PARIS (say it with a french accent) Winter Break Part "Deux"

Thursday, March 1
Paris was like coming back home for us! I can’t believe I’m saying this but – it was really nice to speak French again! Not to mention that the weather was wonderful, it was a great way to end the trip! We checked in and headed out to explore the area (the hostel is on Montmartre Hill). It is so beautiful in that area, I am glad that we stayed up there to get the feel of it. We were just a few streets over from the Sacre-Coeur Basilica so we went in for a look, it’s so cool! There is a big painted Jesus angled down towards to congregation but it isn’t threatening in any way, just overwhelming! We went for the most expensive coffee of my life (actually, just Paris in general)! Next up was the Moulin Rouge…it’s like 200 euro just to go see the show! Obviously, we just took pictures from the outside! After a small nap, we did the student thing for dinner and got Lebanese pita sandwiches to eat outside on some steps. We headed down to the Champs-Elysees (big shopping street with all the lights, you always see it in movies [Devil Wears Prada anyone?]) and visited the Arc de Triomphe. We didn’t walk up it though, they want 5 euro for unwanted exercise! We met up with some of Malika’s friends who are living Paris like us and Katie, Adam and I cut out early to get some McDonald’s sundaes and some sleep. Bonne Nuit!

Friday, March 2
Friday morning Katie and I walked (for a LONG time) to a market in Bellevue. It was…interesting? The market was wonderful, if not slightly intimidating. We definitely found the cheaper area of Paris…I got a Vietnamese sub for 2 euro! However, I don’t think it is a typical tourist area. That being said, we felt like we earned our “visitor” status instead of typical tourists. I will totally be going back down there (Rue Faubourgh de Temple if anyone is interested) because there are great discount clothing stores down there. Ballet flats for 3 euro anyone? I didn’t buy any shoes but I did get a great chocolate brown faux-leather bomber jacket which I *love*. I guess you do get what you pay for because I already lost on of the buttons but that can be fixed. We met up with Adam and Malika to do some more shopping at H&M (it’s HUGE) and some stores in a slightly more upscale area. By this time it was pouring rain so we ducked into a Chinese restaurant for an early dinner. We stopped back into the hostel to change but ended hanging out with some people there from Canada and Australia for a couple hours. We were heading towards a jazz show that night but by the time we got there it was over so we returned and had some wine in the hostel bar.

Saturday, March 3
Today we decided to get down to tourist biznazz. We started off at the Paris catacombs, so amazingly sweet. During the 18th century, rampant disease was blamed on surrounding cemeteries so they exhumed all the bodies and put them in underground caverns under the city. Six million bodies later, it became quite the attraction! The bones are all placed in decorative patterns with skulls and whatnot, plaques indicate where they came from. It’s so anonymous and dark…very creepy. At Katie’s suggestion, our next stop was the Palais de Toyko, a modern art exhibit. It might have been my favourite activity of the whole trip? “Post Patman” by Michel Blazy is made entirely out of food…which is now rotting because the exhibit has been on for a while. I think it’s supposed to capture the ephemerality of art and life or something. Anyways, these birds have now made it their home, feeding on the giant Dr.Seuss-like tree made entirely out of neon yellow noodles. Getting the picture? Another exhibit profiled all the micro-nations of the world, small territories independent of any outside government. I noticed that about 1/6 of them were in Canada…maybe we are the kooky cousins to the north after all! There’s even a Summit of Micronations every year…who knew? It was called “Grow your Own” by Peter Coffin if you want to check it out. Last but not least was a backwards rendition of Black Sabbath played by a symphony…We met up with Malika’s friends again and headed to the Latin Quarter for an restaurant dinner (for once!) and settled on a Greek restaurant. I had a 3 course meal (Dolmas, Moussaka and Baklava) for 9 euro, not bad hey? We bought some sangria from the grocery store and partook of it on a park bench (it’s France ok?) BEFORE (Ok so this was my favourite activity of the trip) we stumbled on a wicked-awesome turn of events: ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, put on by the French Fan Club. It. Was. So. Hilarious. It was in English with French subtitles and the group acted out every scene in front. Our neighbours lended us some rice for the wedding scene so we were good to go! It was some of the best spontaneous fun I’ve had!!!

Sunday, March 4
Our last day of the trip! Our train wasn’t set to leave until 10 pm, so at least it was a full last day! Being the first Sunday of the month, all the museums were free but do you think we took advantage of it? No! We were SMARTED than that! We did stop by the Musee D’Orsay but the line-ups were out of control. However, the lines for Notre-Dame were non-existant because of this. So we ended up listening to the Sunday choir and enjoying the stained-glass sun inside the church. How smart are we? Feeling very leisurely, Katie, Adam and I hit up the Luxembourg gardens for some more sun. There is a lake in the middle and Greco-Roman statues decorated the manicured park. Katie wrote in her journal and I knit, and we all ate French bread and honey…*sigh* I wish I was still there! We went for a very North American lunch and I loved it more than life itself. Why doesn’t France normally have mozzarella and mushroom burgers with fries and coleslaw? WHY? Anyhoo, that couldn’t last forever so we settled for the Eiffel tower to watch the sunset. (Kidding people!) We could see a Louis Vuitton fashion show going on from up there…so cool! We ran down to the platform across the street to take some pictures from afar then caught the metro back to Montmartre. A quick stop for a chocolate crepe (we waited until the last minute!) and we left for the train station. I talked to mom and dad on the phone until it left and before I knew it, I was back in Lille!!

The End to a very amazing journey….