Au Revoir, Paris!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of returning to the city of love once again. If you're confused... I went to Paris.

I unexpectedly got out of class early on Friday so a group of us decided to hop on a bus to get to the train station! We preceded to wait at the train station where we met another student of our school in the 6 month program. Together we sat until we realized that the bus was not coming. So, Anne Marie (our french mom) came to our rescue! But, We had too many people to fit in her car... so our new friend from the other program sat on my lap... and to the train station we went in clown-car style.

After finally arriving at the train station we took a twisted way of getting to Paris but we eventually got there, and ran into a few fellow students in other stations on the way! 

We hopped on a metro once in Paris where I was approached by probably the most insane woman i've ever met. I was genuinely frightened by her... but it probably didn't help that she was speaking gibberish in French. After all that, we got to our hotel! It was super cheap for Paris... but the bathroom was the size of a bus bathroom...

Which we thought was hilarious! So we took pictures in it... 

There was also a DELICIOUS pizza place next door, so the very tired four of us sprawled pizza boxes across the bed and ate until we were in a collective food coma.

The next day everyone got up bright and early to go to the Louvre, then they came to wake me up because I slept through all my alarms... oops!  So, we finally left and went to a local market, and then the Louvre!

 The Mona Lisa!

After the Louvre, we went super shopping in 3 pastry supply shops! It was like a pastry student heaven with all the entremets rings, tart pans, and chocolate molds! I went a little overboard... I am now fully equipped to  bake anything at home!

We continued to wander around and ended up on this long stretch of street with tons of strip clubs and sex stores. Probably more than i've ever seen. There were also prostitutes lined up down the street... which I have never seen before. It was quite eye-opening and slightly disheartening. 

But then I found an AWESOME vintage store and tried on lots of fur coats! I became Macklemore for a hot second.

Finally, I made it to Hard Rock Cafe where I had a peaceful evening filled with BBQ ribs, Rock and Roll, and a large fancy drink. I was one happy American.

 

Fast-forward through a great night sleep and Sunday begins-

We got up early and took a tram to Versailles to see the Palace... but upon arrival realized the palace was quite far into Versailles... so we turned around and went to meet up with two girls (Ashley and Jackie) I was travelling with's Parisian friend, Clermont! He was extremely friendly and a bit overwhelming but we had a blast with him! We went to the Pompidou modern art museum which was awesome!! I met a hilarious man from Denmark who I realized spoke English after he'd been sitting next to me for a while on the metro. He started laughing because I asked my friend if France had a president, He taught me a brief history lesson for the remaining 5 stops and he'd heard of the company my dad works for which is based in Denmark! It was a really neat chance meeting, he was a pretty cool and very smart man. 

We got off the metro and my friends and I headed to Pompidou!

Here are some pictures at Pompidou taken by Clermont. 

We also fit in a brief trip to the Arc de Triumph!

Me under the Arc!

At the Arc we met a VERY American tourist by every since of the word. He was mid-forties in a too small polo shirt with khacki shorts and we had to teach him how to use the metro. It was quite hilarious. I hope no one has seen me how I saw him... but i'm sure they have. Tourists are hilarious. I'd like to think i'm one small step above "tourist" since I have technically been living in France.

Which brings me to the sad part. Saying goodbye to Paris. I ate a delicious crepe, and sipped on a limonade (it is the drink of the gods, I will miss my precious limonades) and I reminisced about France as I had my last Parisian meal. Its so weird that I'm going home soon. One more trip, 2 class days, then graduation. Then back to Charlotte, NC I go. 

Can't wait to fill you all in after my Barcelona trip this weekend! Until Then.