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Published: September 14th 2005
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Grand Arche de la Defense
It's hard to capture how freakin huge this thing is in words or even in pictures, since by the time you get the whole thing in frame you're already a couple of hundred yards away. Well, no, not really (all cute single females under the age of 25, please disregard) (Katherine, please disregard previous disregard), but yeah...since my visit to the Moulin Rouge in Paris trip #2, I've had freakin' Lady Marmalade stuck in my head at all random times of the day and night, right now being no exception.
You'd think I'd be over it by now, since it's been a whole week and I've had a few nights out and a trip to Groningen to block it out, but no....fuzzy visions of Christina "Dirrty" Aguilera, Pink, and half-naked showgirls keep appearing, which is both good and bad, as you can imagine.
It's been a while since an update, but to be honest, I--much like yourself, I can only imagine--am starting to lose energy in the blog. Atop the fact that I already catch lots of flak for owning my own personal annoyance of the modern internet world, I know I'm coming home soon. AND, despite the purpose this blog is supposed to fulfill of telling you all what I've been up to for the past 6 months, I know I'll have to tell it all again anyways because really, what else will
Cheese
Hamming it up at Chateau Vincennes. we talk about?
But, being the detailed-oriented person I am, I'll persvere and fill ya in on the past couple of weeks. It's now Sunday, the 11th, and I've just returned from a weekend trip to Groningen...and even more recently, returned from a few beers on the Plein and dinner down the street at Pinocchio's.
Just a weekend ago, I was returning from the WORST TRIP EVER, which was Paris trip #2 with Griselda and Ulysses. What does it take for a trip to be the worst EVER? How about having your wallet stolen on the first night, realizing you've had your wallet stolen and subsequently losing your travel companions/only source of money AND favorite sunglasses on the second day, and then having the train ride from hell on the return trip? That about cut it for ya? It did for me. On top of a crappy weekend overall, a break down forced us off the 1st class Thalys that we almost missed (which was no small ordeal) and then caused us to limp home on several overcrowded, non-air-conditioned backup trains over the course of 5 hours.
The pickpocket incident is still a little too sore to
A view of Notre Dame
Ahh yes, such a nice view of Paris from the top of the Pantheon. The downside: the scheduled tour's descent took so long we had to spend our last hour in Paris sprinting through subways with all our luggage in tow just in time to find out our train was late anyways. But I'm not bitter, really. relive at this moment, but catch me over a beer and I'm sure I'll be happy to indulge you with the story. Otherwise, at least I can say I got to see a few new sights in Paris including a show at the Moulin Rouge, the enormous Grand Arche de la Defense, and the Rose Line of Saint Sulpice as dramatized in The Da Vinci Code. The Moulin Rouge was definitely worth the pricey admission ticket. I mean, sure, the topless supermodels in ridiculous costumes are a given plus, but the hour-45 minute show also had an awesome shadow puppet show, a retractable stage-sized watery snake tank, a funny clown show, and even those two guys who do amazing acrobatic/balancing/strength feats (which is both really manly and borderline homosexual at the same time).
Perhaps I'm a bit bitter at this point, so let me just say that the French deserve to keep Paris.
On a lighter note, I did have a nice, relaxing, and mostly incident free trip this weekend to the north-Holland town of Groningen. Since everybody was out of town this weekend, I decided at the last minute to tag along with Shruti, Humphrey, and Bensley
The red windmill...
...or the Moulin Rouge if you parlez French, which I most certainly do not. I've found you don't need to ever learn "I don't speak French" in French. Your look of total confusion really sums it all up quite nicely. (that's the inseperable couple of Ben and Lesley) for a visit to our newly relocated friend Jackie, out in Groningen.
Humphrey, by the way, is a silly dog with a knack for using slober and wet doggy nose to wake Brian up.
First off, let me say that if you ever have the option of spending 6 hours in the back of a 60's VW Beetle OR taking any other form of transporation, choose the latter. I have a newfound appreciation for any car less than 20 years old and for other such engineering marvels as padded seats and functional automotive suspension systems. But don't get me wrong; despite these observations and the fact that we had to push start
Widget (the car) twice, I would never say anything with ill intent about Lesley's 1.3 liter baby from the 60s.
In Groningen, we wandered around the markets and shops, conducted a
naval battle of canal-water splashes between canoes, kayaks, and paddle boats, ate amazing food at the Black Sheep (Zwarte Schaap), and partied it up at the seemingly never-ending maze of dance floors and rotating bars that is the Three Sisters
(Drie Gezusters) bar.
Have you made it to
The Lizard King
RIP Jim. A little underwhelming, this grave of Doors frontman Jim Morrison. Among other bits of refuse strewn across the plot was a piece of notepad with "This is NOT the end" scrawled on it. Deep man, deep. Or maybe it's the acid talking. Who's to say? this point by reading fair and square? Yeah, I didn't think so. I should start hiding the picture link in the middle so you cheaters have to actually read a bit to get to the good stuff. Oh well....for lack of energy to keep describing all the other stuff I've been up to, lemme just say that it's been really fun and that the pictures are HERE:
September pics,
Paris Trip #2 Pics
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