Paris is Beautiful!

So all anyone said to me about Paris was that it was dirty and there was literal poop everywhere...in my experience so far, that couldn't be farther from the truth. I mean...it's not like I've seen the whole city in 3 days, but we have walked miles and haven't stepped on a single turd, though there have been a few sightings. Also, the people are cordial if not downright nice. They let me speak French to them unless they realiwe I'm obviously struggling and then they seem to have no qualms about helping me out. All in all, my first few days have been great! time for a play by play:

Day 1
Arrived on the plane and was really tired. Charles de Gaulle is a confusing airport and I quite literally walked in circles for about an hour. Go me. Then by some miracle the girls I was supposed to meet up with found me and we were able to take the RER into Paris where I transferred to the metro by myself and found my hotel no problem. I took a shower to wash all the travel ick off myself then walked around the neighborhood a little. It's not the nicest area but it's a 10 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower so it was nice to be so close to that!

After my walk I couldn't fight the sleepiness anymore so I took a nap and waited for Natalie to show. When she did, it was like in those movies where everything is in slow motion on the beach and the lovers are running toward each other with arms open. Fabulous. I missed my hetero-lifemate. So she got settled in and we freaked out and giggled a bit about being in Paris together. And we got dinner at this little neighborhood place where the waiter asked us to come back later which we fully intended on doing until we puttered out at like 11pm from exhaustion.

Day 2

Woke up late because Nat is a saint and let me sleep in. Then we both got ready and set out for some sights. First up, largely due to proximity, was the Eiffel Tower. It was a strange experience because it was both larger and smaller than i thought it would be. It didn't really phase me to be seeing it but at the same time it was surreal. Hard to describe. All of these touristy spots in Paris just look like they belong. They look so natural and it's kinda hard to make a big deal out of them because no one else does. Not to say I'm not excited to be here...it's just interesting to see how the Parisians and tourists alike don't overly freak out over the landmarks. After the Eiffel tower we took a walk on the Champs de Mars. It was really nice out so the walk was pleasant. We headed to the Musée d'Orsay next but we didn't go in because it was about to close. We took w walk to Ile de la Cité to see Sainte Chappelle and Notre Dame. So...we noticed a line outside of Sainte Chappelle and didn't know if the tours were closed or not, so we decided to just stand in line to find out. Turns out, tours were closed and we were in line for a string quintet chamber performance of Vivaldi's The Four Sasons. Did we stay? Hell yes. So we went to this beautiful concert in this beautiful church with wonderful stained glass windows and the works. It was breathtaking. No other word could describe it as well :-). So after the concert we walked around Notre Dame, saw some break dancing street performers, and then got some dinner at a Greek street vending place...awesome felafel. So we were in the Latin Quarter at this point which is an area highly populated with students and noticed it woulbd be a good place to go out on a Saturday night. We hopped on the metro, went back to the room, got dressed up, and went right back. Let me tell you, the one stereotype of Paris that does hold true at this point in my experiences is the MEN. Yes, they are attractive, but they are very...forward. To put it lightly. But we got a couple overpriced beers at this salsa club and were shamelessly hit on by some South Americans and a bar tender. We then left, which made the men sad, but we were going to miss the last metro so we had to book it. Got home safe and sound with no scratches and fell into bed. Day 3 will have to come at a later date!

Love you all! Hope people are actually reading this...it's fun to write regardless!


Ann