French Lessons - Paris Part 2

Oh Paris, you make Socialism look so sexy, and tasty......

So what's it like to spend a week in France learning French as an *adult* (I use the term loosely there)?

Well, pretty cool actually. I studied at Ecole PERL,which is located near the Père Lachaise cemetery on the east side of Paris. The school attracts students from all over the world. I had Russian, Japanese, Peruvian, Chinese, German, and Spanish peeps in my class - this kind of mix is helpful because you are forced into speaking French with them. It was our only common language.

In the morning, we had typical vocabulary and writing lessons. In the afternoon, we had a lecture/conversation-type lesson. It is amazing how well immersion programs work. You can practice everything you learned in class while walking around the city (a.k.a. shopping) the rest of the day.

Aside from being 15 years older than most of the other students, studying French was actually fabulous way to spend some non-work time while in Paris. I will definitely continue classes upon my return to London.

So what else did we do........ Well Dave worked all day and I worked in the afternoons. Then we would meet for my favorite part of the day in Paris - DINNER.

View of the Opera from Dave's office, asshole.

The dinner highlights were Gaspard De La Nuit near the Bastille (love), and Maison De Gyros in Bacteria Alley. Sorry, the gyros are a required ritual when we are in Paris. These were both Paris restaurant repeats for us, but both totally worth it!

Grease and more grease, heavenly.

Take that CA, Dave eating the outlawed fois gras.

For my birthday (the big 38), we went to Auberge Nicolas Flamel in Le Marais. It was lovely. Thanks J.P. for the recommendation!

At Auberge Nicolas Flamel - and that is NOT our Rick Steve's book.

You might be wondering, uhm OK - WTF else did you do in Paris besides eat?

Well (as I mentioned) there was class and working, and whatever non-eating time that was left was generally spent on the Paris Velib bikes. Velib bikes are the city-wide bike scheme for Paris. They have these all over Europe, and we have used them in Dublin, Copenhagen, and Bordeaux. You buy a pass for a day/week/year for a few Euros, then have access to an army of bikes throughout the city. The first 30 minutes are free, then it costs a few Euros per hour to use the bikes. Thus, they are incentivising their use for short trips around town town - though we tended to use them a bit longer than that. It is still super cheap though.

That is me riding into the sunset (next to the Louvre - sick).

Again, why is the U.S. so retarded (except for Portland). MAKE THE U.S. BIKE AND WALKING FRIENDLY - PLEASE! Our health, happiness, and the environment depend on it. But don't get me started on that topic.......

And special thanks to our favorite Frenchman C.B. for leading us stupid Americans on an adventure through Paris on Friday night: champers at the Louvre, oysters, dinner, and drinks after dinner. My stomach hurts just thinking about it, in a good way:)

Yes, I am having a Perrier - I have a small liver. Leave me alone.

Uhm, no comment.

Next blog - Olympic update! We went to our first event last night - men's gymnastics. Welcome to the gun show, NICE.

I'll tell ya all how it goes down over here over the next 2 weeks.

And just a note, watch the BBC Olympic broadcast if you can. Holy crap those announcers tell it like it is, no sugar-coating at all like we do in the U.S. where everyone seems to get a participant medal.