YOU CAN'T STOP HIM!

First and foremost, an apology is in order.  We failed to post the happenings from an incredible weekend in Paris, and that is inexcusable.  I'll give you an excuse anyway.  Our Baylor professor here in Maastricht assigned a couple of sweet little essays for us to have fun with from Monday to Thursday.  It served as a pleasant reminder that we are, in fact, not on vacation.  For your attentiveness through this hardship, you'll receive two posts tonight.  I'll blog about last weekend because I have the best memory of the team, and Michael will do his best to recall the events of the last three days in Berlin.  Ready, set, go.


After we got out of class on Thursday, we embarked on what just might be the most expensive trip we take all semester.  We ended up paying about three times as much as we usually pay for a hostel, but it was (almost) worth it.  We shared a room with five kids from North Carolina who made you wonder if the Confederates had won the Civil War.  They'll make an appearance later on in the blog.  


Friday, we threw out the idea of a tour and decided to explore Paris on our own accord.  We got to do some worship in Notre Dame, walk along the canals, see the sun (it's a rarity), and take pictures to flaunt the fact that we did those things.  All in all, our first day in Paris was really simple, and that's what made it so great.  


Some misconceptions about France: They really don't hate us as much as we think.  I was ready to take some heat for being an American.  Needless to say, I had my hometown of Ontario, Canada ready to fly on this particular weekend (See video in previous post for explanation).  I tested the waters by ordering "freedom fries" at lunch.  Remember that?  Post-911, I distinctly remember my middle school serving freedom fries instead of french fries.  How ridiculous was that?  They were still serving fake potatoes.  Freedom didn't make them taste any better. 


Friday night.  Kevin Beach is probably infamous at this point, but my grandmother just started following the blog, so I'll catch her up to speed.  


Nonnie: Kevin Beach is one of our friends here from Baylor.  He's from San Diego and he likes the Bolts, Barbara Streisand, Kappa Sig, and getting stuck in elevators.  And if he ever jokes about getting girls, he's almost always kidding.


Alright, so Beach found a restaurant that he deemed "the best Mexican restaurant in Europe."  France does a lot of things right, and Mexican food isn't one of them.  Regardless, we had a great meal with our Waco friend Luci Meredith, who gave us a night tour of Paris in fluent French.  Among the highlights of the night: listening to jazz music in a hallway of the Louvre, riding a ferris wheel, and, you guessed it, THE KEVIN BEACH MOMENT OF THE WEEK!

Alright guys, this KBMOTW is a contestant for the greatest KBMOTW of all time.  Our group and Beach's group parted ways after the Mexican food.  After a night of celebrating life in Paris, the five member Beach crew decide that the stairs are too daunting of a task.  So they decided to test the elevator capacity.  Pause.  Earlier that day, Goldstein and I shared a ride downstairs in a similar French elevator.  We were too close for comfort.  The two of us.  Alright, back to the story.  The elevator inevitably gets stuck, and so ensues the hour and a half my five friends spent in a tiny elevator in Paris.  After videoing his last will and testament to the group, Beach got a hold of our buddy, who then called the cops.  I wasn't even there, but the reenactment that played in my head was the highlight of my weekend.

Speaking of the highlight to my weekend, here's the real one.  Baylor played UT on our last night in Paris.  So after spending the day in Versailles with the girls, Goldstein and I made our way to our favorite local Canadian hotspot.  Our initial joy can only be encompassed by a picture:

This was one of those moments where you have to stop, collaborate, and listen.  And praise God.  We took part in a little bit of friendly competition with some fellow pub-goers, as well as the UT alum bartender.  Small world.  Here's where the title to the blog post comes in.  LaceDarius Dunn goes on an absolute rampage, and near the end, when I thought I just couldn't take it any longer, I screamed, "YOU CAN'T STOP HIM!!!"

........(silence)....

.......(the sound of Goldstein's high-pitched laugh).....

....and back to the action.  Greatest moment in Paris, bar none.  Pun intended.

In summary, Paris is great.  People make-out everywhere.  You can't tell if it smells like really good food or really bad body odor.  It goes down as one of the prettiest, classiest places I've ever seen.

Next week: Prague.  Goldstein should have Berlin up soon enough.

lylas