La Belle et the bad boy

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Mmmm – so Paris. Paris is swell. I mean, I’m not going to start winking at people on the street or anything, but it’s very nice. Let’s see – I’ll try and go back two weeks. Architecture class on Monday was ludicrous – I’ve decided to stop going to class and will just write my final on my thoughts of the ridiculousness that is “Paris History and Architecture – The Sorbonne Version”. Tuesday was our second night of wine class and although we tasted some, well, interesting wine, we didn’t exactly learn very much from our rather eccentric professor. The rest of the week was pretty dull – just normal stuff – trying to figure out spring break plans and such. Thursday Caitlin and I made our way out to La Defense, the business district of Paris. We thought we were in another world. Tall buildings. Blacktop. Companies. I also managed to find infamous “The Thumb” of Max, Claude, Axel, and Matthew’s trip to Paris that I have been looking for for quite some time…Friday we rode 56 floors to the top of the Montparnasse Tower to look out over the lovely city of love. We were impressed at how many monuments we knew and could point out – I guess we do really know Paris! Saturday I took a nice little day trip to Chartes – one of the most well know cathedral’s in all of Europe. It was beautiful, but raining – so back I came. After being kicked out of my room to insert a “bibliotechque” (which translates to library in English, but in actuality is really just a bookcase) I called it an early night and although I was “too excited to sleep” I did so quite nicely. Saturday I woke up early and rushed, excitedly, to the Charles De Gaulle airport to meet Steven and Felicia. I thought I might have missed them because their plane landed earlier and was waiting nervously and asking people where they were coming from and finally – the arrived. Imagine happiness like you’ve never experienced before. Gosh. It was wonderful. So we went to the hotel and then just explored Paris for the rest of the day. Monday we went up the towers of Notre Dame, went to the Saint-Chapelle, went to Shakespeare and Company, and then, um, went to Crazy Horse – a, well, Cabert. It was quite, um, interesting? This was after I sent Steve and Felicia to the wrong metro stop and then ran there to try and find them (which I did – but panicked the whole way). We ended the night watching the Eiffel tower turn all sparkly. Mmmm. Tuesday we went to the Musee D’Orsay – the Eiffel tower – the Champs and then dinner. Wednesday I got an apartment for my family’s stay in Paris and then met Steve and Felicia for the Tulieries gardens, the Louvre, the Latin Quarter (more crepes) to be followed by Steven and I taking in a club on the Champs and braving the Night (not Knight) Bus home and taking a test at 9am the next morning. The test went well (it was about Napoleon) and then we ate at a very cool restaurant on top of the Centre Pompideau, visited the museum, rode my favorite metro line (the 14!), checked out Bercy Village, and ended our lovely trip with another view of the sparkly Eiffel tower. Friday we went back to the airport and I returned to Paris very teary eyed – but looking forward to a short two weeks before the arrival of my family! Saturday we took a little trip with AIFS to Fontainbleu and Vaux de la Vacome – two beautiful chateaus just outside Paris. Caitlin and I then braved the rain and got some coffee and then each went our own ways and eventually to our beds. Sunday was the first nice day we’ve had in Paris for about a week – so I ran a nice little 40 minutes along the Seine from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre and back. I then tried to go grocery shopping – but Paris doesn’t shop on Sundays so I met Caitlin to check out the Paris Flea Market – which let’s just say – we won’t be going back, but Caitlin felt very “at home”. The rest of the day was spent in frustration trying to figure out how people get to Zermatt (Switzerland) which I finally did. This evening, much to Annie and my dismay, we were subject to wall drilling, fiddler on the roof music, and dinner at 11pm. It all ended well and we are ending our night watching a glorious episode of the “West Wing”. Bonne Soiree!