Ah Pari

Wee wee, you must say it like the French oh wee wee... haa haa.. Ok so I love this city. I am so glad that I have had a change of heart because the first time that I went I didn't think much of it. This time was much better!

Once we finally got there at least. After arriving we had to figure out how to get in touch with Jullien the old exchange student who was housing us. We had no cell number for him so we were on a hunt for the internet. Lucking (we could have used a little luck by now) we found one just a block away from the station. Feeyew.. Even better he had finally written me back. With great directions where we would be staying and we had just enough time to get there before his sister would be leaving. Yea.. We soon realized that he forgot to mention the street number. And the street that she lives on is Gigantic! And the pay phones only take credit cards!
We have heard some terrible stories about credit card numbers getting stolen for phone machines like that so we were not about to go and do that. Luckily we headed in the right direction and a very nice receptionist loaned us the phone for just a couple of minutes. We happened to be a half a block away from where she lived. Yea!

When we got there she was very nice her name is Charlotte but it was a really tiny flat. Like the size of a small dorm room and in it was a kitchen and a bathroom and a bedroom all in one. Well the bathroom did have a door. It was a very cozy place. We were not about to complain, we were so thankful to not only have a nice place to have for ourselves. But it was also a 10 minute walk to the Eiffle tower! So that was what we did. We had lunch first of course, we were starving it was about 3:30 by this point so food was good. On the bright side it forced us to get used to the Perasian lifestyle of eating. It began to rain.. Just our luck, more rain. We were hoping that this would send the tourists away so we wouldn't have to wait as long in line. But we were wrong. Unfortunate. But, umbrellas are a blessing. For we were blessed to have them.

Julien didn't get off of work until 7 and it would take about an hour for him to be able to meet up with us. SO we had a lot of time to burn and nothing was open anymore so we sat in the cafe and enjoyed the fact that you dont have to leave until you want to. I do like that about the European lifestyle, you aren't pushed out of your table when you go to a cafe or resturant. I guess it is the price you pay to have bad service.

When we met up with him and his girlfriend Emilie we all went to dinner. And what a gentelman, he paid! For the cocktails, the wine, the entree's, and the dessert. It was really nice to be treated for a change. We all went to bed early just after dinner (well early to the Perasian standards, 12:30). It was a good thing too because we got up nice and early the next day to see as much as possible. We went to the Louvre in the morning for like 3 hours. Alison really appreciated it after taking the Art History class, and I apprecited that she took it because she could tell me cool things about the art. Then we went to lunch and had a quick bit. The to the Muse de Orsay; Alison's and my favorite movement is the Impressionist movement so it was really fun for us to go see all of the art. We probably spent about 2 hours there, plenty of time. Following that we took a break at the house so that Ali could take a shower (the shower would only stay hot for about 10-15 minutes every 6 hours). We went to the Opera house only to find that it was closed due to rehearsal I was so mad! It was like one of the things that I really wanted to see.. Oh well, we went to Notre Dame next and there was a girls choir performing. Everything happens for a reason I suppose, because they were really good!

That evening we met up with Emilie and Julien in her neighborhood for dinner because the night life is a lot better. Where we were staying apparently is where mostly politicians live so the night life is not very big. I couldn't believe the difference in how the people are in the streets alone there it was really cool. We went to a creep place for dinner and I had alcoholic cyder for the first time, it was really yummy.. I also had creeps that werent sweet for the first time, they had egg and ham and all kinds of things in it. It was really like an omlette place, a creep wrapped around an omlette. We had a lengthy dinner and walked around the area for a little while then went back to the flat.

The next day was a huge festival (Saturday at this point). On the first day of summer (June 21) every year Paris has a huge festival in the streets. There are people playing music on every corner. Everything that you can think of! Rock, jazz, drumbs, dancers, trumpets, alternative... It was fantastic. Julien had to finish up a project so Emilie showed us around the town that day. She took us to the Moulian Roughe area and we wandered around and took some cool pictures. Then in the evening we had a couple of cocktails at a really cool bar in the Notre Dame area. To save a little money we made dinner that night at Emilies place. Julien made an awesome salad with chicken and fresh croutons. It was delicious. The plan was to go out that night in the area because there were supposed to be a lot of concerts for the festival. When we went out we saw the French men for their true selves. We haven't gone out really yet at night so we didn't know what it would be like. And well, let me put it this way they like to grab. There is no sence of personal space or sexual harrassment. Ill spare the details. We left the mobbed area because they could tell that we were really uncomfortable. After walking down a couple of side streets (where there were no people) we found a great little cafe style bar with some alternative music playing and we could finally relax. We really enjoyed it there.

Lots of fun, we went back to Emilies where we all stayed for the night and crashed after a little yogart. We slept a little the next day and I made breakfast to thank them for their hospitality. Then we hit the train for Bilthoven to spend a couple of days with the Smits.