Right now, here in Oldenburg, we're just getting off Easter break, Today normal classes resumed (though I had an "optional" Deutschkurs on Thursday which wasn't all that optional since she gave us a quiz on Perfekt tense). But it was a pretty fantastic break as far as breaks go.I spent my Easter Sunday traveling. First, Brandon-- a friend I made on the excursion to Berlin a couple of weekends ago-- and I trekked to the train station at 6 in the morning to catch a train from Oldenburg to Bremen (which wasn't all that long), and then another train from Bremen to Hamburg (which was really long). From Hamburg, we took another train out to Hamburg airport and caught a flight from Hamburg to Paris. From the Paris airport, we had to take the subway into the inner city. All and all, we spent 10 hours traveling. But it worked out well in the end; the hostel where we stayed didn't allow check in until 4 and we arrived in the city just about 4:18.
After dropping our bags off at the hostel, we decided to go out and search for food. We wandered around the area until someone (I don't remember who) finally decided on a little cafe. Our waiter was super nice and immediately switched into English because he figured I couldn't speak a lick of French (apparently, I pronounced something wrong. Too many vowels and silent letters). So we ordered, and Brandon was adventurous (sort of) and ordered escargot (and a hamburger). After he had a couple, he asked if I wanted to try one. So I buckled and tried one. He said if I could eat sushi, I could handle snails. It actually was quite good. It tasted a lot like calamari only not so rubbery.
Try escargot in Paris ✔
After eating, we walked around some more and explored. I found a place called Manga Cafe and made Brandon check it out with me and had a rather geeky moment looking at the manga books in French (and I was a little jealous that the Parisian teenagers had such a cool little shop in which to geek out). After that, we continued until we found the Seine river and Notre Dame, quite easily in fact since the thing was HUGE. I don't think I can adequately describe looking up at this giant church (Though it did really make me want to watch the Disney movie again x: ). We also found the Louvre and hung out in front of the glass pyramid and listened to a street performer play the cello until it got dark. Then we wandered around some more and walked along the river and watched all the boats float along the river. After wandering around for awhile, we decided it was probably a good idea to head back to the hostel. Of course, it was late by then and dark, and we got lost. Brandon insisted we weren't "lost." He just got "turned around" but he never didn't know where we were, but we were lost. We ended up walking up and down the same street 3 times and it was past one or two in the morning before we got back.
The next day we took a little slower, but we had resolved to go to Shakespeare & Company, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, and anything else that caught our attention. But Shakespeare &
Company was first. After a little bit of navigation by way of Morgan wiggly-map, we found it, on "Rue la bucheri" (or something) no less. Exciting doesn't even begin to cover how cool it was to be in an English bookstore-- Shakespeare & Co. no less! (Shakespeare & Co. is where all the Lost Generation Expatriates hung out: Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, Anaïs Nin, ect. There was portraits of these authors on the way up the stairs.) Though, even Shakespeare & Co can't even replace Hyde Brothers (a used bookstore in Fort Wayne) in my heart. Hyde Brothers is bigger and the layout is nicer. I didn't get nearly the same "this place isn't real" feeling that I get in Hyde Brothers. But, I did get my hands on two new books in English, which was exciting. I even got a book for my thesis project (back at Oakland), so I'm even doing OU research while I'm here. (Look at what a good student I am!)After Shakespeare & Co, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and hung out there for a little bit. Since the Arc is in the middle of a giant killer round-a-bout (They have round-a-bouts EVERYWHERE.), you have to go underneath the street to get to it. You could also get in line and pay to stand on top of the Arc, buttt I wasn't playing that game. I especially wasn't going to pay to remind myself that I don't like heights. After the Arc, we walked to the Eiffel Tower. There were TONS of people, and the line to actually go up was super long, so we just looked and took pictures. Surprisingly, there wasn't much around the Eiffel Tower. There defiantly weren't any restaurants (which we noticed because we were starving at this point). Really, all there were were lots of people. Of all the things we did in Paris, the Eiffel tower doesn't rank all that high-- though that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I was hungry and there was dust blowing around and getting in my eyes.
We took the subway back to the inner city where we knew there were a bunch of restaurants and had lunch. After lunch, Brandon had his own geek moment and we went to the military museum. I went through the first part which was mostly about weaponry and such before the 1600s. (I think. Everything was in French, so I mostly just looked at stuff.) But I sat outside for the Napoleonic Wars one and read instead while Brandon went to look. Then we both went to look at Napoleon's tomb, which was interesting. Though I wonder if he minds that he's sharing his hall with others (There was a memorial/tomb from WWI and some others). Then we went back to the hostel to rest before getting some dinner at a Japanese place down the street.
The last day we mostly just wandered around and explored since we had already hit all the places that you absolutely had to see when going to Paris. We explored some new streets and some more book stores (Brandon wanted a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo in French, which we found) and went back to hang out on the steps of the Louvre again before having lunch. Then, I think we took a break at the Hostel before going out to get dinner at a Mexican place we had seen on the restaurant street the first day. It was kinda like a French Chipotle, but they didn't have hot sauce, which was disappointing. Then we walked around some more. To end our stay in Paris, we went to a cafe and had a glass of wine next to Shakespeare and Co. and across the river from Notre Dame (and I watched the Manchester United game that was on). It was a pretty great end to our trip.
The next morning we both up at 4 am to catch the metro to the airport so we could catch our 7:30 flight. Of course, the metro didn't start running until 6 am. After some convoluted navigating (by yours truly with no sense of direction, thank you very much), we just made the first bus out to our plane. After the flight, we missed the first train to Bremen and had to wait for the next one, which was so full that I (along with a group of girls) had to sit on the floor, and there were many people standing at the front and back of all the cars. Once we got into Bremen, we stopped for lunch before catching a train out to Oldenburg. After taking the bus back out to Johann-Justus, I essentially didn't leave the WG for the rest of break (except to go to "optional" class on Thursday). After the three days full of adventure in Paris, I needed the rest of the week to recuperate.
Break came at a perfect time and I had an amazing time in Paris. (I'm pretty sure Paris has wormed its way into my heart as a place I'd really like to live someday.) But now, classes have begun again and I need to get up tomorrow morning to go to my 8 am class. So I'll say Adieu et bonne nuit!
