Le Rugby

On the weekend of October 12 Matt and I and our friends Ross and Sascha drove down to Paris. The drive was about 5 hours, including a pit stop, and very easy (especially since we weren't driving). The semi-finals for rugby were also going on that weekend in Paris, and in a surprising turn of events, France had beat Australia the week before so were still in it. Needeless to say there was a lot of excitement in the air.

We arrived around midnight, and checked into our roach motel. All the hotels in Paris were booked that week. In addition to the rugby tournament, that weekend was also the annual festival in Montmartre, as we would later find out. Our hotel was in a great location, but the rooms were pretty scary. I'm talking hairs in the sheets and very thin walls so you can hear everything going on in every room around you. We quickly dropped our bags off as soon as we arrived and jetted off to find some nice Parisian food. However, it was very late and a lot of the cafes were already closed or closing. We chanced upon a pretty lively place called the Hippopotamus, which was open late. Here, at 2am, we ate medium rare hamburgers.

The next day we met up around 10:30 and decided to forego the 5 euro breakfast at the hotel, figuring if our rooms were what they were for 140 euros, then what must the 5 euro breakfast be like. Matt guessed it was probably a coffee and a cigarette. We headed to the Museum d'Orsay, the impressionist museum that Matt and I missed during our trip in Easter. The museum is absolutely beautiful inside, and has some pretty spectacular sculptures, and works by Rodin, Klimt and Munch.

After perusing the D'Orsay we made for the Champs Elysses to have apps and a bottle of wine at a trendy bar/restaurant that came recommended. After some overpriced snacks that left us feeling less than full, we walked a bit more to find a nice terrace at a Parisian cafe, where we ate and drank some more. We then went over to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed to the top. We spent quite a bit of time checking out the views and, mainly, watching traffic trying to get around that monstrous traffic circle. It's quite fascinating - like an almost organized chaos. Sascha and I then counted SmartCars - those tiny little death machines famous in Europe that the US is trying to introduce. Between 6:24 and 6:30 on Saturday, October 13, there were no less than 25 SmartCars making their way around the northwest side of the Arc de Triomphe. Or maybe it was southeast. You get the point.

Matt's friend and former colleague that used to work in Paris recommended a few bars for us to go to watch the rugby game at 9. One of them was an Aussie bar that we tried to arrive to early but even an hour before the game it was already crazy packed. It was full of unattractive New Zealand guys and trashy English girls, loud and smoky. Sascha and I were definetely not having fun, but the guys seemed to be enjoying themselves. The last straw came when the waiter accidentally poured some beer down the back of my cashmere sweater. We left and tried to find a more "decent" locale to watch the game. This new place came in the form of a cafe with a crazy waitress that kept moving us around the restaurant as more people tried to squeeze in. It was a good game, but unfortunately England beat France, so the anticipation of victory in the air all day Saturday turned into the dismay of defeat come late Saturday night.



On Sunday we slept in a bit, then headed out for some coffee and cappuccinos then went over to the Eiffel tower. That day was the Paris 20k race, which was just finishing up at the Eiffel Tower park when we arrived, so lots of runners were out walking around. We got in line to climb to the top. It was again a beautiful day, and 668 steps up later, we were looking at Paris from the top of the tower. Sascha pointed out to us the area in Paris that we would be going to that afternoon - Montmartre. Unfortunately we were too high up to count Smart Cars that day. After soaking in the sights and some rays from the top, we headed back to the metro to go to Montmartre.

By the time we arrived in Montmartre, we were all hungry and kind of grumpy. Finding food was a priority. Montmartre is at the top of a hill, so more climbing. After quite a bit of walking, we chanced upon a perfect little Italian style cafe that was virtually empty. The kitchen was closing but we convinced the waitress to feed us. After lunch we felt rejuvenated, and continued our walk to the top of the hill. Sunday was also the day of the Montmartre festival, so there were little tents set up all over selling wine and sausages and other fares. There is a beautiful church at the top, and another great view on the steps. It was so busy though that at first we couldn't even find the steps down. It turned out that there was a guy at the bottom playing guitar and singing, and the steps were packed with people sitting and listening to him. Very cool.





We then had to rush back to our hotel to collect our things and the car to make the long drive back to Amsterdam. We left Paris at about 6, and arrive in Amsterdam close to 11. Pretty amazing that we just drove down to Paris for the weekend!