Paris

Information: I felt it necessary to give an update on how Im treating my blog as this is my first one. I´m still working out how I want to format it and will be experimenting here and there, so feel free to leave comments. Also, I´m hoping to update it around twice a week but that may not be feasible at times.

PARIS

THE FOOD: Is, of course, magnificent. Some of the freshest food I´ve ever eaten. I get the impression that most Parisions (Sp?) shop every day, or at most, once every two days. I really got into it too, by the end of the five days it was simple for me to tell the difference between a fresh baguette and one cooked that morning, let´s not even mention day old baguettes. Most of the dinners are served in a Price fix menu, meaning you pay a lump sum and get to choose an appetizer, entree, and dessert. In my first French meal I had a shark steak, which was great. All of the portions are smaller too, surprise surprise huh? My favorite meal, however, was grabbing some fresh everything (produce, bread, meat) from a local market and eating in the champ (essentially a field) in front of the golden dome that houses Napoleans body.

THE CITY: Is divided into twenty districts almost in the form of a spiral (think the inside of a ho ho). This makes finding your way rather difficult sinces roads aren´t straight and changes names, etc. Fortunately I had an excellent tour guide in the most literal sense. All twenty districts are mandated to have two markets a week, which is amazing. As for the people, I actually found them rather pleasant. Although I didn´t interact with too many locals, as I watched them interact among themselves or with other foreigners, I saw a general level of friendliness I hadn´t expected.

THE SITES: Notre Dame- Saw but didn´t go in
Saint Chapel- Used to house the supposed cross of thorns of christ, now it has one of the most beautiful stained glass murals I´ve ever seen
Louvre- HUGE! People talk about how massive it is and it doesn´t do it justice, we´re talking multiple (more than five) football field of museum, a William and Mary kids dream!
Musee Dórsey: Really cool, a converted train station. I only had time for the impressionist wing, but it was very impressive.
Eiffel Tower: Oddly enough, didn´t go up. Rugby world cup was in town, along with a massive football (soccer) match between Scotland and France so the lines were unreal. The bottom half of it was green in honor of the Cup though, so that was kind of cool

FAT TIRE BIKE TOURS: As I eluded to before, my hostess actually works for a bike tour company. The first full day I was in town we took the afternoon tour...what a great way to see the city. You ride through most of the city and the guide stops at major points and explains history and interesting stories. We liked it so much we went back for the night tour, which was more riding than stories, but we also made our way onto a boat that cruises up and down the Seine (pronounced Sin) that splits the city. Almost surreal.

THE SCOTS: Like I said before, the Scots were in town for the football match. Although there were only about 25,000 of them (only?) they made their presense known. In the Champ du Mars (field in front of the eiffele tower) they congregated and sang, drank, and played football. Im sure they made france re-think their open container laws as they left a huge mess. Nonetheless, on our way into the Rugby World Cup HQ Carolyn and I just stopped to observe this raucous mess and ended up talking with a Scotsman for over an hour. Such a jovial people: bag pipes were played, jokes were non-stop, everyone was friendly, and about every twenty minutes they´d erupt in song about how great Scotland and the Scots are. I really wish we had something like that.

THIRSTY THURSDAYS: Carolyn, who is good friends with my old roommate Chris Grammar, was kind enough to host me. She lives with five others who work for the same company and are all a hoot. Imagine the type of person who is willing to put their career or education on pause to move to europe and work as a tour guide, then put six of them together and something interesting is always happening. Thursday nights are apparently the ´big night´which has become somewhat of a tradition. This thursday, as hyped as it was, did not disappoint. Carolyn, Eliza (another roommate) and I went out to the Refuge, an all you can eat and drink fondue restaurant. Eliza had met a couple Aussies on her tour and they joined us. When we walked in you had to literally setp over the table to sit on the other side. Oh yeah, and the wine was served out of baby bottles. It´s takes about one bottle to get through the awkwardness then hilarity ensues. We then made our way to a Karoake Bar where the girls and the Aussies sang up a storm and I settled in with some Englishmen to share a pint. I woke up the next morning missing my camera and passport. After far too long of a time searching (and by seraching I mean Carolyn since I was worthless) I actually found the two nestled at the foot of one of the roommates bed. Had no idea how or why I put them there, but lesson learned: if you´re going to go big, don´t bring out valuables.

HOBO VS GYPSIES: So Paris is famous for the gypsies around the Eiffel Tower, they ask you if you speak English and if you say yes they try to swindel you for money with some sob story. It´s sort of funny to see experienced people deal with them and respond with things like ´no I dont speak any english at all.´ It´s also kind of sad because who knows what kind of crap they were promised upon coming here and who knows what theyre dealing with. All that aside, the day after the Scots stormed the Champ, a war zone of cans and bottles was left for all to wallow in. Gypsies made the best of the situation by trying to collect cans and bottles for recycling but may have tried to hard when they wandered into the area of a very territorial (and very drunk) hobo. He had built a tower paying homage to his life-giving booze that stood about five stories of beer bottles tall, resting on the top was his wine (still full). He chased the herd of gypsies off with a rock, and if you´ve never seen a flock of gypsies fleeing a rock-wielding hobo, all pity aside it´s one of the funniest things you´ve ever seen. Point one for the hobo. However, as I made my way to the bike tour I noticed the tower had been destroyed and the wine spilt, the gypsies got their furtive revenge. I´ll call it a draw.

QUESTION: I ended up in a discussion with a Englishman one night about the US vs. the EU. He had traveled the states frequently and pointed out how different cultures and mindsets were state to state, region to region. He then asked an interesting question: if the people are so different, east to west, what makes the states united? I´d love to hear people´s personal opinions on what makes our great country united states (other than the obvious historical context). Feel free to post.