Fatigue...DE JA?!?!

Bon soir mon amis!

It's been a busy first couple of days. So busy in fact that I called it a night early today and made my way back to the hostel around six. But that at least gives me time to catch you up.

June 4th (that would be Day Deux):

Libre? As in I don't have to pay? But I get a walking tour? I knew I liked hostels. I spent my first full day following Alex around the city. It was AWESOME! I've seen the sights before but our tour guide (that would be Alex) was incredibly animated and has a passion for history so he knew all sorts of amazing facts. Turned out that he kinda runs things at NewEurope ("pay me for this song"). In addition to getting an incredible tour of all of Paris's top visited sites, I also met quite a few cool people, got to hang out at a fancy French restaurant and eat fancy viande et fromage (meat and cheese), and ended up getting tickets to a pub crawl. Second great idea of the day. I got to party (we all know how much I enjoy that :-P) and since the tickets were being sold by NewEurope(where's my money) a lot of the people from the tour came out too. And I met even more cool people on the pub crawl. One of the ladies I met that night lives in Lyon. Parfait! Lyon is one of the stops in my French adventure.

We all spent the night toasting to "Happy Travels" and "La Belle Paris." The most memorable part for me might have been at the last club, when three very cute, very toned men came out dressed in nothing more than flags...USA! Mr. America was FINE.

The night ended in the morning so my plans to follow Alex around Versailles were squashed...

June 5:

Especially since I didn't get up until 11:30. I decided to start my exploration of the city instead. Afterall, one of my goals for this trip is to know my way around Paris sans map. I spent a great deal of time sitting dans le soleil watching kids play in the Jardin Luxembourg.

Then I set off to explore the 6th arrondissment, St. Germain. Highlights? The Église Saint-Sulpice and window shopping at the high-end retailers. Around corner from the one of the oldest buildings in the country is Louis Vuitton. Gotta love Paris.

I ended my walk with dinner in the Latin Quarter. There was a menu for 10 euros! (menu = fix prix) I had a nice little French dinner: salade crudité, pan fried white fish covered in buttery goodness, and crème brûlée. As the garçon brings out my salad I look up and across a couple of tables I see some of the girls from the tour/pub crawl. Yes, out of all of the restaurants in Paris, we were at the same one! We had a quick chat after dinner and then I was off to meet the Lyonnaise at the Eiffel Tower to have a picnic and see the light show.

Tricky thing about meeting her, we made the plans at the pub crawl so neither one of us was at our sharpest point. I had a map she had drawn and was fairly confident I would be able to find her...until I got there. I knew she would be with her two blonde friends. Luckily (and kinda oddly also) there weren't many blondes hanging out in front of the Eiffel Tower, or at least not nearly as many as there would be if it were America. So I made a loop of the, let's call it a mall. It was a big loop, with a ton of people. I decided I would give her a ring on her cell. She had given me her number. I practiced my French by asking a couple of people where a pay phone could be found. Et voila! After a little more walking I was in a booth, staring at a phone with complex directions, all in French. OK maybe they weren't really complex, but I definitely couldn't figure out how to use it. During my final loop before I gave up and got my own bottle of wine to just chill by myself, one of the hustle men tried to get me to buy a bracelet. Since he made it known that he thought I was "sexy" I thought I would hustle him. After a few minutes, I was saying au revoir and walking away without a bracelet, but having called my Lyonnaise friend on his cell phone. Unfortunately, she didn't answer.

I finished my final loop and picked a spot to read until the light show. After about five minutes, I glanced to my right and saw the two blonde girls! I joined the group which was about 10 people deep. Turns out that two of the girls in the group were from Maryland...better yet, they went to Maryland! How much smaller can this world get? We enjoyed the remainder of the night watching the massive steel monument light up on every hour.

We met a few French guys (one of which was superbly cute. DIMPLES! lol) and around 2am we departed, primarily because the illumination of the Tower had ceased. After much ado in hailing a taxi, we cabbed it back to our respective hostels.

June 6:

Rain was beating against the hostel window this morning. I knew it wouldn't be a nice day but as luck would have it, today most of the museums were free (first Sunday of the month). I had planned to make it a museum day so after breakfast I set out for the city center. Luck would also have it that the rain stopped during breakfast. It would also be so kind as to allow the sun to break through the cloud at various times throughout the day. I thought I would check out the line at the Louvre, hoping that the rain might have scared people off. No such luck. The line was wrapped around the courtyard (if you haven't been yet, when you get to Paris, you will understand the insanity in this)! I quickly decided that I would make my way to the Musée du Vin. It wouldn't be free, but I also would not end up spending two or more hours in line to fight crowds around the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa.

I hopped a bus towards the Eiffel Tower (A clutch piece of advice I read before I came was to take the bus. It's not as quick as the Métro and it's a bit more complicated, but you get to see Paris. And it really is the most beautiful city in the world). On my way to the Musée du Vin, I decided that I would check to see if the Palais Tokyo was free today since it was on the way. It's allegedly full of contemporary art and it's always fun to stand in front of "art" and not be entirely sure what you are looking at. Too bad I got a little turned around (not my fault, I asked for directions to keep me from getting lost and the directions were incredibly wrong). I ended up at Musée du Quai Branly. I was glad I got lost. Outside they had a garden and a vertical garden

and inside was full of ancient art. And I loved how it was all broken down by continents. You could see the similarities and subtle differences between the art of the first culture on earth. I joined a French storytime but after about 10 minutes I realized that catching half the story (due to my uni-lingual-ism) would not be worth it. So I went to find lunch because I was starved (probably another reason I could not sit through storytime).

I wandered around the 16th arrondissment hoping that I would not be forced to eat at one of the fancy pants restaurants that were at every corner but that seemed to be all there was. I came to the conclusion that I was in the ritzy residential part of town, then I ended up at the Arc de Triomphe and realized why. I ran across what must have been the only épicerie (kinda like a convenience store) in the whole arrondissment, bought a little boxed sandwich and ate by the Arc. *Note on sandwiches*

I am in love with these sandwiches. They are cheap and the bread is so good! I especially love the paninis. The cheese that they use, it doesn't even matter what kind, is so good! I have had three of these delightful treats in the four days that I have been here. I was actually looking for heaven on a baguette on my lunch hunt but all the pâtisseries (bakeries) were closed. The boxed sandwich had nothing on the real thing. *End note on sandwiches*

Once I was no longer afraid of starvation, I sought out the Palais Tokyo again. This time I found it. Only one exhibit was open unfortunately but it was really cool. Ten photographers went to Georgia (the county, JIC there was confusion) for two weeks each. I quite enjoy photography exhibits and this one was particularly interesting. At this point I realized that I never made it to my intended destination so I headed for the Musée du Vin. It was 5:30...the museum closed at 6. I decided it should wait for another day. It seemed early to head back so I thought I may stop by Le Bon Marché, I was kinda tired so I knew I wouldn't really feel like shopping and that was my tactic for maintaining my budget. Paris had one up on me though. By 6pm on Sunday, I hope you have everything you need because the city center is closing down. I guess 6 was not too early to head home.

And there you have it. All caught up.

I had so much commentary but I can't remember it now. Maybe I need to carry a memo pad around so that when I finally get around to blogging, I remember.