Paris (EN)

About two or three weeks ago, I finally went to Paris. It was a great weekend. I'm feeling really lazy today, so I'm going to post a few pictures at the bottom of the post, and the other photos will be on Photobucket (I'll put a link on here once I upload them). P.S. I hope everyone's digging this new font...I totally am.

The first day:

I got there around 11:30 am, got a map, and made my way to the hotel. I was kinda lost so I just walked until I found La Seine (the huge river running through Paris), then followed it - luckily my hotel was almost right along the river. I checked in, got the room...huge bed! It was unfortunately not that comfortable though.

Afterwards, I ate at this tiny restaurant next to the hotel; I had duck leg with a massive heap of mashed potatoes with garlic and oil - it was sooo good. For dessert, I had a chocolate mousse. That was either the best or second best chocolate mousse I've ever had (aside from my mom's of course).

By around 2:00 pm, I actually started my day. It was really nice out so I just walked everywhere - I probably did a good eight miles throughout the day. I went to the massive Notre Dame cathedral; it is massive, and incredibly cool. The interior is really big, and there were about two hundred people inside. There's a small treasury inside that I went into (sadly, you have to pay a few Euros). There were old pope headdresses, old crowns, church relics, etc. - very cool!

After that, I was supposed to meet up with Brittany and Alison for dinner at Hard Rock Café, which was quite far away from me. So I gave in and took the metro for a few stops. I arrived...somewhere, and I had about two hours to kill. Luckily for me, I saw "Choco Story," this really cool...(you guessed it!) chocolate museum! So I went in there, watched a demonstration of professional delicious chocolate making, and then spent about 15 euros on chocolate and a hot chocolate made the way the Aztecs did in BC times - very different, still delicious.

Finally, Hard Rock Café. It was hilarious to see one in French - most of the menu had English names with some French descriptions. As always in Paris, more than half the staff spoke fluent English. I got a pulled pork sandwich, which is quite far from the French diet I'm now used to, so I was quite nauseated that night...oh well. So I got back to the hotel, hung out, watched TV (my first time ever in France), read, then went to sleep.

The second day:

The clocks changed, so I was really confused as to what time it was. That's not important though. I went to a café and had a delicious bruschetta with fresh mozzarella and basil along with two coffees. I also "second-handed...ly" inhaled about 14 cigarettes, during my hour stay, from the twenty smokers around me - gotta love Paris (and France in general).

Then I went to the Eiffel Tower! Woohoo! I didn't climb up because I didn't have cash on me, I didn't feel like finding an ATM, and I didn't want to. I met this American couple that somehow thought I was French, even though I have a massive beard, and I was rocking an American t-shirt with a brown plaid-flannel. Those characteristics exist in like 3% of French people my age. Anyway, I took lots of pictures from the exact same spot and then went on my way. I also bought Paris shot glasses and some Eiffel Tower keychains...souvenir obligations for other people. Oh and by the way, there are literally over two hundred vendors roaming around and under the tower trying to sell you keychains and what not - you can encounter one about every fifteen feet. It's a little ridiculous.

As for my last place to visit, I went to Le Musée d'Orsay. It was incredibly cool inside. You're unfortunately not allowed to take any pictures inside, though many people did. On my way back to the train station, I walked past Le Louvre to check it out - I had a bit of time to kill. It's pretty much exactly how I picture it. I'd like to go check it out next time I'm in Paris.

About 7:30pm or something, I got back on the train to Besançon. So the trip was awesome, and I definitely prefer Paris over NYC. I really don't like NYC. The only downside to Paris, aside from the fact that nobody will let me speak French with them if they realize I'm American, is that Parisians are fairly arrogant. Not a big deal though.

Oh and by the way, on the metro back to the train station, there was a group of "middle aged" people dancing in the train with a huge stereo. It was really weird, and extremely entertaining. They danced to whatever song is "I've got a feeling, that tonight's gonna be a good night..." and a few others. There's a photo at the bottom. When one of the guys saw me with his camera, he posed a little. Epic train dancing.

To better explain why I did not look French

Awesome metro dance party

- Matt Lipinski

Strasbourg (FR)

Samedi le 19 mars, je suis allé à Strasbourg avec le CLA. Nous sommes partis de Besançon vers 6h30. Je n'étais pas du tout content à cause de l'heure. Heureusement, le bus s'est arrêté pendant le voyage (durant 2h30) afin que tout le monde pouvait prendre un café et un petit déjeuner.

J'ai oublié quand nous sommes arrivés. Il faisait très froid (j'ai gelé les fesses) ! Après être arrivé, nous avons voyagé en bateau pour faire un tour de la ville. C'était très cool ! Il y avait des écouteurs pour tous les sièges avec 16 fréquences pour écouter les informations du tour en plusieurs langues - anglais, anglais pour les enfants, italien, espagnol, français, français pour les enfants, chinois, etc. J'ai vu presque toute la ville entière. J'aimais beaucoup les vieilles bâtiments, et même de nouvelles bâtiments.

Plus tard, nous étions "liberés" pour trois heures pour explorer. J'ai mangé avec Kirk dans un restaurant alsacien - j'ai pris un plat alsacien avec du poulet, du veau et des champignons à la crème sur un morceau du pain. Délicieux ! Bien sûr j'aimais le repas mais il a coûté les yeux de la tête.

Ensuite, on a visité la Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Strasbourg...j'ai appris qu'elle était la plus grande bâtiment du monde entre 1647 et 1874. L'entrée est entourée par de nombreux personnages (statues) - il y avait quelques statues qui m'ont fait beaucoup rire (affiché au dessous), bien que je ne pense pas que cela soit le rôle de ces statues...

Très amusant

Le quatrième homme m'a fait beaucoup rire

Dedans, elle est très grande et l'architecture est très belle ! J'ai téléchargé plusieurs photos d'elle dans mon album de "Photobucket" (au dessous) pour expliquer mieux l'interieur. Quand j'ai été à Strasbourg, je ne savais pas qu'on peut monter dans les grandes tours de la cathédrale, donc, je ne l'ai pas fait.

Nous avons marché à travers la ville et avant qu'on devait partir, nous sommes entrés dans une autre église, après avoir vu et avoir beaucoup ri grâce à "l'hotel du dragon" sur "la rue du dragon". Dedans - très étrange ! Il y avait des statues de démons et de squelettes. De plus, on a trouvé un grand statue avec un lion, une squelette/un démon et une bataille sanglante.

Enfin, on est revenu à Besançon. J'ai beaucoup aimé Strasbourg, même s'il fait toujours froid là-bas.

Les autres photos de Strasbourg

- Matt Lipinski

Strasbourg (EN)

Saturday, March 19, I went to Strasbourg with the CLA. We left from Besançon around 6h30. I was not whatsoever happy with the hour, especially since I had gotten 5 hours of post-St. Patrick's Day sleep between Thursday and Friday. Luckily though, the bus stopped during the trip (about a 2.5 hr trip) so that everyone could get some coffee and breakfast.

I have no recollection of what time we arrived. It was ridiculously cold! After arriving and walking through town a bit, we took a boat ride to take a tour of the city - it was awesome! There were headphones at every seat with 16 frequencies to listen to the tour information in several languages - French, French for kids, English, English for kids, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, etc. I feel like I saw almost all of the town. The old buildings there are so cool, as are some of the newer ones.

Later on, we were "freed" for three hours to explore. I ate with Kirk in an Alsacien restaurant - I had an Alsacian dish with chicken, veal and mushrooms, all with a light cream sauce, on top of a bit of some cool bread. Deliciousness! Of course it was really expensive though...

Next, we visited the Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Strasbourg; I learned that it was the biggest building in the world between 1647 and 1874...that's pretty badass if you ask me. The entrance is surrounded with tons of statue figures - there were a few that made me laugh a lot even though I don't think that is exactly their intended purpose.

Very funny

The fourth guy is hilarious

Inside, it's incredibly large and the architecture is beautiful. I uploaded a lot more photos of the interior on my Photobucket album (link at the end of the most) to better explain/show what it looked like. Unfortunately, I didn't know while I was there that you can climb to the top of one of the big towers of the cathedral.

After that, we walked through the city for awhile; before we had to go back to Besançon, we went to another church, after having found the Hotel of the Dragon on the Street of the Dragon...too funny. The church was creepy inside! There were statues of demons, skeletons, etc. Furthermore, there is a huge statue in the back with a lion, a skeleton or demon and a bloody battle. Weird.

Finally, we returned to Besançon. Strasbourg was incredibly cool, even though I was freezing the entire time.

The rest of the photos of Strasbourg

- Matt Lipinski