"I love Paris every moment...every moment of the year..."

Bonjour de Paris!!!!!!!! ♥

I just have to say that I LOVE Paris. People can talk smack about how "dirty" it is or how crowded or whatever, but from what I've seen so far, it is by far the best city of the ones I've visited. I guess I should try to tell the journey so far with pictures...it might be a little easier since there's a visual for a written piece. :)

Sorry that most of the pictures are sideways...I didn't rotate them before I uploaded...



This is Andrea and me at Notre Dame. Do you see the snow on the ground? It was starting to get all mushy because it had changed to rain a little earlier in the morning. Before we went to Notre Dame, we bought our SNCF (train system in France) tickets to Angers at Gare Montparnasse. We ate an early lunch while we were in the station because we were just that hungry. The next picture is of the pigeon that was strutting around in the café where we were eating. The poor thing was missing a toe or claw (whatever it's called on birds) on its right foot. After this bird left, a little tiny bird flew in and we had gotten our food by then, so I threw it a little piece of bread. I ate a ham sandwich (on a baguette) with cheese and it was the best damn ham sandwich I have ever eaten. And of course, I had a Coca. The bottle was completely in French and everytime I drink something for the first time that's in French, I want to keep it. Andrea politely reminds me that I have plenty of time to do this... :)



Last night, we went to the la Tour Eiffel and went all the way up to the Sommet (very top). It was so beautiful and I almost started crying because I couldn't believe that I had made it to PARIS and to the Tour Eiffel!!!!! The wind was blowing while we were out last night, so it was very, very, very cold. I wouldn't have traded it for the world, though. The picture below is of the Arc de Triomphe from the Sommet of the Tour Eiffel.




This is my artsy shot of the Tour Eiffel. I know you are jealous of my crazy amazing photography skills. There's absolutely nothing like seeing the Tour Eiffel lit up so brightly at night. Sadly, most Parisians HATE the Tour Eiffel, which is such a shame. It's so beautiful.


This is me standing in front of the Tour Eiffel before we ascended to the Sommet. Obviously the background is a bit dark, but as long as you can see the Tour Eiffel, ce m'est égal (I don't mind/care).



This picture is obviously of Notre Dame. It's very beautiful but since I'm not religious or Roman Catholic, I wasn't in awe of it. The architecture is fantastic, however.
This sign is of the first Metro station that I entered last night. I had to get a picture of it because I'm so dorky like that. Between yesterday evening and riding all around today, Andrea and I have become pros at maneuvering par train (by train).



Andrea and I ate an early dinner at a bar and brassérie called "Le Nemrod." Andrea and I first looked at a menu in French but it wasn't detailed enough so we asked for a menu in English. This is what we discovered. The soup of the day is posted on the "dash zoard" and voir (to see) translated into English is apparently the same word (see) with an accent aigu (look at the first e in see as indicated. :) I ordered another baguette avec jambon (baguette with ham) and it was AMAZING, once again. It's better with cheese, but this ham was some of the best I've ever had. Andrea ate some sort of country pâté on a baguette. She has a glass of vin rosé while I had a margarita (tequila, Cointreau, and jus de citron - lime? I forget the translation). Boy let me tell you that drink was either too strong or I drank it too quickly because I was giggling a lot by the time we had finished our meal. I wasn't bourrée (drunk), but it was a doozy of a drink. :) We then made our way back across town to the hotel.


This is a picture of me near Notre Dame in front of the Seine (the river that flows through Paris). In the top right corner of the picture is a tour boat. I think that once it warms back up (March or April), I will come back to Paris and take a tour of the city on one of those boats. It's probably pretty awesome.

Andrea and I also went to the Galéries Lafayette to do some typical Parisian shopping. It's a HUGE department store that's about 7 stories high, but that doesn't include the floor under the first floor. So I guess, technically it's 8 stories high. We wandered around, bought a few things. I bought a new purse, a couple of shirts, and a cute knitted dress - the kind that could be worn with leggings or nothing else when it's warmer. Very versatile. At one point, I accidentally left my wallet at a vender in the floor below the first. I was up on the 3rd floor at Promod before I realized it was gone ('cause I was about to pay for some clothes). I panicked, and went back to where I thought it would be. It wasn't there, but then I saw a sign that said "objets trouvés" - found items ( a lost-and-found) so I headed that way. The vender where I had left it had turned it in and I was able to retrieve all that was inside. I'm so glad I found it because I had over 250 euros in it!!! I know, I'm so scatterbrained sometimes, but this time it worked out in my favor. Next time, I won't be so lucky. We went to Galéries Lafayette partially because it's one of the cheaper department stores in Paris (despite all the Gucci, Chanel, Burberry, Christian LaCroix, Dior, etc.) and they were having their first "soldes" of the year. In France, stores can only have 2 "soldes" a year - usually Jan/Feb and Aug/Sept. "Soldes" are big discount sales (up to 70% off in some stores). Stores are allowed to have items reduced at other times during the year, but they are only allowed to use the word "soldes" twice a year. Whatever...c'est bizarre.

After arriving back at the hotel (after shopping and eating and deciding that we were too tired to go to the Moulin Rouge and the Sacré Coeur), Andrea and I just sat around for a little while. I called my sister on ooVoo and tried to call a few more people, but my internet connection is a little sketchy and sporadic so it's hard to do too much at once. I decided to walk down the block to Monoprix (a supermarché similar to Target or Walmart, but a little more expensive on some things). I bought a few necessities. Though I, of course, bought some French vodka (because it was cheap!) and some orange juice. I couldn't find a wine that I would have liked to try, but I'm hoping my host mother has suggestions for some of the best to try because I haven't ever had any.

This is a very long post, but there was much to update you all on! I am heading to bed because it's nearly 11:30pm here. I'm exhausted!

Au revoir, je vous aime beaucoup!!!!!!!!!!!!
♥