I told you I would write it. It just took me forever and a day.

If you didn’t already know, HoneyB is my best friend, besides from stoichio and GM.  We spent a whole term apart, and I’m surprised either of us survived to be here right now.  Crazy!  To celebrate our union (sometimes it sounds like we really are getting married), we went to Paris for a quick weekend trip before our classes started! 

There’s so much to do in Paris that there was no possible way to see or do everything with the 2 days that we gave ourselves.  We did try to fit in as many museums and sites as we could though.  Honestly, what else was I going to do?  Go out and party?  Maybe another time.  This time though, it was the ‘get the big sites out of the way and then go cry in d’Orsay.’.  I’ll explain soon.

Right after I registered for my courses (which consisted of me running around a room, looking at timetables taped on the wall, and flipping furiously through the course catalogues), HoneyB and I jumped on a bus and head over to the train stations.  Lille has two of them, so if you can’t find a train that leaves early enough, you can just run over to the other one and buy your tickets there.  We purchased our tickets, and when our train pulls into the station, we search for our compartment so that we could sit pretty and enjoy our train ride.  So, I do believe that most trains (or at least the ones that I’ve taken so far) have about 8 compartments for passengers.  It was a bit odd when our tickets said that we were in the 13th one, but we figured that there were 2 trains heading into Paris at the same time.  We never found out if this compartment, let alone this second train ever existed.  Only one train was the gate, and we didn’t want to miss this train, so we stood awkwardly in between 2 compartments where larger luggage is normally kept, and ate Fuzzy Peaches and Maltesers.  There were quite a number of other people who were also stuck in this no man’s land on the train, so we figured that they were in the same situation as well.  Either that, or that they didn’t care much for sitting. 
Despite the immediate hurdle for our trip, we arrived in Paris promptly and hopped onto the metro to find our hostel. 
The hostel that we stayed in was called Peace and Love.  The main floor where you enter is a bar, where you checked in and off with the bartenders, and then you go up a ridiculously high flight of stairs to get to your room.  There were 3 rooms on each level, and when you’re in room 10, you figured that your butt must look fantastic from running up and down these stairs everyday.  We rested a bit to catch our breaths, and then it was off to explore the city of Love!!

First stop:  Notre-Dame.  I’m not going to lie, the entire time that we were at this cathedral, all I could hear in my head were the songs from the musical.  (Madame C, this is your doing).  It’s one of those things that can take your breath away, and seeing it in person really does not disappoint. 

Next, it was across the river to go into Shakespeare and Co. 
It’s one very tiny store, but almost every inch of wall space has been used to keep books!  You’re constantly muttering pardon and désolée when you need to squish past someone.  They do have a piano that you can play (and there was a wicked person filling the whole bookstore with wonderful music) and a nook where you can leave a message!  Of course, we had to leave one.

I sacrificed a page of my journal for this.  You’re welcome.
We spent some time just wandering the streets of Paris, trying to guess which each building was.  The problem is that every building is so elaborate, you think everything is some form of government building or embassy.  I kind of wish that we took a picture of the croque-monsieurs we had for dinner, because they were enormous and I felt kind of bad for not finishing, but was a huge sandwich drenched with cheese, and my stomach just couldn’t do it.  Sorry =/

Walking off that sandwich was a great idea, and so we strolled down Champs-Élysées.  It’s lined with numerous stores, and most of them are big names like Louis Vuitton, Gap, even Abercrombie & Fitch.  Seriously, they had a beautiful gate and two employee/models standing in front of them because there must have been some kind of event going on. 

Day two! 
Okay, call us ambitious, but we were determined to see so many things today - Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Effiel Tower, Sacré-Coeur, and the catacombs.  I can proudly say that we were able to almost everything.  Not bad, not bad. 
We woke up early to use the internet downstairs at the bar before starting our packed day. We were just going to grab some croissants on our way to the Louvre, but got a free breakfast instead!  To be honest, I don’t remember exactly how we got to this point because I was too busy trying to be as least awkward as I could be when the drunk grocer was making his eyes look asian while saying ‘ni hao’.  (I’ll save my story about vendors speaking chinese for another day).  Just read it on HoneyB’s blog. 
Finally, we were about to start our grand museum adventure!!

First stop, the Louvre.  I think it’s actually forbidden for you to visit Paris and not ever go to the Louvre.  Why wouldn’t you go?  It houses some of the most famous pieces of art in the world!  (This is where the art side of my brain kind of takes over and forgets that people have other interests.  If you stroll past the next 23254+ paragraphs and look at the pretty pictures, I won’t take offense.)  We were lucky to come here first, because the lines can fill up super quickly.  We grabbed a map, and began by just wandering around, admiring the glorious pieces around us, but soon realized that we would never be able to get through our day if we kept at this pace.

Degassssssssssssssss <3

I can say that I have ran a marathon in my life.  Not a conventional one, but if you can say that you’ve gone through the Louvre and have seen most of the main attractions, all the winding and running around that you’ve done is basically the equivalent of a marathon.  HoneyB and I got lost so quickly trying to find the Code of Hammorabi and the seated scribe (which we didn’t get to see because that section was being renovated booo) but we eventually found most pieces. 
I’ll spare you all the gushing I did, but know that I was freaking out around every corner.  Once again, the art student in me.

And yes, we had to go see Mona.  As much as I complain about her (because I really don’t care for her), at least I can say that I saw her.  I didn’t even bother trying to push through the 2m thick crowd of tourists.  Besides, these paintings were so much more worth it.  I’ll take Ingres and Delacroix over Da Vinci any day.  *dodges bullets*

If I had it my way, we could have stayed in the Louvre all day, but we had a schedule.  Also, the next stop was even better than the Louvre.

Ladies and gentlemen, le musée d’Orsay!!  This museum was formerly a train station, but was later converted to the haven of impressionist art that currently stands.

Guys, I need you to understand that I wanted to fall to my knees and just start bawling.  This one museum holds at least 60% of my most favourite works of art ever, or at least a good chunk of pieces that I’ve studied and know fairly well.  I get extremely excited when I finally get to see something in the flesh because it really does make a difference. 
We technically aren’t supposed to take photos inside d’Orsay, so I stole this photos from HoneyB’s camera.  Mine is a little too noticeable. 

Let me tell you a little something about my HoneyB.  First of all, I love this girl to death.  She treats me so fine.  Second, I stole this nickname from Lady Gaga and Beyoncé in the Telephone music video, and I thought it was very suiting.  Not to mention that I just really like calling people hun. 
She knows that I was looking forward to seeing this museum for so long, so she let me see the entire place and stay there for 2 hours at least.  I lost track of the number of times I wanted to just rub my face on the painting because I was so excited to see it.  Yes, gushing again.  I need to stop. 
We always say that cloudy days are perfect for museum days, but I think we’ve spent a little too long inside.  Onwards, my mates!

Honestly, I don’t really know what I want to say about the Effiel Tower, besides the fact that it took us a surprisingly long time to figure out which train to jump on from musée d’Orsay to get to Champs de Mars.  I kind of wished that it wasn’t cloudy so that we could get some really pictoresque shots, but at least the green grass helps.  Green grass in January.  I’ll never shut up about this. 

And yes, I had to throw a salute.  At least I was only with HoneyB so she understood my obsession and infatuation to my sorority, and my urge to throw a gamma salute whenever I get the chance. 
One more stop at Sacré-Coeur cathedrale in Montmarte with some chicken and cheese crêpes, and our Saturday was completely!  Well, almost complete.  It was pretty early by the time we got back, even though we wore ourselves out by running around museums all day.  There was a bar right in our hostel, why not enjoy a drink?  (Actually, I just had some Fanta before we sat down with some other people.  Then I finally ordered a beer.)  There were some other people also chilling in the bar that were nomads staying and Love and Peace, and invited us to play some Jenga. 
Now, the normal person would try to enjoy themselves, have a drink, and meet some new people while engaging in an amusing game of Jenga where each piece had a little dare you had to do or take a drink.  Me?  I’m not normal at all.  While I did enjoy myself, I was more intrigued with the fact that there were 5 pieces as oppose to 3 pieces of Jenga blocks per levels.  I tried to figure out what the structure would be like once you took out a good number of tiles (because this changes EVERYTHING!!) while everyone probably thought, “Okay, this asian chick is seriously messed up.” I was also started to lose interest in them when they made Marcella take a submarine shot (which was like nail polish remover, she told me) and when the spaniards on my right kept hitting on her.  When we finally left, we also discovered another roommate since each room has 3 bunk beds.  We didn’t chat with them for too long since we (or at least I) was/were ready to hit the hay and wake up for tomorrow’s trip back home.

Since we weren’t able to see the catacombs on Saturday, we wanted to squeeze in this last sight since HoneyB put up with my gushing, but worried that we would miss our train, we decided to come back during our 2nd trip to Paris, and just grabbed a very classic breakfast before going to Gare du Nord.  The French really get me - croissants, buttered baguette (even though it had quite a tough crust), jam, coffee, and freshly squeezed orange juice.  This is a tasty breakfast.  I suppose I could use some protein in there, but I wasn’t going to be picky.  We picked up some treats for ourselves for the train ride home, but we were so full from breakfast that we didn’t eat them until we went back to our respective rooms.  Me?  I had to go for my signature dessert, the macaron.  Everyone back home already knows about my obsession with these expensive little meringues, but I allow myself one once in a while.  This time I went for a large pistachio flavoured one!!  It was very strong in the pistachio, but it was also very almond-y, which makes sense because to make macarons, you’re using almond meal instead of regular flour.  Yes, I’ve read a lot about these. 

Finally, I’ve finished this entry!  It only took me 3 weeks to do it.  Yes ma’am, true Serena fashion.  Now to get started on my next belated entry. 
Wish I could type and wear mittens at the same time,
S.

Posted on January 29th at 3:29 PM
Tagged as: Paris. France. student exchange. Effiel Tower. Louvre. Musée d'Orsay. Notre Dame.

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