Paris: The Land of the Bagget and the Weathered Faces

Playing Eucre in the Airport

        I have been dieing to travel abroad again ever since I have set foot on American soil when I returned home from Rome. It is now May 2010 and I am traveling with Dr. Fountain, the head of the business school at Walsh University. He had designed a course abroad to focus on Management as Design or M.A.D Our next stop would be going mad in Europe. Dr. Fountain has planed a stop in Paris, France; Milan, Italy; Rome and back to Castel Gandolfo, Italy; Bilbao, Spain and Madrid, Spain. Our flight is being detoured because of the volcano eruptions in Greenland. The ash cloud is causing flights to either fly north to the arctic circle or south over Africa. We are flying from Charlotte, North Carolina into Paris, France. Our flight has been detoured to the arctic circle. While we were waiting for our flight from Akron/Canton to Charlotte, a game of Eucre broke out. I have never played the game nor do I know the rules. It is mainly a midwestern card game.

Bri stuck by the door

     Upon arrival to the Charles de Guelle airport, survival skills started to set in. One if always watching people so that your stuff is not taken. The airport is so interesting. These floating walk way cris cross back and forth from one side of the cylinder building to the other. We were taking the R.E.M train into the city. The train ride was around 50 minutes long into the city. When we got on the train we did it the good old fashion American way and block all of the doorways with our suitcases. We were getting the oddest looks. Once we arrived in the city we then had to navigate the immense Paris subway system. I think that we let the Parisians know that we were coming. We were dragging our suit cases up one set of stairs and down the next. Dr. Fountain is very familiar with the city of Paris because his daughter lives here with her husband and sons. She works for Chanel. We are to have dinner tonight in the Latin Quarter at an excellent restaurant with them. Maybe I could ask her for a discount. We finally made it to the subway stop nearest our hotel. We are staying in the same arrondissement as the Eiffel Tour practically down the street. We are staying at the Hotel Villa Girabaldi. It is an okay hotel. I have stayed in some nicer hotels but I won't complain. The university chose this hotel. We got settled in and unpacked. Dr. Fountain set a time to meet in around 30 minutes to walk up towards the Tour to have lunch.

The Typical food picture

        I am in love with the way that Parisians dine out. There are two separate parts of the restaurant. There is a lovely outdoor terrace part with heating lamps. Inside is where those whom are the none people watchers sit to huddle together at their private table. We decided to sit inside but were the loudest of them all. The waitress walked over to take our order. The first thing that I noticed is that she was dressed to the nine but had the oldest face I have ever seen. Many of the Parisian faces I have seen are weathered. She fits this description well. She was probably no older than 35. She was so elegant about the way she did her job. She danced around the table with ease but I could see her curious eye scan us all up and down. I think maybe she was expecting us to all order hamburgers and french fries. Much to her surprise, each of us ordered. I ordered herring, Laura ordered pate and many of the others ordered similar plates. She took our back and went back to her cigarette and bagget. Dr. Fountain told us that after lunch he would walk us up near to the Eiffel Tour but then would leave us to go meet with his wife, daughter and family. His daughter just had a baby and this is the first that he will get to meet the new child.
      After lunch we walked up the Seine river towards the Eiffel Tour. This is a moment that I have been waiting for. I have been dieing to see the Tour. I have to admit. My first response was that I thought someone pulled a blind down with the Tour painted on it. It looked so fake.

The Girls in the Group

 I love the area around the Eiffel Tour. It is such a lovely park. This is why I like larger cities. There seems to be something to do for everyone. We happened to walk past a heated match of basketball. I was almost tempted to jump in and shoot a few. I just let one of my secrets go. I use to play basketball before I fell in love with soccer. I was a very good player too. I gave up on basketball because of a coach I had in high school. He made basketball feel like a job instead of a passion. I went to work every day after school on the basketball court in the winter. One day he threw a fit and slammed the basketball into the wood and started screaming at my teammates and I. He went on about all the greats whom have played on my high school basketball court. I made a decision that night so solely focus on soccer and never return to basketball again. Since then, I have never played in a game since.
      It amazes me that these people can live in a city that they have such a background in life to live their lives in. I am extremely thankful for for where I live in the states but I feel almost jipped because young children get to grow up in such an environment. We walked all around the area. I loved that there is a Merry-Go-Round right under the Tour. I think that I romanticize a lot of my experiences but that is how I fall in love with each place I travel to. I have never traveled from from a trip not loving one experience or another. I think that it is important to travel this way so that you come away a different person. Travel is meant to make you a different person. I like to examine my life in a different culture. That is how I travel. 

The cutest place we ate with Dr. Fountain's Daughter and family

          We all met in the lobby of the hotel and headed over to the Latin Quarter to meet Dr. Fountain's daughter, husband grandson Oscar and new baby grandson. This restaurant is a hole in the wall but has the best character I have ever seen. It is an Italian restaurant run by Albanians that speak Italian to add ambiance. hahah. As a tourist, one would walk right past this place thinking that it would not be a good experience. This restaurant is by far one of the best place for ambiance and the meal wasn't bad either. One of the waiters started flirting with Bri. We sat at the table rooting her on but she gave in and decided to be shy. Oscar was the star of the night. We were all curious to now what it is like to grow up in Paris. Dr. Fountain's daughter decided to head to Paris one summer to work in a pastry shop to learn French better. Years on, she now works for Chanel. I am amazed by students whom drop everything and move to another country and end up staying. her story was intriguing to listen to. Oscar was unstoppable. He broke out his French flair and had all of us girls falling for this 8 year old little boy. I decided to share a larger pasta plate with him because he wanted to show us girls what he could manage to eat. If I didn't know better, he was wearing a Rolex look-a-like and had black framed glasses. He popped his collar and had the French flair for good looks. hahah. 8 year old boys should take a leaf out of Oscar's book and learn how to dress and handle themselves. He acted like a 40 year old man. We had a wonderful time at dinner. As we headed back to the Hotel, Dr. Fountain parted from the group for the night and we wanted to head out and experience the Parisian night life. And what a night life it is. I will leave it at that.