Jour Quatre

This time change is really throwing me off. I don't know how people come and spend just a week or two here. It's going to take me that long to adjust.

But I'm also up and at 'em every single day. WHAT A DAY TODAY WAS.

Classes started. ver.

Imagine all the round-abouts in Jersey
had one of these smacked in the middle.

But we went on a little school excursion to the Arc De Triomphe. For those of you poorly versed in the translation of romance languages that means Arch of Triumph. Constructed by my manz Napoleon, it's one hell of an archway. Another of those things that's super elaborate. Tons of names of those who fought, tons of intricate details.

From street level, it's one thing. But (little did I know) you can go up it! Thanks to the Catholic-Vincentianism of St. John's we were provided access. Probably 12,000 spiral stairs and a day's worth of calories later, we were at the top: a windowless hall with a brief history, a statue, and a gift shop. I was nonetheless intrigued by my presence inside this historical freaking thing.

When you get to the museum you're like, "oh hey cool. there's one statue in here and I some recently added lavatories in case you need to puke from the hike up." BUT WAIT! For just a small fee of two short flights you're out in the sunlight, actually on top of it, looking over Paris.

Not a bad view to have right before you're gonna
pass out. A little to the right is the Eiffel Tower, but I figured
everyone pretty much knows what that looks like at this point.

I ran up it like a champ. I always overestimate my fearlessness. My legs were jell-o, but the view of the entire city from one point was awesome; The Eiffel Tower in one direction, a full view of Champs-Élysées in the other, and all of Paris and its inhabitants in between.

 The best part was looking over the Champs-Élysées (pronouned le shawz el ee zee, I guess) where all the MAJOR fashion headquarters are, considering it was once the palace driveway. Now it just leads to the fabulous Place de la Concord where Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVI, and somewhere between 1 and 2.5 thousand others during the French Revolution were beheaded. Very prestigious stuff.

I had to hold Korrie's hand on the way down and I refused to look anywhere but the point in which the wall met the stairs. When I got to the street I felt like I was worthy enough to have my name carved into the Arch's walls. I didn't throw up, that was quite a triomphe.

A Napoleon Complex with a fear of heights... I should get over that.

What in this traditional Eiffel Tower photo does not belong,
other than the partially opened shutter...

I'm gonna pull a Quentin Tarantino (mainly due to final remnants of jet lag) and bring up our view of the Eiffel Tower before the Arch! Yes, I know, so much Eiffel Tower talk. This was a good one though.

Unfortunately, I wasn't assaulted by a bum again. Someone was robbed though!

LOLOLOL. Whoever this person was was more of a foreign idiot than all of us put together. There was one dude, just one, selling two Eiffel Tower models. Just two. If that's not sketchy in itself I'm not quite sure what is. I'd rather purchase my corny memorabilia from a store that had clearly paid to have their merchandise.

As we were just casually being tourists and posing for pictures, we see baby Eiffel Towers fly into the air as their previous bearer rockets down the street... with someone's money.


I think it's a good thing I went to church on Sunday or that could have easily been me robbed by a crook.  Or stabbed by a bum.


The Lord is my shepherd, there is no French trinket I shall want.

Unless of course the trinket was made by Louis V though, that's a different story ;)

That is definitely what Heaven looks like.
Louis Vuitton on Champs-Élysées