One of my roommates left Wednesday night (taking the night train), two more left early Thursday morning, and my last roommate left Thursday night - so I was the last to arrive Friday morning. I flew out bright and early and, as with just about everything in Europe, was a good twenty minutes late into Beauvais and hour late meeting up with my roommates.
When I finally got into the city though I was almost euphoric. I love Paris and for the first time in more than six weeks I lost all feelings of anxiety - I've been to this city, I can speak in this city. I felt like I was home.
They say that you come to Paris to fall in love, and 11 years ago I did just that, I fell in love with Paris. There is something absolutely magical about the city of lights where romance hangs in the air redolent of days gone by. J'adore Paris!!
Friday, after meeting up with my roommates Jasmine and Camille at our hotel, we went walking. It was a beautiful, crisp, fall day and we wanted to get out and enjoy it!! We stayed in the heart of Montmartre (the red light district, for those of you unaware), just around the corner from Moulin Rouge, so first up was the Champs-Élysées et l'Arc de Triomphe. We did not go to the top of the arc, but the girls (as with everything) did take lots of pictures.
After stopping for lunch we made our way over to the Tour Eiffel where, again, lots of pictures were taken. It is after all Paris and this is what the city is perhaps best known for. Jasmine wanted to go up, but Camille and I were both exhausted (she hadn't slept well and I'd been up since 3a) and the line was insane, so we decided against it. From there, Camille and I decided to head back to the hotel to rest while Jasmine went off to the Musée d'Orsay.
That night the three of us went to dinner before the girls went to a show at the Moulin Rouge. I chose to pass as I just couldn't justify it to myself. Instead, I hate to admit it, but I went back and fell asleep - apparently that's what 3 hours of sleep will do to you.
Saturday was another full day. We started out with breakfast and Sacré Coeur. I wanted to go back as I remember going before, but not really caring all that much. Not to mention that, if memory serves, it was being cleaned/restored when we were there before. We were there during mass and it was absolutely beautiful.
Next, we took the metro over to Notre Dame. Camille had to leave in order to make it back to the hotel and catch her train by 3p, so we wanted to make sure that she could see the cathedral - you can't go to Paris and not see Cathédrale Notre Dame. C'est magnifique!!
After we said goodbye to Camille, Jasmine and I made our way over to the Louvre for a bit of a power tour. Obviously, it is a monster of a museum, but also, we were quickly running out of time before it closed. So after I was forced to pay for admission (all EU citizens, which I am thanks to my visa, are allowed free admission, but only between ages 18-25...boo!!), I grabbed a map and we bee-lined for Mona Lisa. Along the way we stopped and took pictures of Nike, the Goddess of Victory - she is gorgeous!! Mona Lisa, on the other hand, is, just as before, very small and flocked by a hundred people. Next up was Napolean's apartments. I remember my brother mentioning when we were there before that they are definitely worth seeing, so I made a point of making it up there this time - wow!! Then, last but not least, we made our way to Venus di Milo - again, another beautiful statue.
Finally, Jasmine was on a search all weekend for macaroons, so after we finished up at the Louvre, we made our way back to the Champs-Élysées and Ladurée. They are known for their macaroons and after another 20-30 minute wait, we finally got our own. They were pretty incredible!!
Later that night we went out to Chartier for dinner, a restaurant that my brother had taken my parents and I to before. It was prime European dinner time, i.e. 9p, so we had to wait about 30 minutes for a table, but we both had le canard et chou chantilly, so it was well worth the wait. Jasmine was very happy that she finally got her true French dining experience.
After dinner we finished our trip off with a bottle of wine in front of the Tour Eiffel. I told Jasmine she had to see it at night and she wanted to be able to enjoy it with a bouteille de vin. A great way to end a great weekend - c'était incroyable!!
We flew out bright and early Sunday morning and made it back to Rome by about noon. I will admit that it was nice to get back to the warmer weather, although I will, as always miss Paris.
Jusqu'à la prochaine, Paris, je t'aime!!
À bientôt!!
Oh yeah, and while I was away in Paris, this happened . . . good weekend to be gone.
No comments:
Post a Comment