My Weekend in Paris!
April 1, 2003 - 9:23 am
I'm finally going to talk about my trip to Paris. Sorry it's taken so long.
I went to Paris via the Eurostar train. It was much more convenient and easier to get to than an airport. The train was nice and comfortable. However, my seat was facing the opposite direction that the train was moving, and that was sort of unpleasant. Moving backwards isn't fun, especially for three (or so) hours straight. I couldn't wait to get off the train and see Bart. When I arrived in Paris, it seemed like it took forever to finally get inside the train station. When I did, I immediately saw Bart, smiling. I was so happy to see him. Hugs and hellos followed, and then we proceeded to Paris's subway system (the metro). The doors of the metro closed before I was completely inside and crushed my bag. I do not like Paris's metro.
We finally got to Bart's place. His apartment is incredibly tiny and VERY cold, but other than that it is cute and cozy. He has his own room. As soon as I put my stuff down, Bart wanted to leave again and go to the Eiffel Tower. So off we went (on the metro again, blah). The Eiffel Tower was SOOOO beautiful at night. It was so bright. I took some pictures, but none turned out. =( I didn't have any Euros (Paris's currency), so Bart had to pay for everything at first. He bought us tickets to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. SOOOO breath-taking. There was this woman standing in line ahead of us, and she was obviously from somewhere southern in the states. She kept complaining about everything and everyone being so foreign, and it made Bart and I laugh. SO much fun! After towering, we got back on the metro and went to find a chinese restaurant to eat dinner. Here are a couple pictures I took. One is of Bart standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, the other is (obviously) a -bad- picture of the Eiffel Tower.
The chinese restaurant was SO good. Everything, of course, was in french, so Bart had to order for me. I felt really lost and stupid pretty much the whole weekend. Both of us got kind of tipsy off the wine we had at dinner (which is odd, because I only had a couple glasses). Back to Bart's.
Bart had class the next day. He came back to meet me for lunch. We went to an Italian restaurant. SOOOO good! Paris has the BEST food! Everything I had all weekend was good! Then Bart had to go back for another class. I walked around a little bit, but I didn't like not being able to understand anything, so I went back to Bart's apartment and waited. When he got back he wanted to go to the Sacré Coeur (Sacred Heart). It's an old church I think, I'm not real sure. I didn't really want to go, since I'm not interested in touristy things (usually), but Bart really wanted to go, so I figured why not. The part of town that this place was in was very beautiful. It reminded me of the portrayal of Paris in movies. There was even a guy playing music on the street in a cliché-Paris-kind-of-way. Very cute. This church was on top of a very steep hill, so lots of walking up was done. Not. fun. at. all. But it was worth it when we got to the top, because there was such an INCREDIBLE view of Paris. You could see the whole city. Very, very pretty. Here's a picture of Bart and I. You can see all of Paris behind us.
After that, we walked to see the Moulin Rouge. It's the famous bar/nightclub that the movie 'Moulin Rouge' (directed by the great Baz Luhrman) was based on. It's not open anymore. There is a show inside though (sort of like Studio 54 in New York City).
We did a little shopping after that. There was this adorable shop with the most unique things. I bought a rubber duckie. Then, I wanted to go back to the chinese restaurant from the previous day, since it was so good. We went back, but it was closed. So we ended up eating at McDonalds. After that we went back to Bart's and he gave me a Valentine's Day present. So sweet. It was another rubber duck with hearts all over it. Around its neck was a tag that said 'Love is all you need.' It was really nice! I loved it!
Next, we wanted to go to a bar. Bart wanted to go to a gay bar called Okawa (or something like that). We walked around forever, because Bart didn't know where it was (so annoying). We finally settled on a bar called Le Carré (I think that means 'the square'). We started off with a couple drinks, and then a couple more, and so on. =) I met the most amazing, mesmerizing, wonderful guy that night. He was standing next to me, and we just eventually started talking. He was there with his Spanish girlfriend. His name was Eric. Eric and I started talking about Shakespeare, Metaphysics, science fiction, and other intellectual subjects (which is really funny since I was drunk, and deep thought doesn't usually mix well with intoxication). Eric and I started talking about 'Romeo and Juliet' (the play, not the movie), and how he thinks it's the perfect example of science fiction. He basically blew my mind. I'd never had such an intense and mesmerizing conversation with anyone before in my entire life! Bart was having a nice conversation with Eric's girlfriend. Every now and then I would talk to her in Spanish (which is definite proof that I was DRUNK...I abandoned my spanish a LONG time ago). I honestly don't know when I grew the balls to attempt spanish to an actual spanish person. I must have sounded like an idiot. Anyways, it was her birthday, so she bought the four of us each a flaming shot of Bailey's. It was incredible. The bartender actually lit the shot on fire, and then we sipped it down through a straw. I usually can't do liquor straight, which is more proof that I was trashed. When the bar closed at 3 am, we said our goodbyes. I was so sad, because Eric was such a charismatic, incredible guy. He had a nice french accent too. Well, Paris's stupid metro system had shut down for the evening, and instead of getting a cab, Bart insisted that we walk back to his place. I couldn't even walk straight, and I had to pee SOOO bad. It took us 3 hours to get back to Bart's apartment. I was SOOO mad. We'd planned on going to Disneyland the next day too. Well, that didn't happen.
We slept in the next day. Well, I slept in the next day. I don't know when Bart got up. We went and saw 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' that afternoon, and went shopping a little. We ate at a chinese restaurant for dinner closer to Bart's place. It was mostly a low-key day.
The next day we went to Disneyland Paris (formerly called Eurodisney). It was pretty simple to get there. I didn't mind taking the metro today, since we were going to Disneyland!!!
Almost everything was translated into English, so I wasn't completely lost. There was so much to do. We went on a Star Wars ride (which was a little disappointing), Space Mountain (which really, REALLY hurt), Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones roller coaster, watched a 3-D presentation of 'Honey, I Shrunk the Audience', and we walked through Sleeping Beauty's Castle.
SLEEPING BEAUTY'S CASTLE
We had so much fun!! We got sweet popcorn, watched the cute ducks that were walking around, and just enjoyed the atmosphere. Here's Bart and I with our popcorn. The picture is sort of light, sorry.
We did a lot of just walking around, shopping, and eating ice cream. Here's Bart standing next to Chip and Dale:
It was a fabulous day. I had SOOOO much fun! The only disappointment I had was that I didn't get to meet Donald Duck. Oh well!
So, that's my weekend in Paris.
