Parlay Voo Anglay?

Unfortunately over the last four days I did not run into very many people that did speak Anglay. Ben Yust, Liz Kunde, and I ventured to Paris over our long weekend and if I had to describe it in on word I would call it an "Experience", and it was. It was an experience to remember.

We flew out of beautiful and sunny London on Friday afternoon and arrived in cloudy and cold Paris an hour later to be greeted by words we could not understand. We were very naive in the sense that we did not realize ahead of time what a struggle it would be to deal with the language barrier. The only benefit we had was that Liz had a few years of high school French behind her. So we mispronounced our way across town on a few very long train rides and finally arrived at our hotel in the somewhat shady Parisian suburbs. Our hotel was called Gis Hotel and our room consisted of a double bed and a single bed crammed into a room with what was, I think, to be considered a desk and a what appeared to be a 10" TV. We had hoped we would be able to go to the Louvre that night but after struggling somewhat with the somewhat disorganized and altogether confusing train system we were too wiped and it was too late. So we crashed for the night.

Saturday brought much better results. Right away in the morning we figured out the trains much quicker and made it to the Eiffel Tower. It was very impressive but certainly not the highlight of the trip. We met up with our friend Molly (who also attends Ripon and is studying abroad in Paris this semester) and she ushered us back to her apartment (she lives with Ms. Poupon the mustard heiress). From there we went to the Louvre which was a very great experience. We saw the Mona Lisa, many works by Raphael, and the crown jewels of the past monarchy of France and we were in awe of it all. I have had the amazing opportunity to see some of the most famous and impressive art in the world in my short stay in London and it is great to be able to add this to my growing list of cultural experiences. Ben had been feeling under the weather from the get go and it seemed to be worsening so he went back to the hotel and Liz and I continued on to the Arc de Triomphe. It was dark at this point and it was a really beautiful structure all lit up at night. It was built to honor the returning forces lead by Napolean and one cannot help but think that he was overcompensating for something (he was 5'2").

Saturday was a ridiculous day. If people say you cannot see Paris in a day Liz and I proved otherwise. Ben was on his deathbed with a sinus infection (we think) and decided to stay in so Liz and I decided to take Paris by storm. We started our day at Sacre Couer, a bassilica built to honor those that died in the Franco-Prussion war. It is a massive structure built on top of a hill over looking Paris. It had immaculate views and an even more beautiful interior. When we went in on Sunday morning Mass was still going on which added wonderfully to the ambiance of the experience. After avoiding the barrage of people trying to sell us two incredibly overpriced strings that apparently would look beautiful around our wrists we found a quaint cafe to eat lunch at between tourist traps. We then ventured to Notre Dame which was also very beautiful but, to me, was not quite as grand as Sacre Couer (maybe it just seemed like more of the same). Still though, to its credit, it is a wonderful work of architechure and built right on the Seinne, you can't really go wrong with that. Then we wasted 6 Euro on a lame museum that used to be a prison during the revolution but now is apparently open solely for the purpose of luring unsuspecting non-french speaking tourists in to attempt to read all french displays about a pretty boring topic (our guidebook led us astray!). After that we were ready to crash but not even close to done. We went to Luxemburg Gardens to get coffee with Molly. It was good to sit for a while and very nice to have a french speaker with to order for us. You think we should be done but we weren't...

After dinner we went to Centre Pompidou, the Parisian modern art museum. Again, very impressive, but not quite as memorable as the Tate Modern art museum here in London that has Picasso and Jackson Pollack on display. Last but not least, we trecked back to the Eiffel Tower to see it sparkle up as it does every hour on the hour after six p.m. It was amazing and definetely worth seeing up close. It was beautiful and a wonderful tourism investment on the part of the Parisians I must say. We finally arrived back at the hotel to find Ben in somewhat better sprits at 11 p.m. What a day!

That is my Paris experience. Today all we did was sleep in, go to the mall to find some souvenirs, and fly home. My initial observations about Paris (although my stay was breif) are as follows:
1. Paris is much dirtier than London.
2. There is graffiti EVERYWHERE!
3. The language barrier is harder than you realize if you don't have any french experience.
4. The people, overall, were very accomodating.
5. The homeless people/street hawkers(selling wrist strings/miniature eiffel towers) are very invasive and sometimes will not take no for an answer. Be aware! word on the street is that they pickpocket.

In a nutshell we were all very excited to be back in London today and although the experience was a positive one it by no means shyed us away from travelling. I think, if anything, it encouraged me. I conquered Paris in essentially two days and came out the other side no worse for the ware. I am excited and anxious for my next opportunity to travel in Europe.

Sorry this got so long and wordy, but of course there would be a lot to say after a weekend like that! I experienced a lot and am well on my way to acheiving my goal: becoming a part of the few, the proud, the cultured business majors!

Much Love! I will check back in in a few days.