Joseph and I have been in this great city for two full days now and we admit, we’re having far too much fun for our own good! So let me get all of you up to
date on our travels so far.
After two hours of sleep on Saturday night, I took off from Philadelphia for Chicago, than after a brief lay over, I flew from Chicago to Paris. Without going into too much detail, let me tell you that this trip was absolutely hellish, despite the beautiful views
outside of the plane…
Anyhow, once I met up with Joe in the airport, we made it to our beautiful and quaint (i.e. tiny) apartment early in the day and settled in quickly. And once Cristin Stevens made it over to our place, we explored the beautiful neighborhood of Montmarte for a little while and eventually finally settled on one of the many cafes found in the area for our first cup of French coffee and a small lunch.
SO, before I continue further, let me explain to you just how anxious I have been about living in a city that does not speak English primarily; the anticipation of having to interact at all in the French language ( of which I have NO prior training or knowledge) has left me sobbing quietly in fear and shame.
…so, back to the aforementioned café…
As we sat down in front of this beautiful (cliché) French café, I realized that this would be the first time I would have to do anything in French and I quickly felt all confidence escape me. So when the waiter came over to us to take our orders, I quietly muttered “bonjour” as nasally as possible, glanced quickly at the dog-eared page in my French phrase book covering the basics of ordering food, then sort of pointed/half spoke what I wanted. Mind you, there was no preface in my ordering – just noun + “s’il vous plait” + look of desperate anticipation in hopes the waiter will understand and not take offense. Luckily, it’s rather difficult to mess up “un café”, so I was home free… until I forgot to say please! So here I am, butchering this man’s language and being an asshole by being impolite. Anyhow, after the coffee came, we took up the challenge of ordering lunch and this time, I definitely did not get lucky. In my ambition, I tried to create an entire sentence composed of “I would like [food]”, only to have it all fly in my face and be forced into pointing in my phrase book for “I would like…”.
So you get the picture.
After our first French café, Cristin, Joseph, and I met up with some of Cristin’s friends at Sacre Coeur, which is a lovely cathedral on top of the tallest hill in Paris, yielding a breathtaking view of the city (but alas, I forgot to bring my camera, so sorry to all of you!). After touring the sites in Montmarte, we headed out towards the Bastille area, ended up drinking beers (or bierres) in a very public bus stop and again in an equally public park, then wandered around the metropolitan area of Paris for quite a bit longer until I realized that being awake for 40+ hours tends to wear you down pretty fast.
And that was my first amazing day in Paris.
On my second day of Paris, Cristin, Joe, and I headed out to the Saint Michel area, which is home to Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter. Once there, the inner Asian tourist in me took hold as we toured the well renowned cathedral, the famous Shakespeare and Co. bookstore, and the bustling Latin Quarter with camera in hand. After walking around for hours looking for a falafel stand that was recommended to us by a friend (in which we failed to find), we headed back to Montmarte, bought three bottles of fantastic red wine for under 9 Euros, cooked and ate dinner (which included a fresh baguette!!), drank most of the three bottles of fantastic red wine purchased for under 9 Euros, then walked around our fair district of Montmarte for a while longer. All in all, it was a fantastic day!
Anyhow, that’s all for now, thanks for reading, and make sure to check out my photos on Facebook! Hopefully, I’ll be posting on this blog regularly, so check back regularly and IM me whenever you want! And if you want to talk (and are lucky enough to have an international calling plan), call me at +37259713143!
Again, I wish you all the best au revoir!
No comments:
Post a Comment