Paris was romantic, chic, gastronomic, and everything else I expected it to be. And I fell in love with that city. And I wish I didn’t forget to bring back some Dijon mustard.
Flying alone was a great experience! I am convinced an Olympic athlete sat in my row. She was dressed like one and most definitely built like one – one of the strongest females I’d ever seen. She had a Canadian tag on her backpack; she was traveling with a backpack (to Paris?)… How I am always successful in scoring a window seat I don’t know, but It was dark before we touched down and when I spotted the lit up Eiffel Tower I couldn’t stop smiling.
In France buying my ticket to the city by train, I met an English speaking couple - two body guard look-alikes one from Miami and the other, Atlanta. They were friendly guys and we chatted the whole way, it was definitely nice to have some company for the 45-minute ride. They were very concerned about me being by myself and before we parted ways wrote down their phone numbers for me in case i needed anything.
Christa Lee had arrived earlier on a different flight. For those of you who don’t know, we were lucky enough to stay with Cota last weekend, a friend from high school who has been living in Paris for 4 years. Thursday night the three of us got dinner before we went out, and I was so close to ordering the foie gras but backed out at the last minute (NEXT time!!!).
On Friday while poor Cota was at school Christa Lee and I went exploring. We walked along the river where we were overwhelmed with cool vintage posters, records, books, magazines, and artwork, so we couldn’t help but make a few purchases. We passed beautiful buildings and an old museum just off the river walk. By the time we made it to the Eiffel Tower the temperature had really dropped. Bloody freezing we proceeded to wait in the longest line of my life. We climbed the stairs to the second level where we took the lift to the top (from there we could see how far we had walked!). The weather was perfect and the view was more than worth the wait, my numb limbs, and burning thighs (we actually ended up taking the lift down instead of up so had to climb from the first platform to the second TWO times). I wanted to see the tower lit up at night so we waited for the sun to go down nearby in Le Champ de Mars with some Bordeaux and Chardonnay, and shared warm goat cheese and salad.
We weren’t wearing enough clothes to walk back home and when searching for the closest metro station we popped into a little shop to ask for directions. The two men working thought we wanted to eat so
invited us to sit down. So we did. They brought us olives, pickled
onions, sweet onions, fresh chive bread, bread sticks, parmesan drizzled with balsamic vinegar, and fresh mozzarella - that melted in my mouth - all marinated in olive oil. It was delicious. We enjoyed our apetivos and each got another glass of wine. We chatted with the waiters for a while and with our bill received some lemon cello “on the house”. We took a photo with our new friends at our new
favorite spot and left for a couple more bites to eat and a couple more glasses of wine, than eventually (exhausted), home.
Saturday Cota was free so we wandered around the city and ate another delectable meal with dessert – some kind of chocolate cake in a custard sauce MMMM! After finishing our late lunch, more wandering. At the famous Didier Ludot, the king of vintage couture, Christa Lee had finally decided she would splurge on an amazing black and gold Chanel blazer. After being charged she realized that she misread the tag, not 350€, 1,350€! A man in the store looks at us like we are idiots and responds in a snobbish tone “but of course! It is CHANEL.” How embarrassing… we left ASAP, sans blazer.
More wondering and we saw the famous Christian Louboutin an international luxury shoe boutique (I believe Paris’ is the original). In another shoe store was a boot worn during the reign of King Louis XV in 17th century – the thing looked ancient, also like it could knock someone’s brains out. And some more really cool vintage shops where I found an amazing sweater. It was no Chanel blazer, but it was a thousand times cheaper and SO vintage. Later we went to a hockey game, than after, another tasty dinner. I wore my new sweater out that night, in case you were wondering.
Early the next morning I grabbed an espresso and chocolate croissant before jumping on the metro, than the train to the airport. I was feeling confident but it was actually going the opposite way at a fork in the route, bad news! Before I could have a panic attack the couple sitting next to me (who I had asked earlier if this train was going to the airport) realized the
same thing at the same time and invited me to get off with them to grab a taxi. Because it was Sunday, and because we were dropped off in a very remote area in the middle of nowhere, we waited forever and didn’t see a single taxi. And again it was BLOODY FREEZING. The couple was from Denmark so thankfully the man spoke some English. He had to go inside a café to ask someone to call a taxi for us because we were running out of time. The cab ride cost about 45€ and even after I insisted on sharing the cost, the generous Danish refused to let me help pay! I was so lucky - not only were they friendly and generous but thank god I wasn’t alone… at the airport I frantically took a train to my terminal and checked in - my flight had been pushed back so I made it, but barely!
So that was my visit to Paris in a nutshell. I didn’t get to see the Arc de Triumph or go inside the Louvre. And I could have easily spent more time shopping
for vintage clothes. So I guess that means I will just have to return to Paris some day.
Oh and I didn’t even see Alicia! We all took different flights and she stayed with friends from high school.
So I did miss her, but I think both of us were just too distracted, too entertained and too busy seeing the city to bother with meeting up.
Marta is giving a piano lesson. I wish I could stay in bed and listen but I have to get up and get ready for school. One week until Valencia! Adios Ustedes!
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