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| La Republique statue commemorating the French Revolution |
Don't worry blogosphere, I'm back online after a week of trying times with the John Knox Centre's Internet connection. The good news is I have the day off since our group is being briefed at the American mission this afternoon so I can take advantage of the decent connection this morning. So as most of you have probably discerned from the photos uploaded to Facebook, I was in Paris last weekend, for the first time, and it was a very nice weekend. I was able to take a long weekend which made it even nicer but even with the extra day I still did not get around to as many places as I'm sure many of you who have been there before were hoping, but rest assured this won't be my one and only time in Paris.
After work on Thursday I raced back to my room to grab my travel backpack, change, and head down to Gare Cornavin to catch the TGV to Paris. As it turns out I ended up sitting across from a man and his niece who were both American, from Oregon and Washington, and we had a nice conversation. He works for Barclay's Bank in their anti-money laundering department, which made me a little skeptical since I feel like Barclay's would be a bank that might be heavily involved in money laundering, but he was a friendly guy and it helped pass the time on the train. The train ride from Geneva to Paris is quite scenic and the French countryside was beautiful in the setting sun. I arrived in Paris at Gare de Lyon and after making my way to Gare du Nord, I was able to settle in at my hostel, St. Christopher's Inn...or not; unfortunately when I arrived the front desk staff kept on assigning me to beds that didn't exist in the rooms (to be fair there was some extensive remodeling happening, but still I just wanted to set my stuff down and take a quick shower) but finally they found a match and I took a load off, quickly showered and went out to meet up with the Gross boys. We hung out for an hour or so and then I raced back so I could make the last Metro train back to Gare du Nord.
On Friday Josh and I met up for cappuccinos in the 3rd arrondissement, where the Gross brothers' apartment was, and did some mid-morning people watching. After taking in the sights and sounds of the Rue de Bretagne for a little while we walked around and ended up back on the Rue de Bretagne at the Marche des Enfants Rouge (not sure about any Communist Party associations) for lunch. The market was bustling and had quite the variety of options to choose from. We settled on an Italian place (I know, I know...how could we eat Italian in France? It was quite good though.) and I had a nice plate of fried calamari and prawns and it was even better because they were lightly fried, like tempura redux. After lunch Josh and I went for a nice leisurely stroll along the canals with Josh stopping to sketch while I jotted down travel notes in my little flip notebook. It was an absolutely perfect day and we ended up walking from the 3rd arrondissement up to the 19th arrondissement to Parc de la Villette. Here's a view of the canals opening up:
Since we had spent all afternoon walking in the sun we decided to grab some shade at the park before exploring a little more. For those that don't know, Parc de la Villette is a fairly modern park in northeast Paris and there are all sorts of unique sculptures and other interesting areas within the park, including a recovered U-boat from WWII, a geo-sphere, and the Museum of Science and Industry. We were both pretty fatigued afterwards so we opted to take the Metro back. Later in the evening we met up for dinner back in the 3rd arrondissement at a seafood tapas bar. We split a dozen oysters, prawns, and sea snails and all were pretty fantastic. Following dinner we met up with some of Ben's friends from his time in Paris last summer and we went down to see Notre Dame at sunset and hung out along the Seine on the Ile de St. Louis (unfortunately I didn't bring my camera). After sharing a late night platter of fromage we went our separate ways for the night.
On Saturday I met up with the Gross boys at the same cafe in the 3rd arrondissement for un petit dejenuner although I have to say they really emphasized the "petit" aspect. From breakfast we headed towards the Louvre to the Museum of Modern Design to see an interior design exhibit of the Bouroulec brothers work where we rendez-voued with Ben's friends. The exhibit was really interesting and definitely something that Papa Jack would have truly enjoyed, below are some pictures.
After spending a few hours at the exhibit we made our way back to the Marche des Enfants Rouge for some lunch and Saturday's choice was sashimi which we took to go to have a picnic at a nearby park. Post-lunch we ended up walking around back towards the Seine around the Hotel de Ville neighborhood and continued to enjoy the glorious weather. It was another enjoyable afternoon but the evening was even better. Since it was the Gross brothers' last night and mine as well, we decided to have a nicer meal for dinner. We ended up at Cafe de Musee where we split an order of escargots to start and then I had a Bubba staple for my main course, hand cut beef tartare with thick cut fries. Dessert was even more spectacular; I had absinthe ice cream on top of a rhubarb compote served with walnut brittle on top. This dessert definitely had the most unique mix of flavors I think I've ever encountered in all my years of eating. Our post-dinner activities consisted of lounging along the canal taking in the sights and sounds of a lovely Saturday evening in Paris.
Since the Gross boys had a very early flight to catch on Sunday morning I was on my own, but that was just fine. After checking out I made my way up to Montmartre, which was absolutely lovely aside from the multitudes of tourist shops along the way. I walked up to the Cathedrale de St. Pierre and took the tour inside and I got the bonus perk of seeing services in action. Here's a photo of the cathedral:
And here's a view of Paris from the top of the steps:
From the cathedral I ended up wandering around Montmartre for a few more hours, eventually stopping at a cafe for lunch which was a starter of escargots, canard a l'ancien which was basically like a duck confit with potatoes and tomatoes (and was excellent) and some more fromage francaise for dessert. I made my way back to the hostel after lunch to pick up my bag and then head back to Gare de Lyon to get on the TGV back to Geneva.
All in all Paris was wonderful and while I didn't see the Eiffel Tower up close, make it into the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, or the Musee Pompedou, or stroll down the Champs Elysees, I know that I will be back again to go see all those sights and I definitely appreciated the side of Paris that I experienced over the weekend.
That's all for now, just waiting for my laundry to finish so I can have some clean clothes to wear to the U.S. mission.
What I'm listening to:
"Song of A Baker" - The Small Faces
"Long Tall Sally" - Little Richard
