Paris Day 5

Our last day in Paris, and I have to say, I was very sad to be leaving. We got up fairly early, packed up our bags, and dragged them down to the hotel luggage room. We had until about 5 to explore Paris a little bit more, so Miles, Jamie White, Chad, and I went up to Montmartre to see their open-air markets. A quick metro ride took us right to the market, which had a few interesting things, but was mostly African/Rastafarian novelties, along with hookas and various other smoking parphenelia. We browsed the market for about an hour before heading off to the large 19th century Byzantine-style cathedral, Sacre Coeur. Along the way, we stopped in a boulangerie to grab some breakfast. I had a chicken-filled pastry that tasted a lot like chicken pot pie and a Sprite.As we made our way toward Sacre Coeur, we walked through a North African part of town and spotted a little Algerian pastry shop. Unable to resist, we got some pastries, and they were THE BEST THING EVER. Continuing our trek, my knee started to act up again, and it was only with great difficulty that I dragged myself up the hill to Sacre Couer. It was worth it though…not only was the church impressive, but the view of Paris from the top of the hill was incredible, even on a hazy day. Jamie White and Chad waited outside while Miles and I walked through the church. It was big and pretty, but annoyingly, there were staff there telling us exactly where to go and what to do. By the time we were done, my knee felt a lot better (maybe it was just a cramp?), so we headed down into the famous square in Montmartre where street artists sell their paintings. We looked through the paintings for awhile, and Jamie White even bought one. Afterwards, Chad led us to a restaurant that served delicious and filling french onion soup. This, along with a giant beer, made for a perfect late lunch.

Following lunch, all we had left to do was venture down to see the windmills, and, of course, Moulin Rouge. The Moulin Rouge, as you might imagine, is overly touristy and not at all what it is supposed to be. Unfortunately, we forgot that this area also included an eroticism museum, so we didn’t get to go there. From what other people told me about it, I’m really sad that I missed it. At any rate, we all got on the metro at Moulin Rouge, and Miles and I split off from the group to go check out an ‘art deco Mosque’ listed in Miles’ guidebook.

We found the Mosque and went inside for a reasonable 2 euro fee. It was quite beautiful, with intricate tile work and a peaceful courtyard, although I couldn’t tell you what was Art Deco about it. It all just looked like Islamic art to me. We saw some people praying, which was interesting. Sadly, we couldn’t take any photos inside, and the postcards were kind of crappy. After leaving the Mosque, we stopped in an Islamic bookstore across the street, hoping they would have better postcards. They didn’t, and it was kind of awkward being English-speaking college students in a store full of the Islamic faithful. Not that they were rude or anything…it was just weird.

We left the Mosque and headed back to the hotel, where we got our bags, and after a short wait, took the public bus to the TGV station. At the station, there was more waiting. Jamie, John, and I got some sandwiches from one of the stands inside the station. Finally, we were able to get on the train. The ride home was long and a lot bumpier than the ride to Paris. I think maybe the wind was knocking us around a bit, but I can’t be sure. When we arrived in Avignon, it was colder than it was in Paris and windy.

The bus ride back to Lacoste was quiet and uneventful. I think Miles and I spent most of the time talking about anime. In Lacoste, I slowly dragged my bag up the hill. After only about 16 hours of sleep total in Paris, I was exhausted. I collapsed into bed and slept so hard that I missed my alarm and class the next morning.

Paris Day 4

Okay, sorry for the delay. Good news: Finals are over and I have officially finished with my last college class ever. Unless I go to grad school or something, but that doesn’t seem likely. It’s a weird feeling, and it will only get weirder I’m sure.

But enough of that for now. Back to Paris. Saturday morning, we were allowed to sleep in a bit (until 10:30) before taking the long metro ride out to La Defense. La Defense is Paris’ ultra modern business district. As we learned from a lengthy lecture by Christine Wacta (the architecture professor), modern architects were allowed to construct buildings here with virtually no limitations, so there are structures like the Grande Arche, which is actually a massive rectangle with a hole in the middle. The area also featured two monumental sculptures, one by Picasso and one by Miro. I spent quite a lot of time with the Miro sculpture…after a hearty breakfast of McDonald’s chicken nuggets that is. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed La Defense. I especially liked the feeling of standing in this incredibly modern space and looking down the Champs Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe. In all, this La Defense is probably the most successful and enjoyable example of modern architecture I have ever experienced in real life.

After about 2 hours at La Defense, we got on the RER (a regional railway connected with the metro system) and took a 35 minute ride out to the suburb of Poissy. This was a charming suburb that I would have liked to have had a bit more time to explore. To my untrained eye, there was quite a bit of Swiss-inspired architecture, along with a cute little main street, and an impressive Gothic cathedral. Our destination in Poissy, however, was Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye. This is probably Corbu’s most famous work, and I was actually somewhat excited to see it. It did not disappoint- the building was extremely surreal, both inside and out. The way people move through it is supposed to remniscent of the automobile, and the entire house has what the architects call a “machine aesthetic”. I don’t know much about all that, but personally, the entire experience was a lot like being in a Rene Magritte painting, with a bizarre juxtaposition of the machine and nature.  Strangely, Villa Savoye gives the inhabitant the feeling of observing nature without really experiencing it. It has large windows all the way around it, and it is raised on stilts (pilotis) so that it’s a lot like being on a viewing platform at a zoo.

After visiting Villa Savoye, we were free to leave. Jamie, Miles, Jamie White, James, Jared, and I took the RER back into Paris. Miles and James got off at the Arc de Triomphe stop, while the rest of us continued back on to the hotel. I split off from the group to grab a couple of souvenirs and do some browsing in Shakespeare and Company, the famous bookstore on the Seine. The store was crowded, but I managed to pick up a few things, eager to support one of the biggest international proponents of free press. I went back to the hotel, where I was supposed to meet up with Miles to go to dinner. Dalton and company wanted to try to do the boat dinner again, but in the interest of saving money, I decided I wanted to find an Ethiopian restaurant recommended by Miles’ guidebook. Miles, Jamie, and I hung out in the Gay Quad’s room for awhile, watching German MTV. John Wolfe, McArthur, Brooke, and Ben decided they would come along with us to try to find the Ethiopian restaurant. Jamie, meanwhile, went along with the others on the dinner cruise.

It took us awhile to find the Ethiopian restaurant, even though it was only 2 blocks from the hotel. When we finaly did find it, we discovered they were crowded, and sadly, there was no space for us. Somewhat disappointed, we explored the area, and found there were dozens of restaurants to choose from. We ended up in a moderately priced Italian restaurant where the waiter would only speak to us in French. We all did very well with our ordering in spite of the language barrier, and in all, it was a very enjoyable dinner. After dinner, Brooke, John, and I went to meet up with some of John’s friends at the Universite. We arrived at the college, where we met John’s friends Lexi and Alex, along with a few of their friends at the lounge in the American dorm. There, we drank, conversed, and played a game of Mafia. Mafia is a bit like a poor man’s Murder Mystery, and it’s a lot of fun, especially when mixed with alcohol.

After 2 rounds of Mafia, most everyone who wasn’t from the Universite needed to leave in order to catch the metro before the stations closed. Lexi and Alex agreed to come with us to the Rue Mouffetard to hit a few bars since it was close to our hotel. Rue Mouffetard was a lot fun- there were plenty of reasonably-priced bars and also plenty of public drinking. We ended up spending most of the night in one bar that offered 3 Euro shots. We had really disjointed and confusing conversations with some of the French patrons and watched music videos on the strangely-placed TV. Finally, Lexi and Alex decided to head home, which was our cue to leave as well, despite John’s protests. Unfortunately, in our inebriated state, we had some difficulty finding the hotel, and, to Brooke’s dismay, probably wandered the streets of Paris for a good hour before finding our way back. In spite of that little adventure, though, it was definitely a fun way to spend our last night in Paris.