Paris seems to have stolen my heart. According to my friend Wincy who is currently living there it happens to everyone, she says they put something in the water. The city has this nostalgic quality to it and it really couldn't be more different from Berlin. It is all white stones, tree lined streets, churches and of course the cafes. Walking around was pretty much a recap of my art history class between the Gothic churches and our visit to the Louvre where I got to come across as very knowledgeable by regurgitating everything I had studied before my midterm the week before. So that I don't forget anything I will go about this chronologically:
Thursday:
We caught an early flight from Berlin to Paris and thankfully despite the strikes we made it there and found our hostel all by 1 pm. We immediatly left our hostel, which was named OOPS! for some unknown reason, to get some french food. I had a croque monsieur and my friends had crepes. The task of ordering fell to me and my friend Sarah who are the only ones who speak any French. I managed to mix up my languages and threw some Dutch words in there by accident. Oops, but in the end we got our food and headed out. We were staying in the 13th district quite close to the 5th, which is the student district. So we decided to walk to Notre Dame since it isn't too far. After wandering down Rue Moufftard, an adorable street that is a student hang out, we ended up at Notre Dame. We first went inside to admire the windows and architecture. Then we decided we would brave the stairs despite how our feet were feeling after all of the walking we had been doing in. So we got in line, the time ended up flying by when we realized we were standing in front of a Dutch family. It turns out they live quite close to Utrecht. We practiced a little Dutch on them and the little boy practiced his Engish on us. It was pretty adorable. I am very glad we decided to brave the Notre Dame stairs because the view was incredible and the gargoyles were awesome! I have no idea how the sculptors thought some of them up, but they are so cool! After we had had our fill of flying buttresses and gargoyles we meandered back to our hostel to shower and unwind a little. Then we headed out and found a really good sandwich shop run by a very sweet older French woman. We all got this special she had where you could buy a sandwich, dessert and drink for very cheap. My sandwich had sun-dried tomatoes in it and tasted like heaven. I also got some delicious custard and berry thing. After we had filled our stomachs to our heart's content we went to see the Eiffel Tower! At night it is all lit up and every so often it flashes like a giant disco globe. It is one of those really touristy, but really exciting things. We got in this giant el elevator and went all the way to the top. This time we got to see the entire city all lit up at night. We had to switch elevators a few times and the last elevator to get all the way up was a little unnerving for me, but in the end it was worth it. It made a really lovely first day in Paris.
Friday
On Friday we decided to go see the Arc de Triumphe and wander down Champs-Elysees, so of course Sarah and I sang the song all morning. It was sort of amusing because in French class we learn about typical French breakfast and that they drink Orngina and we sing songs like Champs-Elysees. So Sarah and I both felt like we were in our French book a little. After we had looked at all the high priced stores we could stand we jumped on the Metro to go to Cimetiere Père Lachaise. It is the place Oscar Wilde, Proust and Jim Morrison are buried along with a bunch of other famous people. It sounds a bit morbid to go visit graves but the cemetery is really cool. There are huge tombs and winding streets lined with trees in fall colors. Also it is on a hill, it is not a place I would want to be after dark. If you think of a cemetery in your mind, this is it. Really it was very beautiful. After that we grabbed some food and headed home to change really quickly. Before we headed to the Louvre. The Louvre has a special deal on Wednesday and Friday evenings it is open late and if you are under 26 you can get in free after 6 pm. So we wandered into the Louvre and explored for a few hours running around the whole museum to make sure we saw all our favorite paintings. The nice thing about going so late is it actually was not too crowded, and I have decided I really like being in museums at night, there is something almost magical about it. After the Louvre we jumped on the Metro to go meet Marine and her boyfriend. Marine stayed with me and my family about 5 years ago for a month and I hadn't seen her since. We met up at a wine and cheese bar, which is very French according to Marine. However we were too late for cheese so we ended up leaving. We went to the only place open and serving food, Hippopataums. This was very embarassing for Marine and her boyfriend because apparently it is somthing like Denny's in America. It is a chain with very late hours, execept they food is actually alright. The waiter was very amused by us and made everyone order in French. Marine and Arnaud taught us the correct way of tasting wine and when it is correct to say "It has leg." It ended up being a very nice evening.
Saturday
This was our first relaxing day since we left Utrecht. On Saturday morning I went with my friend Alisha to help her buy French perfume. Since she doesn't speak any French I got to translate for her the whole time. It ended up being really fun and I got a few perfume samples for helping out. When we left the store we were probably flooding the street with flowery smells. We met up with my friend from Santa Cruz Wincy who is currently studying in Paris. We all went to a mosque where they have a bath house. The mosque is completely gorgeous, they also serve tea and food there. It was pretty cheap to get in and we were able to lay on warm tiles in a steam room for hours and wash ourselves with amazing smelling soap. It was a very non touristy place, I only heard people speaking French there. It was a much needed break from all the running around and it was so nice to see Wincy. After the spa we wandered across a park to find a cafe where we all got croque monsieur. After that Alisha and I went home to relax a little and do some reading. We got home just in time, as soon as we got inside we heard thunder and it started POURING outside. We sat in our hostel room and watched people on the street being blow in the wind and counting the seconds between lightning in thunder. We met back up with our two other friends and went next door for dinner. It was our treat to ourselves to eat a delicious more expensive meal. I had risotto that still makes my mouth water to think about and some amazing melon sorbet. After dinner we went to a jazz club that is in an old dungeon. We ended up not being able to sit where we could see the musicians, but they had a screen next to us where they were broadcasting the performance and we could still here them perfectly. It was a tribute to Dizzy Gillespie and I really liked it.
Sunday
Sunday is the day to go the La Maire, the 4th district. That is what every single person told me when giving me advice about Paris. It has the best falafel in the world apparently. Also most stores are closed Sundays, but the Jewish quarter in La Maire is very busy Sunday mornings. We decided to wander around and look at the buildings before we ate to build up our appetite. I had shoarma in a pita sandwhich and it is the best shoarma I have had. After La Maire we went to check out the catacombs. I was a little unsure if I would do this. First of all, I do not think people have any business wandering around underground. The idea of being underground just freaks me out a little. Add to that the fact that the catacombs take you through a mass grave. For some reason I did not realize they actually let you walk around next to the bones, but you do. You walk through lots and lots of bones. It ended up being a cool experience, mostly because of all the inscriptions. When you first enter the part that is the mass grave there is a sign that says "Stop. This is the empire of the dead." The grave is down there because bodies of plague victims were infecting people in surrounding areas. So they put them down in the quarry below the city. There are inscriptions all around saying famous quotes about death in French and Latin. Between Gabi's knowledge of Latin and mine and Sarah's French we could figure most of them out. I was pretty glad to get to the stairs at the end though, it was pretty creepy down there. After the catacombs we took the metro up to Montmartre. I really like it up there. We took a tour starting at the Moulin Rouge. From there we saw the cafe and vegetable market from Amèlie which was really exciting! A lot of Montmartre is pretty familiar looking from scenes in the movie. Amèlie is one of my favorite movies so I really liked seeing all of it. We also saw some hang outs of Van Gogh's and Picasso's. We also went to Sacre Coeur. I think it might be a little bigger than the one in Hollister. It is a gorgeous church, from there we got another gorgeous view of Paris at night.
Monday
I only mention Monday because I got to see one of my friends from high school on Monday! My friend D who was a foreign exchange student my junior year of high school happened to be in Paris for work the weekend I was there. We had tried to meet up but I ran out of phone credit so I couldn't call him or receive calls or texts. In the end he caught me on facebook and we grabbed a very quick cup of coffee. It was really fun to see him and was a nice end to the trip! At about 3 we said goodbye to Paris and boarded a train home to Utrecht. It was nice coming home, because campus felt like home. It was also easier to come back from vacation since I am not leaving Europe yet.
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