25 October 2007

Paris, je t'aime



(Great film by the way)

Anyway, catching up on adventures here....

The weekend before last, Mom and Jon came to visit and travel Europe a little. Amanda and I joined them for a weekend trip to Paris. They arrived Friday morning, took a shower at my flat and then we headed to the train station. We had to get tickets for a later train to Paris so Amanda and I showed them around Frankfurt a little before leaving Germany.

We arrived in Paris later that night, dropped off our things and went for a night walk. Due to the overcast weather and the lights of Paris, the sky was an eerie lit grey/orange. Looking at the white/grey buildings against the sky, it was like we were in a land of sepia tone. On our walk saw the Arc d'Triumph and the Eiffel tower before making it back and passing out. Amanda and I were very excited to stay in a nice hotel. However, many places do not have 2 bed rooms, so we all squeezed on 2 twin beds. Amanda was stuck with the unfortunate position of having my feet in her face.

The next day we woke up ate breakfast and headed to the Musée d'Orsay, an impressionist museum. Again we saw several pieces we had discussed in Art History class. The impressionist and modern art periods are some of my favorite. We saw Dega, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Seurat, Lautrec... I loved it. Afterwards Mom and Jon went back for a nap while Amanda and I took a stroll along the river. The architecture everywhere was gorgeous as were the bridges along the river. We got seriously side tracked when the vintage book, magazine, and poster stands popped up a long the way. There was potential for this to be very bad, but we were on a tight timeline to get to Notre Dame, so I only made a few purchases :) After climbing hundreds of tight winding stairs, the view of Paris from Notre Dame was beautiful. Unfortunately we had to hurry back to meet my parents at the Eiffel tower. On the way back we saw people our age with signs that said free hugs. We jumped at the chance, chased them down and got some hugs!

That night the semi-finals for the Rugby World Champs were going on in Paris! There was a screen on the Eiffel tower!! We watched some of the game at dinner on a TV in the restaurant. The people next to us explained the rules a little. After dinner Amanda and I went to the Eiffel tower, where thousands of people were viewing the game. Unfortunately France lost, so there was not a celebration, but it was still crazy. We found several 20 somethings playing drums and dancing on the lawn, so we joined in for a bit. It reminded me of Columbus on game day, however on a much bigger scale, rooting for your country is pretty cool!

The following day we all went to the Louvre in the morning before Amanda and I had to catch our afternoon train. We only spent a little time seeing a few paintings. I enjoyed the architecture of the Louvre and the Tuleries Gardens located just outside the most. We soaked in the warm sunshine at the gardens and grabbed a crepe below the giant farris wheel before leaving for cold Germany. It was really great to see Mom and Jon a little and to be in Paris with them :) I really loved Paris. Someday I will return and spend more time :)

Amanda's birthday was on Sunday but we celebrated Monday after returning from Paris. We had cake and gave her gifts in Karlshof (student complex) before heading out to our favorite bar, SchlossKeller, for Erasmus Monday. Some of the others got her a birthday hat which looked like a cake with candles on her head. Of course she wore this all night. I got her several exciting goodies including a children's book about colors in German. We decided she should read this during breaks at school. Erasmus Monday only happens once a month, and Amanda's birthday once a year, if you do the math, naturally this is an equation for a good time. We danced the night away and it ended with Bram and I tucking Amanda into bed ;).

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