Bikes, Baguettes, and Berets Oh My!

I hope that you are quite comfortable as you read this, Because I plan to re-live my weekend in Paris to the best of my memory in this one. I'll start at the very beginning. After class the boys and I took off early. We wanted to get tickets to the Arsenal match on Sunday and the ticket booth was just a bit beyond Kings Cross St. Pancras Station. We were lucky and managed to nab our 4 seats together. With our prized tickets in our wallets we (and the luggage we'd been hauling) got back on the tube to Kings Cross. We got an early taste of French cuisine at a restaurant called Paul while we waited for our departure time. Once on board the train (yes I said train, this is the one that goes under the English Channel to Paris) I was surprised to find that my seat was not with another Baylor student... odd... I suppose I managed to get the last number or something. Just as I was starting to believe that the seat beside me would remain empty a plump little french man approached and asked me (in French) to excuse him in getting to his seat. I wordlessly complied. You see, I was exhausted from the night before when I'd gone to the London eye and been up packing, I planned to sleep on this train and had no desire to chat with this fellow. To bad for me I suppose. Within two minutes of sliding into his seat he began chattering in French, when he looked at me expecting a reply I simply apologized and said that I only knew English. Well, lucky for me... he knew English too (limited and with a thick accent). I realized I'd have to humor him for a while and so I answered his questions about who I was and where I was going. He was thrilled to find that he was sitting with an American... so thrilled in fact that despite my efforts to read my book or go to sleep he continually interrupted me with questions about The States, my lifestyle, etc... The most ridiculous was the time he shook me awake and said "I'm sorry... but I just have to know... How do you feel about president Obama?" I couldn't believe this guy. I answered his questions though, and decided to do some prodding myself. In the end I suppose we learned a good deal about each others cultures and It was certainly a learning experience... Once off the Train and away from my French pal Kevin we loaded onto a bus and went straight into a tour of the city. It was a lot to take in but helpful for getting our bearings. After the tour we checked into our hotel which was just down the street from the Eiffel Tower. Once settled we went exploring, or as Dr. McCormick put it "set out to discover the magic in the city". I must say that we did find some of that magic. Just as we were approaching the Eiffel Tower it lit up. I must say it was quite a sight to see. The Tower was beautiful and there were people everywhere just lounging on the grounds enjoying the site. We decided to stay put and just enjoy the atmosphere. Before long we got to see the tower sparkle, it was amazing. The next morning we got up early to go up into the Eiffel Tower on a tour. That was pretty cool, the view was stunning and even standing on the Eiffel Tower we just could not get over the fact that we were really there. After leaving the Tower we set off in search of the Louvre. This meant our first time on the Paris Metro or Underground or Subway... whatever you prefer to call it. At first we really struggled to understand their system but after a bit we had a solid handle on it and felt confident in our travels. Once we found the Louvre we booked it to the Mona Lisa. Gosh was she heavily guarded. On a wall all by herself I must say she was interesting to gaze at and even now I can't believe I've actually seen her. After the Mona Lisa we wandered through the Greek and Roman antiquities where I saw many a statue representing a story I'd translated from Latin, seeing them, and knowing what they were representing made the hours of translating feel well worth it. Next we headed for the Champs Elysees, where the event items from the Tour De France were all still set up. As we got closer to the Arch of Triumph we enjoyed browsing through stores that were way out of our league. We then took a break back at the hotel before setting out for our night in the Latin Quarter. The Latin Quarter is right next to the University and is filled with people our age and genuine Paris nightlife (not the touristy stuff) by day, Latin is still spoken in some places there. We really enjoyed ourselves that night. The Latin District was incredibly picturesque. Narrow, cobblestone streets that were free of cars, old buildings with the flowers outside, and French kids gathered everywhere. We had dinner at a really good restaurant and fun chatting with our waiter then we went to club type place called The Princess and the Frog, it was pretty cute.
On our second day in Paris we made reservations to see Moulin Rouge (I'll get to that later...) then set off to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was by far my favorite thing we did in Paris. It was the most amazing cathedral I've seen on this trip and the climb to the top was well worth it. The bell and the Gargoyles were awesome! There were even gypsies outside (you have to look out for those actually... we were told they're quite the pickpockets). After Notre Dame we hit the Musee d' Orsay to see some Monet and Van Gogh. That was pretty cool. I had no idea that Monet's Waterlilies was so big. After the museam it was back to the hotel to get ready for Moulin Rouge. Now, I'm not sure how I felt about this one... I felt wary making the reservations in the morning... but my whole group seemed set on going and they said it was like the New York City Rockettes. I figured that'd be pretty cool to see then, and after all, I'd heard about Moulin Rouge and I figured it'd be a very French thing to go see. So I went for it. I had no idea what I was getting into... the first act was amazing, vibrant, feathery costumes, neat dances and good music. I was feeling really silly for having second guessed at all in the morning... until the second act that is. It was quite similar to the first... just with a lot less costume. It was at this point that I began to wonder if I was witnessing legitimate French culture and entertainment, or just a glorified topless bar... I still haven't quite decided. The show was good though and the effects were mind blowing. I especially liked the bits between the dancing. They had the most talented juggler I've every seen. He could do seven glowing rods at a time, he was going so fast that the rods left patterns of light all around him. They also had some incredible acrobats and a hilarious ventriloquist. The show ended at 1:30am that gave us 15 minutes to get back to the Metro and get back to our hotel before the metro rail closed for the night. We dashed out of the the theatre and into the underground and were quite satisfied with ourselves when we caught our train. It looked like we would make it home in time easily... that is until our train came to a sudden and screeching halt. All was quiet for a while and we figured something had broken down and that we were just experiencing our typical luck with trains. Then an announcement was made in French and we could see shock on the faces around us. That was pretty scary, just being able to see that something was quite wrong but not being able to understand what it was or the instructions we were being given. I turned to the man nearest me and asked him ( in French, I had to learn a few phrases ) if he knew English. Lucky for me his response was "it's my native language" He and his wife then stuck with us and translated the announcements. What had happened was that the train ahead of us had hit someone, likely in a suicide effort. All trains had been halted and we were being given instructions to evacuate through the front of our train. We couldn't believe it. All trip long we'd been nervous around that ledge in the underground and quietly wondered if people ever fell in. It was a terrible thing to think of. I'm just glad it wasn't our train that hit the man, at least we didn't have to see anything. When we emerged from the underground we learned that the kind couple who had helped us were just in Paris on Holiday. The man was from England and his Wife was American. Together we navigated to the Arch of Triumph were we were able to get a cabs to our hotels.
Today we rode the train home to London, dropped our bags off at the college then went to the Arsenal Football Match. It was fantastic. I've never had so much fun at a sporting event in my life. The fans were crazy, the place was packed, and we were as into it as all of them. Arsenal won the match against the Celtics and that also won them the Emirates Cup. It was really something to see.