Mike at the Lapin Agile

Well, similarly to my spring break blog, I had a wonderful diary-like blog written covering my fantastic weekend in Paris. However, my computer has decided to eat my original blog… So this is my rewrite of a blog. I can’t make any promises as to how this compares, because I’m really really frustrated at this point. Alas…


Friday started with quite a bit of panic. Long story short, there was quite a bit of drama as far as the amount of people going with us to Paris. This was a trip we had planned a long time ago, but people kept adding and dropping themselves. Well, because of this, no one book housing until the last possible minute, which was Friday morning before class. However, it was time to leave, and I didn’t have a place to stay. The hostel I found only had two beds for the night, so I didn’t have a place to stay, but I heard there were some nice benches around the Eiffel Tower, so I wasn’t too worried.

The finals for British Experience Seminar and Contemporary Britain were simple enough—it was just a bunch of writing, really. It was another time to reflect on everything, which has made the whole experience that much more difficult. There was also a “re-entry seminar” to prepare us for reverse culture shock. I was overwhelmed with quite a bit of conflicting emotions. I’m really afraid that I’m going to suffer from the reverse culture shock quite a bit.

However! That’s not the exciting part of this tale! The part where I fly to Paris is!! After class, we hopped on a plane and fly to the city of love. When we got to the hostel to check the girls in, it turns out they had a bed for me to sleep on, so the crisis was adverted without any pomp and circumstance. After getting settled, we decided to wander the streets a bit. The Moulin Rouge wasn’t too far from our hostel, so we went out there. The road it is on reminded me quite a bit of the French Quarter in New Orleans. Every establishment was selling sex in one way or another, and none of them were ashamed at all to advertise it to the world. I guess if the Moulin Rouge is right down the street, the location is prime for that target audience.

Our hostel had an advert for a free tour of Paris, so that was the first thing we did on Saturday. It was a four-hour walking tour of the city, and it covered quite a bit. It started at the fountain of Saint Michael, which I thought was particularly cool. I may be a bit partial, but Michael’s one of my favourite saints. And that statue in the fountain made him look like a pretty rad dude (if I can bring that phrase back from the Nineties), banishing Lucifer and all. On the tour, we saw all of the serious sites without any particularly super moments: Notre Dame, the Palace of Justice, Tuileries Gardens, the Louvre, the Rose Line (for all of you Da Vinci Code fans), the Royal Palace, the Opera the Grand Palace, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe. Our tour guide was a charming bloke from Edinburgh named Frasier. At the end of the tour, we warned us that when we do go up the Arc de Triomphe, be sure to use the underground pathway there. The roundabout around the Arc is the largest and busiest in the world. He also said that some insurance companies will not cover drivers who get into accidents around the roundabout because it’s so bad. Instead of warning me, Frasier’s words acted as a call to arms; a challenge to get across in grand fashion. I figured after Cairo, I could handle any traffic. I actually lucked out. I had a pretty easy crossing. I didn’t have to even break stride more than once. One car did swerve at me, however, but I was half a car-width from my destination at that point that I wasn’t worried.

The girls I was with were fans of the last National Treasure film, so we then trekked out to find the miniature Statue of Liberty. It wasn’t a terrible walk, and it was really cool to see. Apparently, the girls seem to think that the way it was actually situated in Paris wasn’t the same as they remember in the film. I can’t say because I don’t remember the movie all that well. While out there, I was also challenged into climbing a tree. It was a challenge because there really wasn’t an easy way up, I actually had to pull myself up. Now, if you’ve never seen me before, I have the same amount of upper-body strength a ten-year-old boy has. The girls got quite a few laughs out of watching me try and get up. I was successful in the end, despite their teasing. Then, when I got back to the ground, a small boy came up to me and started speaking a lot of French (keep in mind that this boy is probably as tall as my shin), and his mother than told me (in English) that he wants to know how I did that because he wants to do it too. It was wholly adorable in every way possible.

We watched the sunset through the glass pyramid at the Louvre. It was gorgeous. Sunday then started right where Saturday ended. The first Sunday of every month, there is free entry to the Louvre. A guidebook said, and I quote, “Avoid the Louvre like the plague on this Sunday.” Instead, we just thought we’d beat it to the queue. We showed up about an hour or so before it opened and we beat the majority of the queue, which was pretty sweet. When it opened, we followed the streaming mobs of people directly to the number one destination within the museum—the Mona Lisa. I couldn’t believe I was actually looking at it. Most people are amazed by how small it is, but I knew it wasn’t large, so I just stood there in awe for a bit. In contrast, on the opposing wall was the painting of the Wedding Feast at Cana, which is one of the largest paintings I’ve ever seen in my entire life. If you spent thirty seconds at every piece of art in the Louvre, you’d be in there for over a month. We spent quite a bit of time in there and saw quite a lot of sweet stuff. We made it a point of seeing all of the really really famous stuff. The other piece, which I didn’t know the museum had, was the Code of Hammurabi. For anyone who doesn’t know, Hammurabi was a king/emperor (I’m not sure what the proper title should be) of the Mesopotamian civilization of Babylon. He decided he should write all of the laws down and post them in the city center so there was no question what the law was. This was the first time something like this had ever been done, so it’s really like civilization 2.0 because of Hammurabi. Yeah, I’m kind of a history geek sometimes—don’t judge me. Upon leaving, we took some goofy photos around the inverted pyramid. It was a good time.

We then went back to Notre Dame so we could actually go inside and see it. When we walked in, it was in the middle of mass, so the girls let me go and sit through the last part of it (they knew it was Sunday, and they know how excited I get about Catholic things in general). After the service, walking around was amazing. The stained glass in the church is so incredibly gorgeous that you have to see it to believe it. While on that side of the city, we also wanted to check out the Pantheon. However, much to our dismay, it cost quite a few euros to enter. We decided to forgo it and wander to a church off to the left of the Pantheon that had cool looking exterior architecture. It turned out to be the Church of Saint Genevieve. Saint Genevieve is the patron saint of Paris and, if you were wondering, has a sweet church. There wasn’t a pulpit in the church, but two spiral stairwells built into the walls that lead up to a catwalk-type thing encircling the high altar. However, all incredible beauty aside, I found something in the church that made me so elated I almost squeaked. Within the church was the tomb of Blaise Pascal. I’m going to perpetuate my geekiness here, but he was an incredibly famous French mathematician. So, yeah, I got really excited.

The climax of our Paris adventure, literally and figuratively, came with the ascension of the Eiffel Tower. I was initially disappointed that they wouldn’t let me take the stairs all the way to the top. I took the stairs to the second level (638 steps, if you’re wondering), and wasn’t even breathing heavily. There was no fatigue at that point. I was ready and rearing to go. Alas… However I got to the top, it didn’t matter once I was there. It was so glorious. The weather had been piss-poor all day, but when we got to the second level, the clouds broke and the sun shined down upon our epic ascent. I was amazed that there was a champagne bar at the top of the Tower. I almost wanted to toast the climb, but it was obscenely overpriced, and I don’t like champagne THAT much. We even got to watch the sun set from the tower.

Upon returning to the ground, we reunited with Val (who refused to climb the tower, citing a sever case of acrophobia) and found dinner. This was our one serious splurge of the trip. The place had an entrée and main course for fourteen euro. I ordered the fish of the day, which ended up being a grilled salmon, and a “fisherman’s salad.” I didn’t ask what a fisherman’s salad was, but ordered it on a whim. It ended up being an assortment of greens, tomatoes, onions and shaved tuna. I’ve never eaten tuna—despite my adoration for seafood—because my mom eats it out of a can at home mixed with Miracle Whip, and it always seemed to look and smell awkward, as well as slimy. Well, the tuna on my salad wasn’t slimy, but delicious. The grilled salmon that came with an assortment of assorted vegetables was probably one of the best meals I’ve had my entire semester abroad. Our evening concluded watching the Eiffel tower sparkle and glitter in the night. It was friggin’ beautiful.

We slept in on our last day in Paris. It was much needed and greatly appreciated. Our hostel was in the northern portion of the city, called Montmartre. It is the über-Bohemian, artsy-fartsy portion of the city. We spent the first half of the day wandering around the hilly streets. Also, in the area, is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart—probably the most beautiful church I’ve ever entered, behind St. Peter’s Basilica. When we entered, the bell went off, signifying the start of mass, so I got to sit through a mass at the Basilica. It was so awesome. That church was so incredibly gorgeous. They said no pictures, so I have nothing but my memories, which is cool, I guess. But I would have really liked to have pictures of how absolutely breathtaking the inside of the church was. Also, before departing Montmarte, we stumbled upon the Lapin Agile. It is a cabaret that Picasso spent quite a bit of his life at. Also, Steve Martin wrote a play entitled Picasso at the Lapin Agile that is completely hilarious. So, needless to say I was really excited.

We spent our final afternoon and evening in the grass, relaxing and staring at the Eiffel Tower. I wandered around while the girls napped. The Eiffel Tower is quite the wonderful backdrop. I was even inspired to do a little sketch; Val liked it so much I gave it her. We even bought ourselves a bottle of French wine to enjoy. One of those “when in Rome” moments, you know?

Since all of my Paris adventure has ended, I’ve written this blog twice (I’m still bitter about it). I’ve been relaxing and enjoying London. I’m here for a few more days, and I intend on making them glorious.