Paris

Last week was pretty much over before it ever even began.
Monday and Tuesday we had our normal class sessions at the IES building in Freiburg with George and Dr. Neilson. Then Wednesday morning we had to all make it for a train departure at 6:45 in the morning, which meant that we were to be up by about 5:30 and at the tram station by the 6:08 departure.

Miraculously enough everyone made it to the train on time. We boared and we were soon on our way to Paris.

We arrived in the L'est Gare and made the short trek to our hotel around 2:00 that afternoon.

My afternoon was spent exploring the Louvre.... for Free!

From Euro 2010: Germany and Beyond

The Louvre has a deal that if you are an European Student under the age of 25 you can get in for free. Well we have ID cards for the Frieburg University, mainly to serve as access cards to the cafeteria, but the student ID was enough. So with 9 Euro saved we explored close to one third of the museum.
Upon our return to the Hotel it was about time for us to head down to the Seine River to take a scenic boat ride through the city. I think this is the third time I've been on one of these boat tours, but it was still fun.

After a long day of travel and exploration we came back to the Hotel. Once back Jen Alcala and Rebbecca Howard joined us at the Hotel (conveniently both of my friends in Paris just happen to be in the same program) and the whole crew hung out and caught up on life.

From Euro 2010: Germany and Beyond

Thursday morning we woke up early and traveled out to the Palace of Versailles. I've been to Paris a couple of times but I hadn't made it out there before and it truly was an awe inspiring experience. To think that someone actually lived there is beyond my comprehension.

I got back from Versailles around 2:00 O'clock and swiftly took a power nap. After waking up, we found some dinner at a nearby cafe and planned our evening out in Paris.

Jen, Rebbecca and a couple of there other friends from the UT French Language Program joined us out at the Bastille section of town. We explored a few venues, began at a Cuban place and ended up hanging out at an Irish pub.

After some confusion with the Taxi driver and his unwillingness to take me where I needed to go I was initially stranded on the wrong side of town. Luckily we found another Taxi stand and thanks to Jen's French skills I finally made it back to the hotel. The night guard let me in and that was thankfully the end to an eventful evening lost in Paris.

From Euro 2010: Germany and Beyond

We still made it down to the Eiffel Tower and tried to go up on top of the Arc de Triumph, but they were having a ceremony for the unknown WWII soldiers entombed underneath the Arc. After some confused dialogue with a Parisian police office we figured out that the ceremony wouldn't be over for another couple of hours so we made our way through the Latin Quarter for some great gelato, and the guys were able to find some cheap German soccer jerseys (hard to find in France for obvious reasons) in preparation for Sunday's big game.

We made it back on the train and made the long journey back to Freiburg. Arriving at 11:00 pm we called it a night.

Next Post: Pictures, USA and Germany FIFA World Cup Games... quite possibly the best sporting experience I've ever witnessed with out actually being at the game.

- J. Ryan Sowell