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Wednesday, June 5th – a fourth day in Paris
I meet Maurice Otunga, the Kenyan, at breakfast again today. We talk about our plans and discuss what to see. I have expected to stay in the city for a week. I still want to see all the tourist attractions I haven’t seen, like the Eiffel Tower, the Invalides, le Sorbonne, Luxembourg Park, Montparnasse and maybe even a bus trip out to Versailles, but the CISP is booked solid beyond tonight and we’d need to search for another place.
Mike isn’t interested in staying longer. He wants to catch the train to Laon in the Champagne region north-east of Paris tomorrow morning. We agree to disagree. For the first time we will separate for a few days, even though he isn’t clear where he will go from Laon. Tonight at 7pm, I have arranged to meet Guillaume, the young blond I met on the subway Monday evening. If he cannot put me up for two or three days and no last minute spaces free up here, I will have to call around to other hostels.
Because of our uncertain plans, there is a greater sense of urgency today. I take the subway a stop further than I got to yesterday and walk from Montmartre to the city core along Rue de Roma to the city core. I see Trinity Cathedral and the Paris Opera House and more of the Tulleries. 
I seem to have found the gay cruising area in the park this time. They are above the expressway on the north bank of the Seine. There are several men parading around hoping to catch someone’s eye. It is fun to watch. Parisian men are shy and proper and making eye contact beyond a fleeting glance is quite difficult, which makes cruising them rather ineffective. I hang around for half an hour but meet no one. As I leave I pass a young straight couple taking pictures of each other dancing, jumping and posing as statues in the park. They are more fun to watch than the lonesome cruisers.
I call Guillaume from the CISP and he offers to put me up tomorrow night. I pick up a bottle of Greek wine to bring to his place, where we are to rendezvous at 8:15. I am hoping to spend the night there. His apartment is walking distance from our hostel but it is raining lightly off and on.
I am met at his door by Jean-Louis, a friend of his who is a flight attendant. Guillaume is on the phone. Jean-Louis has stopped by to share an aperitif before leaving for the airport. He tells me he is not going for work this time, but for a two week vacation in the south of France to forget a disappointment in love. When Guillaume is off the phone the three of us talk for half an hour while we wait for the frozen pizza Guillaume has put in the oven.
When Jean-Louis leaves, we finish the pizza and wine. Guillaume is sporting a fresh hickey from a former lover, who he says he isn’t interested. He only wants his freedom to fool around and date different guys, he says. He flirted with me Monday
as he is flirting with me tonight, but as soon as I tell him I would like to sleep with him he loses interest. Young men are flakier than pie crusts. They don’t even know when they are playing games. Furthermore, while I am visiting him his family calls. They are coming into the city to stay with him tomorrow night instead of the weekend, so now I have no place to stay. I leave at midnight and walk home. It’s raining harder. With the risk of not finding any other affordable place to stay this weekend, I decide to join Mike on his train ride to Laon tomorrow.
PHOTO 1: Place Vendome
PHOTO 2: Passage Didelot
PHOTO 3: Eiffel Tower
PHOTO 4: Mansard roofs
PHOTO 5: Trinity Cathedral
PHOTO 6: Paris Opera House
PHOTO 7: a couple on the rue de Roma
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