Paris!!

I have officially lost track of all time, and I actually don't really care anymore. I am no pretty much on my own. I decide what happens...crap. I am already screwing up my nice plans, because of how you are supposed to make reservations and all that stuff. Hostelworld’s cancellation protection just did me a good thing though. It saved me $30 because I needed to cancel one night in Barcelona. The downside is the only way to get to Barcelona was on an overnight train, something I told myself I wouldn’t do again after the trip to Rome. So much for that promise. The only reason I am doing it is because there was no cheap place to stay in Geneva for another two weeks, or at least not for the period of time I was looking for. Barcelona is good though, so I have four solid days to explore, relax, and get some of this blogging done for you all. Don’t worry that I am wasting time, blogging gives my feet and mind a rest.

I have been was Paris. Arrived there on the 28^th, and I will finally be getting out on the 7^th. So that should tell you how much I have seen and done. Cole Prevost, my roommate from the past year is actually here in Paris now with his gal. She has an awesome internship, so Cole and I had some time to hang out and go to a couple of military sights I’ll tell you about later. First thing though are your standard Parisian sights…

Cole and I took a walking tour by the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. The Eiffel tower was built for the opening of the 1889 World's Fair. It was the tallest structure in the world until 1930, when the Chrysler Building was built. It wasn't even supposed to last that long. It was slated for demolition in 1909 but it was left standing because it was an invaluable communication tower. Now it is probably one of the most recognizable buildings in the world and the most visited paid monument in the world. The Arc de Triomphe was designed in 1806 to commemorate Napoleon's crushing victory at Austerlitz. It wasn't completed until the reign of Louis-Philippe in 1836. Underneath is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Pretty cool must sees, but it certainly doesn’t take you very long. We met up with some of the other Arcachon students who hadn’t quite escaped yet, went to a bar, and then went back to the Eiffel Tower. If you look at my first picture you can see an enormous screen right in front of the tower, or at least that is the way that it looks in my picture. It is actually across the street and up the hill quite a ways. It is the FIFA big screen for Paris, where they show the world cup matches. So we watched Spain beat Portugal in the midst of a very, very large crowd of people all decked out for their chosen team. Quite funny to watch a bunch of French people pretend they are Spanish or Portuguese for a while. It was wild. We actually saw the mob stop a car afterwards; she got her window kicked in. Not cool Paris soccer fans not cool. That’s right; I said soccer, what of it!?!

The next day was much more relaxing.