Paris (for realsies)

Im sorry for the delay, everything seems to be moving at lightspeed now that I realized I only have 3 weeks left!

Paris
Sunday
So we arrive in Paris, after a 10 minute walk through the underworldesque temperature, we get to the (even hotter) tram. That takes us to our stop right by the University of Paris, and our 3 star hotel. Seeing as the we were four to a room I didnt have much choice as to who I was rooming with. Team Y-Chromosome (Seth, JD, Jean (the Buisness French Prof who just got in) and I) was stationed on the 5th floor (6th in American terms; dont ask how that works). The lift was approximately the size of that closet my parrents stuck me in at our Family Beach Renion that one time ("Oh no Matt, its just a bedroom for super-special people"). In other words, 1 person and their bag could not fit in it. That's Paris for you.
We arrive at 2, get settled in and go for a walking tour at 3. Some highlights included our first view of the Eiffel Tower, The Musee D'Orsy (Impressionist stuff, see Tuesday), and the Louvre (kinda). Little antidote: as we were standing behind the National Assembly (french House of Reps) and Keneth is talking about the importance of the building and how its historic and such. All the girls are looking kinda bored; they're all circled around him, hands on their hips taking deep laborious breaths. Then the other teacher (Viley)(sp?) interrupts him, points at the building across the street and says "Prada National Headquarters." A flash of action left Kenneth in a cloud of dust, holding handbags, and looking rather defeated as the girls magically transported to the other side of the road and produced cameras out of thin air.
At night we walked to Notre Dame (about 5 minute walk) and ate the best ice cream of my life. Creamy, sweet, rich, flavor. I went for 3 scoops of Coffee, Honey Nugat, and Cacao Whiskey. I cannot describe the latter in words, just a primordial groan of satisfaction.

Monday
Our Paris through film class ran (more realistic than first evident), from 9-1 every day and we sightsaw in famous places that movies were filmed. Cool class huh?
First of the 3 tours (not to mention the sunday one) was Kenneth's. He knows a rediculous amount about Paris and it was awesome to hear all the little stories, facts, and trinkets that he had as we saw the Seine, 7th Bridge, Lovre, Gardens, Place de Concords, Opera, Royal Gardens, Halles, Pomplidou. You will notice that this list is much longer than any of the others.... Kenneth got a little excited and walked us into the ground. On the verge of mutany, he let us depart from Notre Dame with the afternoon ahead of us. Jia, Lauren and I decided to go see the Opera from the inside. I got us lost, and by the time we got there, it closed in 5 minutes. Alas, an afternoon wasted.

Tuesday
's walk was with Debbie, where we saw Monmartre (the only place in Paris with hills). Which includes Sacre Coeur and Moulin Rouge as well as a large portion of the film Amile. Fun story, I didnt know Moulin Rouge was real until this trip...oops. Its real; promise.
The I took the afternoon by myself (didnt want to get anyone else lost) and went to the Musee D'Orsy which was awesome. Better than the Louvre in my opinion. It's filled with impressionist paintings including Monet, Manet, Degas, and my favorite, Jean Baptist Camille Carot. I then walked on over to Notre Dame, was herded like cattle through the inside, then spent 2 hours people watching. Without ranting, I would like to say this: if you're every in another country, please try to blend in; that's not to say you have to denounce your Americanism and become fluent in the language, but please try to not yell in english across the entire plaza infront of Notre Dame to your friend/spouse on the other side about your plans for lunch. Im off it.

I then took Dinner on the Seine with JD Ruthie and Seth. It was fantastic. No restaurant can beat that cheese and ham sandwich. Also, Im pretty sure Im in about 6 gagillion tourist photos of Paris from their dinner cruise.

Wednesday
It was our free day so Jean and I went to the Louvre. This was probably my least favorite thing I did in Paris; I saw the Mona Lisa (from afar), Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo (I mean I also saw tons of other stuff but, those were the highlights). I wish I appreciated art more, I feel like being an educated person I should...who knows maybe its an aquired taste. We then went over to the Cemitary Pere Lachaise (who is actually Santa's evil brother who comes and kills kids if they're bad for Christmas; makes getting coal look like a good thing [in fact with our current energy crisis I'm going to ask for coal for christmas {goes better in a stocking than crude oil}]) We saw the guy who translated the Rosetta Stone (he did it in 1 night! reminds me of finals week) and Oscar Wilde's tomb. OW's was covered in lipstick, apparently its a big thing to red-up and give him a big wet on right on the tombstone...?
We then hustled over to the Champs de Mars (the greenspace in front of The Eiffel Tower) for dinner, and took a ride on the Bateaux Mouches (which btw is only 1 letter away from being the "Ugly Boats"). Talk about a role reversal, we passed by our last night's dinner location. A hour-long walk back and some more glorious ice cream rounded off the night.

Thursday
was a short day. We walked the Arc de Triumph, Champs de Lycee, Boutiques, Grand et Petit Palais with Villay (sp?). I then climbed the Arc de Truimph, and made my way back over to see the Opera (which was awesome). A round of "Music of the Night" under my breath, and then I headed over to the train station to come back.