a few hours. However, since it's light until almost 930pm there's no reason to rush out. Just having some coffee in the apartment, listening to people (and their dogs) in the building's center courtyard.

Last night we met Laurent and Caroline (or rather they met us here to go down to Pont Neuf by Metro) and her sister, Clementine, as well as her friend Pega who is here from the weekend from Denmark. Since Pega only speaks Danish and English, and everyone speaks excellent English as well, it made for a great evening since we could keep up with the talk. We went to KONG, a Stark designed restaurant on the top atrium floor of Kenzo. It was funny to come all the way to Paris to eat in an Asian Fusion restaurant - the decor and vibe could have been LA - but the people looked otherworldy attractive and the place buzzed with an energy that kept us going even though the effects of travelling were starting to take their toll. We started with some Moet & Chandon so that's all I really cared about - getting some champagne in me to fuel the evening. The bar we went to (after a lengthy attempt to get a taxi in central Paris after the Metro closed) was killer. We had beers with orange liquer poured in them and smashed ourselves into a tiny corner booth and listened to the dj and watched people dance and had a few cigarettes - it's Paris so forget about not smoking.

Today we're going to meet Laurent again and his girl at Printemps, the upscale department store she works for. The roof terrace has a place for lunch with cool views of the city. After, who knows - maybe try to find a street thrift market that Caroline wants to browse, a couple of drinks in a cafe, a walk through a museum . . . I don't feel compelled to try to fit a month's worth of tourist tasks into the few days we have. It may be Paris, but our goal is still to chill out and go with the flow.

greetings from Paris, where I am trying to decipher touch typing on a keyboard with a Euro keyboard layout.

Caro and I arrived this afternoon and are lounging around Alex's apartment on Rue Jean Pierre Timbaud.

tired as hell but having a great time already considering we have only been here a few hours - going to some Phillipe Starck designed restaurant this evening with friends Laurent and Caroline and her sister and friend.

Time for a nap.

I got this in my email inbox this morning. Unreal.

"From the cruel and unusual files, comes a report from California that state legislators approved a bill to ban Internet-based hunting. The lawmakers voted 25 to six to ban the practice.
Hunting on the Web. Say what? "

"Yes, California state senators approved a bill that would ban hunters from killing Bambi and any other animals via the Web. Again, we ask, how does one hunt over the Internet? Evidently the Web site www.live-shot.com connects weapons and cameras to allow people to simply point, click, and shoot at animals on a ranch in Texas. The animals aren't avatars, they're real animals.
"Pay-per-view hunting doesn't meet any definition of 'sporting' that I've ever heard because there's nothing 'sporting' about sitting at your computer in your pajamas, using your mouse to shoot at hogs or antelope or any other animal that's halfway across the country," Sen. Debra Bowen, the bill's author, told Reuters. "

"The bill prohibits remote hunting in California and anyone who wants to run a hunting site in the state. The proposed bill would also ban importing animals to California that were killed over a remote hunting Web site. "

-Tobi Elkin, Executive Editor, MediaPost

Yeah, let it be known I'm the first one out on the Internet with this one. Caught this on my TIVO. It's a guy breakdancing for the Pope. Please note that it does say Breaking News underneath him. I wish I could send this to Sarah Vowell.