Crear, Crecer, Creer: Paris

Wow, Paris was awesome. I LOVED it. So glad I got the opportunity to go, and so glad that Kimbre was cool enough for some company. It was nice; she was renting a small apartment instead of a hostel, so it was nice having a place to go “home” to at the end of two tiring days. Definitely will return someday, and would definitely like to learn some basic French. It was really bizarre and in some cases really scary not being able to speak the language. NOT A WORD. Parlez-vous ainglaise? Bonjour, mercí, si vous plaît, pardón…I even giggled a little when the waiter said “bon appétit”. I was like I KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!!! I can count to three. That’s it. That is legitimately all the French I know. Luckily, there really are enough people in Paris who speak English, at least enough to get by.

I flew in at 11:40

I was so excited to see some ocean! Reminded me of Sur la Plage from The Boyfriend HAHA! I had a really smooth flight, although I recently found out apparently both easyjet (London, Paris) and Ryanair (Italy) both use training pilots to fly, and that’s why they are so cheap, but at least that explains why the landings are so rough. I also recently read this article that was apparently in Readers Digest, too, which made me feel a little better about flying, to be honest. So that was nice, and I wasn’t as stressed out. The London flight was still terrifying. BAAAAH!

Took the trains to Kimbre’s place…everything went smoothly with the exception of when I was on the metro and we were stopped and some guy was like, “c’mon” and waving me with him, and I was like, HECK NO, I do not know you! And he kept saying “c’mon” and then asked if I spoke French, and I was like “no”…then I looked around and everyone was getting off and I realized there was an interruption in service. I found a security person who spoke a little English, and she told me what lines to transfer to. I’m glad most of the undergrounds/metros all work the same, and the maps are all pretty easy to read; once you can read one, you can read them all. Finally made it to Kimbre’s place, where she poured me my first glass of French wine

And then we went to lunch at a place just up the street that was recommended by our now good friend Rick Steves (he got us to some really awesome places, I plan on buying his book(s) before I travel to Europe again). They had a lunch menu with two options each for Entrees (appetizers) and Plates (entrees), so we each got the different ones. I had a Salmon patê with potatoes and a salad (and I got the bread all to myself, a perk of traveling with a gluton intolerant):

and Kimbre got a leek soup (that would be a duck liver floating in the middle):

Both were BOMB, so tasty. Then I had a lamb mousse (it didn’t look very mousse-y to me) with noodles and a delicious sauce:

While Kimbre had a white fish with rice (the fish was pretty bland, but the sauce was good).

Then we split a crème brulee for dessert!!!!!

Here’s the restaurant:

After lunch, we headed a few blocks away to the Moulin Rouge! Too expensive/touristy to go in, but it was cool to see for sure.

Kimbre had me show off my (attempt at) pole dancing. Definitely think I’ll be getting hired soon (not).

We went to starbucks and I got my Paris/France mini cups…I think if I can, I’d really like to buy an inexpensive black shelf to display them in my room. And also figure out what pictures from my trip are really important and buy a nice big black frame where I can put like 5-7 of them, get them printed in black and white and what not. Going for classy.

We took the metro to the Eiffel tower…it’s cool cuz their metro also goes outside, which I like…so we were just riding along, chatting, reading maps, and it pulls outside, I look to my right and I’m like “AAAAAAAAH” (I don’t know how to write a really big gasp, like the kind that freak Nick out when he’s driving and I’m in the passenger seat), and all the people sitting near us all look and try to figure out what I’m freaking out about, and it’s just the Eiffel Tower. You know. IT’S HUGE!!! So much bigger than I expected. I think I’ve always had issues with monuments because ever since going to Mount Rushmore…I dunno, I just remember being extremely disappointed with how small it was. I had expected it to be so much bigger and it was not. So yeah, Eiffel Tower was huge. We got off the metro to take some pictures:

War memorial:

More Eiffel Tower:

The Seine

Eiffel Tower close up

And then we decided to go to a Rick Steves location, a street called Rue Clare. It’s a street that has been blocked off to traffic and an attempt at keeping some traditional Paris area alive, with all the stores and like a post office and bank and stuff. Really pretty.

I freaked out when I realized they were alive:

A CHEESE SHOP!!!! This is what is wrong with the US…WHY DO WE NOT HAVE THESE!?!?!?! (and hi Kimbre!)

BEAUTIFUL sunset/sky

A fountain

A church

We tried to get to Luxemberg Gardens, but they had just closed. Fail. Oh well, there’s always next time. :-)

We started walking back, and passed a toy shop…Oh my LANTA I had to take a picture, this would be SO politically incorrect in the US. Loved it. Little white boy in a
Native American (American Indian?) outfit.

The Arc de Triumph. This was also SO BIG. So pretty at night.

If you look really closely at the far right, you can baaarely see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. The picture sucks, but maybe…

This is Champs de Elise, the place to be seen in Paris, apparently. It’s all the fashion and high quality stores. Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Sephora, Disney Store, super expensive perfume…you know, the important stuff:

We went into this AMAZING pastery shop that makes these AMAZING cookies…I do not like macaroons because of the coconut, but these were DELICIOUS!!!!!!

Here’s the macaroons…they came in 18 different flavors. I got dark chocolate and vanilla, the vanilla were the best. I need to figure out how to re-create these. SO GOOD. They were melt in your mouth good. I was just worried I’d smush them if I tried to bring them back to Spain. They’d be eaten if I tried to bring them back to the US, they wouldn’t last the next five weeks, promise.