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Paris Apartment
It was a little toasty on the 6th floor but it was a great apartment with great friends. I took the EuroStar to Paris to meet up with Dan (a friend from UBC). Dan did a study abroad in Paris this past semester and has been using a friends apartment as a home base for traveling the rest of Europe for the summer. Dan, his girlfriend Christine and his friend Joey from UBC as well all came to collect me. Joey´s close family friend was arriving on a train an hour after I arrived so we went to "Buffalo Grill" for some wine. Kind of funny that my first restaurant was one serving Mid-Western American food. Our waitress was completely drunk so that was entertaining.
When we got back to the house we played cards and chatted for a while. Eventually we made our way to the supermarket to make dinner. Joey was a wonderful cook and he prepared fresh cut french fries, chicken with potato, bruchetta, and greek salad. We ate at about 11:00pm.. very Euro. Afterwards we played more cards and then set up our sleeping arrangement. The one bedroom apartment did a pretty good job of housing 5 people for 2 nights.
The next morning Joey was slaving away again in the kitchen preparing
Yumm... Bruchetta
This was one of the many dishes that Joey prepared during my stay... another amazing meal. For breakfast he cooked pancakes, fruit salad and served mango yogurt. Dan was in charge of brewing the coffee and tea. We all showered and made it out of the house just before 10:00 for a full day of sight seeing.
Our first stop was the Catacombs. 20 meters below street level rests the remains of millions of Parisians who died from disease in the 1800´s. The bones line the wall for the 1.6 km walk under the cities sewage and metro lines. Through the middle of it water dripped. I stepped in a very yucky puddle with my flip flops. That was not fun. It was like bone juice or something.
We then hoped on the metro to the Eiffel Tower. It was beautiful and larger than I had expected. We got a bunch of pictures. There were street venders trying to sell us little Eiffel Towers and to get our attention they would yell ¨You want bling bling Eiffel Tower". We thought this was pretty hilarious. We ended up finding one on the ground and took it home. I will post a picture as soon as I find a USB port. It is
Dan
He likes to dress up. Dont ask me what he is, but it was very entertaining. very bling bling.
After the E.T. we walked up towards the Arc Du Triumphe. We passed by a huge fountain in which both dogs and people were bathing in. I definitely did not see any evidence that it was clean and chose to just keep going. But it was very hot and humid, jumping in water was very tempting. Walking down the Champs Elysess was very fun as well. Along the way we stopped a grocery store to buy some lunch and then rounded the corner to a beautiful park to enjoy our meal.
We walked past many momuments and parks and came across a carnival. Robyn, Parisian "carnis" are actually not nearly as creepy as American ones. You would have liked them. I got a picture for you. We all rode the huge swing ride and it was very fun.
This is the best part so we arrive at the Louvre and Dan, our trusted tour guide had forgotten that it is closed no Tuesdays. So we didn´t go inside but it was fun to walk around the grounds. I think I will pay a visit on second trip to Paris on the way to London.
Catacombs
These are real bones. Dan had arranged to meet up with other Vancouver friends at 4. We all made our way to "The Great Canadian Pub" for a couple drinks before splitting up to head home and resting before dinner.
Dan, Christine and I went to dinner together and found a really great Italian restaurant. We had good wine and even better pizza. The Italy vs. Germany World Cup quarter final game was on and I will never forget sitting in an Italian restaurant when Italy won. It was a great game. The manager/owner started playing the Italian national anthem and other popular songs and he took off his shirt and danced around.
We walked along the Siene (spelling?) to meet Joey at Saint-Michel. There were many Italians singing and cheering and honking their horns. We hung out there and chatted with people before heading home around 1.
The next day Dan and Christine were off to Austria at 6:00am. Joey, Sophia and I stuck around the apartment and I went to purchase a EuroPass at one of the train stations. We cleaned the apartment, took turns checking our email at the internet cafe and packed up our belongings. I had
Strolling Paris
In the moment shot, walking along just taking in the town. booked a 13 hour night train to Madrid for later that evening and I headed towards the station around 6. This was my very first time traveling alone with no one to meet me at my destination but it was very liberating to make it all come together.
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Julia
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bone juice
How gross were the ceiling drips at the catacombs!!? EW. I'm glad you had a goodtime in Paris! I heart that place. I hope your 13 hour train ride goes well... Good blogging btw!