I spent the weekend in Paris! To start off this post, I think we have to go back to Thursday night, because I saw Ralph Fiennes in the Tempest! It was okay, not really anything to write home about (and yet I am blogging about it?).  I got back from the show and still had to pack, but when am I ever packed ahead of time?  So on Friday morning, I got up exorbitantly early and got myself to the train station.  I slept the whole way to Paris, and so all of a sudden I woke up in a different country/time zone.

 Once I got there, Lillie and I met up at the train station.  We dropped my stuff off at her apartment, then went to grab a quick lunch and pick up the kids she au peres for.  On the way, we passed the Eiffel Tower, hence the picture to the left! The kids were absolutely adorable, and I felt really stupid because I could barely understand their french.  It made me sympathize with all my past au peres and their friends, because the kids just jabber away in their native language until all you can do is smile and nod.  After playing in the park, Lillie cooked dinner for the kids (and thus for me too).  Around 9, I left to go find Julien’s apartment, where I would actually be staying for the week.  I got there without too much trouble, but on Saturday, I had a slight issue.  I was supposed to meet Lillie for brunch.  When I tried to leave the apartment in the morning to go meet her, I found I could not open the door, no matter what I tried.  So of course, I pulled a little too hard on the door handle and landed flat on my butt with the handle in my hands.  Luckily, the handle is not the way to open the door, so when Julien got home, he wasn’t too mad.

 

Then Chris got to Julien’s apartment and we went to go meet Lillie at Hotel de Ville.We went to Ile St. Louis, and had a wonderful dinner of crepes.  We walked to Notre Dame, and then continued on to the Eiffel Tower, where we sat and drank wine and talked, watching it light up and sparkle at us.  Funny story: I really had to pee, but the public bathrooms were closed.  I asked the security guard if there was somewhere for me to pee, and he pointed me toward the bushes.  So I have now peed in the bushes at the base of the Eiffel Tower.  Anyway, we had a lovely time just chatting there, and it was beautiful, as you can hopefully see from this lovely picture.

 

On Sunday, we packed as much as possible into one day.  We started at the Bastille Market, where we had baguette and raw oysters for breakfast.  We also found THE MOST AMAZING JUICE ever.  It was truly a revelation in the world of juice.  Then we went to Saint Chapelle, and looked at the beautiful stained glass for quite a long time, trying to figure out the story of each panel.  From there, we found a phenomenal statue of Moliere that can a traffic cone for a hat and was holding a light saber.  Next, we hit the big sights of Monmartre.  We did the Dali Museum first, and it was absolutely AMAZING.  I loved the sculptures there, and we all found things we loved.  Then we took a quick walk through Sacre Coeur.  To finish off, we went to the Moulin Rouge!  It is in the middle of all the sex shops ever.  It was unbelievably seedy.

That night, I got to have the two foods I really wanted to have while I was in Paris.  I got escargot and a kir royal.  This dinner was beyond incredible.  It was the best meal I have had in quite some time, and the escargot were totally perfect.  Then on Monday, we went to L’Arc de Triomphe, and walked down the Champs d’Elysees.  Then Chris and I said goodbye to Lillie and went to the Pantheon.  It was really cool! We saw the graves of famous dead people!

So that was my trip to Paris, in a nutshell. Food, fun, and friends.