Day 18
After a long string of trains, the Dins finally took to the skies once more. Through the power of Air France, we landed in Paris and started to settle into our homestays. I was staying with Ethan in a prime part of Paris. Despite the distance between each other due to the sheer size of Paris, we were still able to engage in a heated debate on which arrondissement (or district) would be the most suitable for dinner (none of us knew anything about Paris). We then met in the 6th arrondissement for a crepe dinner in a moist basement filled with clown imagery. After this, we all felt invigorated to spend the night out on the town. We located a tiny jazz bar and spent the night singing tunes with the jazz band, performing some of our jazz a cappella (which is singing without instruments), and not realizing the club was cash-only until it was far too late. By this time on Day 1, it was actually the early morning of Day 2, but I won’t be writing about that.
Day 19
The next day Ethan and I got a nice breakfast before I headed off toward the Notre Dame Cathedral. I met up with two other Din’s by the names of Sean and Ben. Our plan for this free day was to walk from the Cathedral to the Eiffel Tower, purposefully passing by some other notable landmarks on the way. The day went almost completely as planned. As we walked along the Seine, we admired all the bars and restaurant boats, daydreaming of a Michelin-starred meal while floating down the river. To satiate our growing appetite, we enjoyed some crepes and beverages multiple times on our fairly short walk. We finally hit the Eiffel Tower after a few hours. But instead of going up to the top of the tower, we decided to enjoy the view from afar with more crepes and beverages. The day ended quietly, and we all got a great night of rest.
Day 20
Today was our performance day! I started off the day by getting a little more breakfast and doing some laundry. I then took a day trip to the Petit Palais, admiring the statues and paintings that resided in this beautiful mansion. Later that day, two other Dins (Mattheus and Sean) and I visited the French Army Museum. Filled to the brim with Napoleonic uniforms, early artillery, and the star of the show… Napoleon's tomb. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to experience the entirety of this massive museum because we had a very important gig coming up! We got in our tails and were welcomed into the Travelers Club. The gig went extremely well, and we even got a tour of the mansion and a short history of the building and its residents. We finished the gig, and our host invited us to go out on the town with him… Tonight was Fête de la Musique. The entire city became filled with musicians. Jamming, dancing, and spinning records in the largest mosh pit in history. I will spare you, my reader, the details.
Day 21, part I
We all woke up feeling chipper and alive! In fact, my day started with lunch at a small Ethiopian restaurant. The food was delicious but indescribable, I fear. I will attach photos to satiate your thirst for more details. We then spent the rest of the night preparing for our trip to the beautiful city of Strasbourg!
— Kavi #279
