Weekend in Paris!
Friday:
Tori, Liz, and I woke up Friday veeerryyy early after staying up quite late. We had about three hours of sleep. (Tori maybe less because she went out with a cute friend of her sisters --- gettt itttt).We made it in plenty of time to the train station for our journey. We grabbed some coffee/diet coke and a pastry. I fell asleep for half of the train trip, but Team Argentine (a group of high schoolers from Argentina - our nickname for them) was being too freakin' loud and quite annoying. We booked our Paris trip through a tour company so that we could bundle the train trip, a guided tour, and the hotel stay all together. It was a great deal!
When we got to Paris, we all boarded a coach and had a tour of the city. It highlighted most of the major touristy points and gave us a good, general overview of what we could see and do. We stopped as a group and split up to have lunch/look around. We had our first experience with speaking French to someone who knew no English. We ordered baguettes and were so unsure of ourselves that we didn't even get anything to drink. Bahah. Liz marched up to the menu board and pointed to what she wanted. Ha. I guess that works, too :)
We then got back on the coach and unfortunately, sat next to these two girls. One of them had on winter tights (idiot) and ballet flats. She slipped off her ballet flats and for a minute or two, Liz and I tried to figure out what had died on the bus. We literally had to cover our noses and breathe through our mouths to make it through the rest of the ride to the hotel. Lucky Tori had a cold so she couldn't figure out what the big deal was. I swear, I have never smelled feet that foul in my life. Eww.
Soooooo...we got to the hotel and discovered that they had put Tori in a room by herself...gay! The hotel was nice enough. No Ritz Carlton, but better than Motel 6. There was not much around it since it was in the business district, but was only a short Metro ride a way from the big attractions in Paris. We tried to take a 30 minute nap, but there was construction presumably in the rooms right above us. To no avail, I tried beating a wooden coat hanger on the ceiling but got no response. They kept right on beating above me. Anyway, we freshened up a bit (wasn't worth it because we still looked pretty rank) and met downstairs with the tour guide for a walking tour. We went to the Montmartre district and saw Moulin Rouge (rather unexciting from the outside), the last operating winery in Paris, and generally just strolled around the famous area. It was great! We ended the tour at Sacre Coure Church, which was absolutely beautiful. It is the most "homey" church that we have seen so far. Sacre Coure is situated on a very high point in Paris and has one of the most beautiful views of the city. Tons of tourists were hanging around and there were a few bands playing. There were even Brazilian guys with no shirts (and mighty fine bodies) doing dances and acrobatics for a large crowd.
Okay, I must tell you...our tour guide pretty much sucked. He read from note cards for our tour and even smoked during it. We have been spoiled by Russell and this guy just didn't even compare. I think he needs to keep his day-job. ALSO, there were these three guys from Australia who were on the same tour. They weren't cute, but one of them wouldn't be too terrible if he didn't have the most jacked up teeth I've ever come across. I am not kidding. They basically looked like all of them had gotten very confused and crossed each others paths and stuck there. I think some teeth were even doubled up in one place. It was heinous. He kept flirting with us and we all just cringed at that grill of his. Hahahaha..
Last, the tour guide showed as all a really great cafe/pub where we had dinner and cocktails. It was yummy! We sat with jacked-up teeth boy and his friends and an old man with a lisp. Quite interesting, I tell you.. After that, we went back to the hotel and rested up for Saturday.
We got up pretty early and had some delicious chocolate croissants. They were to die for. We left for Versailles and felt proud of ourselves because we THOUGHT we knew how to get there. Wrong. Everything was in French and we just couldn't figure out what train to get on. Luckily, we overheard a Middle Eastern lady ask someone if they knew how to get to Versailles. We heard them say that they were going there to and that they thought they knew the way. We decided it was best to just follow "the lady in the pink shirt" as well :) We got there a little over an hour later. Versailles is HUGE! I didn't realize how big it was. We waited in the queue for about 45 minutes and luckily, the weather cooperated because it wasn't too hot and didn't rain. We finally got tickets and walked through the King's Chamber, The Queen's Chamber, and the Hall of Mirrors. They were definitely a sight to see. Absolutely stunning. Every "nook and cranny" had intricate, immaculate detail. The ceilings were all painted (Josh laughed at me for not knowing what its called-- but I still don't know) with motifs of angels and such. I loved looking from floor to ceiling in every single room. All of the rooms were different colors and were just amazing. I can't say enough. The Hall of Mirrors was wonderful, as well. You know I liked the mirror part..Bahahaha. Again, my eyes were just stimulated from wall to wall with paintings, statues, lights, mirrors, etc. After we finished touring inside, we went to a cafe outside near the gardens and grabbed a sandwich and a diet coke (of course).
We left Versailles and headed straight to a boat tour of the Seine River. It was so relaxing and perfect. We had great views of the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Palais, the Louvre, Hotel de Ville, La Grande Bibliotheque, Institut de France, and much, much more. The bridges over the river were all beautiful and we were able to see lots of different architecture throughout the city. Of course, Liz fell asleep. She began to bob her head and finally rested her chin on her chest. haha. Lord, help her. She is a tired girl.
After our boat cruise, we went back to the hotel and had a quick nap before we got ready to go out. I felt like being a diva, so I teased my hair and put on leopard print and heels. Good thing Liz and Tor were there to calm me down, because I might have even gone for the red lipstick. Ha. So, we had seen a great French restaurant on our way home from the cruise, so we decided to go back there for dinner. We ordered some fabulous wine and had an excellent meal with a view of the sparkling Eiffel Tower. The waiter loved us, by the way. Also, there was a table of guys behind us and as I got up to go to the loo, they handed me a business card with their names, phone number, and USA on the back. hahahaha. Nice work.
We walked from the restaurant over to the Eiffel Tower. We stopped along the way at a food store and grabbed a bottle of French champagne. Yum. We sat down in the grass under the tower and drank out of the bottle while looking up at the stars. Pure bliss. It then began to rain. Bummer. We didn't let it ruin the moment. I had an umbrella with me. Genius, right? Almost...it was actually leopard print so I had to give it over to my friends. Leopard shirt and umbrella? Definitely a faux pas, as the French would say ;) Instead, I just soaked up the rain. A few guys heard our accents as we were talking and walked over. Two were from Colorado and one from London. They had met in a hostel and were out on the prowl. Minutes later, the guys we saw at dinner walked up with champagne in hand. Greaaattt.. they guys all sat around us and chatted it up. Liz, Tori, and I got bored with them all and were feeling pretty good by this point, so we decided to pack it up and head home. We rode the metro back and climbed into bed. A decidedly PERFECT night in Paris.
Sunday:
We woke up and had more deliiissh chocolate croissants. First, we walked down the Champs Elysee and headed to the Arc de Triomphe. It is so massive! Wonderful to see up close! We walked a bit more and sat down to people watch. So very interesting, I tell you. Probably one of my favorite pasttimes.
Next, we went to Notre Dame and stood in line for just a short while. It began to rain a bit, but we made it inside before we got too wet. The cathedral was so serene and dark, and they were actually having a church service while we walked around. It was kind of strange. We felt a bit like we were imposing, but it was lovely nonetheless. After we left there, we went in 1.4 million souvenir shops looking for Parisian tea towels for Mrs. Selma, but we never found any that she would care for.
We stopped for lunch at a cute little cafe near Notre Dame. We had a plate of cheeses and sandwiches and of course, diet coke. Yum. We people watched for a bit and sat next to these obnoxious tourists. They bought those typical Parisian hats and drank tea and coffee. All the while, they were documenting it on video and were commenting on the fact that they were doing all of these "Parisian" things. Lame!
After that, we walked to Lord Rogers' first brilliant building, the Pompidou Centre. It is just like the "inside-out building", but better -- because it is all painted in primary colors so it stands out even more! We walked by the Hotel de Ville and really got to see a great area of Paris while walking around. Liz demanded that we go and find Rue LaGrange. Blah. So, we walked there -- wasn't too far from Notre Dame -- so she could take a few pictures and represent L-Greasy. By that point, it was time to head back to the hotel to grab our things and get on the coach. We rode the train back to London and slept the whole way. Needless to say, we were exhausted from the weekend, but, boy was it worth it. It was wonderful.
Monday:
Ahhhhhhhh!! Dr. Gibb has the swine flu!!!! I went into work at 10am and the clinic manager informed me that Dr. Gibb was sick with the flu. He called his GP and they discussed whether or not it was the swine flu. Since he did not have a high enough fever, they weren't completely convinced that it was swine flu, but it may very well have been. They are not doing swab tests over in the UK so it really is impossible to tell if you actually have it or not if you have the symptoms.
Anyway, I was able to leave by 12pm. I cleaned the bathroom (ew) when I got home and tried to get our room a little bit neater. Our dang washer/dryer is messed up and our clothes have been accumulating since last week. I usually wash clothes once-twice a week so its freaking me out. I am really running out of clothes. Uggghhhh. Annoying. We have been in touch with our landlord to fix the washer, our broken drawer, and the possible mouse (double ew), and he has been slow about doing anything at all.
Moving on....Liz came home around 2:30pm so she came home and went to sleep rather quickly. Ha. I, however, had some ADPi stuff to attend to, so I didn't fall asleep until later. She slept for four hours! Hahahah..she woke up and thought it was morning.
Tori, Liz, and I went to the grocery and then had dinner at home. I am beginning to eat like a real college kid to cut costs. We have had canned ravioli more than I ever thought I would...:) Oh well...It's worth it!
Tuesday:
Dr. Abbas was in for Dr. Gibb since he was sick. We had appointments all morning and I was able to leave around 4. When I got back to the flat, I piddled around a bit with Lizzie and Tori. We started to watch Marie Antionette but I began to fall asleep. Oopsie! That is what getting up too early will do to you! I don't think I'm made to get up early. I like to sleep late. All in all, Tuesday was pretty uneventful.
I will be back to fill you in on yesterday and today, but quite frankly, my hand is about to fall off and I think I may have permanent nerve damage from all of this typing. I can't believe we only have two weeks left. Ahhhhh..we have a bunch of plans for this weekend so we can fit it all in before we leave.
Lots of love,
Abbie
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