Crêpes and Climbing

Here we go, it’s blog time again, time to write about the last couple weeks of the adventure we call life. This week’s chapter: Crêpes and Climbing. If you hadn’t guessed from the title, these were the two reasons I made the trip up to Paris. It wasn’t to see countless museums, walk around the city of love, or see old friends; it was to eat as many delicious crêpes as possible in five days and climb at the crag where bouldering originated. Besides, you can google the Mona Lisa nowadays, which is basically the same as seeing it in person right? Speaking of which, I was not impressed by her but more on that later. I like to keep things in a chronological order when possible, however, this might be difficult considering the whirlwind of a weekend I had.

The whole trip to Paris was a spur of the moment idea that happened, more or less, by chance. Originally, Matt and I were supposed to go climbing in El Chorro for our five-day weekend but due to a rainy forecast we opted out of this. As luck would have it, our friend Louise e-mailed us that day inviting us up to Paris to stay with her whenever we wanted. After about five minutes of deliberation it was decided that our new destination for the week would be Paris. ¿Porque no? Louise is a French girl we met through the Tech Climbing Club who moved back to Paris this semester after obtaining her MBA. She had only been in her new apartment for a week prior to our arrival so her willingness to let us stay on such short notice was much appreciated.

Upon arriving at Paris-Beauvais airport, which is in the absolute middle of nowhere France, we had to take a hour-long bus ride into town. We got into town around three and had some time to kill before Louise got off work at 6:30. With no idea where we were or how to communicate with the locals we chose a random direction and started walking. Luckily for us, after finding a map, we realized we were walking towards the Arc de Triomphe. The arc is in the middle of a giant roundabout located on the famous Champs-Elysées. It was commissioned in 1806 by Napoleon to commemorate his victories and ironically wasn’t finished until 1836 when he was out of power. When I got close to the landmark I was shocked to see a few French soldiers patrolling the area with FAMASES. For the few of you who haven’t played Call of Duty, this is an assault rifle that will mess your world up.

Once we were done with Napoleon’s arc we headed down the Champs-Elysées, which is a famous street for shopping in Paris. From there we walked over to what is possibly one of the most famous landmarks in the world, the Eifel Tower. This too was being patrolled by French soldiers equipped with their assault rifles. Apparently France has been receiving terrorist threats because of its involvement in Libya so the Government has stepped up security on its monuments. After walking around parks near the eifel tower we headed over to the metro stop near Louise’s work to meet up with her. The rest of my night was spent chilling out at her apartment, eating dinner, and getting to know her roommates.

 Crêpes: They're imperative to the misson

Thursday morning started out with a trip to the Île de la Cité, which is a natural island where the medieval city of Paris was founded. After grabbing a bite to eat outside the giant city hall building, we headed over to the island to see the Notre Dame. Along the way we saw our first crêpe vendor and were forced to make a pit stop. During my stroll through the famous church there was a mass going on, which made for quite the experience. It was interesting to see the church being used for its intended purpose rather than just tourism. 

Once we were done touring we made our way over to the Louvre, which is pronounced with the “R” in French. I’m fairly certain I walked a couple miles while in Paris’ most well known museum. While I’m not going to say I saw everything worth seeing in the Louvre, I feel like I saw the majority of the famous works plus some. Earlier in this blog I mentioned the Mona Lisa and how unimpressed I was. This is not to say it’s a bad painting or Leonardo de Vinci isn’t a great artist. I simply think the painting is slightly overrated and the presentation of it is somewhat hectic. You walk into a room, there are a ton of people crowded around a tiny picture on the wall, and by the time you get close enough to realize what you’re looking at a flash goes off in your face and then it’s someone else’s turn to get close. I realize that was a run-on sentence but sometimes they’re necessary. 

 Outside view of the Louvre. The entrance is in the glass pyramid and both side buildings are a part of the massive museum.

All right, I’m done with my negative rant, time for the positive aspects of the Louvre. Some of the other memorable works I saw were The Code of Hammurabi (the first written law), Winged Victory, The Venus de Milo, and some crazy Egyptian mummies. My two personal favorites were John Martin’s Le Pandemonium and a Mo’ai from Easter Island. Both of these were accidently stumbled upon but were some of the coolest things I saw there. The epicness of Martin’s painting is what caught my eye originally. I mean, what is there not to like about a one-man wolf pack staring across a pool of liquid hot magma at an unconquerable fortress?

 Venus de Milo

 Code of Hammurabi

 Le Pandemonium by John Martin

While trying to find an exit out of the African artifacts maze in the basement, I turned a corner and saw a Mo’ai staring me back in the face. I had always wanted to see one of these statues and had no earthly idea the Louvre housed one. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to see one up close. These giant religious artifacts are what eventually sent the inhabitants of Easter Island six feet under; or in this case, to the stomach of another tribesman. After deforesting the entire island to make their Mo’ai, the Rapu Nui ran out of food and were unable to build boats to leave the island.  These minor problems eventually lead to widespread cannibalism. Easter Island is considered to be a small scale example of what could happen to planet earth if we as humans are not wise with our limited resources. 

 Mo'ai from Easter Island

Enough with the science experiment; it’s on to the next section of the adventure. After walking for what seemed like, and quite possibly was, miles in the massive Louvre our feet were killing us. We chilled out for a while in a coffee shop and then caught a metro up to Montmarte to see the Basilica of the Sacré Coeur.  Upon getting off the metro we got a little lost and ended up walking around what seemed to be the poorer section Paris. After ten or fifteen minutes of aimless walking we had circled back around to the metro stop. While trying to decide which direction the cathedral was in an elderly French man got our attention and pointed to a sign for Sacré Coeur. He then rattled off directions in French that were, for the most part, not understood. How he knew what we were looking for, or how we missed a giant sign when we got off the metro, I will never know. Regardless, we were now on the right path. After climbing several stairs I was standing at the foot of a giant white cathedral looking out over all of Paris. The Eifel tower, Notre Dame, and Panthéon, along with several other landmarks, were all in clear view.

 Basilica of the Sacré Coeur

 The View overlooking Paris

When we were done taking in the spectacular view of the city we headed back into town to meet up with Louise for dinner. This was the only night we ate out for dinner and it was absolutely tremendous. The French may not know how to win a war but they sure can cook. For my meal I chose duck smothered in a delicious French sauce with mashed potatoes. I can honestly say it was one of the most unique tasting foods I have ever eaten. After dinner we went out and saw two live bands at a famous music venue for up and coming artists. Unfortunately I can’t recall the name of the venue and google is being of no help in my search. The show left a little to be desired but was an interesting experience nonetheless.

Friday began much like the day before with a trip to the Île de la Cité for lunch, crêpes, and to see the Sainte-Chapelle, which supposedly houses the crown of thorns worn by Jesus. This was a quick trip as we only saw the outside and did not go in for a tour. Our next stop was the Château de Vincennes, a 14^th and 17^th century complex that served the French royalty. Equipped with a mote, castle, and chapel, this was the place to be back in the day. After spending some time walking around inside the walls of this fortress, we aimlessly walked around Vincennes and its park. Vincennes is now a suburb of Paris so it was interesting to see the similarities and difference between it and the suburbs of the States. All in all I’d say they are pretty much the same. The main differences are the sizes of everything, as expected in Europe the cars, houses and businesses are all much smaller and cramped together. The other main difference is the fact that there is a giant castle chilling in people’s backyards. Figuratively of course, most Europeans don’t have backyards.

 View of the Vincennes Castle from inside the fortress.

 Stain glass in the quaint Vincennes Church

Once again, we decided to take a crêpe break after our tiring walk around suburbia. Soon after we headed back to Louise’s apartment for dinner. Two of her roommate’s friends came over for dinner as well, which was quite enjoyable. The conversation I had that night was one of the most interesting ones I have had in some time. We discussed all sorts of topics from the works of Jack London to American and French politics.  It was very interesting to see the point of view French have on our politics and their own.

Apparently, the French still think they’re better than everyone else even though they haven’t been a global power for quite some time. Along with this, I found out the French Government heavily taxes it’s citizens, which is how it pays for its massive social programs. On the flip side, I was told that all Americans are superficial; a statement that definitely has some truth behind it. I was a little surprised to see how simple it was to talk about politics with complete strangers. Just like religion, this is one of those topics you are “not supposed” to bring up in conversation back in the United States because of how controversial it can be. However, there was absolutely not problem with it in Europe.

Saturday was spent bouldering at the famous crag Fontainebleau. We took a 45minute train ride out there and then walked for another good half hour before reaching our destination. The best way to describe Font is a near endless boulder field in the middle of a forest. A real forest that is, with trees that have been around since before the U.S. was discovered and lizards crawling all over the place. The style was much different than anything I had ever climbed and completely kicked my ass, which was a little frustrating to say the least.  I thoroughly enjoyed it though and hope to go back some time in the near future for more than a day. 

The first Sunday of every month Paris gives free entry to all its public museums. Although we were mentally and physically exhausted, this was an opportunity that could not be passed up. Seeing as how it was Sunday and Louise did not have work, she decided to play tour guide for us. As usual our first stop was a crêpe stand for breakfast. I can honestly say there are few things in this world better than a Nutella and banana crêpe. After buying the delicacy we walked along the Seine River towards the Museé d’Orsay while eating breakfast.

After waiting in a decent sized line, accompanied by our friends with FAMASES, we were inside the converted train station. We wondered around for about an hour looking at the works of Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and other impressionists. Along with the paintings there were several sculptures in the main hall of the museum. Since being in Europe and touring several museums I have gained a much higher appreciation of sculptures than I previously had. I can’t even imagine the amount of skill it took to carve some of the statues I have seen.

When we were done with Orsay we headed over to the Centre Georges Pompidou, which is a modern art center. The building has a unique look as it has large colored vents on the outside. The exhibition we saw was one of the best collections of art I have seen since being here. While the Prado and Louvre are world renowned for their classic art the Pompidou has quite the collection of modern art. Several works form Picasso, “The Fountain”, and other revolutionary modern artists were all present. While some modern art is a little ridiculous most of it is very well done.

 "The Fountain" AKA a urinal labeled as art

Our last stop of the trip was the Panthéon in Paris. As usual, we had to stop for our final crêpe on the way. Unfortunately it was closed to prepare for an upcoming ceremony but it was cool to see it and the part of town it is in. There were several universities, libraries, and nightlife attractions near by. Apparently the neighborhood surrounding it is primarily college students.

The next weekend Matt and I went climbing at Desplomilandia with one of our friends from La Madriguera. The crag is located about an hour north west of Malaga and was in some beautiful Spanish countryside. There was a cliffband overlooking a lake with rolling green mountain / hill things in the background. I’m definitely going to miss the weekend trips I’ve been able to make to premier destinations while here.

Semana Santa starts next week so I’m going to spend Sunday and Monday here in Sevilla. The rest of the week will be spent beach hoping around Andalucía, Portugal and Morocco.