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| Scott, Me, and Jeff - Enjoying a street beverage in the Paris Night |
Paris, Switzerland, Barcelona. Throughout the last three weeks I joined portions of the Euro trip of my two Connecticut friends, Jeff and Scott. I met Jeff on the floor of my freshman dormitory at the University of Connecticut. We've stayed close ever since. Scott is his younger brother whom I traveled with for five weeks driving around the south west portion of the United States in Road Trip USA. They bought Euro Rails and were making the most of their vacations. They were spending their first weekend in Paris. I was spending their first weekend in Paris too.
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| Paris |
It is hard to go any place in a weekend and see everything there is to see - let alone Paris. Paris is big. The weather for our April 20th weekend was sunny and beautiful for about five minutes and then pounding rain on top of us, then it would repeat the process. Sometimes less of a pound and more of sideways sprinkle. I really wanted to see Jeff and Scott so I wasn't terribly concerned with what we were doing or terribly concerned with trying to see everything there is to see in Paris. I still don't really know everything you're supposed to see when you go to Paris - or what Rue you should walk down and at what time. So why are you reading this? Good question. Why am I writing it? Because I don't feel like grading papers right now.
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| The Louvre |
It's a pretty city, but when a friend of mine said "Did it make your heart leap when you saw it??!!", I wasn't sure how to respond. Saw what? All of Paris at one time? I don't know how to do that. It made me smile most of the time. It is Paris. The Eiffel tower was cool. It looked more metallic than I though it should have. The Notre Dame was pretty impressive, we saw it on a Sunday when a mass was going on, but I don't know...it just feels a little strange walking through a church with a mob of tourists looking around at everything, while the people in the center are sitting and using it for what is was designed to be used for. I like traveling, but dammit I hate tourists. Let's face it, for the last two years, for most of the time, I've been a tourist. Sometimes I join those retarded idiots. There is no way around it. If you want to travel you're going to be a stupid tourist sometimes. I'd like to go to Paris again and walk around with a bottle of wine until two in the morning. Most tourists don't do that.
An Italian in a Ford Fusion shouted at me to come over to his car while I was walking down the road on the way to meet Scott and Jeff at their hotel. He offered me two leather jackets for a tank of gas. He works for a fashion company and had them as display pieces. I always fall for this crap. He lost 3000 euro the night before on a Brazilian and the casino. He couldn't call his wife to explain. He needed gas to get back to Italy. I ALWAYS fall for this crap. I buy something and I think I'm getting a steal and then the sleeve falls off when I put it on. I paid for four massive speakers once when I was sixteen thinking I was going to make a killing, and hid my head between my tail when I researched them on the internet and realized I'd been taken for $600 dollars. I ended up giving the guy 50 euro. I told you I always fall for this crap. I got two genuine leather jackets that are slightly too big for me. They are beautiful Italian jackets. Who knows. Maybe I didn't screw up too bad this time. I just need my chest and arms to grow a few inches and then I'll be fine.
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| Zermatt Hiking |
The next weekend I met Jeff and Scott in Zermatt, Switzerland on the southern part of the country boarding Italy. Zermatt is the town right next to the iconic Matterhorn. For me, this is heart leaping territory, but again, the weather wasn't completely cooperative. It rained pretty much every day, but for about a two hour window on our third morning we could see the jagged pointed mountain top that looks a lot like the mountain the Grinch would live on. If you're a cheap bastard, just brace yourself when you go to Switzerland. I paid 80 euro for my round trip plane ticket to Geneva and then 80 euro again (two times) (95 Swiss Francs) for the one way train ticket to Zermatt. The money is all colorful like monopoly money so I advice you to just pretend it is. It might make you feel better when you pay 4 Franc for a coffee or 17 Franc for a burger or 35 Franc for a six bed dormitory which charges 8 Franc more for their continental breakfast. One Franc is roughly $1.10. The night life wasn't too crazy (probably because in order to have a few drinks you would have to drain your bank account), but we did manage to find a case a beer for a reasonable price so we drank those in the hostel. The three Americans listened to music on a table littered with empty beer bottles. The remaining space in the common room of the hostel was filled with Japanese on their individual lap top computers. Six Japanese with their cords all leading to a multi-plug power outlet in the center of the room. Maybe they were controlling the International Space Station. As America gets drunk the Japanese are hard at work. That's about right.
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| Zermatt outskirts and Matthorn Peak |
In Zermatt we hiked everyday. We read a lot. We had good conversations and enjoyed the rain and the company. The Alps are beautiful.
Jeff ended his trip in Barcelona. Scott is continuing on through Spain and then on to Germany for another month. We spent five nights together in Barcelona and now I'm alone and back to being Lonely Man. I love this living abroad thing, but man it's hard to make good guy friends. I don't really want new friends so much, just my old ones to be out here. It is the most difficult thing about being out here and I consider myself as much of a loner as you can get without being diagnosed with some sort of disorder. I have a pile of papers I need to grade and students that want them graded right now. I have five more weeks of planning what I'm going to teach the next day. I don't know. Life is a funny thing. One day you know exactly what your going to do for the rest of your life and then the next day you don't know what your going to do next month. Instead of getting older and knowing more, I'm getting older and realizing I don't know anything. Oh well. For me. Today is Monday. Happy Monday.
