Early in the morning on Saturday, Blake and I left Landshut headed towards Paris. Our train would take us from Landshut to Munich then another train would take us from Munich to Mannheim and then finally we’d take our last train from Mannheim to Paris Est. We left at 6 am and we wouldn’t arrive in Paris until 1 pm. On the train, Blake and I caught up on some writing, reading and internet browsing. We also couldn’t help but talk and laugh about the couple in the seats in front of us who spent the entire 3 hours from Mannheim to Paris talking very loudly in English about dance. In Paris, Blake and I would be spending the whole day with our backpacks on so I knew we wouldn’t be able to go into any important buildings, especially with the recent terror attack at the Louvre. Instead, I had planned to bring Blake around to see the important sites in Paris. While on the train, I discovered that on the weekends a ticket called “Jeunes week-end” can be bought for the metro for young people under 26. It costs 4 euro and is an unlimited metro ride pass for 24 hours in zones 1-3. This is a really good deal considering one single ticket costs almost 2 euros. We visited the Notre Dame Cathedral and ate a “Croque madame” sandwich which is a cheese and ham sandwich topped with a sunny side up egg. Then we headed to the Louvre and walked all the way up to the famous Arch du Triomphe via the Place du Carrousel, past the Obelisk of Luxor and down the Champs Élysées. The Obelisk of Luxor has a very interesting history. The Obelisk of Luxor is situated in the Place of the Concorde which was the site of over 1300 beheadings during the revolution including the execution of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. The Obelisk replaces the guillotine that was here. However, the story is slightly varied depending on who you ask: An Egyptian or a Parisian. Usually, the French version is simply that Egypt gave the obelisk to the French, however, what the French fail to remember, according to Egyptians, is that this obelisk was traded for a clock that is in the bell tower at the Citadel in Cairo… which never actually worked. It feels a little ironic that Europeans made a bad deal with an African country to obtain an obelisk like they haven’t already taken enough from Africa. Anyways, after walking all the way to the Arch du Triomphe, we went to the Eiffel tower and took some photos before heading towards the Montparnasse train station. At the train station, we found a little Bretagne styled diner where we had a galette and crepe before heading to the beautiful Bretagne. After another 2-hour train ride we had arrived in Rennes where Amparo and, to my surprise, my former host brother Alessandro picked us up. When I saw them I couldn't help myself from running toward them as it was so good to see them both again. As we drove towards Dinan, I was surprised at how I wasn't needing to translate French in my head to understand it despite not having spoken much French in 5 years.We drove another hour to Dinan and although Amparo had moved and a few small things had changed, I once again felt like I was back on my Rotary Youth Exchange.
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| Notre Dame Cathedral |
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| Statue of Charlamagne |
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| Le Louvre |
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| Arch du Triomphe |
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| Eiffel Tower |
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