Paris

As predicted, I'm failing at life in keeping up with this blog...my sincerest apologies to my hundreds of ardent readers, I don't know what you did with your time whilst I was away. Anyway, It's been about a week now since I've returned, but I did manage to visit 2 countries in the meantime...

D'abord, Paris. After going 200+ mph on the TGV, a super high-speed train that takes about 3 hours from Geneva to Paris, we arrived at the Gare de Lyon and went down to the metro. Although the Paris Metro is just as I had heard (smelly, dirty, hot), there was something kind of magical about the tiles and graffiti in the tunnels and the sea foam green trains. Every afternoon, the trains are so full that there is a line 5 rows deep just to get in to a car, and once you manage to do that, you make about 80 new closest (in EVERY sense of the word) friends. You don't even need to hold on because it's so packed in...something tells me Paris needs to invest in those guards they have to pack in the sardines on the Japanese subway. Tres efficient, and we all know I'm all about efficiency. And to make it even better, there was live music on probably half of the trains I took-think quintessential French man with an accordion.

The rest of the first afternoon was free, so after finding a sandwich shop (necessary), we wandered through the Jardin des Tuileries (not as pretty on a rainy February day, oh well) and up to the Louvre. I was blown away...I don't think I knew that much art existed in the whole world, let alone one museum-and we didn't even go inside that day. After being tourists and taking pictures, fantasizing about the DaVinci Code, being Parisian, etc. we strolled up the Champs Elysees (all the while singing the song in my head) and up to the Arc de Triomphe, which we proceeded to climb. Best 5 euros I've spent. The view was magnificent, and you really got a better perspective of how immense Paris is. Highly recommended. The day ended in a perfect (and cheap) French meal in a not-so-French neighborhood (every sign was in Arabic and I didn't hear a word of French being spoken outside the restaurant) with some friends studying at AUP from GW. Tres bon.

The academic parts of the trip consisted of lectures given by probably brilliant people from Medecins du Monde accompanied by some stellar Earl translation and a few presentations at Action Contre la Faim in perfect English, an extremely welcome reprieve. However, lunch on day 2 was a huge winner: best falafel I have ever had at a street stand that was in competition (but really, it was never a contest for this place) with 3 others on the same block. AND, to make it better, an excellent thrift store next door. Speaking of food, although the hotel Roma (oui, a Paris...) was no Ritz, the breakfast made it all worthwhile-each person got their own POT of coffee, whole baguette, sugar pastry, and croissant, all complimented by cream cheese, butter, jelly, and NUTELLA. Made getting up on the rainy mornings so much more worth it. And a block from our humble abode, there was a magical hole in the wall that was the bakery of the 6 euro quiche, pastry, and drink meal. Goat cheese and tomato quiche, rhubarb tart, and orangina...Paris, je t'aime.

The rest of the trip was spent seeing the typical sights of Paris, i.e. Notre Dame, Louvre, ("20" minute walk across the city in the wind/rain, fail) to the Eiffel Tower, La Bastille, Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, etc...with a failed meal along the way (I didn't know they could actually screw up a Nicoise salad in France, sorry Chelsea), but by Thursday, we were ready to get out of the rain and off to Barcelona...