Paris J'Taime

I still have a tummy ache from all the rich food, sweets, and alcohol! I had my first Opera cake...OH MY WORD! It was fabulous. I ate more chocolate than I thought I could. It's so good. I can't even explain. Also, Elizabethmentioned that before we left we had to try this trendy little cookies called macrons. I know they've been around forever, but they have littleshops all over Paris dedicated to these amazing little treats, kind of like the cupcake craze in the states. I tried rose, coffee, salted caramel is the best, and I still have a few left! Also I had onion soup (they don't have to add the french part, its a given), baguettes, the best ice cream I've ever tasted, croissants, 4 Lactaid pills and a tiny tummy ache.

The Paris Monmatre Pub Crawl did not compare with Valencia's Pub Crawl, but it was good company! We had a great time and met some fun people: a guy from South Africa who is commuting to Paris from London for work, a Danish guy who was really cute, 1 American claiming to be from Tennessee, but had the faux Euro accent from his study abroad, as well as lots of Australians, Canadians, and Spaniards. It was a good time in that regard, but sort of a rip off. However, we were a block away from the hostel which was a plus wondering home(crepe in hand) at 2 AM.

For the record and all the worrywarts reading this blog, I felt really safe in Paris. We are on the same level of terrorists alert in London, but in France there were more police and the airport security was INTENSE! They checked our document 3x more than any other country. I didn't see a single protest, and my friend ELizabeth who has been living there for a month said she hasn't seen any either. I felt more welcomed by Parisians then the last time I was there and was pleasantly surprised at how nice everyone was. Don't get me wrong, they were nice based on my expectations and I'm sure having Elizabeth there to translate and help us order really helped the situation.

It was the breath of fresh air I needed though. I was getting a little frustrated in London and it was fantastic to get away but even better to want to come back. France is so opulent while London is cozy. Even the fancy palaces and big buildings have a classic cozy feeling, in France I feel like I am defacing all the beauty around me just by standing on the street. We went to the National Opera House (the one in Phantom of the Opera) which was fantastic! I've never seen anything quite like it. It was fancier than any of the palaces here. So detailed! Everything was crystal, gold, and marble. We got to go inside the auditorium which was surprisingly intimate feeling for such a large house. Chandeliers lined every hall, statues everywhere I just couldn't get over it! I was so glad we went because it wasn't on the itinerary, but after searching for Sarah Bernhart's grave for an hour and a half, it was exciting to be swept away!

We did however see Oscar Wilde's grave, Moliere's final resting place, Jim Morrison's shrine and Isadora Duncan's ashes. It was 10:30 AM and people were taking shots in honor of Morrison. It was a spectacular cemetery, and of course reminded me a lot of New Orleans. It was strange how it's customary to put on red lipstick and kiss people's tombstones. Oscar Wilde's was covered in kiss marks and interesting remarks...

not all of them were thankful or respectful though. There's a small plaque asking people not to deface his grave, but since he wasn't French, they didn't put a fence around it like some of the others. It was a maze, oddly marked, not well planned, but really breathtakingly eerie. I'm really lucky to be doing so much traveling in the fall while the leaves are changing, it makes everything more beautiful.

It was funny because Catherine and I have been staying in budget hostels and flying cheap airlines so we felt like we were living in the lap of luxury on Air France and in a room with only two others that included breakfast and a private bathroom. On our 40 minute flight we got drinks AND snacks, in our room we got blankets (not just sheets) and a HAIR DRYER!! It was worth the price! The hostel was a block away from the Moulin Rouge so we passed it constantly, we did not however pay the 150 Euro to see the show, a tad out of our price range, but the thought of scantly clad women and unlimited champagne is intriguing....

We did a bit of shopping at the outdoor markets took a complete 180 and window shopped at the designer and jewelry stores including Cartier and Louis Vuitton. More excitedly we stopped into Repetto, the company that both Catherine and I got our first pair of pointe shoes from. They had really cute, but expensive shoes and frankly I'd rather spend my money on chocolate.

We also visited the Arc d' Triumph, what I kept calling Triumph Arch. It was incredible. Again all the sculptures were so detailed. No offense America, but it kind of puts our memorials to shame. It's so big and extravagant...we have the Washington Monument...a building shaped like a pencil.

I had a fantastic trip and have realized I need to purchase more comfortable shoes for Prague and Austria next week, my feet still hurt because Europeans still love cobblestones.