The Spectater

Friday, May 26

Jason went off to work and Janine and I took our time getting ready. It was another rainy day so we weren’t too excited to be going out. We went to the bank museum, which was cool, if only for the lady trying to put her card in the fake ATM (with buttons!) and the bank robbery room where they showed clips of bank robbery movies (no Point Break that I saw). After that we walked to the centre to the bank and stopped for lunch and then the internet cafe.

It was still raining out so the weather wasn’t lending itself well to walking around. We took the bus out to Auchan, a giant grocery/department store, and wandered around there for a bit. Coming to Luxembourg felt like going shopping in Duluth. Everything was cheaper. We discovered the difference between cold milk and milk on the shelf, but still don’t understand how or why. We peeked outside and saw that it was still raining, so we decided to go home and wait for Jason to finish work.

We met up with him and went straight back to Auchan to see the new X-Men 3. After the movie (still raining) we came back to their apartment area to find a pub to go to. We went in search of the popular bar area, but instead walked down this really sketchy street with flashing neon sex signs and bars fill with drunk local men who would all turn and stare while we stood outside deciding whether to go in. We eventually found ourselves at the City Lounge, a much classier hotel bar, right across from their apartment. We had some drinks, discussed the various uses of “s’il vous plait” in Luxembourg, and then went home to eat m&ms.

Saturday, May 27

We slept in again and Jason made us some toast, eggs and very salty bacon. We went out to do somem errands and walk around while the weather was still semi-decent (read: no rain yet). We’d learned that Luxembourg was having its 1st annual night marathon that day, so we went to the centre to see the festivities. Most of downtown was blocked off with fences and volunteers running around in orange shirts. The race was supposed to start at 6pm, so we made some phone calls, drank beer in the street and waited around. Turns out it did start at 6, but way on the outskirts of town, so we had to wait around until they came by. In the meantime, we cheered for the overabundance of police officers going by on bikes, and the equally amazing volunteer van.

We met up with Joe, Nicole and Chris, and finally the first runner came through. It was pretty funny because the first runners each had 2 police escorts on bikes. We cheered them on for a while before heading down into the gorge for dinner. After that, Janine, Jason and I walked back up to the centre to find the after party, but not much was happening. We did see one older couple run by as we cheered them on, and then realized they were way off course if they were still running 5 hours later and weren’t past the halfway point. We walked back to their apartment and found a random party near the equally random space shuttle (not ship). of course, just as we were walking in the door, it started to rain again. Welcome to Luxembourg!

Pictures in the gallery!

Wednesday, May 24

I left work and went straight to the Gare de l’est to catch my train to Luxembourg. The 3.5-hour ride was pretty uneventful, and after a stop in Metz, when everyone got off, the car was pretty empty. I arrived just after 11:30 to be greeted by Janine and Jason (and some lovely rain). We tested out the cool self-serve luggage conveyor belts and took the short walk to their penthouse suite. It was just like being in a movie. You punch in a top-secret code in the elevator and it takes you up to the ninth floor, where the elevator door opens directly to their apartment door. Very cool.

Thursday, May 25

We woke up to another rainy day and headed over to the train station. Our first stop was Ettelbruck, where we had to transfer to a bus. Since it was a statutory holiday, we had an hour wait for the next bus, so we decided to explore the city (7,500 people, 15.18 sq km, 199 m above sea level). We walked to downtown, which was completely deserted. We window shopped at the Black Angel, a goth clothing store which we thought was quite risqué for a small town. We still had time to kill after posing with a few statues, so we stopped in for Jason to have a beer. We returned to the station to wait for bus 570 to Vianden. The bus driver almost left without us while Janine had run in to get a schedule, but we made it and were the only people on the windy trip. The bus driver sure clipped along to keep on schedule. He dropped us off at the last stop, a deserted station in a parking lot filled with bikers. We decided to start walking, turned the corner and found a pretty little town. We stopped for lunch at Le Petit Restaurant where we all had some schnitzel and then went off in search of our final destination: the Vianden Castle. We had 2 options. Climb the mountain or take the chairlift. We walked in the direction of the chairlift and decided to jump on for the long and steep ride over treetops, housetops and streets up the mountain. You’re let off at a café (after your picture is snapped just like on a roller coaster), so we promptly went in for coffee and dessert. What castle? After the snack, we went in search of the castle. The chairlift lets you off up high and you have to hike down a bit. And I mean hike. Down this windy and steep trail through the dark woods following these random triangle markings on the trees. After a few close calls (and the German family gaining on us) we made it to the castle. Finally! My Ottawa U student card paid off again as we got our tickets to go in. We had a cool tour of the castle and took many pictures before walking down the mountain through the town’s cobblestone streets. We were disappointed to discover that the Victor Hugo museum, where he’d lived for about 3 months, was closed. We still had some time to kill before the b u s, so we stopped in for another beer at the Victor Hugo restaurant—a small bar filled with drunken locals…and us. It had been mostly misting all day, but by then the rain had picked up a little more and we walked back to the bus stop to catch our ride home. We got back to Ettelbruck just as the train for Luxembourg was pulling up. I’m quite fascinated that you can travel across the entire country (train or bus) on a single day pass. Quite cheap and efficient. We came home in the cold and rain and got some kebabs (they love their kebabs) for dinner as we watched X-Men in German. Scheisse!

And that’s how I came to be vacuuming out my bathroom at 1am on a Monday night.

Suggestions? Please?

You think you’ve seen it all, until you see a pillow fight in front of the Eiffel Tower on the Champs de Mars on a Saturday afternoon.

Someone blew a whistle and people just started running into a circle and whacking each other with pillows. It was just like a scene from a movie, because within seconds there were feathers flying everywhere. Every once in a while the wind would pick up and it would like like it was snowing in this one small section of Paris. It lasted for maybe about 10 minutes until someone blew the whistle again. I went along my way and there were feathers blowing down the street for blocks.

Then I was walking down the Champs Elysees and there was a random parade. They’d stopped traffic in one lane and the band walked past with the cars following slowly behind. Always a good time for a parade.

More pictures in the gallery.

UPDATE:

on the call-in news show tonight.

“Bread: is it not as good and more expensive? We want to know what you think.”

According to a survey, people say that 9/10 people buy fresh bread because (according to 41% of French people) it’s part of their culture. Only 21% said it was because of the taste.

And according to this bread expert, there are 33,000 bakeries in France.

Update: Some Canadian guy just called in and basically insulted French bread. He said (I’m paraphrasing here) that in most countries outside France white bread (ie. baguettes) is considered crappy and inferior to multigrain bread. He got a nice “thanks for your call” and they went straight to commercial. I assume he’s now being deported.

I bring you Bruce Nauman, walking in an exaggerated manner around the perimeter of a square.

Note the exaggerated manner demonstrated in the position of his hips. You get the full effect when you see the movie, of course.

“In this silent film, Nauman walks around the perimeter of a large square marked off with masking tape. He shifts his hips exaggeratedly as he places one foot in front of the other, moving carefully around the square. On the back wall of the studio there is a small, tilted mirror in which his actions sometimes are visible as well. Nauman claims the function of the mirror was to expose that which might otherwise be concealed from the viewer.” Link.

It really is as good as it sounds.

Friday May 5
Janine and Moog arrived around noon and I met them at the Gare de l’Est. After coming back to my place to drop off some stuff, we hopped back on the metro to Trocadero to visit a restaurant I eat lunch at (they even recognized me and said “you brought friends!” which made me feel Parisian), and to picnic by the Eiffel Tower. It was already getting quite hot out, so we sat in the shade and planned out the day. We wandered around the base of the Tower and Janine got a disappointing crepe at the place with funny signs. We then walked along the Seine to the Pont Alexandre III (Melodie: your boyfriend was covered in tons of yellow balloons) and over to the Champs Elysees. We got a call from Moog’s sister Jeri, so we headed down to the Louvre to meet her and Scott by the Pyramid. It was still quite hot out, so we sat at an outdoor cafe in the Jardin des Tuileries and had a beer. We then walked back to the Louvre for cheap Friday nights (and free for me!) and checked out some of the works of art.

Although our feet were quite tired at that point, we walked over to Notre Dame and then across the river to the tasty Korean restaurant. After a good dinner we decided against more walking and headed back to the metro while Scott flagged down a taxi in the middle of the street. The 3 of us got back to Boulogne and met an odd girl on the street who was walking her dog and begging everyone she saw for cigarettes.

Saturday May 6
We started off the day with some shopping along Jean Jaures street in Boulogne. We came back to drop off some things before heading into the city to do more shopping. It was crazy busy and we didn’t last too long in the crowds of people. Moog got some work clothes and we picked up lunch and started walking towards the champs Elysees. We went to see Mission Impossible III in version originale, visited the Arc de Triomphe and it started to pour rain. We headed back down into the metro and over to Odeon to the Canadian pub, where we saw some real live NHL playoff action (and greasy food, beer and canada dry). On the ride home, Moog bought a Snickers and entertained us with his French pronunciation practising.

Sunday May 7
We slept in and went for brunch at a creperie in my neighbourhood, where we were the only people in the deserted restaurant. We had great crepes and got a call from Jeri so we could arrange our plans for the day. We met them at their hotel (the super fancy Intercontinental Le Grand) and then hopped on the metro to Montmartre. We walked up the stairs and wandered among the artists and the crowds of people. We sat down for a lunch and the sun came back out (the weather people LIE!) so it was a nice afternoon. Jeri and Scott had to get back to a dinner, so we took the subway back and left them at our stop and we continued on to the Pompidou Centre. It was free admission (first Sunday of the month), so we went in and saw some art with the best title ever: “Walking in an exaggerated manner around the perimeter of a square”. It was a film from the 70s of a man…walking in an exaggerated mannger around the perimeter of a square. Good times.

After seeing some more crazy art, we went back outside and watched some street performers and searched for a good restaurant for dinner. We walked past City Hall to La Perla, a cool Mexican restaurant. We had some beer, daquiris and burritos/fajitas/enchiladas and nachos. Our waiter was Mexican and had a brother living in Winnipeg. Small world. After dinner we hopped back on the metro to come home (while Moog entertained us with some more Snickers-induced pronunciation of “Champs Elysees”).

Pictures updated here.

It’s official. We have flights booked to Prague and out of Budapest for our tour of Eastern Europe in June. We’ll be visiting Prague, Krakow and Budapest, visiting every weird thing we can find along the way! (Bonus points for mummified Saint parts.)