View From a Hotel Window, 11/5/18: Paris!
Posted on November 5, 2018 Posted by John Scalzi 22 Comments
The hotel I’m in is cozy and on a quiet street here in Paris, and the internet connection is, like, 50 times faster than what I have at home, which fills me with rage, but never mind that now. The view is, I suspect, typically Parisian.
Tomorrow: Come see me and Robert Jackson Bennett at Librairie La dimension fantastique, 106 rue La Fayette, 75010 Paris, France, where we will be signing and also maybe talking and stuff. He and I will be there from 6pm to 8pm, so if you’re in Paris, please come and bring along everyone you know!
Also tomorrow: If you’re in the US, and a US citizen, and have not already done so: VOTE. It’s kind of important, folks.
You should be enraged by the superior quality internet that you have in Paris. We Americans, so complacent about our supposed superiority in all things, are a generation or two behind the rest of the developed world in computer/internet/cellular connectivity. It is only when we bother to travel that we learn this.
Enjoy Paris — my favourite place on the planet.
That can’t possibly be Paris.
As everybody knows from movies and TV, every window in Paris faces the Eiffel Tower. If you can’t see the Eiffel Tower when looking out the window, it isn’t really Paris.
Sorry John, European Internet is usually much faster than the one in the USA.
Enjoy Paris, would love to see you in Portugal one day or in Spain (I would travel there to meet and greet).
I’m working in Switzerland this week, otherwise would love to go to Paris to get a signed copy (even if in French…)
I have my “I voted early” sticker to wear tomorrow.
I wish I had the Chicago version – the one that says “I voted early and often” ;-)
Very excited to see you tomorrow! Thank you for making the time.
Also, enjoy the unusually clement weather.
I hope you have enough free time to explore and enjoy Paris. I’ve only been there once, but that was enough to understand why people love it so much.
Lol, yes, all of central Paris looks like a set for La Boheme.
Enjoy yourself, and have some tasty French dairy products while you’re there.
While you’re getting to enjoy Paris we just got to enjoy Aliette de Brodard (why yes, I was just at the 2018 World Fantasy Convention)…a very cool lady.
I think the only one of my family to ever visit Paris was my Uncle Joe in early 1944…he was too busy dodging the Gestapo to really enjoy the place. Hope he got to visit in happier times.
I’m not surprised the Internet is faster in a huge capital city than in the countryside, though that should not be the case. I live in Ireland, where Internet providers are variable, to put it mildly.
Miles Archer, we Irish-Americans made Chicago the most (D)democratic city in the world. Even the dead can vote!
While you’re in Paris, pick up a copy of Paris Par Arrondisement. There are several editions, and it’s a superb way to navigate the city, and a cool souvenir to bring home. I’ll bet that bookstore you’re visiting sells a copy. Here’s a somewhat longer review:
https://kk.org/cooltools/paris-par-arrondissement/
I was living very close to that spot for a few months, a few months ago. Left the country already, it would have been a highlight meeting you there!
If you can manage it, visit Shakespeare and Company bookstore on the Left Bank, right across from Ntre Dame. Incredible place. I got a copy of Islandia there a million years ago …
I have globetrotting relatives who feel the U. S. has declined to Second World status, on a level with the less violent Asian or Latin American cities. Make of that what you will.
Why do the French have balconies in their car parks?
@MSB: I second your suggestion to visit Shakespeare and Company – brilliant 2nd hand bookstore. There´s one in Vienna, as well, should the opportunity arise :-)
It is good that you have a nice view for once. I bet you get tired of parking ramps and warehouses.
p. k. dick went to france…too…congrats.
Lovely picture.
Off topic, I’m somewhat annoyed that comments are closed on the New Books post. It’s taken me until now to create a Flickr account and find that I still can’t see the books photo, though I can see lots of previous ones. Two days seems a short time.
johntshea, I have heard a similar joke – a Louisiana politician says he wants to buried in his home state so he can continue to be involved in politics.
To all people who are allowed to vote: Do it!!
Please let’s make it clear that the American demockracy can be healed.
That’s a beautiful view, but, well, it’s no parking lot.