PARIS /  by Anthony Washington

PARIS

I’m not even going to pretend to be able to say enough about this city. It does not matter if you start your journey or end it here, its still amazing. We were exhausted by the time we made it to Paris from making a clockwise loop around northern, eastern, and south-central France, but it was still nothing short of miraculous. From Notre Dame Cathedral (sadly will not reopen until 2024 per the 2019 fire), to the food, Versailles to the Latin Quarter (where there is surprisingly good sushi, this city will always hold a special place in my heart.

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OLIVIER PERE et FILS /  by Anthony Washington

OLIVIER PERE & FILS

I guess Dr. Folkestad felt bad about getting drunk in Reims with our bus driver Daniel, so funny story…turns out Daniel used to babysit one of the owners of a champagne estate in Trelou-sur-Marne so at 10:00am we drank some of the best champagne most of us had probably ever had. A lot of us held on to our bottles post trip for special occassions (graduations, etc.) while others drank theirs upon arrival to the USA (no shame). Things I learned:

  • When storing champagne, it should not be stored upright, and instead should be stored laying down and rotated every so often

  • Good champagne does not produce hangovers (theory, though I’m sure it depends on amounts).

  • This estate only ships to 5 countries, and the U.S. is not one of them

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REIMS /  by Anthony Washington

REIMS

There is entirely too much of a story to tell for the one night that we spent in this town, so I will only include a piece:

It was getting late and after we had come to grips with the fact that Folkestad had come back to the Hostel drunk two hours after he was supposed to be there, we decided we needed drinks (I feel like some of the group as legitimately worried for his safety). So picture this: Champagne bars in downtown Reims (near the heart of the Champagne region in France) drinking 100+Euro bottles of Möet and Louis Roederer with tapas listening to Michael Jackson.

Porter un toast!

Reims Cathedral

BEAUVAIS /  by Anthony Washington

BEAUVAIS

It was a short stop here in Beauvais, which seems fitting for the “incomplete cathedral”, but it was more than impressive nonetheless. As a side note, it was also interesting to visit this town, as this was the town Jeremy, Kyle and I had flown into instead of Charles De Gaul in Paris.

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AMIENS /  by Anthony Washington

AMIENS

Dr. Folkestad (speaking in third person): William does not approve of this

Jeremy: Who in the world is William?!?

Everyone else: …oh God c’mon man…hey look fireworks!

Happy Bastille Day Everyone

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CHARTRES /  by Anthony Washington

CHARTRES

Before visiting Chartres Cathedral, I could honestly say that I had never attended a Catholic Mass in French, or studied the architecture of a cathedral while listening to a church organist play Scherzo in G Minor, Op. 49 No.2 (not sure if this was the exact piece, but it seems fitting considering the intensely intimate and powerful attention to detail within the cathedral.

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BOURGES /  by Anthony Washington

BOURGES

This was definitely an interesting city to say the least, though I can’t really explain why fully. We were here for about a day and a night, and even though it seemed like a nice enough place, we all could not seem to escape this feeling that this place was “shady” for some reason. Perhaps it was because we tried to eat a group dinner and were turned away from several restaurants (we all internalized for different reasons, but the more likely scenario is that there were just too many of us), or perhaps it was because Kelli disappeared for a while before we realized she was locked in a bathroom at the hotel downstairs.

Either way, “Hindsight is 20/20” (looking at you Jeremy) and Bourges made for an interesting experience.

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