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Published: March 22nd 2008
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Arc de Triomphe
We headed to the top, because it's a great view of all of Paris. There's the Eiffel Tower in the background, and for those of you who don't know them, Tanya is the blonde on the left of me, Krista is on the right. Salut!
So, I'm pretty sure Mother Nature missed the memo that it's the "second day of spring" because when I woke up this morning and opened my curtains, I was met by a raging blizzard. Ok, so maybe raging is a little bit of an exaggeration...but it's definitely snowing hardcore here today and has been for a solid few hours. Seriously, the weather was perfect all through January, February; no snow just rain from time to time. And then all of a sudden in late March, BAM! Blizzard. I'm vowing not to leave my room today in protest. Although, what effect that will have on the weather, I'm not sure.
I had the privilege last weekend of spending three days with two of my closest friends in Paris--every girl's dream. Unfortunately, the directions to our hostel were terrible, I should have just taken the metro route I thought would work, but no, I decided to follow directions (geeze Sarah, that's what you get for not thinking independently) and wandered around the wrong neighborhood in Paris for a good half hour before realizing it...but when I finally found it, I saw Krista's face through the window, and ran
Eiffel Tower
Regarding the monument at night, in the rain. Krista's umbrella is named Santi--just fyi :) squealing into the hostel to meet her and Tanya. Following that, we had the most amazing weekend I could have hoped for.
As always, I have attached ample pictures here because I am a firm believer that they say much more than I possibly could, and since the purpose of this blog is to communicate my experiences, it only makes sense to do it in the most effectively communicative possible. But here are some of the highlights, as described by me. We began by heading down the Champs-Élysées. This is one of the most famous streets in the world, and per wikipedia, to rent an apartment on the Champs it'll run you anywhere up to $1.5 million a year for 1,000 square feet. Second only to New York's Fifth Avenue. Needless to say, it's pretty ritzy. I love looking into the windows at Cartier and watch the people drinking espresso on the terrasses of outdoor cafés (so parisien). At the end of the Champs is l'Arc de Triomphe, which is a huge war memorial erected after the Napoleonic wars. It holds the tomb of the unknown soldier. After that, we went to the Louvre (it's free for students
Montmartre
Getting a nutella crepe in the Montmartre district. Crepes in Paris are the best thing ever--cheap, filling, and SOOOOOOOOO delicious. on Friday nights, which rocks) so that Kris and Tanya could see the Mona Lisa and the cool Egyptian collection housed in the Louvre. Saturday, we hit up the European House of Photography, which I hadn't seen yet, and which is highly recommended by me if you're ever in Paris. It's only 3Euro for admittance for students, and they have 6 collections. But photography is my favorite medium, so I might be biased. Then we wandered around the Marais district, which houses the Place des Vosges, tons of cafés and shops and fruit, vegetable and flower markets. One of my favorite things to do in Paris is to just wander around and explore. The touristy sight seeing is fine, but I like to experience Paris as a real parisienne does. We may or may not have also gone shopping on the Boulevard Saint Germain, also very ritzy. I'm talking 90Euro/$150 for a tank top.
Saturday night, oh goodness, how do I even begin to describe it? I haven't yet posted a video on this blog, but I'm going to try and upload the one I took Saturday night, but I'll also describe it because it was probably my
Montmartre
Krista and I posing, she wanted to be taller than me for once in her life ;) You can see Sacré Coeur in the background, with the grayish tower in the middle of the top of the photo. favorite night here in Europe so far. We decided we wanted to see the Eiffel tower at night (having seen it both day and night, I have to say it's waaaaaay better at night). Anyway, since there is no Chinese food in Bulgaria or Spain (where Tanya and Krista are studying, respectively) we decided to get takeout and eat it under the Eiffel tower. So adorable, right? Well as the night dawned, it began to pour down rain. But being the stubborn troopers that we are, we said to hell with it, stole a towel from the hostel and headed out determined to see our plan through. We obtained the Chinese food, made it to the Eiffel tower, and ate it on a bench, under our umbrellas, in the pouring rain. We couldn't really see the Eiffel tower because our umbrellas were blocking it from sight, I'm pretty sure I got lemon sauce ALL over my jeans, and our hands were freezing, but we couldn't stop laughing the entire time, and it was just one of those memories I know I'm going to keep forever. We had also planned to eat strawberries and chocolate and drink champagne for dessert after
Sacré Coeur
Krista and Tanya in front of the cathedral. the Chinese, but a girl can only handle so much rain, so we took it back to the hostel and enjoyed it in our pajamas and under warm blankets. (Brief note on the video, I call myself Babushka because it was raining so I decided to wrap my shawl around my hair, Audrey Hepburn style, and Krista proceeded to make fun of me for the rest of the night, clearly under the false impression that I resembled an eastern European Jewish grandmother).
Sunday was Palm Sunday so we saved Notre Dame for that morning, and got to see part of a mass, which was pretty cool. After, we walked around the Latin Quarter, which is the best place in Paris to get Moroccan if you're interested, and then because it was raining again (thanks France for being rainier than Seattle) we headed back to the hostel where we watched The Departed in the common lounge. How that film got the Oscar for Best Picture is still beyond me...but that's another subject. Anyway, so that was our weekend in Paris, I hope you enjoy the pictures and--keeping my fingers crossed--the movie too. I'm still doing well here in Besancon,
Champs Elysees
Krista in front of Mecca. Aka, The Gap. and can't believe how fast the time is flying. My mom comes to visit me in two weeks and then Joe and I commence a month of traveling about a month after mom leaves. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity here, and I'm glad I can share it with all of you!
Cheers,
SFech
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Cait
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SPRING BREAK is over
I miss you so terribly much. It sounds like you had an amazing time in Paris. I'm so glad. One day I will go but probably not until I'm old and can afford it. ;) I got back from Mazatlan, Mexico on Saturday night and I look like a Hispanic with my tan! It was a blast and I took lots of photos so you'll have to check them out on facebook when I get around to posting them. We all got food poisoning after eating on Wednesday and my mom and her 2 friends threw up and my stomach is still hurting. But I'm doing better now that I can eat some American food. Happy belated Easter by the way. I love you and miss you like crazy!