Paris!

I have been procrastinating in writing this post because I know there is so much to say and it will take forever. So, I will try to be as thorough and brief as I can be. Here it goes...

AHHH! Paris was awesome!

Friday I woke up at 5.30am to finish my laundry, pack my bag, and head to the Cottbus train station. I took a train to Berlin (2 hours) and then a bus to the Tegel airport where I caught a flight to Amsterdam (1 hour). Then I had a 1 and a half hour layover in Amsterdam after which I caught another flight to Paris (slightly over an hour). From the Paris airport I caught a train to the central station (45 minutes) where I met up with Katie and George. Finally. It was a crazy adventure just to get there, and once I arrived I was pooped.

Right after I got there we ate dinner because we were all starving. After that we headed to the hotel, dropped off our stuff, and headed out to explore the city. George went to a church service while Katie and I walked around and visited the Sacre Coeur basilica. It is a huge, gorgeous marble building that sits up on this huge hill overlooking all of Paris. On the way we were attacked by Africans who proceeded to tie friendship bracelets on our wrists and demand we pay them 15€ for them. We each paid 5€ and moved on. On the steps of the giant hill they had an open mic where everyone went to play. Most people sang (and butchered) many famous American songs, but it was very enjoyable. We eventually met up with George and wandered the city until 2am and caught a taxi ride home.

Saturday we ended up sleeping in, but made up for it by running around the city visiting all of the well known sites. Our second night was to be stayed in a different hotel, so we set off to find it right away and drop our bags off. Turns out our new home was right dab in the middle of the red light district of Paris. Haha. Sex shops and peep shows lined the streets. We shared a street with a little place entitled "Dirty Dicks" and a few others whose names I forgot. We were also about 2 blocks away from the infamous Moulin Rouge. I could have never imagined so many sex shops all in one place. Each peep show had porn plastered around it's doors encouraging those looking for a good time to go on in. The weird thing was the area was full of people, many of which brought their kids with them. The red light district was not a shady part of town, it just housed shady businesses. Interesting.

After dropping our bags off we hit up the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Élysées, the Louvre pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, and other things which are famous but I do not remember their significance or their names.

The Arc de Triomphe was huge! I had no idea. It stood in the middle of this giant star-shaped intersection - all roads near by lead to it. It was very cool with it's intricate sculptures and such. On the floor around it all of the French victories were written down. Very interesting.

The Champs-Élysées is the main road that runs through Paris and leads to the Arc de Triomphe. It has all of the really expensive stores of the famous French designers. We checked out the Virgin megastore and also grabbed some very expensive cappuccino. Very tasty, though.

We followed the Champs-Élysées down to the Louvre. We wandered through the gardens and up to the giant glass pyramids. We entered the lobby and looked around the gift store but decided not to actually enter the museum because we did not know enough about art to make the hours we would have spent inside worth it. Still, the glass pyramids were amazing and very cool to see in person.

Next we headed off to the Eiffel Tower. We could see it poking up above the skyline for most of the day, but it was totally different to see it up close and in person. It's so tall! I had no idea. Not the prettiest thing in the daylight (it's painted brown), but it was still very impressive. The lines were too long to go up to the top, but I felt that just seeing it was enough justification to come to Paris for a weekend.

Saturday night we met up with some friends of a friend of Katie's. They picked us up at the Moulin Rouge (classy, I know) and took us out to a nice lounge/bar. In front of the Moulin Rouge there is this large, circular, raised vent that shoots up air - probably from the metro or something. Katie had a dress on so we snapped some shots of her pretending to be Marylin Monroe. Absolutely hilarious. Everyone else was getting their picture taken with their hair blown around by the vent, but I would have to say that our picture was the best. While I took the picture George acted as "dress patrol" to make sure the back of Katie's dress didn't flash the onlooking tourists.

Finally our host arrived and picked us up in his car. He brought another car full of friends so there ended up being about 10 people in total. We drank and mingled and had a great time. A few hours later they took us to a small pub where we hung out some more and exchanged dance moves with the ever-so-stylish Europeans. It was a great time and we had a lot of fun meeting the Parisians.

Sunday morning we moved back to our other hotel and then split up: Katie and I went to explore some more of the city while George went to hang out with the people he met at the church service on Friday. Katie and I headed off to the Jewish district of Paris (a place Meredith had suggested we check out). It was very cool. Jewish shops everywhere and we had the pleasure of knowing that anything we decided to eat while we were there would be kosher. We grabbed a falafel (another one of Meredith's suggestions) and explored some more. The falafel was delicious although we had no idea what we were eating, haha. In one store we looked in we found the most amazing yarmulkes ever! We found a Harry Potter one, a Spiderman one, a Pokémon one, and many more. We were impressed that the Jews decided to embrace Harry Potter, much unlike the Catholics who decided to exile him.

The Jewish district soon led us to the Gay district of town where we stopped in a bookstore and looked around at the stylish European clothing stores. The bookstore was quite scandalous, but after living in the red light district we were used to it by that point. From there we stumbled across this amazing little café where we feasted on cappuccinos and a large selection of bread with even a larger selection of spreads and toppings. Sprawled across our table we found the most delicious toppings: Nutella, white chocolate spread, chocolate/carmel spread, the most flavorful jams I have ever tasted (apricot and "5 red berries"), pralines, and so many more. It was absolutely the greated café experience of my life. The best thing I ate in Paris the whole weekend (and believe me, that's saying a lot - all the food was delicious!).

After the café we went to explore the Notre Dame cathedral. Because it was Sunday they were holding mass and we got to walk in while it was going on. It was cool getting to see the priest speak in French and hear people singing the hymns. The place was, like everything else in Paris, huge! It had beautiful stained glass and lots of displayed. There were many places where you could buy a prayer candle to light and display. The whole place smelled like incense - it was just awesome. The outside was just as amazing as the inside. I got to see the many flying buttresses that I have been hearing about for all these years! I'm no architect, but I still found them really cool looking. Plus all of the gargoyle statues that line the roof tops. Very cool.

After that we met up with George. We grabbed some dinner and then headed back to the Eiffel Tower so Katie could take pictures while it was lit up. It was really beautiful to see despite the rain and the cold. Every hour once it is lit up at night hundred of white lights placed on the tower sparkle and shimmer! We had no idea it did that! So cool. It looked like a giant space ship or something. Very cool.

After visiting the Eiffel Tower for the second time we headed back to the hotel, dried off, and then headed out to chill at one last café before we left the next day. We found a cute square up by the Sacre Coeur and sat down for crepes and wine. Yum.

The next morning we woke up for our last breakfast and then I headed off to the train station at noon to head back to the airport for my flight to Amsterdam and then Berlin. I eventually got back to my apartment at around 11.30pm that night. I think I caught the train a little too early and ended up taking the long way home, hah. Oh well, it all worked out in the end.

Overall my trip to Paris was amazing. I was slightly skeptical and wondered if I would like it that much, but I had the greatest time ever. The food was absolutely incredible - I don't think I've ever had food that tasty. I had salmon lasagna one night and even tried escargot! Yes, I Keaton Belli ate a cooked snail. George ordered them and he dug them out of their little shells and fed them to Katie and me. The waiters laughed at us as we freaked out. It ended up tasting pretty good - chewy like calamari, but even more so. Not sure if I'll ever order it in the future, but at least I can say I ate it.

Also, the wine in Paris is incredible! I made it a point to order it at just about every meal. Not the cheapest stuff ever, but definitely worth it. Meredith was right (again). I mostly stuck to chardonnay because I prefer white wines and it was the cheapest, but I think I also ordered some sauvignon one meal. Very delicious. So sweet and never tart. Yum. I will indeed miss it.

That pretty much sums things up. I'm sure I left out things here and there, but chances are you will hear me talk about it one day and it will be even better than having to read it on here. Also, I have about 200 pictures on my computer that I will get uploaded at some point. Look for the picture link on the right so you can check them out. They will probably be up sometime this weekend.

Until next time...