Paris
I went to Paris this weekend on the Eurostar. Although I took the Eurostar last weekend, I was going at a later time and, apparently, a more popular place. It was packed and crowded through out my entire trip. But, again, I arrived in Paris in two hours.
I went to visit my friend. She lives in the 11th arrondissement in a 5th floor walk-up. She emphasized that she lived very close to the 3rd arrondissement, which is the best location in Paris. When I arrived, we were drinking water and catching up. The windows were open and we heard an accordion, which is very stereotypical French. Then we heard a continuous “swish.” There were a gang of rollerbladers rolling down her street!
The next day, we did some typical Parisian tourist things. Since I had seen Paris a few years ago, the only place I really wanted to go was the Louvre. At first, my friend did not really want to go. Our compromise was that she was going to check out the line and if it was too long, we weren’t going to go. Surprisingly, there was no line! Either it was the recession or the start of August, when most French people leave Paris, but we were able to get in pretty quickly. Of course, we had to see the famous lady, and she did follow us around the room.
Later that night, we went to a house party. I was under the impression that house parties are a strictly American affair. But there we were, in a tiny Paris appartment, with an actual DJ spinning music. Although I was a little bit uncomfortable because I do not have a conversational knowledge of French, everyone was gracious and spoke to me in English.
The next day, was my last day in Paris. We went around to the Notre Dame and the Plage de Paris. It was pleasent day where we had a crepe with salted caramel. We also went on a “boat resturant” that had a bridge to shore. It was next to the Notre Dame and since it was a pleasent day, it was a nice way to spend some time. I really like that you can just sit in a resturant in Paris and order just a cafe or a drink. There seems to be a “sitting” culture. Everywhere we go, people are sitting in cafes, watching the world go by. I also ended up bringing some pastries back to London, although I am not sure how damaged they are because I haven’t looked! I put them in the refridgerator and I will have them as a snack tomorrow to remind me how enjoyable Paris is.
