Paris. Oh. My. God.

4:36 AM.
I awoke on the top bunk and frantically checked my cell phone. "4:36." Next was my iPod. It screamed 4:36 as well. Now this wouldn't normally be a problem but frankly, Katherine and I had a plane to catch at 7:45 at Orly Sud. We'd been in Paris for 3 days or so and it seemed like mishaps were pretty par for the course. Now I jumped off the bunk to wake her and run downstairs. See, the problem wasn't that it was 4:36 and we have 3 hours to get to the airport far south of Paris. The real difficulty lay in the daylight savings switch that had happened the night before. So really it was 5:36 and we had to book it from 'Le Village,' our hostel in Montmartre, to the Metropolitain for a long trip. We'd briefly considered renting a cab (45 Euros ($60)at least) or taking the train to the airport the night before.
But, since we'd already booked the hostel for our this final night we decided getting some rest was for the best and we bedded down. Sadly we both have fairly dated phones that don't automatically update for daylight savings. And therein lies the rub.
So, my knee feeling sort of out of place we ran downstairs. We ran down Rue de la Chappelle (or something) and made it to the 2 line. At Gar du Nord we had to buy our 8 Euro ticket on the Orly bus. But alas! We didn't have that in coinage, nor did we have this bullshit Eurocheck card you need. Credit? No such luck. I ran to a few police and told them the story and without much hesitation just told us to get on the train.
Needless to say Katherine and I are now back in Berlin and it really felt like I was coming home. Compared to Paris its so amenable and comfortable here. Plus its far cheaper.

Lets see...other Paris highlights...
*eating bread and cheese like it was going out of style.
*Forcing Katherine to let me fill her bookbag with all sorts of cheeses to bring back to Germany.
*Katherine's new bootleg North Face bookbag from Thailand smelling like really stanky feet. Stanky feet belonging to several people.
*Walking along the Seine at night. The whole city is just lit up and golden.
*The Pompidou Modern Art Museum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Georges_Pompidou
*6 AM train to the airport and a speed freak clubber that looked sooo skeezy starts dancing to house music on his friends boombox. 4 girls on the train promptly exit. I remain envious of his hand-swirling-the-head-dance moves. Sensational.
*10 PM the night before. 15 year old French kid freestyling over a Chronic 2001 beat on the Subway. Sensational.
*Having a guy from Ghana (Patrick) stop me to make a friendship bracelet on my finger while smoothtalking me. I told him from the start I wasn't giving him anything, yet he still was pissed after he tied the bracelet on me. He then unknotted it awkwardly.
*Laughing basically nonstop with Katherine.
*Having the worst chapped lips of my life!
*Dealing with Berlin's S-Bahn early on a Sunday morning when we just wanted to get home!
*Getting home.

-----------
I've just uploaded a bunch of photos to my flickr account
-----------
Also, I just came across this rather interesting recipe for cat (please don't try):

Roast Cat as You Wish to Eat It

Source [Libre del Coch, R. Carroll-Mann (trans.)]:
123. Roast Cat as You Wish to Eat It. You will take a cat that is fat, and decapitate it. And after it is dead, cut off the head and throw it away because it is not for eating, for they say that eating the brains will cause him who eats them to lose his senses and judgment. Then flay it very cleanly, and open it and clean it well, and then wrap it in a cloth of clean linen. And bury it beneath the ground where it must be for a day and a night; and then take it out of there and set it to roast on a spit. And roast it over the fire. And when beginning to roast it, grease it with good garlic and oil. And when you finish greasing it, whip it well with a green twig , and this must be done before it is well-roasted, greasing it and whipping it. And when it is roasted, cut it as if it were a rabbit or a kid and put it on a big plate; and take garlic and oil blended with good broth in such a manner that it is well-thinned. And cast it over the cat. And you may eat of it because it is very good food.