so this week was a lot more work and lot more other stuff. i got sick in the middle of the week so i missed a day. we sent out a bunch of dvds that i packed and burned, i spent a whole day reformatting a powerpoint and i watched many many many hours of a car driving on a road.

so enough about work. this week things happened.

i can't remember most of them.

i spent some more time in the city and found some new fun places. i made a quick stop over to Fleet Street, which has a lot of historical buildings and a really cool church. the church had a crypt with memorial stones and little chapels cut into the rock, it was really nice.

also, today i got back from paris for the weekend. as some of you may know, i've been there before and i don't care too much for it. for those of you that haven't been there [spoiler alert] it's dirty, the subway system is not only confusing but also smells like urine, and you never feel safe.

we took the eurostar to france at around 7am and je suis arrivé à la neuf heures moins quart à Paris (i arrived at 8:45 in Paris). i also tried to remember 4 years of french a lot over the course of the trip, which i'll try my best to spare you from henceforth.

we did the obligatory bus tour, which took us to a restaurant right next to LA Louvre. we got to see the pyramids and such outside then went to eat. after another hour on the bus, we stopped at the hotel. it was really nice and it's probably where most of our tuition for this programme went. it has a kitchen, big closets, a bedroom and a big fold out couch. it overlooked the Siene river, so that was nice. i roomed with Brandon, Kyle and Rahil; which was done completely at random, so it's nice that we all got put with people we actually know and/or like.

i was able to go into la Catedral de Notre Dame, which i wasn't able to do last time, so i was happy about that. it's so much darker inside than the other cathedrals. it gives it a crazy medieval ambiance.

i also went to La Panthéon. it's another old building. it was nice.

i spent some time walking around with kyle in the late afternoon. we talked about renting bikes that you can ride for free from one place to another. then you put them onto their "dock" at your destination. it's a great idea, but they tae an advance payment of €150 off of your credit card in case you steal the bike. i didn't like that idea. we didn't rent bikes.

we continued to walk around. say le hôtel des invalides and some more of the river. we also hung out by the eiffel tower for a bit.

night, i went and got pizza with brandon at a little italian cafe on the street around 23:00. it was some of the best pizza i've ever had, and the waiters were really nice. afterwards, we went back and hung out with kyle, brittany, kat and dan for a bit then went to bed. Rahil came in from a club around 4am. it had a €20 cover charge. i'm glad i didn't go.

myself, brandon, kyle and rahil all went to the latin quarter and found a little place selling giant gyros and fries for only €4.50.  there's no possible way to beat that deal, so we all stopped and ate.

afterwards, brandon went to La Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa and such. i was in no way interested. there's plenty of art in london that i can see for free, instead of paying to get in. also, i don't want to walk around in a former palace that had 3 floors with 2 wings and is a mile long. yes friends, that's why there was a french revolution against the king.

rahil, kyle and i went to the Champs-Élyseés and walked to l'Arc de Triomphe. napoleon's famous freakishly huge monument to himself. i like it there.

the whole 2 mile, perfectly straight pavement from the Champs-Élyseés to la Place de la Concorde (giant central square; bunch of government buildings around it) had fences all over the place for Bastille Day on monday, which is their independence day. the were annoying when it came to pictures. under l'Arc we a group of military soldiers going over what they would do for the festivities (their tomb of the unknown soldier and a few other important things around under l'Arc). i got some pictures.

afterward this, kyle went to go on a boat tour on the river and rahil and i travelled another 2 miles in the same direction to the "business area" of the city. it's the part of paris no one ever goes to, and it's nowhere near the "downtown" area. this business area is actually technically a suburb. buildings, by law, have to remain really short in the city, around 6 floors, which most of them are. nearly all of them, really. the whole city is based on a bunch of 5-6 floor buildings that look like they were built in the same time period, have a retuarant/store at the bottom and a bunch of places to live up top.

there you just visited paris.

but the business area is where all the skyscrapers are and such. it's a really beautiful area. tourists don't go there. but i figured that i've seen all the other stuff before, so it was time for something new, and rahil was indifferent, so he tagged along.

we went to le Grande Arche de la Défense, which is something i've always wanted to see. it's another giant arch (bigger than napoleon's arch, and only built in the last decade or so) and it's in a perfect line with napoleon's arch, over 2 miles away. it's really cool to see it all line up. the arch is also a big building, so the whole inside is full of windows. it's really cool. it's hard to explain. but i'm glad i got to see it.

we spent some time in that area, including the buying a mcflurry from the single most beautiful, modern and classy mcdonald's that i've ever seen. then we headed back into the cute/lovely part of paris and stopped somewhere so rahil could buy a souvenir, then we took the subway to the train station.

i slept for most of the train ride. considering there wasn't much sleep over the rest of the weekend.

today was also brandon's birthday, so kyle and i went out with him for a drink. it was good times. then we came back home and here i am.

and now i'm going to bed so i can actually wake up a decent time for work.

next weekend (friday-monday) is Scotland with Kyle. so look forward to reading that one, while I look forward to living it.

until next time,
-Brian

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