((snail crossing)) ..._@/”

from the tower we hopped on the free subway, made a connection and walked a couple blocks, then up a massive set of stairs to the Sacré-Cœur. Briefly checked out the inside, which is quite impressive for the height and amount of open space. Then we went around the side to pay our €4 to get to the top. (I forgot to mention, all entrance-tickets were anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 off because we are in the fabulous age range between 18 and 25. ...it's so good to be young.) We probably spent an hour up at the top. We took in an amazing view of the city for about half an hour, and then waited another half hour when we realized how close we were to sunset.

After sunset, we found dinner. My first sit-down dinner in Paris. and it was great. expensive, but delicious. Rob and I split a 1/2 liter of wine and a half-dozen escargot. I ate a very thick, juicy steak; green beans; and sliced potatoes (resembling potato chips while still retaining their potato factor). Rob got desert, so I got myself another hot chocolàt (my third of the day. first one was at breakfast. second one, of course, at Notre Dame). My dinner total: €26.

This was just across the street from the restaurant where we ate.
I found it fitting.

After dinner, we continued down the street to the red light district to get a glimpse of Moulin Rouge. We then hopped a (free) subway to Arc de Triomphe. Snapped our pictures and strolled down Champs-Élysées, doing some window shopping before catching another (free) subway back to our hotel.

Traffic Jam

..._@;" ..._@/"

we started off Sunday with breakfast as usual. We took the free metro all the way across the city to catch a quick glimpse of the Arc de Triomph by day. We also intended to see the tomb of the unknown soldier that sits under the arch, but we forgot entire once we arrived. From the arc, we tried to catch a metro over to the Eiffel Tower for an up-close, daytime viewing of that as well. After waiting nearly 20 minutes for the metro, watching the underground fill up and empty out with people a couple times, we gave up and walked it.

Photo shoot featuring a bunch of metal, and off we went. Now I was on an assignment to track down a little shop called Olivier&Co. It was on Rue Cler near the Eiffel. We made our way a few blocks at a time: over, then up, then over some more, until we finally came upon the street.
Somewhere between "up" and "over some more":

"Why is there a line coming out the door of that bakery?
...And why is it wrapping around the corner?"
"I dunno. Let's go find out."

Rob got a baguette. I got a baguette and a croissant for a pre-lunch snack. it was probably 11am at the time. The baked goods were, well, good like the term suggests they should be. I don't know that they're around-the-corner good. Maybe they were still out-the-door good, but at any rate, I had fresh bread to hold onto and warm my hands for the next half hour. Olivier&Co was closed. I hadn't realized it was Sunday until that point. Sorry Tim&Karen.

Eventually we came upon Les Invalides. Rob and I checked out the giant tomb of some short guy. I think Napoleon could fit in his tomb several times with room to spare. After viewing the tomb, we checked out the war museums, which housed guns and memorabilia from the World Wars. ...well, also from the 18th and 19th centuries as well, but that section of the museum was closed for remodeling. The World Wars were enough to keep us busy for a couple hours as it was. At about 330 we finished the museum and headed over to the Pantheon. ...I was unaware there was a Pantheon in Paris as well. ...In my opinion, the one in Rome is sooo much cooler. But I wouldn't actually know. By the time we got there, entrance to the Pantheon had closed. It stopped at 330. And it closed completely by 415. which was when we showed up. We had walked past Jardin du Luxembourg somewhere just before 400. After turned away from the gates of the Pantheon, we were turned away from the gates of Jardin du Luxembourg. Entrance to that closed at 4.

I watched some French kids play soccer in the street for 5 minutes, and then Rob and I went to try and find the latin quarter. The area supposedly known as the latin quarter seemed more Greek than Latin. Greek restaurants lined one or two of the streets. But we settled on French food again. Dinner this time was even more expensive. The total bill was 77 Euro (darn American keyboards. ...I miss my Euro sign and the fabulous Alt Gr button. [it's practically a second shift key]). My portion was in the thirties. ...32 maybe? I devoured my own half-dozen escargot this time. Followed by a bowl of French onion soup. ...couldn't resist. Rob, again, was determined to enjoy desert, so I splurged this time. A cup of hot chocolat (I miss my easy access to accented vowels too) and an apple cinnamon crepe. The crepe was almost like an apple pie. Though it was more apple sauce than apple pie filling, there were slices of apple here and there, topped off with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. ...delicious. And leaving my mouth watering. So once again, I'll have to leave the return trip for later...

The Apprentice

I'm back from Paris. What a story. But it'll have to wait. I'm a little short on time.

I walked into my apartment at 2:30p yesterday for the first time since leaving for Paris. Just in time to unload clothes from my backpack and reload it with books and notebooks.

Like I said, I'm short on time. I leave for Munich tonight after class. So the Paris story will have to wait. But there's a picture for a teaser.

All I really wanted blog about is my photography professor. What a busy/exciting time in his life. He became a father for the first time last Friday. In addition, he and another photographer from the agency he's with produced a book for ActionAid. It just hit the shelves. I'll be missing the book signing tonight though. Not enough time.

His agency also sold the same story to MarieClaire magazine (published in the italian Dec '07 issue).

Also, some of the photos were published online by the biggest italian newspaper La Repubblica. See who I'm learning from. His photos can be seen in their online gallery. Lorenzo's are the ones in color. His assignment was education and the environment in which ActionAid operates. His colleague's photos are black and white, on Cambodian prostitution and AIDS patients.

Travel Time

Just a quick update: AS Roma offered refunds for the tickets to Sunday's called-off match. The game will be rescheduled, but not until mid to late december when we're already gone. So we got our money back.

I'm now off to Paris for the weekend. I return Monday morning in plenty of time to go to my Monday classes (the first of which isn't until 3:30p). I'm in Rome Monday night and here for my Tuesday classes. Late Tuesday night I'm off to Munich for 5 days, coming back Sunday. Skipping my one Wed class and my two Thursday classes.

In the spirit of Paris, I feel like I should tack on 5 extra vowels and perhaps an "S" or "X" to the ends of my words. As far as pronouncing letters, it's almost as if the french have the laziest tongues in the world. ...But then how do you explain a french kiss?

All Thai-ed Up

Last night, a group of 10 of us went out to a Thai restaurant. It was fantastic. Some of the spiciest sauces I've ever had. I had rice and some sort of spicy jumbo shrimp - served with their eyes still looking at me. I hear it's normally difficult to eat them like this. messy to peel or whatever. But they must have been well prepared, because it was quite easy. Other than detaching the meat from the rest of the body, it was not any different than eating normal shrimp back home.

They brought out several appetizers "on the house," along with an apparent all-you-can-drink supply of wine. The 10 of us went through numerous bottles. And then they brought out two big bowls of fruit, then candy. Gwen ordered Malaysian crepes for desert. They tasted almost exactly like a Cinnabon. Definitely to die for. After desert, along with maintaining our supply of wine, they brought out the "serious stuff" as they called it. Shot glasses for everyone, along with our table's own bottles of limoncello, whiskey, and something that unfortunately tasted exactly like ouzo.

The total only came to €17 per person. I don't know how they came to that total or what they actually billed us for and what was actually on the house, but considering my dinner was €12, I figure a €5 "cover charge" is worth the bottles of wine, hard alcohol, desert and appetizers. Great place, great service. And we didn't even have a need to hit the bars after dinner.

Go and Get Your Riot Gear

I tried but failed to get my hands on a newspaper today. I stared at one over breakfast at the bar this morning. When I went out to get my film developed, I stopped at several newspaper stands but they all only carried foreign papers like the Süd-Deutsche Zeitung, USA Today, along with French and Spanish papers as well. But none of the Rome newspapers.

After class, I asked the guy at breakfast bar, in italian, where I could buy a paper. He told me to try Stazione Trastevere. But they were all done selling papers. Either they didn't have any left, or they were closed, or both. I didn't really understand the Italian response I got, except that I wasn't going to find a paper.

Anyway, pictures from la Republica can be found there. A brutally (google) translated article from Il Messaggero on the victim and incident that sparked the riots can be can be found here. From the same paper, also brutally translated by google, is the article on the actual events of the riots.

Personal note: fortunately I didn't get anywhere near the events. Therefore, no pictures of my own to post.

Update

In lieu of the soccer match, we headed out to Abbey Theater (sports bar) to watch the Packer game. The Packers destroyed the Vikings 34-0.

In the meantime, things started getting a little more out of control regarding the soccer match.