Pont des Arts

Ok after the 'Learn it or Die' post with the fascist picture, I think its time for something more light hearted or I'll lose some readers :P

Let's talk about residence/people in the Welcome Program. I arrived to Cite U (Cité Universitaire International de Paris) Sunday night with Gilles and Marie-Pierre. Right when I was checking in I saw Sam, a guy from UBC that sat next to me the whole semester in Poli Sci last year. Such a good surprise! We decided to unpack and then met for a night stroll around the city, I told him I had some real artisan cheese (the one I got from Lille) and that we should just find a nice bridge and go eat it.

And so we did...! I finally got to fulfill my dream of eating with friends (anither guy Louis from Vancouver joined us) at the Pont des Arts. This is a bridge I crossed before going to Lille one night that just amaaazed me. There are like dozens of bridges in paris crossing the Seine river, but this one is special. Its in the eastern entrance of the Louvre and it is a 'walking only' bridge (péatons), so in the nights, its full of groups of friends sitting on the floor drinking wine, playing the guitar, etc... its awesome!

There are also hundreds of locks locked (?)... attached? Whatever, locked to the sides. I told Louis it most be some cheesy "I'm locking myself to you" Paris tourist activity and then he said he thought it was actually for a political reason. i thought that was interesting but then we asked and some one said lovers lock the lock (damn, its candado in Spanish) and then throw the key to the river.

*woosh, romantic music*

Yeah, I was right... I was being a realist and Louis extremely romantic in thinking the locks were symbolic of a political cause, of our oppression by the system, chains that me must break freeeee!!!!!!! Hahaha

This is the night view of the Pont des Arts, there's just a great moment when all of a sudden it gets dark and all the lights turn on, its beautiful!

So I just realized I did not talk at all about the Welcome Program people but its just cause there's nothing much to say. Everyone's nice, asks where you're from, have the same questions about cel phones/banks/insurance/apartments as I do, etc. I'll write more about that when I actually have something more interesting to say!



Viola, the chain pictures...




Boats crossing the Seine


Sam and Louis from VANCITAYY