A couple weekends ago I went to visit Paris with Gretchen and Adam and all of Gretchen's program friends, who happen to all be from AU (Gretchen is studying there for the semester, incase y'all forgot). I should let everyone know that I have no idea how the french language works and I think it's unnecessarily complicated. I was only able to master a few words: let's go (allons-y, which does not look right at all but google translate told me it was so ok) and merci. I didn't even understand how to say 'i don't speak french'. Though I did realize that I learned some from some distinguished artists such as Jesse McCartney ("parlez vous francais" from his body language song) and the ladies who sing Lady Marmalade from Moulin Rouge. (More on Moulin Rouge later ;) )But the lyrics of Lady Marmalade was never going to be useful in any language so that was out. So all in all I knew/know nothing. Good thing Gretchen knows what she's doing.
Gretchen and Adam met Francesca and I and Francesca's roommates from school at their hostel and we went back to her place so I could drop off my bag. She in a home stay and has her own apartment of sorts which is pretty snaz and it was quite cozy between the 3 of us. mmm Gretchen showed us her school and I nommed on a sandwich and eclair as we walked. It's a beautiful city. All of the buildings are so detailed and have lovely balconies. Rome is more industrial looking I guess. After we stopped and got crepes. YUM. I got one with nutella and bananas. OMG SO GOOOOODDDD. Gretch got one with an egg and cheese and yumminess and Adam got a hot dog in a baguette. Which was real good. (Also Europeans are strangely in love with hotdogs? I've had it on pizza and the place below me has then wrapped in bread with cheese. I don't get it. But i don't hate it.)
First picture in France: Win
A homeless man came up and asked Adam for his hot dog. That was rather amusing. After we finished, we walked over to the Luxembourg Gardens and made a gp (game plan) for the weekend. Rather extensive with lots of touristy sight seeing and eating and gallivanting about to be done. I steeled myself in anticipation for it. We walked to the outside of the Pantheon, which is much larger then the Roman one and doesn't have a hole in the top (which means its not as cool). We then meandered (what I thought was meandering) around along what I think was the river and Surprise! there was the Notre Dame! I don't think i was really paying attention when they were making the plan, obviously. It was pretty exciting. yay tourist!
We walked through the inside where I proceeded to lose Adam and Gretchen momentarily and almost freaked out because I don't know where Gretchen lived or how to speak the language and my italian phone is quite possible the most unreliable thing on this earth. But moments later we were reunited. Crisis averted. I learned Gretchen's address as well. I have begun to like looking at churches obviously because we have about all of them in Rome and I spend alot of time learning about them in my class 'From Rome to Baghdad' so I think I enjoyed it a little more then Adam and Gretchen. And I'm sure Gretchen has been inside like 5 times already anyway. Her friends Julianne and Sam met us outside afterwards and we discussed dinner options and apparently we were going for noodles at this chinese place. I wasn't complaining; i haven't had chinese since i got here/ going into withdraw.
The 3 of us then made our way over to the arc de triomphe. We walked up the street and walked around it and then walked up it. I was prepared to walk up to the top of this one and was ready when i saw the tight windy staircase. Adam was also white knuckles going up but it was worth it for sureee! The Eiffel tower was so pretty too!! Lots of pictures taken.
I believe after this we did something but i can't remember. It has been a very long time and I even had to make an outline to make sure that I didn't forget anything. Thank you boring guest speaker. I will take this moment though to express my amazement at the metro system in Paris. THERE ARE 14 LINES. Like oh my god. and they aren't short either, most have like 15-20 stops. Thats alot of metro to build. In Rome we have 2 lines. Mostly because, you cant dig 50 feet without finding ruins and then it takes ages to figure out if it was important or not etc etc etc and this is Italy (everything takes 3 times longer here then anywhere else, with a few exceptions).
Moving on, the three of us met Gretchen's friends Hanna, Sam, Matthew and Julianne for dinner that night for noodles. so good. just so good. we did unfortunately keep running out of water due to the fact that we tucked in the back and got kind of ignored for being the loud american kids. worth it. They are hilarious people. thank god I go to school with most of them back at home. Im going to MAKE them be friends with me. just kidding. but only sort of. After wards we walked to this little bar called Le Kitch. If Gretchen were a bar, Le Kitch is it. It was so tiny and full of locals and it was super hipster. It was wild. We had a great time. We then went to another area and went to a couple other places before calling it a night.
Saturday was another fantastic day. We woke up relatively early (10) and grabbed brunch. I got a warm ham and cheese croissant. NOM NOM NOM NOM. and just some water. but boy was it good. no calorie was left behind that weekend. but we walked alot so it was ok. Moving on. We went to the Louvre! And it was a beautiful morning too. and the Louvre metro station has ancient busts inside the station. when you walk out of the metro. Those French. Damn. So obviously we had to go see the Mona Lisa is all her glory. And you know she was bigger then I thought she was going to be which was nice to see. Adam and I elbowed our way to the front and each took turns taking one on one pix with the babe. Ha!
Ah the Winged Victory
I then found the ancient roman rooms and the ancient greek rooms. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life to choose which one to go into first. Im not kidding. But Greece won out, mostly because i like their god statues better. So while i soaked up as much as i could, Adam and Gretchen and our friend Kelsey who is also in Paris, went down to the Egyptian area. I was in heaven. Thank god they didnt have too much more, atleast in that area because i would have had more trouble leaving. I walked quickly through the roman area (and touched one or maybe 2... of the statues shhhh :) ) and then we met to leave. Side note: if you are a student in the EU, you can get in for free. Also the floors are slippery. I know because I fell down the steps. In the middle where everyone is. Not embarrassing at all. We didn't see much in terms of the size of the Louvre, but there is no way that we could have seen everything. i'll be back though. One day.
Our plan that afternoon was to have a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower because it was supposed to be the nicest day. Well we couldnt because it was raining when we got to the eiffel tower. boo. We stopped somewhere and I got a gigantic cappuccino and we got sandwiches. We then went over to see Moulin Rouge and the countless sex shops. It was a semi decent place during the day but I'm sure its completely different during the night hahah. We then walked to the top of the hill behind to this church (which I feel bad that I can't remember :( ). We took a bus to the top because it would have been a trip and a halfff to walk the whole way up. This is where I got my first macaroon! I've never had them before and didn't really know what to expect and don't ask me why but I got a passion fruit flavored one. At first I wasn't a big fan but it grew on me adn I wish that I had tried more flavors in Paris. I'm sure I'll find them in Rome. Anyway. The church was so pretty and it was very different then all the Roman churches. It was raining by the time we got there adn there was some dance crew that was preforming outside. we watched them for a little adn then went inside where there were nuns giving mass. talk about a complete change in the mood. It was a pretty cool church, though I do have to say the outside looked cooler then the inside.. Anyway the view of Paris from the steps is awesome and I'm sure it would have been that much better if it wasn't raining and foggy, which how I gather Paris weather is most of the time.
Moulin Rouge
We got crepes for dinner that night which were real good. I think I got egg ham and cheeesssee. There was so much cheese. We got it and walked over to Sams apartment where we hung out for a little before we all went out again. Adam and I got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle which was amazing and I loved ittt. (Sam can see the top of it from her window, SO parisian). The big group of us walked to this bar the Chameleon and had a drink before we walked to another bar called the Highlander. Which is funnny because we have a Highlanders here in Rome. Wild. just Wild. it was here where I slipped down the steps again and proceeded to realize that I had been pick pocketed. EPIC FAIL. I was so upset. Neither of the bars had my two cards and the pick pocketer got 50 euros too. Oy. Well fortunately dad took care of it and all said and done, We didn't have to pay their 600 dollar dinner and bar tabs. Other then that, we all had a great time at the bar just dancing and singing and having a great time!! Small Downer: the dj didnt know who ke$ha was. get some culture
The next morning was our picnic! we were determined! we had bought all our groceries the night before so that was great. I made some of my guacamole and we had prosciutto, cheese and fresh bread, croissants, fancy pastries, mimosas, to-go creme brulees, kiwis, and i think thats all... we had quite a spread. And i have to hand it to the Parisians. They have nailed the bread thing. But Italy is a close 2nd. The three of us had a great time and I haven't laughed that hard in a very very long time. It was a little chilly but we were sitting in front of the eiffel tower; it was great.
Parisian
We walked up to the bottom of it and then decided to go to the catacombs. Now I have to say that I haven't really had a desire to see the catacombs in Rome and this was not quite on the list of things that I wanted to do but it was fine that we went. We were some of the last people to get in before they closed it. Win. I did not realize it was going to be down yet another long spiral staircase and then along long underground pathways as well. I trying to keep my cool but lord knows being abroad I learning all my fears as they creep up. (though i have never enjoyed the idea of walking through dark underground tunnels because god knows when that ceiling is going to come crashing in..). When we finally got to the catacombs, it was just all bones and skulls all over. It was kinda creepy. They were all arranged in designs and stuff. It was worth it I guess. I'm not really looking forward to going to another one again but you know whatever. I'm abroad I gotta do things I wouldn't normally do..
So since we were all lacking in the sleep department that weekend, we went back and napped before going out to dinner for Gretchen's Birthday!! Adam and I tried to no success to organize her friends to come surprise her and such but alas. we failed. we bought her a more then 5 euro bottle of wine and some chocolate which we carefully wrapped in a plastic bag and gave to her at dinner. It was the cutest little place where you could go for dinner or for drinks. Gretchen said their steak tartar was good so I tried that for the first time. It was alright, a little strange so I'm not sure that i'll be getting it again but whatever. We split a really good salad too. Matthew and Hanna joined us a little later and thus commences the unnecessary amount of laughter. But so worth it. We walked to go get dessert. We hung around outside for a little and just chatted, as it was Adam and I's last night and almost Gretchen's 21st birthday!!
I had to get up super early and it was real rough because i was feeling slightly under the weather mostly due to the fact that I hadn't really slept all weekend. Though it was all worth it. I had the BEST time with everyone and it was fantastic to see friends from home. Not to mention the amount of laughing that was had was the most in forever. miss you biddies.
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