Is there ANY more room in your stomach?

After Friday nights practice and bowling extraveganza. Will said we would go work out and then he was going to take us out to a great French meal.... By the way the Friday night bowling/hanging out after practice was awesome. The place we go to is just like a Dave N Buster's or something of that nature. Anyways we all go around have a beer from this thing Giraffe, which is called so because it's a long tube a little more then a yard high that is filled with liquids. It looks like something Willy Wonka created for Wonkaland. We sit around and talk and just have fun. I decide to go check out the place, I find some solid games to play. They have a punching machine that measures your power, a hammer that does the same, and of course it wouldn't be Europe without a huge soccer ball measuring your leg power.

It's fun we mess around on that for a while and bump chest's measuring who's the bigger man. Then some little small guy we didn't know challenge's me to a punching competition, in French. I had no clue what he was saying... I was sure he wanted to see who was a better puncher, but i didn't know if there was a wager on this, so I wanted to be clear. He went first with some kinda of hook/cross combination... he was the perfect height to hit the machine, me however being a little taller had to hit down on the thing...Would that be a problem for me.... of course not, I'M FROM TEXAS!!! :) I won... we then bowled as a team.

Just some of the guys hanging at the Speed Park.

Matty P and myself teamed up, normally I suck at bowling but I got 2 strikes a spare, one total miss hitting only 4 pins, and then 9.... it was such a good time bonding with me new team. There is just a great joy when you add a little competition. You can tell they were joshing each other about and making fun of the gutterballs, eventhough sometimes I'd look back at Matt and in a glance say DID YOU GET THAT?!? of course not... but it comes with the territory. Learning french is fun. I'm on that Rosetta Stone, and will makes fun of me for saying Le Poisson nage... Yea no crap the fish swims, Have you EVER seen a fish that doesn't swim? Me neither.

Back to bowling, it came down to our last bowl... Matty P just had to get a strike or spare and then hit 4 pins.... The pressure is on and everyone is surronding him yelling, screaming, and trying to knock him off his game. Just like a crazy football crowd as the opposing offense is trying to score in the redzone. It was great, he hit a strike... Money in the bank... RIGHT?



WRONG.... ahhh Matt with two bowls left missed by 2 pins... It was such a close game that we ended up in 4th. Out of a medal even... I thought of the olympic archer who lost focus and missed his gold medal to get nothing... BUT it was fun.... anyways back to THE MOST FOOD IN THE WORLD....

So Saturday after lifting Will, Loic, Matty P, and myself headed to Paris to eat at this steak house that was in a word... FILLING. Before we even got to the place, the Policier stopped us and made us pull onto a side street away from where we were headed. She was a nice lady and I think she really was just flirting with Loic who was driving at the time, that or me in the front seat just screams AMERICAN. (for the record i'm tired of that....and i have no clue why we stick out so much) After passing the check we presumed our course. By this time it's close to 12:30 and we haven't eaten anything all day because Will promised there is no way we'll finish our meal. Challenge, I'll accept. Have you ever seen me eat? I remember stuffing my face as a kid and being forced to watch myself eat in the Red Top in Angleton. Please, no problemo.

The Police at the check point.

We drive around and can't find a parking spot for a while. There is a daily market so parking is tough, blocked off by the large trucks carring produce, knock of watches, purses, etc. Finally I see one at the end that we snag and take. Will runs to the ATM and we walk through the market. The smell is like roses and mustard gas. A butcher is burning of the feathers of a pheasant for a lady. Let me just tell you this, it stinks. It makes you think about where your food comes from. (Justin IDK about that chicken farming...just stay away from the burning feathers part... :) )

Finally we get to the steak house and Will is getting a little restless. See I failed to mention that we just worked out and it was tough. For those of you who don't work out, you really need to feed the body afterwards to replenish. I don't think Will had worked out like that in a while either. We get to our table and I push back the wooden booth to make room for the 3 lineman and QB. Automatically Will asks for the Pain... Bread is so good in France, have I mentioned that? We munch on that a little bit and Will orders for all of us. It is a huge steak, let me say HUGE. Think Godzilla, the Grand Canyon, think Moby Dick, think GEORGIA TECH over GEORGIA....

Let me tell you though that the French when you say medium, medium is more rare then medium... I had a piece that was just a little bit chewy and rare, but other then that it's great. When they present the steak to you, it's just a steak on a plate... I'm thinking really.... I mean don't get me wrong it takes up the plate, but no veggies, no salad? huh.... and then here comes the waiter with a huge pot of potatoes...Trufade... oh my heavens... It's good....its the best, it's a huge pot with potatoes that have been cooked mixed with garlic and cheese and are a mix between mashed potatoes and pan fried potatoes, so crispy and creamy.... OH MY... awesome. Again you can have as many potatoes as you want. After I finished the steak and the potatoes, we got more potatoes... I didn't know how i scarfed this down.. It's a lot... I look at my stomach in shock that I'm still able to fit in the table. It was great.

The best part of the meal was when the steaks arrived and how eerily how quite it was while we ate. For 15 mins no words were spoken. We just enjoyed. This was a drastic change from Will who was about to eat his hand he was so hungry, trying to hurry the waiter up!!! We then walk out satisfied just being lineman, I don't think Matt's going to be able to eat with us that often or else he's gonna become the tight end. But were not finished yet. I had mentioned eating a crepe and funny thing, right next door there is a shop that has them... I'm loving dessert in France. It's so good. We go sit in and it is a classy little spot, a little more modern as far as tables, chairs, silverwear, waiters attire...but still old school in the ceilings and decor. I like it.

Will with his Crepe.

We grab some crepes and they are delicious. I have the chocolate with bananas and they top it with whipped cream. So good. The waiters make a comment about us coming from next door and still being able to eat. He says no one ever does that. I smile. I'm a lineman. Takes me back to having the waiter from Magianno's come out to the table after my first preseason camp eating with the boys. I'm smile deep inside. By then I am stuffed, I cant move and I'm starting to get tired.

I don't know why the French are not fat, I mean I am eating like crazy over hear and it's so good. I am worried I might be 300 in no time... EHhhh. But we head back to the apartment with enough time to watch my boys beat the hell out of Georgia. (I'm a little jealous now seeing the pic's of my teamates eating the hedges at the puppies palace....I always wanted that, congrats boys now I can live vicariously through you!) It is an amazing day. LIFE IS GREAT. c'est la vie.

Amy for you a picture of some Euros...

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