That Sh* Cray...

12/11

Day -2

So I can listen to “Watch the Throne” on my flight courtesy of Delta Airlines…N*&&@s in Paris???

Once I finally got off the plane and out of the airport on the RER, I immediately looked for Skyrock Radio (Heephop en RnBee). Completely forgot about the lack of censorship on the French airwaves. Still a little taken aback hearing the f-bomb dropped on the radio.

12/12

Still Day -2

I took the RER to Les Halles and I realized very quickly that I left my hat in Alyse’s car (or lost it in ATL). I sought to rectify this. I figured I would pick one up on the street but as I was leaving Les Halles, I saw that a sport shop (I think the same one Rob bought his jacket from that time so long ago) was closing so I stopped in. I ended up getting a nice little hat for 1 euro.

Once I was properly prepared for the cold, I set out to find lunch and wifi. Being that I was in Les Halles, I thought I would continue my quest to find the vegetarian lunch spot that had eluded me during EuroTrip, Foody’s. I couldn’t remember where it was supposed to be so I stopped by a Best Western and asked. They pointed me in the direction and before I knew it, it was July 2010 all over again and Foody’s was nowhere to be found. I gave up one final time deciding that it simply does not exist in real life. But my hunger did. So I ducked down a side street (remembering my failure to find deliciousness last time Foody’s slipped through my grasp) and hoped that I could find a tasty menu off the beaten trail. And I did. I found a cute little place with beouf burgoneon and a cute little garçon. The food was pretty yummy and the café was stronger than I remembered it (probably due to too much American coffee over the last few weeks). I asked the cutie about wifi and he pointed me to…Starbucks!

Paris is the one city that does not need a Starbucks. Café’s abound! But I can’t complain. I sat outside and cyphened enough wifi to check my email and see Selma’s number. *shoutout* To my Twin for hooking me up with her high school friend who happens to live in Paris (jealous!) *shoutout* I skyped Selma and we set up a rendez-vous. She had tickets to a salon (expo) of some sort so we went to Port de Versailles for the evening, met up with her Swiss friend and sampled cheese, sausages and dehydrate meats, and wine all evening. Selma and her friend signed up for a cooking class at 5:30 and I decided to skip the class in lieu of going to the Marais for the one thing I really wanted to do…shop.

We planned to meet back up in 2 hours so I hopped on the metro back to the 5^th and went straight to my favorite 2 vintage thrift stores. Two hours later, with a new bag and boots in tow, I met Selma again and we metro’d to my favorite spot in Paris for some nighttime photos. The Champs was full of oddly colored (for Christmas) lights but it was pretty nonetheless. The trees were decorated with these lighted hoola hoops that changed colors from green to blue. They helped to illuminate the Christmas market that lined the street. In the background, a Ferris wheel shined from Les Tuileries. We walked along the Pont Alexandre III and took pictures of and with Le Tour Eiffel and then grabbed some vin chaud (hot wine) from the market before we metro’d to Selma’s apartment in the 17^th to drop off my bag and get dinner.

We had a late meal at Les Dames Café (delicious lamb stew finished with café) then walked up to Sacre Coeur to see the lit city from the highest vantage point. *sidebar* We passed O’Sullivan’s on the way there. It was poppin off as usual *end sidebar* Selma said that it wasn’t as bright as it usually is (probably because it was rather late) but I of course still thought it was great. We ventured back down the hill and went to a bar called 3 Cuisines or something along those lines. It’s by her apartment and apparently the “business school kids” hang out here. It was pretty cool. We ended the night with kir de cassis and Selma got invited on a dinner date lol. Once we got home, I was exhausted so I took a shower and passed out.

Day -1

But I had to wake up early to make my 10:30am flight. So I departed *thanks again Selma* and metro/RER’d to CDG (pain au chocolat et juis des oranges en main). I still love Paris. It will likely always be my favorite.

Boarding the plane was interesting. The abundance of oversized carry-ons being checked at the gate delayed departure an hour but the flight was shorter than I thought (which is a good thing because there were no individual tvs!). When we landed, I headed to customs and ran into Kim, who was obviously on my flight, unbeknownst to me. We cleared customs and picked up my ever-so-large backpack, found an ATM and met our driver. He took us to the hostel where Maria and Emily were waiting for us with an intriguing story of the last 24 hours and the travel arrangements that had made…that started at 7am. We said goodnight and Kim and I set to work on projects from the not-yet-over semester. Around 3:30/4 we called it a night.