Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart!

I write this from a Starbucks on High Street, sipping tea and watching storm clouds roll in.  Britain is experiencing one of the worst storms in its recent history at the moment, so that’s exciting.  As you well know, last weekend (25^th-27^th of October 2013) I traveled to Paris with International Friends.  Here is a rundown of the events:

Friday:

• ·         Woke up at 2:45am to be ready to leave at 4:00am for our 4:25am pickup from Canterbury East.
• ·         Experienced the fastest (and most uncomfortable) taxi ride to London of my experiences so far.   We made it from Canterbury East to St. Pancras in 45 minutes (that’s the speed of a high speed train).
• ·         Found our meeting point at St. Pancras and met Pat, our tourguide – “white coat, white head, bright smiley face”
• ·         Got our tickets and went through security.
• ·         Met Uju and Jasmine – fellow American students studying in London; got to know them as we awaited our train.
• ·         Boarded the train – fell unconscious – reemerged to the land of the living in Paris.
• ·         Took a brief coach tour of the city.
• ·         Got out at the most scenic point in all of Paris (per Pat) for some photo ops.

• ·         Reconvened with the group and took the metro to the Eiffel Tower stop for the tour on the River Seine.

• ·         Finished our coach tour and were released onto Champs Elysee for lunch.
• ·         Had lunch with friends from CCCU, Jasmine, and Uju at a small café off the main street.
• ·         Explored Champs Elysee: went into Luis Vuitton – touched a €2500 bag, decided we probably shouldn’t be breathing the air (in case they charged for that), went to the Mercedes Benz gallery and looked at expensive cars, walked back to the coach.
• ·         Went to the hotel and checked in (over the course of an hour – the French lack what the English make up for in speed).  Hotel = Ibis Styles Bercy
• ·         The hotel was nice with fluffy beds, a TV, private bathroom, and Haribo gummies!
• ·         Toured down the river in the pouring rain; still managed to take pictures.
• ·         Went to the Eiffel tower after our soggy tour.  Was too scared of the elevator and heights to go to the top, but did climb up 700 steps (with an AMAZING friend) to reach the second level for some awesome pictures of the city at dusk and after dark.
• ·         Returned to Bercy and ate at a corner café – not the best example of good French food, but not the worst either.
• ·         Commiserated with a Frenchwoman about the state of the bathroom; pondered how such explosions were humanly possible.
• ·         Walked back to the hotel, journaled, showered (having only taken baths since arriving in the UK I forgot how good showers feel), watched French weight-lifting, went to bed.

Saturday

·         Awoke at 7:30am to darkness – the sun didn’t rise until after 8am.

·         Went to breakfast in the hotel – most of it was pastries, but they did have fruit, cheese, and yogurt which I enjoyed immensely.

·         Convened with the group in the lobby, took the Metro to the Sacre Coeur.

·         Took lots of pictures, climbed the stairs to reach the actual cathedral, dodging street sellers (like Spanish gitanas in Granada) along the way.

·         Walked to Montmartre and were released to explore.

·         Toured Sacre Coeur – the most beautiful cathedral in my opinion (unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside).

·         Walked around Montmartre, halfheartedly shopped for souvenirs and took lots of pictures.

·         Walked to the Moulin Rouge for pictures.

·         Took the Metro to Notre Dame where we released for a while until we were to head to Versailles.

·         Explored Notre Dame – had “God Help the Outcasts” and the opening theme from The Hunchback of Notre Dame stuck in my head the entire time.

·         Got some Christmas shopping done J

·         Took the coach to Versailles – passed out for almost the entire journey.

·         Awoke at Versailles where we were given 2.5 hours to explore on our own – one of the most stressful experiences I have ever had!  Versailles is beautiful but it is also packed with tourists who push and pinch in order to get the photos they want (ironic considering all the “no pictures allowed” signs)

·         Took lots of pictures, toured the buildings we could – didn’t have time to properly explore the gardens.

·         Went to the meeting point early and collapsed in exhaustion on the ground – planned dinner.

·         Went to the hotel to get ready for our fancy dinner and ended up missing our guide taking the rest of the group to a popular spot for French food.  This was a blessing in disguise as we ended up at a traditional creperie where a limited amount of English was spoken – had a FABULOUS dinner complete with wine and dessert: Locrime Salad, Vin Rose, and a Caramel Apple Ice-cream Sunday.  

·         Ended up drinking my wine a bit too fast which led to some good laughs had by everyone else (I am such an unfortunate light-weight).

·         Went back to the hotel – journaled, watched French Dancing With the Stars (there are 4 judges, they give 2 scores for artistry and technique, they are much stricter), fell asleep as soon as the lights were out.

Sunday 

• ·         Woke up with a cough/cold business happening in my respiratory system at 5:30am.
• ·         Hung out in the room reading Catching Fire and watching BBC World News until 8am.
• ·         Ate a solitary breakfast of yogurt and fruit.
• ·         Checked out of my room and checked my luggage into storage.
• ·         Took the metro to the Louvre stations and walked the rest of the way in traditional ENGLISH rain (it followed us) L
• ·         Explored the Louvre a bit and risked my life to get a picture with the Mona Lisa (and I thought Versailles was bad)
• 
• ·         Walked around the Greek and Roman exhibits for a while then left to go souvenir shopping with the girls.
• ·         Got gelato and walked back to the Metro to head to the hotel.
• ·         Filled out landing cards and waited for the rest of the group.
• ·         Went to the train station and made it through customs in one piece, boarded the train, and headed back to jolly old England.
• ·         Took a train from St. Pancras to Canterbury WEST L and walked down High Street with our luggage in the rain.
• ·         Stopped at the Odeon and booked our CATCHING FIRE premiere tickets!!!! 
• ·         Got back to our flat (which felt a bit more like home), ate food, made tea, and watched Anastasia, and part of The Hunchback of Notre Dame with my wonderful flatmates  before giving into exhaustion and going to bed J

Today:

Today I am sick with a cough/flu-like crud, luckily one of my friends has Mucinex and it seems to be helping.  I had a productive morning doing laundry and uploading pictures to Facebook.  One of my flatmates got a care-package full of pumpkin goodies from her mom including a COFFEE MAKER, PUMPKIN COFFEE, and PUMPKIN CREAMER!!!!!!  She was kind enough to share :D Then I made a grocery list, looked up recipes for soups and other healthy meals, and now I’m here in Starbucks typing these words.  Productivity quota = reached (although I still have to go to the grocery store and make dinner.

The brunt of the storm seems to have missed us luckily (although I know it was bad on the coast).  I was kind of hoping for a rainy day today since I am sick and rain makes for the best reading/hot beverage ambience.  Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.  The next couple of days are reserved for R&R (and homework of course), then we’re off to London again on Thursday for PHANTOM OF THE OPERA at Her Majesty’s Theatre, and a Tea and COFFEE festival the following day.

So that’s my life at the moment.  Hope you are all well!  I miss you!