Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Joe-9 If I lived in Paris I would be broke and weigh 300 lbs

On the 25th of June, my day started at about 6:20 in the morning. I had to wake up and finish packing up. That was the day that we left Montpellier to go to Paris. Our train left at about 7:20 and arrived in Paris shortly after 11 that morning. I was hungry as I had only eaten a granola bar and exhausted from not having slept more than four hours and having been unable to sleep on the train. Upon arriving in Paris we left the train with our luggage and I started following Lindsey who was following Dr. Pelley. It was not long before we realized that we were separated from the rest of the group who had stayed behind at the train to go together as one group. We learned this when Dr. Pelley called Dr Bains and we then waited till they caught up. We then carried our luggage down through the subway, which is a challenge that lead to almost all of us having our bag caught. Eventually we navigated through one switch of lines and ended up at the Nation station. The hotel was about a 10-15 minute walk from the subway station. We arrived at the hotel so early that we could not check in and had to leave our bags in a room and come back later.
After walking around for a short while we ended up in the Jewish part of Paris where we ate lunch. I simply ate pastrami because I was too tired to really want to try anything. Afterwards we saw continued walking around and saw Notre Dame. We then went back to the hotel where we were finally able to check in. I shared a room with the Brandons and Steve. The room was on the second floor which was reachable by dragging the luggage up a spiral staircase. Once in the room we discovered one bed downstairs and up in the loft area where two beds and a cot. I had one of the beds upstairs and so had to drag my 42 pound bag up those stairs as well. We stayed at the hotel until it was time for dinner. We took the subway to the stop where we met Dr. Bains who lead us to the restaurant. The restaurant smelled of fish in a way that smelt great. Unfortunately it was incredibly hot in the restaurant and I had to drink a lot of water to avoid having problems.
In addition to the bread that was on the table, we were allowed to order from the three course menu. I had oysters which I did not enjoy as they were incredibly salty. I was glad that I did not follow Brandon Reeves and Steve as they got the duck foie gras which I thought was horrible. For the main course I had a great steak which was served with a bone section which had amazing marrow that I absolutely loved. For dessert I had Crème Brule which was very good even though I was only able to eat half of it because I was so full. After dinner I went with half of the group while the others went to see the Eiffel Tower.
On the way to the art museum, the Musee d'Orsay, we went by the Louvre and where able to take a few pictures. The Musee d’Orsay had an interesting Crime and Punishment and some Monet and Van Gogh. Probably my favorite pieces where the statues. This is something I learned about myself is that I prefer statues to paintings. We took a break for lunch where I went with Brandon and Steve to a café, where I had a good steak. Afterwards as they went to the art district I went back to the hotel to take a nap until I had to get ready for dinner.
Dinner on Saturday was good. It was at a nicer place than the night before as it had air conditioning. I had an okay sardine appetizer followed by really good veal dish followed by a half baked brownie. The brownie was heavenly as it was a brownie filled with a warm gooey chocolate. After dinner the group that had gone back to the hotel the night before went to the Eiffel tower. The Eiffel Tower is amazing to see at night when it is lit up.

No comments:

Post a Comment