Catacombs, and farewell to Paris

Today was the last day in Paris. We went to the Catacombs. These catacombs were originally mining tunnels. During a disease outbreak caused by insufficient burial practices, many of the graves in several cemeteries were exhumed and the corpses moved to these tunnels. Over time, so many corpses were buried here, the identities were lost and such. Only since 2008 have these tunnels been open to the public. The bones have been lined up and stacked in remembrance of those who gave their lives for a free France. These tunnels go on seemingly forever. Thousands upon thousands of souls now take their place here.

It was awesome-
I have never seen so many bones in my life! It was straight out of a movie or something. Mildly creepy.. but AWESOME!

We finished off the night with a farewell to Paris, watching the world cup, and watching the Eiffel towers final sparkle, and watch it light up the night.

Its a sore sight to leave such a beautiful city with such an interesting history and culture. (did you know paris was laid out using the golden mean?) However, getting back to clean air, water, and costco will be much appreciated. Did i mention clean air? Its a bittersweet feeling, but it is indeed time to come home.

See you all soon!

Music and Motion

Today was a day enriched by music and dance. After spending time at the "white church on the hill", i went to the Louvre to do some shopping. On the way out, i heard a street musician. Upon further investigation, it wasn't just a street musician. This man was playing the cello. He didn't look homeless, or like he was begging, and as he was playing, you could see that he loved his music and instrument. His very soul was out for the world to see. The music was absolutely beautiful. I stood and stared for what must have been 10 or 15 minutes. He played piece after piece of stunningly gorgeous music. I was really moved.
Upon arriving home, i got ready for the ballet. I must say, my french is getting pretty decent! People don't start talking in English when i try and talking french! This ballet was truly something spectacular! It wasn't just about the dancing. The music, and orchestra was just as much an attraction as the dancing! They had an orchestra, accompanied by an entire Japanese drum section, and another group of older Japanese traditional instrument players. (i don't know the name of the instruments.. but apparently not many people know how to play them). The dancing was spectacular. I watched in pure amazement at the control these dancers had with their body. Watching as they effortlessly did a triple followed by a double toure, was.. breathtaking. The lighting and stage effects were so awesome! Its so incredible, i honestly don't have the words to describe it. So.. If you want to know more, you'll have to ask! It is late, and a big day tomorrow.. Au Revoir!

Chaeteu de Versailles

Today, being Sunday, was a bit difficult, with everything closing early and such. We took a train out to the Chaeteu de Versailles. It was built by King Loius the 13th, 14th and 15th, and lived in by queen Marie Antoinette and such. King Loius was also the one who commissioned the Louvre, and stole Ballet as a dance form from the peasants. It was beautiful. Every room was gilded and painted to the extreme, everything having a meaning, and a purpose. The gardens were equally spectacular. The fountains being choreographed to music and such. It is the last piece of the french monarchy left standing, and it is beautiful! Afterward, we made a quick trip to the Arc de Triumph. I wasn't really impressed. Its a big archway, dedicated to the french army. A few crepes later, and a stirring round of phase 10, and i was off to bed. Oh, the most fun part about today was that we got to spend it with Benjamal and Casidoo! Recently married and spending their honeymoon here, we ran into them and made plans! It was fun!

For the love of food

Today was a day of amazing food. I was going to go out with Millie and Logan again for the first part of the day, but i lost them somewhere in between them going to do their laundry, and making out on the Eiffel tower for their anniversary.. Instead, i went and got tickets for a ballet! I am so excited. It took me a while to actually find it. Where the internet said it was, isn't actually where it was. I ended up walking around for a while, and trying to talk to a girl next to a poster for it in french to ask directions, and she looked at me like i was stupid. Not so much because my french is beyond terrible, but because the ballet is at a place called "Opera De Bastille" and the metro nearest it is called.. you guessed it, Bastille. Who'd have guessed though? I know i didn't. Luckily the lady at the ticket office spoke decent English, so i got a good seat! This theater is huge! 3 balconies and i happened to get a seat on the floor. What luck! Yes Sandy- i will take pictures (if I'm allowed) and such just for you! I also visited the Pantheon. It is a work of art in and of itself, but it was built in honor of St. Genevieve, patron saint of France, and Joan of Arc. It has also become the burial place for the "pomp" of France. It houses the corpses of many of the leaders and martyrs of the french revolution, as well as those all the way up until recently, such as Pierre and Marie Currie After that, i went and visited Notre Dame. Honestly not a lot to say about it. Just another giant Gothic style catholic cathedral. It had a giant line into it, which im not sure whether that was because it was free entrance, or because its famous. I wasn't impressed either way, but a good see regardless. I walked past a giant department store on the way back to the metro. Not nearly as big as Harrods was, but still, about 5 floors of stuff. I bought a suitcase to make the trip home easier, and to make sure i wasn't over weight. I went home, dropped that off, and had dinner!

Back on the topic of food. It has been my goal while in France, to never eat the same thing twice. To get a variety of as much french food as i can! I will admit though, i have had crepe's several times. However, they have been different flavors. Today i got a cheese pastry thing while i looked for the ballet. It was good, tasted like a grilled cheese, only the cheese was like.. good, and not.. fake, or American. Very creamy, and where it was on the grill it got all crispy like, and so the cheese extended about 3 inches out from the actual pastry. Yum.
While heading towards the Pantheon, i passed an ice-cream shop. Now, I'm not one for ice-cream, but the sign was in Italian, not french, and said it was a gelato shop, which piqued my interest. BEST-FROZEN-DESSERT-EVER. I am so glad i stopped in there. I'm not entirely sure if it was frozen yogurt, or gelato, but i don't really care. It was paradise. I got a cherry one. It was a plain vanilla base with REAL Cherries and scratch made cherry sauce. It wasn't even blended in at the start. They had pans with the base flavor of ice-cream (yogurt, gelato, whatever. heretofore known as ice-cream) with the topping just piled on top. So when they served it up, they didn't just scoop. They used a thing that almost looked like a pie cutter, and they portioned the base and the topping just right. When they sliced through the ice-cream, it didn't give any resistance, just slid right through, but was still cold and solid. Just perfectly creamy. They had everything from chocolate with chocolate chips, to pineapple and passion fruit. It was.. well.. BEST-FROZEN-DESSERT-EVER. I may break my rule and go back there. It was THAT amazing. The cherries weren't frozen either. They had just the right amount of tooth, but still soft enough to not be more dense than the ice-cream. I am drooling just thinking about it again. Amazing. The funny part was, most of the people in there spoke Italian, not french. nor English. But they were playing a Michael Jackson CD and all singing along, apparently not knowing what they were saying. It was funny, we all sang along and danced. Dance- the universal language.
In France, there are little cafe's just about everywhere. There are a few that have really stood out to me through this trip, and i've been trying to find more like it. I hopped on the metro, picked a random stop, and started walking. Off in the distance, i saw a glowing green restaurant/cafe. One thing i look for when picking a place for dinner is the LACK of words Brasserie (i have no idea what this means) Cafe, Take-Away, and such. This one fit the bill. I also look for places that seem busy, and have families in them. That way, i know i won't be hated for not ordering beer, or wine, as well as not wanting just boring pub-grub. This place was everything i wanted. I walked in, "Bonsoir, un s'il vous plaît" (good evening, one please), and even though i spoke in near perfect french (ha!) they still pulled out an English version of the menu. That actually impressed me. And i was quite glad to have something i could understand. Leons was the place i was at. It is an entire restaurant specializing in mussels! I had no idea when i walked in, but i was actually quite pleased. I like seafood. (are mussels considered seafood?) Anyway, i started with a warm goat cheese salad. It was a salad with a balsamic vinaigrette, with a baguette covered in goat cheese, olive oil, and basil. Its times like this that i am glad i learned how to eat properly. People here give you funny looks if you eat like an American. Anyway, it was very good, very light, and the goat cheese was very creamy. At first i wasn't sure if i wanted it to be on a baguette, as i don't like bread all that much, but it paired very well, and provided a good base to cut the lettuce and such on. It also allowed some absorption of the vinaigrette. These french people are smart when it comes to food. The mussels come out with a side of pomme frittes. (french fries) which i wasn't exactly expecting, and didn't really eat them all, since I'm kind of sick of french fries, whatever country they come from. Anyway- the mussels i got were cooked in a north-France style with bacon and mushrooms and other yummy stuff. They were steamed in the pot they were served in, so none of the flavor was lost. They also brought a basket of french bread to sop up all the yummy. The mussels were amazingly good. There definitely is a difference from fresh mussels, and frozen ones in Utah. One thing i was surprised at is how many there were! It was practically a bucket of mussels! There was tons! Had to be almost 40-50. The meal finished with a cremebrulle. They really mastered the texture here. It was smooth and creamy- nothing like scrambled eggs. The top was hand torched and crispy, and kind of tasted like perfectly burnt marshmallows. I am really glad i found this place!

The french are so good with food- even their cough drops taste good. Try explaining Halls, or cough drops to a french person and they will look at you like your insane, but hold your throat and cough and they will come back with 4 boxes of different stuff. I got the honey and mint ones. Oddly, she warned me not to take more than 6 in a day, and i didn't quite catch why..

Now i just have to figure out if I'm going to Versailles tomorrow, or staying home to catch up on homework..

p.s. The picture is actually the back entrance to the Louvre.. and yes, i look fat. But ya know what? I didn't want to upload any pictures from today, so that's what i get. And.. that's what YOU get!

Musee d'Orsay, the Louvre, and Crepes

Today was interesting. I found out how some of the people on this trip REALLY feel about me, even though they don't know they were loud enough for the entire hotel to hear! Anyway- i found new friends who don't talk about me behind my back, and we had a blast today!

We started out the day by heading to the Louvre. Come to find out, its free for those under 25 on Fridays after 6! Lucky us! Before leaving, some Americans stopped me to take a picture for them. Something about my shirt saying DETROIT tipped them off to us being American also! hee hee. So we headed over to the Musee d'Orsay, which picks up where the Louvre stops. We spent a good chunk of the day there reveling in the bounteousness that is the art world. Mostly good, some awful but still famous. A lot of Monet, and Renoir, and it gave me a chance to show off my artsy fartsy-ness and feel cool by explaining certain aspects of pieces and styles to my friends. Its been fun to get to know everyone OUTSIDE of dance! Millie had eaten a funky sandwich a few days earlier and was feeling a bit sick (flashbacks Mark?) so we took it a bit slow for her. After Orsay, we headed out for some crepes. I learned a valuable lesson today. If you say "parlez-vous l'anglais ?" and someone says yes, it means they really dont speak very good English. If you ask someone that question, and they say, "a little bit" they speak perfect English. And if they say "No, i only speak french" its a funny old black man in front of the museum! Coming home after the Louvre, my friends went home to sleep and use my laptop, while i took a stroll down the streets of paris to find some place to eat. I came across this place called "Indiana Cafe" and had the most amazing chicken curry ive every tasted.. ever. Not only was the rice awesome, but it was stacked in a perfect little pyramid. I stared for a bit before i even ate. To top if all off, the world cup started tonight, and France and Uruguay tied i believe, 0-0. But, being in France, it was crazy downtown, and people kept trying to talk to me and i just smiled and said..

"Im American"

so they walked away, and i walked back home for the night!

France

Today we started our journey to France, the last leg of our trip. The trek took us on a train underneath the English channel. Just as we were about to exit the "chunnel" (tunnel under the channel..) the train stopped. The announcer came over the loud speaker and told us a train ahead of us had broken down, and we were stuck behind it, with a portion of an ocean sitting above our heads. No worries right? 3 hours later.. "We are profusely sorry for the inconvenience, but we are sorry to report that all attempts to repair the train ahead of us have been a complete failure.." Yes, the train announcer told us it was a "complete failure". Reassuring! As we started procedures to reverse the train and hop on a separate track and go around (not a short detour mind you) the train in front of us miraculously leaps to life and off we go! Not an hour later the train stops again. "We again profusely apologize for the delay, Maintenance which was supposed to take place after we had passed is currently going on in front of us due to the delay with the prior train." All in all, a 2 hour train ride to France took about 6 hours. Once we arrived in France, we realized there are very few escalators in France to take us out of the subway. So, here we are, 16 Americans, hauling all our luggage around the streets of France! A bit tiring. We finally arrive at the hotel, and find out its not completely paid for! Yay for dishing out another 115 euros! Then there was the drama.. i wont get into that. But lets say, i dislike dishonest people who cause drama. Devout on not letting stupid people ruin my trip, i went off to hard rock, had a nice dinner. Picked up the souvenirs i needed, and visited the Eiffel tower! I didnt go up today, the line was ridonculous. I however realized 2 very important facts that are going to make this trip interesting. 1) I dont speak french. 2)French people dont speak good english.

For Sandy-

Just for you Sandy.. Just for you