This is the main Opera House here in Paris and it is absolutely gorgeous! The picture doesn't do it any justice since you can't really see all the gold trimming that it is adorned with! Anywho, back to the movie. I decided to see "It's Complicated" with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin. I had seen previews for it back in the states and thought it looked like a cute movie so that's what I went with. The movie cost Euro 7.90 but that was actually for student pricing. I think the regular ticket is around EUR 9. The guy at the ticket counter suggested a student and so I just agreed with him. He then asked me for my student ID (which clearly I didn't have since I'm NOT a student) and I said I didn't have it and if he needed to charge me then no big deal. He then said "oh well, it's Christmas" and ended up giving me the student discount! I thought that was very nice of him. So a little bit about the theatre. As we all know in the states you should always bring a light jacket with you, because for whatever reason it's usually always a little chilly/cold in the theatre. Welp, not here kids! They have the theatre's heat cranked up here! It was actually nice and I was glad I didn't have to wear my big thick coat the entire time! Here is a picture from inside the theatre.
So let's back it up a few days. Each day is a new experience for me. I try to get at least 1 goal accomplished a day (hey I know it's not a lot) and sometimes that doesn't quite work out! For example I have spent the previous 2 days just trying to get some money exchanged! *Warning* you are about to encounter a rant! So I think I have written in a previous post how most of my money has been invested into American Express Travelers Cheques. Huge Mistake!!! Apparently no one likes to deal with Travelers Cheques anymore. And yes that is how you spell Cheques, I'm not trying to be fancy or British. So when I was living in the small town outside of Paris I was getting them exchanged at the local Post Office so I thought I would have no problems doing that here in Paris since it's a much bigger city. Well I thought wrong. I went to 2 different post office's near my apt and neither one said they exchanged them. The second post office sent me to another larger one that was a bit more of a walk for me, but hey I need the exercise. So I wait in line and get to the counter and the guy said yes they do exchange. He had me fill out a form, asked for my passport and then dissapeared into the back which isn't unsual since they have to call AMEX and get an authorization code. Finally some light at the end of the tunnel. Wrong! He comes back and says he can't do it and blamed it on American Express for some reason. But then he told me to come back tomorrow and try. What? Okay whatever. I go home, call AMEX and see what the deal is, they tell me that I can also exchange them at a certain bank that they are in agreement with called BNP Paribas. I take down that information and she gives me a couple of locations that are no where near me. At this point it was starting to get late and I figured I would pick back up tomorrow and start this process again. I mean I thought Travelers Cheques were pretty common? A safe way to travel b/c if they got stolen they could be reimbursed? Apparently they are the biggest pain in the ass, at least they have been for me! Okay so the next day I go back to that same post office that I knew exchanged the cheques and guess what? Today they don't! Supposedly they got a call telling them not to exchange them anymore. What a load of bull! So I then decide to try out one of the BNP Paribas near my place and they don't exchange either! Am I being punked? On the American Express website they give a list of places that they recommend to go and get the cheques exchanged and those places won't even do it! Hahahaha, I mean this is quite laughable. So basically I have decided to send these cheques back with my friend Lauren (hi Lauren, if you're reading this, we haven't discussed this matter yet so we'll talk about it when you get here!) when she comes to visit me. I will then have my mom deposit them back to my checking account and will from now on just deal with getting money through the ATM. I got my daily amount I can take out upped and the fee is only $5 bucks! Problem solved. Rant over. Moral of the story is basically don't use TC when you go on vacay, they are more trouble than they are worth. I hear it snowed in Texas the past couple of days, that is awesome. Twice in one year. That's gotta be a record right? Don't pack away your flip flops just yet, I'm sure it will be back into the 70's by early next week!
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