Paris

I was in Paris from Thursday night to Sunday morning...
I write a lot.

Thursday,
We took Eurostar to Paris. As soon as we got out of the train into the station, I looked around and panicked; I realized that I had lost most, if not all, of my french skills. Considering I'm living there in less than a year, this came to be quite an unfortunate shock. It took us about 45 minutes to figure out how to get a metro ticket, and another 20 minutes to figure out how to get to our hostel. On the way there, 2 strange french men came over to Denysha and started hitting on her. But, seeing that I was the only one in the group who could kinda get around using French (Eliana knows some, but usually asked me to ask stuff for her...and Denysha knows "oui" and "merci"), Denysha started crying out for me, and I simply said in french, "She doesn't like you, goodnight."
The hostel was....something else. It was basically a rundown apartment...2 beds, an open shower on the side of the room, a sink next to it...it reminded me something of Tom Hanks' first apartment room in "Big". Pretty sketchy and grody. It was amazing.
We went out to get dinner, and ended up at this cut little bistrot that served us an amazing filet mignon dish (it's the only thing we could actually read on the hand-written FRENCH menu) and potlucked our deserts. The mousse au chocolate and creme brulee were irresistable!
We decided to walk off our dinner by taking a photographing night tour of Paris. We took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. It is sooo pretty at night!!! We were taking pictures of it, and right before we left, it started SPARKLING! SPARKLING! I kid you not! It was one of the prettiest spectacles I've ever seen! walked past the Hotel des Invalides (Napoleon's gravesite), very gold and bright at night. Ended up stopping at a Domino's to use the lavatory. Got lost trying to find Sciences Po Universite (my future uni), ended up on some back alleyway with defense centers and embassies everywhere. It was very intimidating. Then got to the main street, and I feel in love. Walked by some adorable places. Witnessed a few swat teams (there's a student strike/riot going on in Paris right now...), that was neat. People kept on trying to ask me stuff on the street, but......I don't speak French. Sad.
Got lost.
Found the Notre Dame, and trudged home on the windy and FREEZING COLD Seine. Did I mention that the entire weekend was FREEZING COLD!??!?!?

Friday
Woke up late, and bought crepes for breakfast at noon...smooth. We were staying near the Bastille, so we walked over to it to see the student rally. Interesting, because the Bastille was in memory of the French Revolution, non?
Walked over to the Notre Dame to go inside, it started hailing/raining. We were all sick, so this didn't go over well. Ran into Notre Dame, looked and sat around for a while until it cleared. Then we walked to the Louvre. Cold. Windy. And walked down the Champs Elysee, the main "5th Avenue" of Paris. I didn't remember it to be so long with parks, and so short with the space of stores, but it was jam packed! Walked all the way to L'arche de Triomphe, and then hit a fast food shop for lunch. Denysha's in love with Louis Vitton (or however you spell it), so we went there. And then we went into a bunch of concept car shops, because we all love pretty cars. MAN, were these cars PRETTY! Sooooo pretty.....anyways
Went back to the Louvre to get in for free and look at some of the exhibits. I think the Louvre is too confusing and large, they need some kind of consolidation system or something. And walked back to the hostel. Denysha & I wanted to have a baguette & cheese & fruit dinner, it was delightful! And another early night for the sick kids.

Saturday
Early morning, and headed over to Montmatre (the "hip" part of town on a hill). Had croissants, and hiked up the tall hill. The view of Paris there is amazing; you can see almost anything you want to, south of the hill. Got to the Sacre Coeur, which is this very eastern style cathedral. Very simple, very lovely. We hung out in there for a while, it was raining again. Then walked around the little markets and villages around the cathedral. Very bohemian, very adorable. I love that part of town. Even found the Salvador Dali (my favorite artist!) Gallery! We didn't get to go in, so I must do that some time!
Stopped by the Moulin Rouge, and then feasted at a cute little brasserie for lunch.
We were still tired and sick, so we headed over to the Centre Pompidou (the modern art museum...near our hostel). It's hidden in the middle of nowhere, so it took us about 30+ minutes to find out where it was. Ridiculous. But we got in on discount, and saw some REALLY WEIRD art. Some things include: a Shroud of Turin from a basted chicken named "Binky", and its caskette....a man on a TV screen saying repeatedly, "I am making art".....and my favorite, a picture of a cat, and a metal figure of a man in front of it, saying, "Chatter chatter chatter...." Pretty quirky, and hilarious.
Dinner was at one of the cute places we walked by Thursday night. We got cocktails in conkshells with fresh fruit, and amazing duck dishes!!!! This place was great. Fun place for cool university students, very loud, very neat! The bill was also very large.
Walking around, a bunch of guys stopped us to talk to us, but we didn't understand them, so we would just say, "no". We're lame.
Went somewhere else to get creme brulee again. Delicious, as always.
Another early night for us sick kids.

Sunday
We went early to the train station. At customs/immigration, I was held up. Apparently, because the first person that let me into UK screwed up on my passport for my student/working visa, and someone else had to fix it for me at customs from Norway...I am questionable to get into the country again. Basically, I think I was close to being deported or put into interrogation. I was being questioned about my whereabouts, what I was doing in London, what I was doing when I got back to the US....etc. etc.
Sick girl who can't talk. Thanks.
Another 10 minutes for the customs people to look and discuss my passport about whether it could be accepted or not. Finally, they grumbled and let me go. Keep in mind, Eliana, who's a citizen of Ecuador, was already accepted in and waiting for me with Denysha.
Think about that.

Note: By the end of the trip, I could hold a comprehensive conversation with a French person for a short period of time. I had also lost my voice by Saturday, though, so it seemed kind of pointless.