Friday May 18: Bonjour! After getting our train tickets earlier in the week, we decided to stay in Metz Friday night and just go to Paris in the morning on Saturday. Jeff, new friend Ryan Gleber, and I bought tickets to see the local soccer team, FC Metz, on Friday. They are in the second division of French League, Ligue 2. They had a bad season and are getting relegated down to Ligue 3 (sad). This game was their last of the season, therefore last game in Ligue 2. We figured this would be a sore subject for the local fans so we would not have been surprised if there was a riot. When we got there, there were police in riot gear all over the stadium, shield, armor, the whole shebang. We were told by a French student later that this is normal at all games, some fans tend to be violent. He was surprised to hear that we don't have that at American sporting events. The game finished 1-1. Very fun to see a live European match.

Saturday, May 19: It was our first time riding the train for travel, so we were a bit nervous about what to expect, at least I was. We got up a little bit later that we had planned at about 6:40 am, frantically packed our bags and hopped a bus to the train station. Another, much larger, group from GTL was also headed to Paris on our train, so we linked up with the them for the ride. We left Metz at 8:30, switched trains in Bar Le Duc, and arrived in Paris at around noon. A three and a half hour train ride is painless. The seats are much roomier and the scenery along the route is always something to enjoy. I am a train lover now. 

Once we made it in the train station, we bought 2 day Metro (Paris's subway system) passes, and made our way to our hotel. The Metro was SO convenient. Our line map was pretty much our tour guide through the city, hopping on and off all over the metropolis. We arrived at our hotel, which was in a quieter part of the city, grabbed our key and headed up the steep spiral staircase to our room on the fifth floor. 

The room was very nice, two beds, a full bathroom, and had a nice view over a small street. We dropped our backpacks, loaded our money belts with the essentials and headed out for the city. We jumped back on the Metro and hit everyone's first destination, the Eiffel Tower. I was awestruck when we emerged from the subway, I really couldn't stop smiling. I'm in (expletive deleted) Paris. 

Then took in the tower for a while, lines were too long to get to the top, as most lines would be on a summer Saturday in one of the most visited cities in the world. We then walked along the river, La Seine, a made our way to the Musee de Orsee. Didn't go in, the line looked long. We then wondered through the bustling city looking for lunch, and settled on a small cafe. Then we continued along the river to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Line to go in was too long for that too. We plan on going back again to see what we missed, later on now that we have our heads around the city. 

Then we kept wandering around and found our way to the Centre Pompidou, Paris's largest modern art museum. The building was crazy looking which is what drew us in the first place. There was no line so we went in, and got free tickets with our "French" student ID cards. We were pleasantly surprised by how neat all the exhibits were. I took a million pictures, but here are some highlights. 

After that, we headed back to our room to dodge the rain, bought two bottles of wine, some cheese and sat and drank and flipped through all of our pictures from the incredible afternoon. We then re-suited up, in search of a bar near our hotel to watch the Champions League Final, Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich. We found a small bar just down the street and sat down for some beers and football. The locals there were very friendly and happy to have two travelers enjoying the game. At halftime we left to grab a bite to eat at a Pizzeria just around the corner. Best calzone, I've ever had. Had a nice glass of wine, and still only spent about $12. We headed back to the bar, which was almost empty and watched the demise of Bayern in penalty kicks. Then bedtime. 

Sunday, May 20: We got up early to try and beat the rush to the Louvre and made it there around 8:30 am. We were about 20th in line when the museum opened at 9. We got in free, again, and then made a mad dash for the Mona Lisa before the 200+ people that were in line behind us swarmed it. 

We then explored the whole museum for an hour and a half or so. All of the pieces were neat, but my favorite part by far was the building itself. Huge and gorgeous, hard to believe it was a palace for the king. Again, I have lots of pictures, but here are some good'uns. 

(Baby strangling the Aflac duck)

Ok so. After the Louvre, we went out to see the remaining sights, Arc de Triomphe and Monmatre Cathedral. Both spectacular. Monmatre was on a hill on the north side and had big view over the city. We walked down through a park and had a small hostile interaction with a local after Jefferson refused to high-five him. No big deal. 

That was about it for all the main sights and we still had about three hours until we needed the head back to the train station, so we decided the hit up the Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie, the science museum in Paris. Didn't get in for free to this one, but it was only 6 euro. Very cool interactive exhibits on sound, sight, evolution, transportation, technology, the earth, the universe, math, and some others. Think of it like a giant and more adult Creative Discovery museum. After that, we left.

Conclusions: This was my first trip to a major city outside the U.S. and I must say it was beyond incredible and oh so surreal. After spending that much time on the Metro, I definitely got tired of its smell. But I'll take smelly for ultra convenient any day. Paris is huge and it was a miracle that we got to see everything that we did. I'd like to go back soon and hit the top of the Eiffel Tower and inside the Notre Dame. We'll see. Now it's back to school until next weekend in Munich! I probably won't post again until then unless something exciting happens. Happy travels!