Paris Review
Trip Start
Jun 28, 2008
1
36
Trip End
Aug 01, 2008
Somerville,
Massachusetts,
United States
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
After quickly documenting our sharpied selves, we showered and got settled in our dorm room and then headed out to see the city. Since it was already getting late in the day, and neither of us had gotten much sleep, we decided that it was the day to take is easy so we could regain our energy for the rest of the trip. I took Andrew down to see the street I lived on during my semester abroad (Rue Falguière off Blvd Pasteur). I showed him my old front door (obviously couldn't get into the apt) and we decided we had to have a couple drinks at the bar next door for old times sake. This was the place where I had my very first B-52 shot, and what set the standard. Here, the shot gets lit using a mini blow torch (the kind you'd use for flambée or créme brulée) and then while flaming, you drink it using a straw. The taste significantly better than when you just do the shot normally (how its done in the US) and I think Andrew finally understood my obsession with them. We decided to chill there a bit, so I had a Strongbow (on tap!) and Andrew had a beer. We talked briefly with a guy from a small town near Tour who was in the area on business, and I got a nice wake-up call about just how much my French has lapsed. (I definitely need to work on my pronunciation of "Tour" and also anything dealing with past tense!)
After the brief tour of my past, Andrew and I headed down to St. Michel to walk around and people watch at all the coffee shops. I showed Andrew the streets with all the restaurants with the fixed price menus that will talk to you and try to convince you to come inside. We then walked down the river a ways, and found an British bar (or maybe it was Aussie) that had the Sox game on. We sat down to watch until we realized it was a replay of the game from the day before, and that the Sox lost, so we certainly didn't want to stay to watch that. At this point, my pain was kicking in, and I was having some trouble keeping my eyes open. (My body seems to like to shut down and go to sleep when my chest pain flares...its kind of like I am narcoleptic!) We decided that walking would at least help keep my eyes open, so I decided to take Andrew to see the Shakespeare and Co. bookstore. Given the chaos of the store, Andrew couldn't find the book he wanted, but I found a really cute dog to pet while sitting outside, and Andrew had fun looking around, so the trip was worth it. At this point I needed to head back and rest since my pain was really flaring, so we walked to the Metro and headed back. Andrew did some emailing while I took a nap and then we both got ready to go out.
After stopping for what we thought were going to be doner kebabs, and were some other sandwich thing, but still good (even though I had to eat most of mine just using my fingers because the bread broke apart) we headed to the Frog and Princess for Tuesday Student Night. I had forgotten about the weak and/or lack of A/C all over Paris, mostly because I was never living there in the summer. Needless to say, the F&P was a sweat-box and full of a bunch of people that just seemed way too young. After fighting through the crowds for a few ours to get served at the understaffed bar, we decided to cut our loses and head out. I can see how I loved this place when I was in school, but it was certainly no longer a scene that we needed to frequent now that we are older.
We took the metro (we left the F&P in time to catch it before it stopped running at 1am) and headed back to towards the hostel area. We decided we weren't quite ready for bed, so we stopped in at the Hideout for one more drink. Both Andrew and I were wiped out from all the traveling that morning and all the bday fun in San Sebastian, so we called it an "early" night, and headed back to the hostel to go to bed.
Andrew got up the next morning to go on an 11am walking tour since I was supposed to meet my brother for lunch during his layover from Italy back to the US. Of course, the second after Andrew left, I got a message from my brother that his flight had been canceled, so I had the day to myself. I spent some time getting San Sebastian into the blog and decided to head out and walk around the city I loved. I started by making sure I knew where the photo museum was were we would see the Annie Leibovitz exhibit later that night. After this I went and walked down towards the Pompidou and then headed down towards the Tuilleries to see what was left of the Richard Serra installation. To my surprise, after reaching the gardens, I looked up to see a tour group with one really tall member that looked very familiar. Having randomly run into Andrew's walking tour, I decided to tag along. The tour ended at the end of the Champs Elysee by the palaces and Andrew and I decided to walk up the Champs Elysee to see the Arc de Triomphe. We both were too tried to climb all the stairs, so I have left that as a mission for Andrew next time he goes back. Its not a necessity, but watching people try to navigate the rotary is thoroughly entertaining!
We decided to head back to the hostel for a brief nap (once again I napped and Andrew emailed) before going to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibit.
It being our last night in Paris, and our second to last night in Europe, we decided to go out for dinner, and found a French restaurant in the St. Michel area with a fixed price menu of 10 Euros. After a nice dinner, some Beaujoulais, and some chocolate mousse, we headed to meet the pub crawl from the walking the tour. The plan was to go to the start of the pub crawl, duck out to go to the Long Hop (my favorite bar when I lived in Paris and the first place I had a Desperado) and then go back to meet up with the pub crawl. After two bars with the crawl, we headed to the Long Hop as planned. However, after arriving there, we met some great people and were having such a good time that we never went back to the crawl. This was also convenient since it meant we were within walking distance of the hostel at the end of the night.
After a night's rest and spending the first part of the morning packing our bags and checking out of the hostel, I decided to take Andrew to see Sacre Coeur. While it was a sunny day, its was also a little hazy, so the view wasn't as clear as I would have liked to show off Paris, but it was beautiful none the less and I think Andrew was happy we went. My chest, however, did not completely agree, and after hiking up all the stairs to the top, I was in a decent amount of pain. So, instead of walking around more of Paris, we decided to head to lunch at the Bombardier, a British bar that I used to go to when I lived in Paris that also has really good food and is really close to our hostel, where we were storing our bags for the day. As is my body's habit when in pain, I had a hard time keeping my eyes open, and after relaxing for a while and having lunch, it became increasingly apparent that I needed to take a nap. (I kept falling asleep at the table...not so good.) After a quick walk around the Pantheon on the way back, we arrived back at the hostel with just enough time for me to nap for about 45 minutes before we had to head to the train station. Since we had already checked out of the hostel, I didn't have a bed and this hostel didn't really have a lounge, so I settled in on one of the wooden benches while Andrew did some emailing and read the paper.
An hour later, and fully restored from my nap, we headed to Gare du Nord to catch our train to Amsterdam.
