<3 Paris
What a beautiful weekend! Us three ladies in the city that truly never sleeps. Bella, Jennifer, and I went to Paris this weekend and had an amazing time. We took the Eurostar train after they were done with work. We met at King's Cross station, got our passports stamped :D and then headed onto the train. Every time I get a new stamp in my passport I get a little thrill, no matter how many times I've gotten one. I'm like a little child that way. We got on the train and I started to write my paper. Leave it to us to book a weekend trip right before our final paper is due and on top of that to not bother booking a return trip until Monday morning right before work...a few hours before the paper is due. Smart life decisions.
Friday evening in a speeding train going under the English Channel. I couldn't really focus on my paper. I got through about 500 words and then decided to get up. Bella and I went to the dining car (after a little adventure down the train in the wrong direction...the way wrong direction). Bella had eaten at work, Jen and I had brought food from Marks & Spencers to eat on the train. So neither one of us were really hungry, but we went anyways. And then once we got there we decided to start our trip of the right way...the wino way :) We both got some white wine and hung out. And got a little tipsy :) We arrived in Paris around 11:30 - we lost an hour on the way there - and were picked up by Bella's family friend Eli. Eli is this amazing elderly man with a crazy mustache and a greatly generous spirit. He picked the three of us at the airport, took us to the flat, and showed us around the place. He had gotten us food stores and everything (including two bottles of white wine, to my inner wino's delight). He showed us how to set up the internet, the phone, etc. and then left us to enjoy our weekend. The flat was absolutely incredible. It is right on New York Avenue with a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower - we were literally a five minute walk from it. So what do we decide to do our first night there? At 1 AM we decide it is a brilliant idea to pack up a midnight picnic (consisting of a bottle of white wine, cheese, and bread - the true french meal) and head out to the eiffel tower. We sat there under the light (and sometimes sparkly light :) ) of the eiffel tower and ate our meal while just chatting about how our internships have been going, how things are back home for each of us, and what we wanted to do in Paris over the next couple of days. Jen wasn't drinking (being responsible and careful) and Bella was taking baby sips. And so guess who ended up accidentally drinking a little over half the bottle? Hehehehe. Oh well, it made for a very nice sleep when we got back to the flat that night.
We woke up the next morning and took our showers an pranced around in our robes for a little bit. We had breakfast, and then I ironed my dress...felt like being a bit of a fashionista while in Paris. Then we all got dressed and headed out. We decided to walk to Champs Elysees from the flat, seeing the Libtery Flame along the way, and then walk along the road to get to the Arc de Triumph. We walked, shopped, and had our first meal in a restaurant in Paris. By the way. All they eat in France is bread and cheese. I don't understand how they are not all obese. Bread, cheese, and wine. The end. Well and then of course all of the other stuff. And Crépes. OHHHHH crépes. But more on that later. At lunch I also had my first red wine in Paris. I loveeeeed it. One big glass and I'll go ahead and say I was a little happy. And it was absolutely delicious. We left lunch and headed off to the Arc. It was gorgeous and all, but beyond that it was just fun because we got to take pictures there. And we took some very fun pictures. After that we decided to head to the Louvre to see some art :) We had our first encounter with the Parisian public transportation system. Uff. Lemme tell ya, not nearly as reliable as the London one. It took forever for the bus to get there and they go so SLOW. We finally got the Louvre and of course went first to see the Mona Lisa. Which is great and all, but I feel like its popularity lies more in the mysterious history of the painting and its subject rather than for the work itself. People love a good mystery. We saw some african/oceanic/asian art as well, and greek sculpture, and some european and spanish paintings. It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. One of the most striking pieces in the entire museum, I feel is in a stairway leading from the sculptures to the paintings. It is of an angel, somewhat ragged, standing on ruin. The angel is headless but its wings are brilliant. It is absolutely beautiful. Anywho, after we were done with the Louvre, we headed out and walked some of the way home, stopping at little street stalls to look at trinkets and postcards and the like. We finally conceded and took a cab the rest of the way home, where we all showered, got robed up, I made dinner (pasta with grilled veggies), and cracked out the bottle of vino :) After we ate we all decided to relax/nap/watch tv for a little bit. We needed to chill out before we went out.
I got on my computer, talked to my parents - I showed them the view outside our windows and they were absolutely completely excited. My dad was a bit jealous too :) And then I talked to Vishal for a while (NE). Haven't talked to him in a while but we keep our conversations pretty lighthearted so it's always pretty easy to just pick it up. We video chatted...nice to see someone from Boston. It also turns out that he has a friend who is from paris so we had a three way skype chat and we were introduced. Then he told us of some areas and interesting places we could go for nightlife :)
We finally all got dressed and headed out into the Parisian night. But once again found it impossible to find a bus taking us to where we wanted to go. And once we found the right stop it took forever for a bus to come (actually I don't think one ever did) so then we decided to just take a cab. We went to the area that Vishal's friend told us to go to and then went bar hopping :) Can I just take a moment to comment on the strength of drinks in Paris versus the strength of drinks in London? London drinks are basically water in comparison. And men are also rather...emm...forward in Paris as well. On the way from one bar to another we got propositioned. As in properly propositioned. Only we didn't wait around to hear a price offer. Whatever it was it wasn't high enough for three fine looking ladies such as ourselves :)
So Bella and Jen are both lightweights. Me...not so much. I'm not saying I'm a tank or anything, but in comparison? I was still practically sober by the time the two of them decided to call it quits. And by calling it quits I mean Bella's head was on the table and Jen was taking 40 minutes to finish her last drink. So I had a double tequila shot. Usually solves all of my problems. While I was at the bar these three guys started talking to us. They claimed they were italian so I started talking to them in Spanish because I can usually understand Italian because of the similarities. They looked obviously confused. At which point they confessed they had lied and that they were Algerian instead. I chatted with them for a little bit, but they creeped me out massively so we went and sat down. Later I got up again to find Bella a restroom and this other guy started talking to me. He was actually good looking and seemed like someone I would usually stop and talk to in a bar or club. But that was the problem. I don't speak French beyond a few choice phrases and he didn't really seem to understand much english. Ahhhh language barriers. How you ruin things for me. So after very shabbily saying hello and bye to this guy I went back to the girls. We left and went to a late night food place and got noms. Then we went back to the flat, ate, and went to bed.
The next day we woke up, showered, got dressed, and headed back out into a beautiful Parisian day. We went first to the Notre Dam cathedral, which was beautiful. Seriously. We also got in for free because it was the first Sunday of the month. Also, being a Sunday morning, we were there for mass. Which was an eerie experience. The place was huge and dimly lit and pretty friggin creepy with this huge organ playing and this guy in giving a sermon in French. We didn't stay long. I was feeling religiously claustrophobic. After the Notre Dam we decided to make our way toward Montmartre. However we got kinda sort of highly distracted on the way. First we found a fountain we decided it was ideal to play around in. The best part was this little kid wanted to play in the fountain and his mom wouldn't let him. So I immediately took off my shoes and got in. The kid wanted to kill me. I laughed. And inside? I was laughing at him a little bit. Heheheheehe. Why do parents try to make their kids lives less fun? It's just a fountain. If I can play in it why can't your kid?
Anywhoo. We then continued on our way to Montmartre but were sidetracked once again by the Pompidou modern art museum. Again, free entry :) We went around it and the art was great. I just feel like I appreciate Tate more. This museum had a ton of feminist modern art and, while I enjoy it greatly, I know there is a lot more to modern art than the feminist movement side. And Pompidou does not do a great job of showing the variety of modern art. After pompidou we sat down so Bella and Jen could grab some food. They were "peckish." Then we finally just caught a cab to Montmartre. We got up there and it was one of the most amazing views ever. The city looks gorgeous from up there. We took pictures, walked around the city (it is very parisian artsy fartsy) and then sat down on the stairs so that I could eat. A hearty meal of chips and a crépe. Oh my god that crépe. Full of sweet, rich nutella. I died. It was amazing. Then we walked back to Place de la Madeline. I navigated us the whole way using our map (YEAAAAAA GO ME. I am like Magellan). We sat at a restaurant in Place de la Madeline and while Jen and Bella ate, I drank half a bottle of Rose Wine (I don't usually drink a rose, but Bella wanted to drink with me and that is what she wanted. Oh well. It was a strong wine :) ). After that we headed back to the flat and showered and hung around. And then it was time to write my paper. Actually write it. So I set up camp in the living room and the balcony so I could stare at the Paris night sky and the Eiffel Tower - getting my last fill of Paris - while I finished off the paper. Until 4 ish am. It was great. Not really. But it wasn't miserable or anything. I slept for about an hour before I was woken by an alarm to get our Eurostar back to London. It was ridiculous. When we took it from London it was like clockwork. Like things work in an airport. When we took it from Paris, it was mass chaos. We didn't even leave until 30 minutes late at least and we were reassigned seats 2 times. And these trains are known for being on time. But it was fine because I was supposed to reach King's Cross by 8 and we got there at 8:30. And I didn't start work until 10. So I was in plenty of time. And dead tired. It was an amazing trip, but didn't do much for me in the way of resting up. Oh well. One more week. I can sleep when I'm home. Or when i'm dead. Heheheh.
Radhi
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