Paris (Encore) or Fake Spring Break

I'm writing this too far behind to be able to recall all the details, and maybe even the large events of each day, so please forgive me. I even wrote down a list of everything I did with Andrew and Tess in Paris, so that I would remember when I blogged (nerd), but I seem to have lost it in the ruckus that is my room.

I shall begin with Andrew's arrival. He got here on Wednesday, the 23rd around 11:30 or so and I went to meet him at the train station. We wandered back here to the collège and then I had an unfortunate 4 hours of cinema class. However, after that we hung out here for a little while, then went to his hotel in La Bocca (I now know this is an area of Cannes) which was about a 50 minute walk. The hotel was above a McDonalds - hilarious. The following day in the afternoon we went with my art history class to a museum in Nice. This was extremely useful for us, because we needed to be in Nice for Tess' arrival. We met up with another girl from Cornell, Annelise, who had been in Andrew's class with him and was staying in Nice for Spring Break. We had dinner and then just kind of wandered, and I had to take them to Fennochio's in the old city area for gelato. Then, at 9, Andrew and I were at the intersection that we had planned to meet Tess at, but she didn't come. And so we went inside a nearby hotel to ask whether there was a bus from the airport that stopped there, and she said we would have to go to the train station to find one. So we went there, looked for Tess, didn't see her, came back, waited at the intersection, and then finally decided we should just go back to Cannes. We got back to the collège at midnight, and when I checked my email, Tess' brother had sent me an email that said she was find and at the hotel. However, this left Andrew a 50 minute walk through La Bocca at midnight... which he ran. And then there were more disasters at the hotel, but I'll let him fill you in on the details, if you so choose.

The following day, Friday, I actually saw Tess! And we went to catch our train to Paris - which was about 5 hours long. For the first two nights in Paris we stayed with one of Andrew's friends who lives in the 20th arrondissement. Our first full day we decided to spend in the Latin and Jewish Quarters, both known for their good food! (Sidenote: what's making this even more difficult is that I didn't start taking pictures until Monday. What was I thinking?!) We went to Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore and a jam session began! Andrew played some piano, and then a guy took over and the person sitting next to him whipped out his guitar. It was awesome! And, you know, other stuff... whatever.

Sunday morning we went to the Louvre, then followed that with the Musee d'Orsay (soooo good!). The impressionist wing. I just. Gah. I wanted to live there. Then I basically ran through some other exhibits, because the museum was closing. I made it through the Van Gogh and a photo exhibit, so I was happy. We transferred to our hostel that night, as well. It was in Montmartre, and our room was on the 5th floor with a little balcony, so we could see so much of the city! The room was tiny, but it was a nice place.

Monday we decided we would buy a metro pass and just see everything we could think of in Paris. So we started the day by going to Sainte Trinité church. We followed that with seeing the Montparnasse Tower, which is huge and randomly placed. Following that we went to the Latin Quarter, again, to see the Mosque of Paris, which was soo beautiful. We couldn't go in for a tour, because we arrived while people were praying. However, we did get some very good and VERY sweet Moroccan mint tea. Delish! We then hopped over back to the Jewish Quarter to get some falafel and we ate it next to the Seine. Also delish!

Sainte-Trinité

Mosquée de Paris

Mint Tea - yum!

We then went to Père-Lachaise, which I loved. Why do I love a graveyard, you ask? The atmosphere. That seems morbid... but it's true. It was so peaceful and beautiful and little did we know, only open until 5:30. What a bummer! I did not get to see Oscar Wilde, but I did see Jim Morrison.

Jim Morrison's Headstone - note the pink panties

This place was huge!

After Père-Lachaise, we went to the Eiffel Tower! And we went up to the second floor. We got up when the sun was setting, went inside for a little while to warm up, and then when we came back out the tower was lit up! It was really pretty.

Oh, hi guys!

"Look French"

Sun setting over Paris

We finished the evening by going to the Champs-Élysées and trying to find a not super expensive dinner. Basically, we ended up at a cheap sandwich place, then called it a night.

Tuesday we visited Versailles, which was beautiful and we christened it our "Day of Decadence." We commenced our day of decadence by buying a chocolate and raspberry cake and eating it by a lake outside the gardens of Versailles. It was perfect.

Super delicious, super dense

Mange-ing some cake by the lake

Palace of Versailles

Cutie

Hall of Mirrors

Gardens - they were beautiful!

We stayed in Versailles until it started raining (a common occurrence in/around Paris - we got really heavily rained on that Saturday, as well). That night we ate at an Indian restaurant that was just around the corner from our hostel, which was delicious.

Wednesday morning was, sadly, my last day in Paris. We went to the catacombs in the morning - it was definitely an experience. I don't know if I would want to go again; it actually got a little boring after a while (Okay... I've seen, like, thousands of skulls and bones, what else ya got?). It was also quite moist down there. The ceiling drips water on you and there are puddles to avoid, all while you're wondering how clean the water is/how much bone it contains. However, it was definitely cool. The catacombs were created (if I remember correctly) when disease broke out due to the mass graves. The some guy decided they should be moved underground and the bones were thrown down there, quite helter skelter. Later it was decided they should be arranged and people should be able to take tours (this started several hundred years ago, I believe). So just think about how many people have walked through there! It's estimated that the remains of 6 million people are in the catacombs.

Hallway leading to the catacombs

Stop! This is the empire of the dead

Just some bones, you know

After visiting the catacombs, we didn't feel like doing much. We wanted to see more of Montmartre, but ended up just laying around for a while before I had to leave to catch my train. On the way there, however, the metro broke down and I started freaking out! But in a few seconds it had started back up again. I left from the Gare de Lyon, and didn't realize that once I went through a certain area, Andrew and Tess couldn't follow me, so we had to say our goodbyes over a little wall. Then, after more freaking out about not being able to find my car on the train, I was on my way back to Cannes. I sat next to a guy who brought his dog with him (typical French!). When I arrived at the gare in Cannes there was a big welcome committee to walk with me back to the collège, which was great. But I could've stayed in Paris forever. Or at least for another couple days.