Paris, France
So, here I am after my small hiatus. Sometimes life catches up to you and then consequently you have to catch up to life. But, there was a lot of hot chocolate and sunshine involved, which can never be too bad a thing.
I’ve spent the last three weekends in Paris. A lot of other people on study abroad programs are doing an excellent job exploring Europe at large, and I certainly hope to do some of that myself, but for now I’ve been perfectly content staying in Paris for the most part. There’s certainly no lack of things I still want/need/feel strongly that I should do here, plus I’ve had visitors, so that means I get to be a tourist! (Not that I’m not a tourist, but there is less pressure to blend in and be French when you’re showing the city off to someone who is visiting). A friend who is studying abroad in Italy came to visit the first weekend, then my parents were here the weekend after, and then this weekend I had all to myself. But let’s start at the very beginning (it’s a very good place to start).
We had three days of nothing but blue skies and sunshine. I was beginning to think Paris reserved all of its sunshine for Sundays, since I haven’t really experienced a Sunday that didn’t seem manufactured for a promenade. Whether that’s the case or not, all of the weekend felt like spring and the only word to describe that is glorious.
My friend got into Paris late on Friday, so we met up near Place de la Concorde and walked the Champs-Elysées. We saw the Arc de Triomphe, got some pictures, then called it a night after making plans for the next day.
The events that follow can only prove one thing: I am an excellent tour guide. We started off the morning at the Eiffel Tower. My friend hadn’t realized why I insisted we get there early, and was hesitant to hazard times for the rest of the places were wanted to go later on, until we were standing in the middle of the crowd that forms under the Tower around 10am on a Saturday. Millions of people. Maybe everyone who was a visitor in Paris was there. Regardless of who they all were and why we were all convened together in the same place, it wasn’t hard to convince my friend that a picture of the Eiffel Tower was better than standing in line to go up. We took some selfies (and some non-selfies featuring the Tower) then struck out for a new area.
Since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to meander along the Seine, in true Parisien fashion. We made our way along the river, crossed over by the Grand Palais (built for the 1900 World’s Fair and still home to an art museum, the science museum, and various exhibit halls) then walked up by Place de la Concorde and through the Tuileries until we hit the Louvre. He needed to see the Mona Lisa, and since we are students we can get into the museum for free. This makes it much easier to justify 15 minute visits to the largest art museum in the world. We were also mistaken for real Italians, a curious thing that kept happening wherever my friend went in Paris (not that curious, since he looks Italian, and there are not many European ethnicities I can’t be easily lumped into). We saw the Mona Lisa, got a little lost, which can’t be avoided in that museum, then were headed back out into the sunshine. I’m going to keep reminding you it was sunny, because it was THAT unusually gorgeous that weekend. We crossed the river again at the lock bridge, Pont des Arts for anyone keeping notes, then headed into St. Michel to find lunch. We had our pick of the creperies lining the streets, so we chose one and went for it. As is normal with the nameless, faceless creperies crowding Paris, it was pretty good. It’s hard to go badly with crepes.
We walked to Notre Dame after a fruitless search for wifi. Crowded, as to be expected, but the line moved quickly. We did a lap around the church, but since we’ve both seen more churches in the past two months than even our wildest dreams could have predicted, we kept the visit quick. We walked around island for a little while, found a cupcake place, had a cupcake, then found our way back to the metro. From there we went down to St. Germain, and took a hot chocolate break at Café Flore. I showed him the area, then we hit St. Sulpice, Luxembourg Gardens and Sugarplum bakery for some noisettes (well, just café on his part) before starting to figure out dinner.
After some phone issues (you have to charge those things, you know?) we met up with Layla and Addy for dinner in St. Michel, where we introduced my friend to the magic of fixe prix menus. Plus, mussels, duck, and profiteroles, which is hard to beat
Sunday morning saw the revival of my quest for brunch in Paris. We met up with Katja in the 10th (11th? One of the two) for brunch at Holybelly, a café run by expats, as seems to be the style with these brunch places. It was packed, but my friend had gotten there on time and got us in line, so by the time Katja and I showed up it was only about a 10 minute wait. Cramped, but cute, we sat the one big table in the restaurant (other tables were smaller and fit 2 people better than three during the brunch rush), communal and comfy. I got filter coffee (as discussed, this is a rarity in Paris) which was good and one of the brunch options which was amazing. Let me paint this picture for you: pancake topped with fried egg topped with pancake topped with another fried egg, finished off with bacon, bourbon butter, and maple syrup. However good you think that could have been, it was better.
After we rolled ourselves out of the café, we strolled along Canal St. Martin, and yes, it was still beautiful and sunny. My friend broke off for the metro to make his flight back to Florence, but Katja and I made our way back to the 6th on foot, which might have seemed like a long walk on a day that wasn’t so nice. By the time we made it to the Seine we had to take off some of the layers Paris weather requires people to wear, and rounded out the walk with a very suggestive bonjour from a gendarme parked near the sidewalk.
Then I went back to the apartment and took a nap.
The week went by quickly, regular school and the start of midterms kept me occupied until my parents got to Paris on Thursday.
Since this is getting to be a pretty long recollection, I’ll leave you on that cliffhanger and post again soon to finish up the epic tale of my time on hiatus.
À bientôt!
Women Laughing Alone 