a night of le ligue: us créteil vs fc metz

One of the things on our Adventure List was go to a European Football match while in Paris. So on Friday night we headed to Creteil, a suburb of Paris to watch the US Creteil Urban Devils take on the FC Metz. We took a subway that deposited us right at the Creteil Stadium, which was very convenient.

 We obviously sat with the home team who had a chant they did the entire game. Actually they had about 10 different chants that one guy in the front would lead them all through, but really he just started a new chant and then they all knew what to do. Some of there were quite complicated with songs and arm gestures. A couple times it almost turned into a mosh-pit and it definitely turned into a mosh-pit anytime they scored.

 The other funny things was that they separated the fans from the other team (Metz) from the Creteil fans. And by separated I mean behind a fence with a few security guards making sure they didn't jump it. The Metz fans had their own set of cheers that they preformed the entire game as well... so it was loud.

I think this guy thought it was the French Revolution

What they did to the Creteil fans after Metz scored

The final score of the game was 3-2 with Creteil winning with their 3rd goal coming in the 87th minute, so it was a very exciting game. The two teams fans also decided to forgo the standard post-game brawl (which was a let down to Andrew) but all in all, it was a good time.

funny statues of paris (part 2): le louvre

We spent a long day at the the Louvre Museum and there were more than enough statues in that one very large building for an entire post on the subject of funny / weird statues.  The French can't take credit for all the weirdness though, there are a few Roman statues that made you do a double take as well.

Damn nature, you scary

 

No caption needed, this is just weird

Who knew they had a statue of Tebow as a baby in the Louvre

Statue on the Right: I told you mine was bigger. Statue on the Left: I hate to break it to you buddy, but yours is broken off

What buddy, you never seen a three headed dog before

Yea, I work out,,. You like?

booze of paris

This isn't all of the booze we drank in Paris, but a good sampling of it. Some bottles where purchased, drank and thrown away before we could ever take a picture.

we're velibers: renting bikes in paris

Velibs, in our humble opinion, are the best way to get around Paris.

Velib is Paris' bike sharing program, and not only is it really fun riding around Paris, it's a pretty sweet deal. For 1.70€, you get 24 hours worth of bike rentals, which means you can go to any Velib stand in the city (they claim they're every 300 meters, and I wouldn't be surprised--they're everywhere) and then return it at any other Velib stand. For each individual trip, if you return it within 30 minutes, there's no additional charge. (Which means on longer trips, we could find a Velib stand, return the bike, and get another one out immediately, and not get charged!)

We ended up Velibing all over the city, from our apartment in the Marais to the Eiffel Tower on one side of town and up to the Sacre Coeur on the other (though down from the Sacre Coeur was a much more fun ride...), and everywhere in between. There are even bikes lanes a lot of the way!

The only downsides we found were that 1. You had to be really careful to get a bike that actually worked (we accidentally got bikes with no brakes, one with no chain, and one missing a pedal over our time there). Luckily, if you get a dud, you can just return it and get a new one. And 2. These suckers are popular. Even though there are tons of stands, we'd occasionally have to visit two or three or six stands until we found one with two working bikes available. 

Overall, though, Velibing it was a great way to get around the city, and we'd definitely recommend them as way around the city. We're Velibers!

that's not champagne

We went to the Eiffel Tower the other day and, being us, wanted some champagne to take along. We found a grocery store and got some bread and cheese and chocolate, too, but this store keeps all the sparkling wines--even the cheap stuff--behind the counter and the employees have to get it for you. We told the checkout girl we wanted a bottle of champagne. She went back to the shelves. 

Us (Pointing at one bottle): We'd like that one, please.

Girl (Looks at bottle. Looks at us. Looks back at bottle.): That's not champagne.

Us: Um. 

Girl (Points to section of Actual French Fancy Champagnes): Those are champagne. 

Us: Oh. Right. (Pointing to original bottle) Um, we will take that bottle of Cheap Sparkling Wine then, please. 

Girl: *looks offended on behalf of all of France*

trip to a paris market

Last week we decided to go to an actual outdoor market, instead of our usual French supermarket. It was being held on the median on one of the many major streets around Paris.

 

Even though the supermarkets here aren't very expensive (in comparison to the restaurants, at least), this market was even cheaper.

 The variety of olives here would make you think we were in the Middle East.

 Yummy French tomatos.

Andrew haggling in French (yea, we wish). Andrew's haggling skills start and end with "Oui oui, parlez-vous anglais?" Nevertheless, we ended up with a fridge full of fruits and vegetables, which we've been cooking with all week. C'est bon!

midnight in paris in montmartre

The scene: Evening. Outside at the base of the Sacre Coeur. Grocery store salads, hummus, bread, and wine. Us, Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (on a giant blowup screen, in English with French subtitles), and many thousand Parisians. 

front view

back view--that entire black area is filled with people. thousands of people.

We arrive a little late after a very crowded grocery store trip (though the movie didn't end up starting until half an hour after the scheduled time) and so end up sitting near the front row rather than farther up the hill. It turns out perfectly, because the angle is still very good, we can see one of Paris's most famous landmarks behind us and a panoramic view in front of us, AND we manage to be some of the first people to leave and don't get caught in an hour of foot traffic on the way out. (Especially important because we were renting bikes--from Velib, which we will post on later--and even with as quickly as we got out, there were only a couple left at the station!) As it was, we had perfect seats and were home in our apartment twenty minutes from the time we stood up to leave the movie.

Unexpectedly perfect timing on an unexpectedly perfect evening.