Paris Part 2 & the World Cup

So I finally got back to Paris! Since I've been here before, I didn't feel like I had to go to all the tourist spots again, which left plenty of time to hang out. I ended up in a shitty part of town the first two nights thanks to last minute bookings, which ended up not all that bad cause I met some cool people. Instead of rushing from museum to museum, I walked leisurely around Paris with no watch aka no sense of time and no purpose.

Sidenote: I thought I was going to miss my blackberry more, and sometimes I get the urge to send a text, but its also really really freeing to know that no one can get a hold of me and ruin my fun. As if one of my jobs is going to call and ask me to come in, or someone is going to remind me of a school assignment due tomorrow. Nope, not gonna happen :)

I decided last minute that I wanted to watch the world cup game at the Eiffel tower (along with everyone else and their mom). I got in, got a spot on the lawn, and then drank 2 beers while waiting for the game to begin. I sat next to this really nice young couple from Saudi Arabia that were fresh off a cruise and we chatted while waiting for the game to start. Let me tell you a couple things I learned at this world cup thing... 1: spain fans are legitimately crazy. 2: people take this game way too seriously and 3: security really isn't a good as it should be.

About 70 minutes into the game Spain fans got a little bored and decided to light some shit on fire. At first it was the occasional firecracker, which would result in the SWAT team (yes in full gear) to chase them through the place and tackle them. No big deal. Then they started lighting these crazy red sparklers and throwing them over the fence into where I was sitting. There is only one way I can explain it. Remember in Harry potter when everyone was having fun at the quidditch world cup then the death eaters started shooting their signals outta their wands? Yeah. That's what this was like. The first one was like ok, kinda scary that this ball of fire came right at me, but they have good security around here. Oh, another ball of fire? Sweet. Again? This time almost lighting the beer stand in fire? People started freaking out. Then the SWAT team was everywhere. yeah, you would have thought that voldemort was back. Dont worry tho, things calmed down for like 5 minutes. Then, everyone on our side of the lawn started getting up (blocking our view of the screen) covering their noses and mouths, and running away. Hmmm. One more gust of wind and we quickly figured it out: teargas. Those Spanish bitches had our eyes watering and mouths burning as we gave up our spot on the lawn to run to another part of the crowd. I watched the end of the game standing up in the back, and then got to watch Spain fans go freakin crazy when they eventually won. Longest night ever, and in my opinion, that sport is definitely not worth it!

After the game I wandered around the Latin quarter with some people, and ended up in a very familiar bar....turns out Joe and I were there 2 years ago. It made me realize how awesome that trip was, and how that week is how I will always remember Paris. Nothing I can do will ever top it, and I wouldn't want it to. I remember Paris as I saw it 2 years ago: my first time to Europe, by myself, meeting the coolest people from all over the world. It was that week in Paris that made me want to have this trip so badly, and that's when I began planning my return to backpacking. Fun fact: the bar we went to 2 years ago has tons of photos that people gave to the bartender to post up. Most of them are passport photos, some new & some clearly very old. The photo of Joe, signed "Jim bob and maryjane" on the back, is still up there from when we drunkenly put it up 2 years ago. <3>