Paris

We had to fly out of Paris to go back to London for my mom's return flight and our return bus ride back up to Oxford. So, we stayed a few days to take in the sights. Mom and I went to the Louvre, and saw a lot of the basics that I missed the last time I was there (took a few days to visit Paris after my Oxford entrance interview). We saw the Winged Victory, the Venus De Milo, the Mona Lisa, and of course, a ton of other stuff. My favorite is Le Radeau de la Méduse, which besides being a cool creepy painting, is also the cover of a Pouges album.

Le Radeau de la Méduse by Théodore Géricault

Rum, Sodomy and the Lash by The Pouges

We had dinner with Kent and Marie at a great traditional restaurant called Le Petit Zinc, which is in St Germain, near the Louvre and our swell hotel, the Louvre St Anne. I've been to Paris a bunch of times now, and I have to say that I am totally over the activity of monument visiting. Another element of Paris (and France in general) which I am totally over is the striking. We managed to be there during a general strike, which included, but was not limited to the subway, trains, gas company, and university. Apparently the recently elected government wants to change the retirement age for government workers to 60, UP FROM 50. Only in France! It's funny: the French people want reform (they voted for a reform government), the government leadership want reform (they're instituting the reforms), but the government workers (drivers, professors, gas workers, etc.) don't want it, and because they are in a position of power they are able to make everyone miserable. I feel the unions are really abusing their power. I also think that if the unions push the majority of French who are either their bosses (government leadership) or sponsors (taxpayers) hard enough, the majority will simply vote to crush/eject/nullify the unions. It can't go on for ever.

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