Wednesday, March 21
Kathryn and two of her friends, Lindsay and Ashley (also her flatmates, both also studying abroad in Florence with her) arrived in Paris from Barcelona and I went to meet them at their hotel after I got done with classes, around 4:30 or 5. Kathryn and I chatted in the lobby of their hotel while her friends finished their naps, and once everyone was down we set out to get in some sightseeing. It was dinnertime, so we rode the Métro (apparently, Florence is done by foot, with no need of a Métro, so I kinda had to show them how to do it!) over to the Saint-Michel area (when we emerged from the train, I made sure to take the Notre Dame exit so there it would be right in front of them!) and I took them to my favorite little restaurant in the Latin Quarter, Creperie de Cluny. We got the 8-euro meal where you get a galette of your choice, a dessert (crepes or ice cream) and cider. PRETTY MUCH AMAZING. Mmmm galettes are sooo goood. We all got the egg/cheese/ham one (une galette complète). I had coffee ice cream for dessert. And of course Breton cider is just great (me: "Now, this is alcoholic cider." Lindsay: "Good, I need a little something to take the edge off!"). I like Brittany a lot, I think, I'm so glad I got to visit it when my mom was here. Everyone loved the food and was so glad I was there to show them this place so they didn't just end up at some random cafe/McDonald's! Haha.
From there we walked to Shakespeare & Company, which everyone loved of course. yay Shakespeare & Company. Then we tried to go to Notre Dame, but it closes at 6:45 and they asked us for tickets at the door! I was so surprised. "On a besoin de billets?!" "Bien sûr!" hahah. But they did see the exterior and I think they got to it on Friday. So we just went ahead and started walking to the Louvre, which is open late on Wednesdays. That's normally a fairly nice walk (you pass by the flower shops and pet stores), but it had gotten dark so it was mostly windy and cold. Still fine, though, and we walked along the Seine and everything.
When we got to the Louvre Kathryn's friends bought tickets (I could get Kathryn in free, though, with my pass, so she didn't have to!) and we headed right for (of course) the Denon wing, where the three big works of art are located. We took the back way to the Mona Lisa (kind of by accident!) so that was the first thing we hit up. Then Winged Victory, then Vénus de Milo (still in her own special room due to the renovations going in in her usual home). Then, the eternal quandary for tourists: what to do after you have seen all these? WHERE TO GO NEXT?? oh, what to do. After checking out some of the nearby paintings (I finally located "Madonna on the Rocks"! Of Da Vinci Code fame, haha. You know... Mary's hands DO look like scary claws in it!), we walked out through the Egyptian section (I missed showing them the CAT MUMMIES, but I did show them the menu board hee), saw the crown jewels in the room off Vénus de Milo's and then headed for the Napoléon III apartments. Still hilariously over-gilded and just so ostentatiously awesome. All the objets d'art in that section are really cool, too. I think I'm a huge sucker for old royal artifacts. I loved Versailles and that is probably why. I need to go to many more châteaux!
After that, the museum was closing down, so we tried to get out--but we couldn't! No seriously. The direct-to-Métro exit was closed off for some reason (I guess it was too late), so were two other ones. Finally we got out and I had no idea where the outside Métro entrance was! But we found it... and then I tried to enter the turnstile and my ticket wouldn't work. What? It was so weird. But I think that's what screwed up my ticket for the next few days. Some other weird stuff was happening, other people couldn't get in either. Very strange. But we all crawled under the turnstiles in the end (the others didn't even have tickets cause we went in via an entrance that didn't pass a ticket window) and made it home.
Thursday, March 22
On Thursday I went to translation and then met up with Kathryn and her friends in Montmartre afterwards, around 11:30. I had gotten directions from Clay on how to go to the Amélie cafe so I took them there for breakfast/lunch. It was AMAZINGGGGG. They filmed the cafe scenes in Amelie in this cafe, Les 2 Moulins (right up the street from the Moulin Rouge, which we passed on the way, my first time for that!), and now it is a mini tourist spot--as evidenced by the huge group of Japanese tourists I saw right when we walked in, haha.
We all got the brunch set, which was AWESOME. It came with their excellent fresh-squeezed orange juice, a hot beverage of choice (we all got hot chocolate), scrambled eggs, sausage, a strip of "bacon," a salad, carrot coleslaw, and fries. SO. GOOD. Then for dessert--crème brulée!! amazingggg. 13.90 euros but soooo worth it. :D We loved it.
Kathryn and I in front of the café's Amélie poster.
From there we walked to Sacré Coeur, passing through Pigalle, the red-light district!! It's pretty hilarious there. Sex shops and strip clubs lining the street... I can only imagine what it looks like at night, not that I would ever go then! Now I have walked through two cities' red-light districts in the daytime (did Tokyo's Kabuki-cho that way too), how exciting for me. Of course when we got to Sacré Coeur, there were the African guys staking out every possible way of going up the steps trying to entice people to make a bracelet with them. I hate this stupid scam, and I couldn't believe people were actually doing it. They have strings and they bother you as you walk past, asking you if you want to make a bracelet. So they weave it with you for about 5 minutes, then when it is done they say "Okay, here you go. 5 euros, please." OH, WHAT?! 5 euros for a crappy bracelet??? no way. So I couldn't BELIEVE the amount of clueless people I saw actually making the bracelets with them. Ridiculous. Of course, when we tried to go past them, one guy followed us, heckling one of Kathryn's friends. I finally shouted "Arrêtez!!" but it's not like it actually chastised him, though he did stop. Ugh. I will probably never go to Sacré Coeur again while I am here because of that. Then outside the church, the gypsies dressed up as Muslim women begging! I see right through all your schemes. grrrr
The view was amazing once you climb the steps, though, as it always is, and we took pictures. :)
Then we walked inside the church and back down the steps. For some reason, one of Kathryn's friends wanted to see the opera house, so we went to Opéra and... checked that out. Seriously, all we did was walk around the outside--you can go inside and see some gold stuff or other, but it costs money. I did discover that's where the Galeries de Lafayette are, though, which I didn't know. I don't really know why she wanted to go there, it is just a big fancy opera house, but, y'know, whatever! [Later I found out it's the home of the Phantom of the Opera! I never knew that took place in Paris! cooooollllll!] From there, we Métro'd over to the Champs Elysées and walked up it to the Arc de Triomphe. I had never actually gone up to it before, but there is a very convenient underground passage that takes you beneath the traffic. It is pretty huge when you're standing right under it!!
From there we walked to the Eiffel Tower (going through the 16th, my HOOD), and I made sure to take us the way that I am convinced is the best way to walk up to the Eiffel Tower: through the Palais de Chaillot. You walk up some steps and suddenly you are out onto this wide platform lined with golden statues and the tower before you and it is breathtaking. They were all just "Oh, my god!" because, yeah, THERE IT IS just being its awesome Eiffel Tower self. Plus, there's a very nice place along the way to stop and take pictures, which we did (my first time! I probably needed pictures like that anyway, though).
And a crow for Bekah.
Then we walked the whole length of the Champ de Mars in order to get to an area that would sell us some bread, cheese, and wine, so we could walk all the way back and eat it while looking at the tower (Kathryn's idea). They really need booths selling that in the park so you don't have to walk foreverrr in order to do it (Kathryn told me I should open one, haha)... but yeah, we did it, and I got Boursin garlic cheese which everyone loved. The bread, being simply from Franprix, kinda sucked, but they didn't know any better actually (gasp!! How can people not recognize what is and isn't good bread! I am shocked).
After that I had to go to Japanese class (we have a new teacher but Satoko was so awesome she can't possibly replace her!), and then I met them at their hotel on my way home (where they were staying was actually on my way home from Japanese class, because both are in Montmartre). I could only chat for a short time because I had to go home and back, but I gave them directions on how to go to Versailles (their plan for the next day) and said goodbye. It wasn't too sad though cause I'll see them in 2 weeks when I get to Florence. They said they'd show me around, and my hostel is just down the street from their apartment, so it's gonna be nice :) A very nice couple of days showing them around, and seeing Kathryn who I hadn't seen since January was wonderful!!
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