Le Procope

Today, instead of my incredible library and Middle Ages museum plans, Alexandra decided we should go to a science museum and I swear, that's it. I am never taking another one of her suggestions EVER AGAIN!! This museum and the exhibition we went to see were for little kids - not for college students. She had wanted to see an exposition on eating healthy, but after paying the 10 euro fee for that and got up to it, this thing was only a bunch of games meant for really young kids. I know French isn't our first language, but I do think we were beyond this. It was all so simplified, and the worst part: part of it was anti-American! There was a video which portrayed a Chicago businessman who sold farm products, but had never seen a farm. The farmers, they said, did all the work and he got all the money. Then, they moved on to people in Africa who worked hard but got all their cotton stolen by the Chicago businessman. But, thank goodness for Victoria - she's a hunger relief worker and flies to Africa to give the starving people food. It's no wonder French people have such a bad impression of Americans. Before they're old enough to deal with the large percentage of dumb American tourists who can't even recognize Notre-Dame from behind, they're being brainwashed at science museums. Anyway, the exhibition was a waste of time, and so was the IMAX movie we saw. Alexandra said this was supposed to be the biggest IMAX in Europe, but it just seemed like the Hayden Sphere to me. The movie was just a dubbed American one too, and I still don't understand why the people in Kansas spoke dubbed French but the Norwegians got French subtitles and their own language. When we got out of that, we still had one little movie we had paid an extra 3 euros for, but I was fed up and had to meet Alix in the Latin Quarter (oh yeah, did I mention that this stupid place was practically on the outskirts of Paris?), so I left and Alexandra stayed to watch "Take Me to the Moon" (yeah, I'm sure that was also worth what we paid for it...).

Alexandra discovering her inner child. Note that she raised the average age of people playing this game singlehandedly.

The biggest IMAX in Europe. 

This ugly museum...

I got to Odéon (métro stop) and met Alix. If I haven't mentioned her already on this blog, she's awesome! Her mom moved her here when she was in high school, she learned French, and became a French student. Then, her mom left and she just stayed to finish her French education. Now, she's a philosophy student at La Sorbonne and in my "What is Man?" class. But, when summer comes around, she goes back to Virginia. Oh, did I mention she's half Japanese and half Italian? She has an Italian passport because it's easier than getting a French visa. If you're an EU member, you don't need a visa to study in France. So, she's a dual citizen of the US and Italy, living and studying in France. What is cooler than that? Not much, that's what.

Cafe Procope. Founded in 1686. During the Revolution, it became the Cafe Zoppi and was the theater of historical events...

Anyway, we went to Le Procope, the oldest restaurant in Paris founded in 1686 (to put it in perspective, that's before the United States existed!). It's on the same street as the old La Comédie Française and very famous writers/revolutionaries have frequented it including, but not limited to: Voltaire, Diderot, d'Alembert, Robespierre, Marat, etc. It felt so cool to sit there drinking hot chocolate and talking about our Sorbonne class. We were talking in English, but it was still interesting to sit in a place that's probably been visited by many a Sorbonne student and talk about philosophy and literature. The hot chocolate was great too - but it was 5,10. It was worth it, though, to spend three hours chatting in the most historic cafe in all of Paris.

And, that was my day. Tomorrow, even if Alexandra skips her internship, she can just come to the library and Middle Ages museum with me because I don't need to rediscover my inner child, and even if I did, I wouldn't want to pay 20 euros to do it.