11 july 2011
we arrived in paris around 7:30pm local time. our bags were still at
florine’s, but we definitely needed to eat some dinner before we went to pick
them up. we stopped by a restaurant near the station and ate a quick meal before
heading over to florine’s place. she met us there and we visited for a while as
we reorganized our bags to transport. we finally made our way across town and
got to our new host’s flat around 10pm. his name was mikael, and he lived in a
teeny apartment on the top floor of an old building (of course). once we
arrived and got our stuff settled, he invited us to go sit by the seine and
drink wine. um…. yes. he led us to an awesome little spot on the bank and we
watched the boats go by. eventually, we kept walking, ending up near the
islands. we stopped and got berthillon ice creams on the île de st. louis and
then walked over to the île de la cité to look at notre dame in the moonlight.
we went back to the right back and got bikes to ride home. :) rachel rode on
mikael’s bike and i had my own. it was so fun to ride through the deserted
streets of late-night paris. we got back pretty late and got ready for bed.
rachel and i slept on the pull-out couch, and we all slept so hard! i barely
woke up when mikael got up early for work.
12 july 2011
my last day. rachel and i had planned to go check out the
pompidou center, so we got up and prepared for our day. we got our bikes from
the little bike terminal down the street and rode over to the museum.
unfortunately, the pompidou was closed on tuesdays. blast. we sat in the plaza
for a while, and listened to an awesome jazz quartet play. rachel and i even
got up and danced for a minute, which earned the applause of all the
spectators. we got our bikes and took a long tour down the seine. our first
stop was to check out the shakespeare & company bookstore, one of my
favourite places on the planet. i bought a copy of “screwtape letters” and we
continued on our way. we did think about going to the d’orsay, but the line was
so long that we ended up bailing. we walked across the pont des arts and looked
around the tuileries, including the carnival. we walked along the rue de
rivoli, “window-licking” (great french saying) and enjoying the weather. we
eventually got some bikes and made our way through the place de la concorde and
down the champs-elysees. we went and checked out the gallery atop the louis vuitton
building and walked by the parisian abercrombie & fitch, which is
confusingly popular. since my quest to find the best tarte aux framboises in
france began at the café ladurée, i figured it was only fair that it end there
as well. we had a little dessert treat, which i savoured as long as i could. i
did have a fleeting moment of meaningful sadness as i took my last bite… it was
so good, and i didn’t want it to end – but i had to take that last bite. just
like my time abroad. we paid and stopped by the virgin megastore so i could
grab a cd. finally, we headed back and met mikael, and the three of us went out to a last dinner. he brought us to a really good restaurant right around
the corner, where i accidentally ordered an entrée of raw meat. whoops. he
bought us a bottle of champagne and we had a really interesting and provocative
conversation. after dinner, he took us on a bit of a pub crawl. at the first
bar, we tried these shots of caramel vodka, and then had watermelon mojitos.
the atmosphere was really cool – very nashville. the next place was pretty
empty, but still cool. he ordered us these daiquiri-like drinks, which were
alright. finally, around 2, we headed home. i stayed up to finish packing and
blog a little. i considered pulling an all-nighter, but i did go to sleep
eventually, for just a couple hours.
13 july 2011
d-day. i woke up around 6 and got my stuff together. rachel
came with me to the airport shuttle stop next to the opéra, where we said
goodbye. i boarded to get out of the rain, thinking about how paris was crying
for me. the airport was uneventful – i checked in and went through security,
arriving at my gate in plenty of time to buy some food and use the internet. my
flight was at 11am, so we started boarding around 10:15.
after 180 of the best
days of my life – countless adventures and friends – i was going home.
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