Walk tour 2

Montparnasse is somewhere I would live, want to live, which is common when I find a place that even a little bit more attractive then the neighborhood my dorms are located in. It seems like an all around good place to live. The type of place where big business meets small warm restaurants, and comfy little apartments, all you need essentially. It is stimulating, while maybe not the grand lit paris you see at places like the Opera, it’s a different shade of Paris, with a mix of one huge skyscraper and small quaint streets.  You have a sense as someone just moving here that theres a lot of room for experience there, while Parisians see it as just another place.

I walk to a place selling crepes out of a window connected to a greater restaurant. I ask for the jambon-fromage crepe in FRENCH and the guy says “Okay, so where are you from? I take it that I need to work more on my pronunciation, and reply telling him I’m from Washington D.C. He says “Oh Obama town, you go to school here?” I reply “Yea just moved a few weeks ago. I go to Parsons it’s small and new, I know you haven't heard of it.” He laughs. “Do you like Paris so far, or do you like America more? I tell him “Yea it’s not bad, and yes I do like America more, its home.” and to my surprise he says “I cant stand it, I like America more like you.” We talk a little more and I walk off with my crepe in hand.

My walk is cold, quite fu$$ing cold. I did this walk later in the day around 5:00 so the sun was edging away, practically flipping me off as it slowly left the sky. I had no choice but to move on. 

Walking on, I find my first street. It was pretty easy to find given the size of the Montparnasse Tower relative to the cities average building sizes. I look up and around. I see a huge building, lots of people going different directions, big name stores, and it smells funky for some reason. Is this New York, did that guy put something in my crepe? I want out, I am not a fan. Using the directions I try and navigate myself out with my phone but end up going in a circle around the Montparnasse Tower. I must be tripping because all of the sudden Michael Jordan goes up to me and asks me for directions. Okay that didn't happen but it would have been cool. I make my way out 3-5 minutes later.

I continue through my walk. Sadly cafe’s are not open because it’s 5:00 and they are all getting ready for dinner. I am now walking down Rue de Vaugirard. I find this street to incredibly beautiful. It’s the Paris I like, not too busy, the classic apartment buildings, and little streets that pop out of nowhere. I decide to go into a knife store because it looked cool. I see this large property, guarded by many officers, that is officers that are holding AK-47’s. I want to take a picture with one the guards in the front of the driveway but think to myself and realize that is a stupid idea. What is this place? I’m walking around it and see there is a nice garden. I give up trying to figure out what it is exactly, waiting for Robin to tell me on Wednesday.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Rue De Vaugirard

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Place I don't know?














I find this one place walking down Rue Raccine I think. I went in because it looked classy but not to stuck up to happily serve a kid wearing Vans and Johnny Cash middle finger t shirt. I sit down at the bar. No one but two people are there sitting together at a small table. I’m a little bit hungry at this point and I can see their food. It looks alright, so I get a Guinness to say substitute a little meal. I take a sip and I feel I have eaten a bowl of mashed potatoes. It’s good though even though it’s from a bottle. I finish it way quicker than its intended to. Little conversation is made with the bartender because he seems like he’d rather read a a phone book then talk to anyone.

Not the lace but it was close.

I pay the check and leave. I feel a little warmer, I’m telling myself the beer did it and that I’m good now, I can walk happily. I’m cold now, it took 30 seconds, but that 30 seconds was great. I continue walking down Rue Racine. 

I am now starting to get about finished with this walk. I make my way to Rue de Harpe. Its weird but I like it. There is one restaurant/bar that is the most vibrantly lit restaurant you have ever seen. It was a mix of christmas lights, Mexican fiesta lights, halloween lights, and dock lights, yea dock lights, and put them all over there restaurant. The only thing fitting for them to have served would have been schnitzel but I think it was Italian. 

Moving on from there I chose to take my own route to end the journey because like John Baxter wrote “every Parisian, and everyone who comes to know Paris, discovers his or her own ‘most beautiful walk’” (4). I walked aimlessly around the small streets of the latin quarter watching large groups of tourists jump on one another to get a picture of a church and a pig roasting in a window. 

I do not know what street I was on but I found a gallery with large scale realistic sculptures. They were the oddest things but also so cool, something right out of Juxtapoz mag. I continued to walk around the little streets until I decided to go into another bar and grab another quick beer, again Guinness. The place was cheesy, very outgoing purple lighting, music way to energetic for the lack of people in the bar. This time the server struck up a conversation with me. He asked where I was from, and again I said D.C. He told me how Guinness in Paris is not that good because you can only get it in the bottle and places serving it on tap are practically nonexistent. Fun fact of the day right there. I got done with beer and conversation, and walked on out. I’m tired and cold. All the places I pass on my way out of the jungle that is the latin quarter look unappetizing because the Guinness has filled most of my stomach.

I make my way out to Shakespeare and Co. I have crossed the finish line.

I like this place, its tighter, more comfy then the large open streets located near school. I sound like a hippie but corporations are taking over and you can see that near the opera, yet Montparnasse holds onto a lot of the classic beauty the city is known for. You must find the places you are most comfortable to feel most comfortable as a newcomer to Paris like me and may students are, but this is true for many places.

 Does this mean I don't miss home? I miss it a little bit, but I realize besides family, music, and instruments, theres nothing better there. Back home it’s just bluh for me, but here it hmmm. That sounded stupid, but its true. This is an adventure, and experience and missing a place is useless when it comes down to it. Four months here is not long and for me needed in a way so I can come back to my country and my home, and maybe appreciate more.

I know I will really be able to grasp this city, the country and continent come spring time, WHEN THE SUN IS WARM.