Phish...in Paris?

It's been pretty dreary in Paris lately - if it's not raining, it's cloudy, and I haven't seen the sun for at least four days. The other day I was getting ready to go to the Louvre with some friends and I realized that the weather had put me into some sort of rut. As I left my apartment and headed to the nearest métro stop, I realized that what I needed more than coffee or a pain au chocolat to get me feeling better was a dose of pure, unadulterated funk.
So I whipped out my iPod and put on my favorite rainy day album - The Story of the Ghost. Suddenly, Paris was an entirely different city. It was like everyone on the street was grooving to The Moma Dance - even the businessmen looked like jive-ass turkeys (thanks, Trevor, for teaching me that term). And I finally got the bounce back in my step. Lesson learned? The only way to get yourself out of a funk, no matter where you are, is to dive head-on into some more funk.
That's not to say that I haven't been keeping myself busy - I've only been in Paris for a week and a half and I've already been able to cross nine things off my "TO DO IN EUROPE" list. The ones I haven't already written about are:

Go to the Louvre: Even though I have already been to this palace-turned-museum, it was wonderful to be able to be there of my own accord and to be able to spend as much time there as I wanted.
Go to the Chocolate Museum: Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to eating, chocolate is in my top three. At the Chocolate Museum, I learned about the history of chocolate (did you know that some ancient civilizations actually worshiped a chocolate goddess?), tasted a variety of chocolate samples, and saw a demonstration on how chocolate is made.


See a French Movie: My new friend Keri and I went to see a French romantic comedy called La Chance de ma Vie. Even though it was a little confusing at the end, it was cute and it was nice to be inside on a rainy day. It was also a great way to get more exposure to the French language!

Visit the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Chartres: Chartres is a charming little town about an hour and a half outside of Paris (depending on the traffic) where the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Chartres is located. We took a day trip there yesterday and we actually got a guided visit with Malcom Miller, a legendary Chartres historian who has been giving tours of the cathedral for 53 years. He has also written several books on the subject. The cathedral is actually the most well-preserved Gothic cathedral in all of Europe, and they claim to have the tunic that Mary was wearing when she gave birth to Jesus. Even though it was foggy and cold, it was truly amazing to go to a place where so many pilgrimages have been made for centuries!


Go to the Centre Pompidou: The Centre Pompidou is a modern art museum in Paris. The Building itself is a statement in modern art, and it's so big that I will probably have to go back two or three times to be able to see every floor (luckily it's free for residents under 25).