Thursday, March 1
Her flight got in around 11 a.m., so I went to French class in the morning and then left immediately after to go meet her at the airport. I had to take RER B to Charles de Gaulle and then get on a little airport shuttle bus to take me to the terminal her flight arrived at. But once I got there, there she was waiting! Yay Mommy!!
She already had her bags so we just withdrew some euro cash from the ATM and then made our way back into Paris. Her hotel (called Au Palais de Chaillot Hotel) was in the 16th, very close to me, which was her goal, and it was easily accessible off Trocadéro, one of my Métro stops (I've recently discovered that Rue de la Pompe on line 9 is actually even closer, so I rarely use Trocadéro anymore, but I can still walk from it if I want). So after much carrying of heavy suitcases up many flights of stairs (poor tired Mommy!), we got to her hotel.
I had originally been thinking I'd still go to my history field trip for that day, which began at 2:30 and would end at 5, but by the time we got to the hotel it was 2 and I'd have to dash off. I decided to skip it and spend the rest of the day with her. In hindsight, still a good decision, because I got to spend time with Mommy, but that visit was kind of important on the midterm and my presence would have helped my grade there. But oh well!
So we walked down to this café right in Place du Trocadéro, called Le Malakoff, and since it was a sunny day (still chilly though) there were lots of people sitting outside and we sat outside too. We had croque monsieurs, that ever-typical Parisian café food ;)
After that, we walked quite literally across the street to the Palais de Chaillot which leads up to the Eiffel Tower. It's just such an amazing view when you step out onto that platform lined with gold statues and the tower is right there before you! Even though I'd been using Trocadéro as my stop every day so I'd seen that area so many times before, I'd never gone over there, or even that close to the Eiffel Tower, before, so that was my first time doing that, and when Mom and Dad were in Paris a couple years ago they came from the Champs de Mars direction so she hadn't been this way either. Needless to say, it was wonderful!
So we walked along the little path until we got to the tower, and then we decided spur-of-the-moment to join the line for walking up the stairs of the tower, since it was short, and we did that. How tiring!! Climbing all those stairs is hard work, and we only went to the first level you can climb to! And it was so windy and cold once we finally did get up there, but it was so cool to be there. They have all these displays on how the tower works and its history which were cool to see. I contemplated sending postcards from the post office there but didn't in the end. We could have climbed to the next level from there but we were tired and we knew it would be even colder up there so we just went back down.
Once down, we wandered around the Champs de Mars for a bit looking for a close Métro stop (there really isn't one, which is a problem they need to fix. The "closest" stops are both not exactly adjacent to the tower and require searching to find) and in the end just walked back to Trocadéro station and used that to go to the Latin Quarter, since I wanted to look for some books I wanted and so we went to Gibert Jeune's papeterie and then upper levels searching for a bit (I found one thing but not the others). After that we wanted to sit down somewhere, so I took her to Creperie de Cluny, my favorite little crepe-based Breton-style restaurant, ahh, such cozy booths there. We had ice cream and hot chocolate. It was around 6 by that point and she was tired so I wrote her some directions so she could get home from there and then stayed myself finishing my Japanese homework, then (before a brief stop at Joseph Gibert to search for the other book, which I found! Haruki Murakami's Le passage de la nuit, French translation of an originally Japanese book [English translation not out yet], to test my French reading skills) went to Japanese class (at 7:15) and then home to bed after that.
Friday, March 2
This day was completely filled with a whirlwind sightseeing tour of Paris! It was crazy, we did so much, and much of it was a review for Mom, but some things were new for both of us and it was really fun.
I met Mom by her hotel at 8 a.m., I believe, so we could have breakfast together. We found a café close by and had the typical French breakfast, coffee and a croissant. It was the first time I'd sat down and done that and it was really fun. After that we hopped on the Métro and rode the 2 straight to Sacré Coeur, where neither of us had been yet. We walked up the side roads and got to the base of la Butte, the big hill the basilica is on. It was still early so there weren't many other people there yet and we began the climb up the hill. It was indeed a lot of steps but so worth it to see the increasingly amazing views of the city before you as you do it. We tried to find the Eiffel Tower and the 16th, but realized they're on the other side of the city you see from the steps, and they weren't there.
We made it to the top and went inside the church. Very peaceful and nicely decorated indeed, but still can't top my favorite St Etienne du Mont! By the time we got back outside, there were many more people there and at the bottom were these skeevy-looking African guys just starting to set up their scamming. We watched the police come chase one group of them off, which was entertaining. I was also highly interested by the presence of a "Funiculaire" (funicular) operated by Paris's public transportation that takes visitors who don't want to/can't climb the steps up the Butte. But it was broken and in the process of repair. I would have really liked to ride it! Those things are so fun!
From there we set out to explore Montmartre, as neither of us had really been there before. I wanted to find the artists' areas and other things like that, but we didn't exactly come prepared. We had some guidebooks and maps, sure, and tried to figure things out from that, but it would have been better if I had known exactly where the things I wanted to go to were. The road we took just led us down this really long market street, and supposedly passed by this Athens place that the guidebook said was really cool, but we barely noticed it. Seeing the markets and such was cool though, but before we knew it we were at the back of Notre Dame de Lorette, the church that just happens to be right across from where my Japanese classes are! We had reached that part of Montmartre without even trying!! It was kind of hilarious how that happened completely by accident.
From there we set out to find these covered passageway things mentioned in the guidebook that sounded really cool to me, and we did find them. They're simply covered pathways lined with shops on the inside, shops selling antique-style toys, cute knickknacks, art, stuff like that. We went into one of the old toy stores and it was pretty cute there. It's also where the wax museum is. We emerged onto the other side and decided we were done with Montmartre and it was time to go somewhere else. So we hopped on the Métro and went over to the Latin Quarter so I could show Mom Shakespeare & Company.
When we got there, however, it was closed, since it wasn't noon yet. So we walked across the street to Notre Dame, just looking at the exterior, and then crossed over to the island next to the island Notre Dame is on (Ile de la Cité), called Ile Saint Louis, since neither of us had been there and wanted to explore it. It's a very cute, quiet mostly residential area, lots of apartments and shops. We were looking for a café to have lunch in, though, and found literally NONE. We had to walk all the way to the other end, the Rive Droite, to find something. (There are many restaurants but they all looked really expensive!) We found a nice-looking café and had lunch there. I should mention that I wasn't feeling very good at all at this point, and didn't really know what to do. Fortunately, after getting some food in me, I pretty much perked back up. I had a salad with hard-boiled eggs in it, another café staple. It was a nice simple little meal.
Then we walked back through Ile Saint Louis so we could get gelato ice cream at "one of the best places for ice cream in Paris," Berthillon (I'm pretty sure it was that one and not one of the others, but I'm not positive). I picked cherry which didn't thrill me, however, but oh well, other flavors might be better.
Shakespeare & Company was open after that, so we crossed the river and went there next. Of course, it was great, and we explored around there for a bit.
The cat was there! Kitty!
Then we went deeper into the Latin Quarter to go to the Panthéon and St-Etienne-du-Mont close by. We went over to St-Etienne first, but it was closed and wouldn't open until 2:30 or so, so we just did the Panthéon first. You have to pay to get into the Panthéon, but it was so worth it. We saw the Foucault pendulum (so cool!), all the cool paintings and statues around the interior, and then went down into the crypts. That was the coolest part! I didn't know all those people were buried there! Like Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola, Victor Hugo, Pierre & Marie Curie (who both Mom and I had learned about in school so it was so cool to see their tombs), etc etc. Just amazing.
Mommy inside the Panthéon
After that we went over to St-Etienne-du-Mont, which was open, and I had been hoping and hoping the organ would be playing like it was on the first time I went there for our history visit, and at first it wasn't, but then it started! It wasn't the same cool moving music I'd heard before, but it was still the organ, and it just sounded awesome. Church organs are so cool, I've decided. I love that church!
From there we wandered a little and found ourselves close to the Luxembourg gardens, so we got a raspberry tart and Orangina from a nice pastry shop across the street and then went into the gardens and sat outside the fountain pool where the kids can push boats around and had a snack. It was so lovely, if windy, and the tart was delicious. yum yum yum
We hopped on the RER from there and rode it one stop to the Musée d'Orsay stop and did that. Mom had loved that museum when she was here before so she was perfectly content to be left on the fifth floor with the Impressionist paintings and wander. I went in search of the Steinlen cat paintings (including the famous "Chat Noir" print) that are SUPPOSEDLY here according to the gift shop, so I must have traversed that entire museum from top to bottom, front to back, and not found a single thing. I did discover that the graphic art section is currently down to host a special exhibition, and they may be in the graphic art section. I don't know. I really want to see those paintings, though, and I have no idea where they are!!
I also saw Olympia, which I missed on my first time somehow, which was cool since I wrote a Manet paper for my French class spring of sophomore year.
After that we walked over to the Louvre. It was starting to drizzle a little but nothing too bad. Once we got to the Louvre I could get Mom in free with my card, so that was nice. Before we saw the art we took a break and had dinner in the Carrousel du Louvre food court, the Italian place, and I have since realized that all those places serve terrible overpriced food so I don't recommend anyone to eat there, ever.
Then we wandered the Louvre, seeing the three big things again and then the Napoléon III apartments, and after that we were pretty exhausted (we did a lot that day!!!) so we headed home then.
Saturday, March 3
On Saturday we had our day trip to Brittany, so we got up early to go to the Gare Montparnasse and catch our 7:05 TGV train to Rennes. I was excited about the TGV, since it's France's equivalent of the Japanese shinkansen bullet trains, but somehow it just wasn't as cool as that, I don't know how. The seats were more cramped than I'd expected, for one. But we had our train food, pastries and water/orange juice, and it's always fun to eat on a long train ride.
When we got to Rennes, our driver was waiting for us. I'd arranged one of those tours you can do (Westcapades), and although it wasn't private, it was the off-season so we were the only ones there. Our driver, Marc, gave us a bunch of information about Brittany and talked to us about the region and the cities we were going to on the drive, then dropped us off at the first town, Dinan, this cute little once-medieval town with a beautiful small harbor at its base. We climbed up the cobblestone steps and found this adorable--yet still alive, unlike Provins--town, which it was so fun to explore. We just wandered all over, seeing churches and shops and all sorts of things. Then we went to the wall and looked out over the harbor below us, what a great view!
Mommy and I at the harbor below the town
Climbing the road up to the town
We met Marc at the tourist office and from there he took us to Saint-Malo, another once-medieval walled city situated right on the Brittany coast, called the Emerald Coast. It's a popular tourist spot for British people, since it's so close, and because the region of Brittany is closely connected to Britain with Celtic roots anyway (I think it's so cool!). So we had lunch there, galettes and cider yummm, and then walked all around the top of the wall surrounding the city.
People had written stuff in the sand...
As you can see, we had beautiful views of the beach below us, if we'd had more time it would have been fun to walk down there. But we had to go back and meet Marc so he could take us to...
Le Mont Saint-Michel!! Actually, after the other two towns, this one was almost a letdown even though it was our goal in taking this trip. It is just so crowded and touristy! It's still really cool, but wooww, full of people. We pulled up to a parking lot already filled with other tourist buses, bunches of Asian tourists milling about, just insanity. Climbing up to the entrance to the monastery was insane. Then of course it was fairly expensive to get in. It was pretty cool to see, especially all the old special rooms and the ancient machinery they used to use, but both of us kind of felt that the other towns had been even better. Of course, it is pretty awesome that they probably used Le Mont Saint-Michel as a base for designing the city of Minas Tirith in the Lord of the Rings movies!
After we finished the tour of the monastery we had some time so we explored the areas around there, there's a cemetery and some benches that you can look out over the streets at the base, and we sat on one and ate the fudge we'd gotten in Dinan. yummm. Finally we braved the crowds at the bottom again to get gifts to give to my host family. We got a bottle of cider and Mere Poulard cookie things. As we were leaving, we found our way blocked--by a parade!! Since we arrived we'd seen people dressed up in strange costumes that looked like medieval graduation gowns in various colors, but had no idea what they were doing there. Turns out there was some sort of convention at the monastery that night, and they were all gathering there, so they had a parade up the hill. There were bagpipe players, each group carrying its banner (with names like "The Brotherhood of the Rose" hahaha) and wearing its special colors. I have no idea what those things were all about but it was highly entertaining!
After that was over we could get out, so we met our driver (we had to schedule our depart before the tides came in, of course!) and he took us back to the Rennes train station, where we caught our TGV back to Paris and went, exhausted, to bed.
Sunday, March 4
We set out around 8:30 or so to Versailles, and it was a lovely day. We took RER C there and got to sit on the second floor of a double-decker train, which was awesome. Once we got to the station it wasn't hard at all to find Versailles (just follow the crowds) and after some confusion we got in the line to get in. It turns out, Versailles was free that day! Because it was the first Sunday of the month. So we'd been trying to buy tickets when it turns out it was just free! Awesome. We were there early so the line hadn't gotten too long yet, and we could go in soon. We saw everything: the chapel, the Opera, the King and Queen's apartments, the mythology-themed salons, the War and Peace rooms, and even the Hall of Mirrors (though it was scaffolded and thus robbed of its beauty and I was disappointed).
I saw the Japanese tourists doing it and had to do it for myself!
We also signed up for a tour to see the parts of the castle that aren't available on the normal tour, and went off to explore the gardens in the meantime, which were, of course, beautiful, although the statues along the path were still covered up with tarps for the winter. We walked down to where the little restaurants are on the right and had lunch in the less expensive one, which still turned out to be delicious. But then again, I got chicken nuggets and fries like a 10 year old ;)
From there we walked to the Grand Trianon, the little mini-castle the royals built to escape to, and it was amazingggg. I love the furniture in all of those rooms, each room had a different color stuffing and it was so pretty and cute. Then we walked to the Petit Trianon, Marie-Antoinette's little house, and explored the gardens by that house and Marie-Antoinette's "hamlet" she had built so she could pretend to be a shepherdess with her friends (it was in fashion at the time). It was all so cool to see!
Trianon gardens
Marie-Antoinette's hamlet
Ducks!
When we'd done all that, though, it was nearing the time of our tour of the extra apartments, so we had to take the little tram thing back to the main castle, which was kinda fun. Then we couldn't find where we were meeting our tour, but eventually we found them just as it was starting, so that was good. I'm so glad we went on that tour because we learned so much about Louis XV and XVI which I wouldn't have known as well otherwise (information that turned out very useful for my History of Paris and art history classes!). We saw the room where Mozart performed, a bathroom (!! yes! They never show you those, so I was happy to see one. I think it's because they're mostly in states of disrepair), and other really cool "secret" things. After the tour was over, we took a few photos outside of the chateau...
...but then we were pretty much done with Versailles (we were tireddd) so we got back on the train to return to Paris.
We'd wanted to go to the Musée Rodin and the Invalides after that, but we didn't check the closing times and both of them were closing as we arrived so we did neither (we did walk around the Invalides though). We also walked around the area in front of the Invalides, the "bridge with all the golden statues" as Mom told me she and Dad referred to it hahaha. We were pretty exhausted though, feet definitely tired, but we still had some time before dinner (it was like 5) so when Mom asked me what I wanted to do next I said "...go get some ice cream." So we did.
We went back to Le Malakoff at the Place du Trocadéro, since I'd seen a lot of dessert-type things on people's tables the last time I was there and figured the sweets had to be good there. I was NOT wrong :) We both got 2 scoops of ice cream, different flavors, and it was heavenly. I got vanilla and caramel and finally understood the meaning of the term "French vanilla." Deliciousssssss... oh, it was simply amazing. yum yum
From there, we stopped off to drop off some things at Mom's hotel and then went over early to my house so we could pack up some things for me. Mom had brought a suitcase full of summer-weather clothes of mine and we were going to exchange them for some winter-weather clothes I would (hopefully) not need anymore. So once she got there she was introduced to my family and I explained to them why we were there early and then we were left alone to pack things up. Isis, the cat, came in shortly, as expected, and Mom loved her. Of course, she is a wonderful R.C.-resembling cat.
Around 8, it was dinnertime. Now, I had prepared my mom for what was going to happen by telling her what always happened when I had dinner with them. But they completely blew me away by having a FANCY FORMAL dinner for her!! They really pulled out all the stops, I was amazed! First, we had a little pre-dinner glass of wine + sausage and chatted. Then, we moved, not into the kitchen like always, but THE OFFICE SLASH DINING ROOM APPARENTLY, where I have never seen anyone eat ever!! It was insane!! My whole family was there, kids too, and we had a really nice, fancy meal. Like different from all the normal meals, with different plates for the cheese and the dessert and everything. It was so, so crazy. They also made the potato gratin dish that I really liked one time, way nice of them. Then coffee after dinner. WHAT WAS UP WITH THIS FANCINESS! :O It was such a really nice sign of like, respect for Mom, which they totally did not have to do.
After she left, my host mom came by and told me she was "charming" and "nice." yay!!! Of course, there were bits of awkwardness, because the conversation had to be basically in English, which not everyone can speak all that well, but whatever. Overall, it went so much better than I had even expected. woooooo! I was happy, I hope Mom had a good time too.
And like... I think it actually made things better with my host family. I learned so many things about them I didn't know. Like right after she left, my host brother came into my room to ask me a question about something, which he had NEVER done before!
Monday, March 5
Disneyland daaaayyy! Okay, I should have had school that day. I actually had a literature midterm then too, but I had gotten an extension (miraculously, considering the orneriness of my teacher for that class) so I could skip everything. We met in the morning as usual and took the 6 to Charles de Gaulle-Etoile where we caught the RER A for Paris Disneyland! Now, Mom is a huge fan of everything Disney, so she was very excited about this, and I was eager to see what changes they'd make after having been to Tokyo Disneyland and both of the U.S. parks. The train ride out was pretty long, but we got there around 9:30 and the front gate wasn't open yet. I'd bought our tickets online (30 euros each with the Paris resident+offseason discount, yeaaah!) so we didn't have to do that, we just joined a line for the gate. They opened it around 9:45 and did that thing where you can go in and stand at the entrance for a particular section of the park until it "officially" opens at 10. I'd read that their Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is one of the best and thus most popular things there, so once they let us in we made our way over to Adventureland quickly and were one of the first behind the rope.
After some more waiting, they let the ropes fall and we could enter the rest of the park. We ran--literally ran, and we weren't alone!--for the Big Thunder queue entrance. It was so fun to walk freely up a queue instead of waiting in it! So I believe we were on the second, if not the first, train of the day for that. And everyone was right, it really is the best version of the ride. It takes you out onto its own little island where the ride happens, which is so cool! The way Paris Disneyland is set up is so different; Haunted Mansion is re-themed to fit in with Adventureland, for example. In fact, after we finished Big Thunder, we did Haunted Mansion next. The exterior looks completely different! I couldn't get over it. It was also a really nice redoing of the ride. So cool!
From there, we got a Fastpass for Peter Pan in Fantasyland, then went over to Tomorrowland to do Space Mountain, which was COMPLETELY different. It had upside down spirals! It was so intense and fast-paced, neither of us were expecting any of it! We got off the ride like "What WAS that?!" It was like no Space Mountain we'd ever ridden before, haha. But fun--glad we didn't do it AFTER lunch, though ;)
Right before lunch we rode Peter Pan (pretty much the same except the boats have 2 rows of seats) and that put us right in Fantasyland where the restaurant I'd made lunch reservations at, L'auberge de Cendrillon (Cinderella's Inn), was. Lunch was delicious! Both of us decided we wanted to splurge on lunch at a Disney park, because usually we go to the more budget-priced pizza/burger type places, so this time we went to one of the nicest restaurants in the park. Unfortunately, we were kind of seated in the middle of this room filled with families, which meant bored, restless kids jumping around in their seats, running around the entire restaurant, and generally being distracting. The food was wonderful but that was one thing that almost ruined everything; we were continually being distracted by the presence of all these kids. And what's the point of taking your kids to a nice place like this, anyway? Yes, the Cinderella theming is kid-oriented. But your kids would be just as happy at one of the pizza/burger places, you know! I think there should be "adult" seating and "family" seating, and that would be an ideal solution to this problem. Hmph.
But back to the food, cause it was amazing. First there was an appetizer buffet, which was delicious. The food here was all "French" so that was what everything was. Then we chose our main courses, and both of us got the steak plate, and then a dessert buffet (only I got the special Cinderella's slipper dessert, where they make a slipper out of white chocolate and fill it with chocolate cream and add other yummy things). It was soooo gooooood :)
Me outside the restaurant
With the food
Cinderella slipper!
By the carriage!
After lunch, we did things like exploring Sleeping Beauty castle (and seeing the DRAGON underneath!!! Yeah that's right, it was awesome)...
Sleeping Beauty castle
Dragon! roarrr
...Pirates of the Caribbean (inside a CASTLE building!!), Swiss Family treehouse, Alice in Wonderland maze...
...it's a small world, etc etc. Just wandering, it was really cool. The whole park is beaauuuutiful; it rivals DisneySea for park beauty. The castle is amazing too, the landscaping around the side is so cool: square trees!
We ran out of things to do around 5 or so though, and the park closed at 6 that day, so we just went home after that. I had to study for the two midterms I had the next day so I was fine with that. Of course, once I got home (around 7) I got into bed to take a nap, get up around midnight or so, and do some studying (not setting an alarm, thinking I'd wake up on my own)... and promptly woke up at 7 a.m. the next day!! Oh no!
Tuesday, March 6
So I decided I was going to skip French class and study for the midterms, literature and History of Paris. So I went to school and took those tests, and then met Mommy around 3:45 outside the IES center, which she had found successfully all on her own! She saw the inside of the school and all that and met a few of my friends who happened to be passing through, then we walked towards Denfert-Rochereau station to go visit the catacombs. First, though, we stopped off at the Monoprix on the corner and got a present for Bekah and Dad (Easter bunny chocolate). This turned out to be a mistake because the catacombs close at 4!! They were right across the street, we walked over but the guy wouldn't let us in because they'd just closed! It was 4:10! ooooh, so frustrating.
We didn't really have anything planned for if that hadn't worked out, so we went to the Latin Quarter so I could see if the restaurant where I'd eaten duck at that one time was still serving duck (so she could try it), but they'd changed the menu, and I didn't know where else duck would be served there, and she said she wasn't that hungry anyway, so we just went home, making plans to meet up the next morning right before her taxi came to get her.
Wednesday, March 7
In the morning before school I walked over to Mom's hotel, gave her back her camera, and waited with her until the taxi came to get her, and saw her off. It was another tearful goodbye, really sad... but this was a good halfway point between my time here, and after another 2 months I'll see her again. Still, I miss you Mommy! I had so much fun with you, thank you for visiting me! :)
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