yesterday the 31st was the, if not, one of the weirdest days of my life. it began with an excursion to the cirque d'hiver bouglione dans la rue amelot. we took the metro to the oberkampf stop, which is right in the middle of a vibrant downtown scene. the circus was unbelievable. it was nothing like i expected, which only made the experience much more enjoyable. from the outside, it looks just like any other parisian building. once inside thought, it's very novelty circusy. red, blue, flashy but in that exotic tacky fashion. the audience sits in a circle that ranges 3 floors, encircling the circus floor. there is a live band that plays just on top of the main circus floor. it began with an audience countdown. immediately, all the house lights were dimmed, and the children in the audience were all given these rainbow-colored flashing magic wand looking sticks. so all around the crowd were these flashing colorful lights; it was pretty exciting. marge was sitting next to me and we started clapping along to the music and tried to get the rest of our group pumped. we were obviously successful. the circus lasted about 2 hours, but it seemed like an eternity. among the performers were a few tigers, some cats, a blowup elephant, trapeze artists, a hula-hoop expert, a sick juggler, and half-naked dancers. i kept thinking, there are kids in the audience three feet from the half-naked women. you could clearly see the contours of their breasts and butt cheeks. the french are awesome.
the funniest part, for no particular reason, was when a group of six horses came out to do tricks. at one point, one of the horses took three consecutive projectile... poops, for lack of a better, more passe word. it was really hilarious. as the band continued to play, three poop-cleaners rushed out onto the blood red carpet ring and began the most professional sweep of fecal matter i have ever seen in my life. it was truly an A+ performance. five minutes later, another horse had to use the bathroom as well.
after a more than enjoyable time at the circus, a few of us remembered that Of Montreal was playing a show at the Bataclan, a famous historic club that is also a concert venue. it was right around the corner from the circus, so the few of us decided to go see if we could get tickets. a nice little walk later we arrive at the venue. it's this beautiful three story red building with almost asian like qualities. it had a few minute minarets as well with white ball tips that decorated its facade. we peeped our head inside and were watching them set up only to realize the box office was closed.
we stop at a restaurant to get some lunch. during our meal, but before our plats were delivered, i'm looking out the cafe window to see this group of three guys walking down the street. they looked rather odd, so i didn't think much of them... until i saw the guy in the white pants. at this point he was looking at me through the window as well, and i was just staring back at him like the creepiest person in the world. eventually, i grab robyn's arm and say, "is that who i think it is?" she then proceeded to have a female star-struck moment; it's her favorite band.
it was kevin barnes, the lead singer of of montreal, and bp helium. we immediately burst out of the restaurant acting like the worst americans ever and started running down the street to catch up with them. we get a picture with them and small talk for a little. they're really nice guys, bp much more so than kevin, but who gives a damn... we met of montreal on the streets of paris.
now is when the day took a turn for the worst. on the way back, we had to take the metro and transfer at a station one stop closer to our last stop. at this stop, we all passed through the ticket counter and doors, not allowing us to return through. all of a sudden, we hear an explosion... and then another. we all look at each other as if nothing were wrong. then a mob of people start screaming and running towards us in this underground tunnel. we immediately started running towards the exit, hurling over and under the ticket doors. things kind of went black at this point and i think the adrenaline took hold, but i do remember all the exits were sealed with riot police. so we descended to another metro which took us to another stop. at this point i turned around, and realized we were missing drew. apparently he had gotten caught up in the fray and had been tear gassed. there was a protest at the metro and the police had set off the gas to disperse the crowd. after asking for directions, being told the wrong way, and walking all the way back to our dorms, which took an excess of an hour and a half, the rest of us were safe in addition to drew. we unfortunately missed the concert because of the fiasco.
that evening, we went out to dinner in this really quaint restaurant on the island next to that of notre-dame's. it was an enjoyable evening to a rather eventful day.
fast-forward a few hours... and a new day! the first sunday of the month is free entry to the louvre. so guess what drew, robyn, and i did all day today??? we made a pact that we're going to try and see EVERY ROOM in the ENTIRE museum. we have a map with a check off system. it's going to happen and it's going to be epic. it was also drew's birthday! after getting some food at the louvre cafeteria and starting our gloriously impossibly journey, we head home and take a stroll in the park in front of our dorms. it's a really nice park, very green with two playgrounds and beautiful walking paths.
we then decided to watch some planet earth before dinner. for dinner, we found this quintessential parisian street near notre-dame that was just perfect. two course meal each and a bottle of wine for three people: 70 euros, which is an amazing deal. the rest of our group was meeting up at a sports bar to watch the bruins-canadiens game and the superbowl. we did, and it was mucho fun. some of us left early to catch the metro back home, others are waiting until they reopen at 530.
cheers and sorry for a lack of intimate details about today... i'm exhausted, jhabra
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