Parigi

(Pictures: Sarah and I dominating the rain at the gardens, at the Eiffel tower, and in our matching scarves eating crepes--can you tell I miss her??)


I'm hanging out in the CDG airport, having said goodbye to Sarah, then Cat, and it feels a bit like Thursday evening, when I got in to Paris at 5, but Will, Cat, and Sarah didn't arrive until around 10 or 10:30. Today I ate breakfast at the airport with the girls, then did a little shopping, but Thursday was a little more of an adventure. ...

I got to the airport early since Professor Chiari cancelled our second art visit, so I logged about 3 hours in the Venice airport (I like airports, but I like not worrying about being late even more). I got some serious work done, found my gate, and had a relatively smooth flight to Paris. In atypical Italian fashion, we got in early (I think it's because Air France and not Alitalia actually operated the flight). So I navigated the incredibly massive terminal 2 of CDG to collect my bags and then find the Sheraton hotel Will advised me to wait at for him. Unfortunately it would've been painfully obvious that I wasn't staying there, especially if I just sat in the lobby til 10pm. So, I continued downstairs to a waiting area, and whipped out my computer to keep doing work, but my battery was near death, so I spent some time lugging my bags around until I happened upon a room with a bunch of business men hunched over their computers, which were miraculously plugged in. I plopped down and took advantage of free wireless and free electricity to work on a powerpoint, do some debate research, and do some art history paper research while downloading some tv episodes off Itunes to keep me occupied later in the evening. Quite a few people came in and out of the room, however as time wore on, it ended up being just myself and a relatively toothless man who kept trying to look at my screen. Then a security guard with a bomb sniffing dog accosted me, demanding to know why I left my bags over on the other side of the room. I explained (in English, I discovered this weekend that I absolutely cannot speak French) that my bags were sitting right next to me, which pretty much convinced him I wasn't trying to do any harm to CDG, but then I realized that abandoned bags meant someone might be. After canine dog man descended upon and disposed of the bag, it's owner re-emerged and wondered what happened to his bag. My toothless friend explained in French to him, then decided he wanted to chat with me, and although he seemed to think he knew English, I could not understand a single word he said and spent most of the time nodding and trying to scoot further to my right, since he and I were still the only two people there and it made me nervous. He was having computer issues, and wanted my help, especially when he was trying to find google.com but kept typing coogle.com (and wondered why it wasn't working....) and then wanted to watch a movie on my computer since his wasn't working. Luckily, Kristin and I had set a skype date, so I escaped to the bigger, busier area outside the waiting lounge to have some privacy and get away from the slightly scary man. Outside, I got hit up for coins from at least 3 people and started to feel quite alone, especially since I still had 3 hours to go all by myself. But talking to Kristin, watching Desperate Housewives, and doing work got me through, as the canine dog man kept strolling past me looking at me angrily. Reunionizing with Will first, then the girls was GREAT....completely worth the wait. Will knows just about everything there is to know about Paris and is fluent in French, so he saved me in terms of navigating and seeing Sarah was so so so worth the wait. I've missed her so much and had been looking forward to this trip since I booked it in January. And her friend Cat was delightful...she fit right in with Sarah, Will, and I, which was good since the 3 of us have known each other since freshman year and I worried she might feel left out. Will had to get to his ex-host family's apartment before it got too late, so Cat, Sarah, and I had to get to our hotel alone, but we managed pretty well all things considered. Despite our exhaustion, we stayed up talking til maybe 3am, despite the fact that Will was planning to meet us at the hotel at 10.

Friday Will showed up right on time, but the girls needed more time, so he took me to a little pastry shop right around the corner where you could buy 3 pan au chocolat for 2 euro or 4 for 2 euro 30, which is a huge bargain, plus they were absolutely amazing. Then we took the metro to Notre Dame, which was even more impressive in person than I expected. The stained glass was beautiful, as was pretty much every other part of it. Then we walked to the Louvre, where we were going to visit later, just to see it, and it (as the ex-castle of the kings pre-Versailles) was also amazing. From there, we went through a garden area as we walked on to the Arc du Triumph, which appeared to be really nearby but was actually 1 1/2 km (about 1 mile). It wasn't so much the 1 mile, but the rain that made it rough, but it was worth it...the beautiful buildings on the way and the Arc itself were really impressive. Will then took us someplace for lunch where they slightly overcharged (14 euro omelets, 5 euro small coca colas) and got mad at me for only wanting soda and not lunch despite Will's fluent french, but it was an adventure and everyone except for me was famished, so they were willing to pay. Then we went to a handbag wholesale place, which was overwhelming to the point that I may or may not have almost spent WAY too much on a bag, but Will convinced me to wait, and took us on to a French department store, which was huge and constructed in the 1920s in an new-art style. We wandered and window shopped, as it was a little pricey. Will then left us to go rest and change before dinner, but Sarah, Cat, and I hunted down the local H&M and the likes and bought some more affordable basics (leggins, scarves, a shirt for me, etc) and then met Will back at the Louvre (it's free for students from 6-9 on Fridays) where we saw the typical--Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus di Milo, etc--and some less visited art such as Egyptian sculptures and the Medieval Castle ruins down in the basement area. After that, Will took us to a really trendy, reasonably priced restaurant in one of his favorite neighborhoods. He ordered us the house wine, which was excellent and inexpensive. Since it was Friday, I had to bite the bullet and eat fish, which I don't care for, but I got salmon and vegetable lasagna. It was possibly my favorite meal so far in Europe. The salmon didn't taste overly fish-y, the cheese was not overpowering, and the vegetables were delicious. For probably the first time ever, I didn't have food envy! We then tried to get gelato at a nearby store, but it was closed, so Will took us to a wine bar in the area that he also really likes and we each had a little more wine before we called it a night.

Since we were tired, Will agreed to start our Saturday at 11, and he and I went for pastries again while the girls got ready. Then we took the metro to a famous basilica built on a hill/mountain on the outskirts of the city. Will pointed out a few sketchy metro stops in the famous Moulin Rouge area where a lot of drug deals turned into murder scenes, but promised it had gotten much safer since the 60s, plus it was day time. Anywho, we walked up about a million steps to get to this church, but it was 100% worth it. Not only was the church beautiful, you could see the entire city. We then wandered around that part of town, which is even more picturesque than the city proper, in my opinion, We saw the famous boarding house where well known artists lived when the area was dominated by artists. Then we found another of Will's favorite restaurants where everyone could get an appetizer, entree, and dessert for 11 euro, but again, I just wasn't hungry, so I got soup while everyone else ate a full on meal. I made up for the money I saved when we came across a cute little dress shop on the way to the metro and I tried on and bought two dresses. Ooops. Then we tried to go to the Museum of Modern Art, but by using Will's french, we realized there were no good exhibits, so we went to the Luxembourg Gardens since it was such a beautiful day. Sarah and I got crepes, and proceeded to end up with Nutella ALLLLLL over ourselves. There are pictures. It was so not Parisian, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Then we went to a really cute, really inexpensive wine bar in the area, and Will took us to the metro line that goes above ground so we could get one of the best views of the Eiffel Tower (in the daylight) in Paris. After that, we all went home, got dressed up, and met back up with Will to go to an authentic Italian restaurant called Paparazzi, which was absolutely delicious and cheap. He introduced us to a rose wine, which was probably some of the best wine I've had yet (it's actually Italian, not French, so I fully plan on looking for it in Venice). Then we went to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up, then took the obligatory tourist pictures, and hopped the last elevator to the second level (the highest you can go past like 10pm and it was 11). The views were again absolutely amazing, plus we were on the tower when the hourly light show started, which was cool. The elevator rides up and down were a little scary, but being able to see the city at night from the Eiffel tower was worth it. Then Will walked us to a trendy college student area where they had wine and beer and I had Jack Daniels, for which the bar charged me SEVEN euro! I was so put off that it was that expensive (Will and I were both under the impression I ordered the 3 euro version). But, the bar was absolutely adorable and we had a good time people watching on our last night in Paris, so I didn't mind much.

We said goodbye to Will in the Metro station since he doesn't leave until 7 tonight, and came back to our hotel and ended up talking and packing until 3 again! Despite basically bleeding Euro and not getting a ton of sleep, this was one of my favorite trips, hands down. Paris is just inexplicably beautiful and Will was an excellent tour guide and I adored Cat (and of course seeing Sarah). It's probably my favorite trip so far...the combination of people AND the place was just perfect. It's so hard to be sitting in the airport to leave. I still am completely obsessed with Venice and anytime I'm away, I think about how much I miss it, but this trip really couldn't have been any more perfect...it was worth every last Euro.