C'est Paris!!!

perfection.

FONDUE! me, cristina, and emma

the infamous baby bottles (photo provided by: kim)

market right next to the bastille! lots of people...

Churros from the market! (photo provided by: cristina)

me on top of the arc de triomphe. beautiful (but windy, cold) day!

impressionistic picture of the louvre?

4,20 euro coffee at Les Deux Magots

chairs in Saint-Germaine-des-Pres

I'll let you take a guess what this is

so, paris was great. i went with 2 other americans--cristina and kim--and an australienne--emma. we got in on friday afternoon at about 2 and went straight to Mary's Hotel on Rue de Malte...couldn't tell you exactly where it was, but it was pretty nice for only 20 euros a night. from there we walked all along the seine to l'isle de la cite where notre dame is, and by about 16h the rain/clouds has cleared out and it was blue skies and sunshine! we walked around some more with cristina's friend that is studying in paris, then walked around le louvre and had some dinner. by that point we were really tired and went back to the hotel and watched star academie--the french american idol. loveeee that show. and mathieu, my fav, got to stay on.

the next day we got up really early to grab some "breakfast" at les deux magots, a famous cafe where 20th century surreal artists like satre and picasso used to hang out...it was ridiculously expensive, but the only reason we went there was because emma and cristina are doing a project for a class on famous french bistros and cafes. from there we went to Saint-Germaine-des-pres, the oldest church in paris, and then went to a market to search for food for a picnic in front of the eiffel tower...after a lot of waiting and walking along the seine we got there and ate our selection of cheeses, bread, meat and wine...c'etait superbe! we then went to la coupole, another famous cafe where other artists used to hang out...brancusi evidently painted some of the columns...the coffee there felt amazingggg after walking around in 30/40 degree weather all day, and we snuck some of our cookies from our picnic in. after that we headed to montmartre to see the sacre coeur, which was lovely at night. there were lots of people, and maybe i didn't go to the right places, but it was pretty touristy. still fun though.

after that was my favorite part of the trip...we went to this tiny, tiny restaurant called refuge des fondus where we ate sooo much fondue (with gruyere cheese i might add!!), meat, and other random appetizers that i felt sick afterward....the most interesting thing about the place though was that they served the wine in baby bottles. it was really bizarre, but the atmosphere was so fun as everyone was crammed next to each other (no private tables) and had to climb over tables to sit down! after that we wandered over to the latin quarter and then went hope because we were EXHAUSTED!!! we had been out for over 12 hours sans repos!!

the next day we slept in a bit and went to a market that was near the bastille to catch some breakfast/lunch. the market was huge, and newspapers were everywhereeeeee with the announcement of sarkozy and carla bruni, the model turned singer turn first lady of france...i don't like her so much anymore. anyways, i got some paella, bread, and a pastry, and we set off (in the MISERABLE WINDY COLD i might add) to the arc de triomphe and the champs elysees. there were lots of people about, but not too much since it was sunday and really cold. left that area and some people went to the musee de branly while me and some others went back to la coupole for some hot drinks...i just couldn't handle the cold anymore. had some dinner after that and then took the 22h train back home!

final thoughts: i've never walked that much in my life. i have legs of steel right now. also, paris is SO expensive, but i also couldn't get over the amazing amount of things to do. also, i can't believe how incredibly lucky we were for the weather we had. anyways, enjoy the pics and i'll talk to you soon!