November 28th-December 1st
The last out-of-Bordeaux trip of the semester turned out to be my weekend in Pair-ee… not exactly a bad way to end my semester travels, that’s for sure. The weekend started off much the same as in Barcelona… 17:51 train to Paris, eat a lot of food on the way. This time, however, there were 7 of our friends on the same train (repeat Geneva American obnoxiousness), and when we arrived in Paris at 10pm, we headed to a hostel via Metro, wandering in the right direction… this time, I was smart enough to get directions so we wouldn’t end up on the coast of Normandie.
Upon arriving at the hostel, which was in Montmartre (Parisian red-light district), Lauren and I were pleasantly surprised by the proximity to the Metro and the proximity to McDo, probably more important in the long run. After checking in to our 3-person room (complete with bathroom, one hanger, and TV), we headed out to the Moulin Rouge to meet up with Erin and Jackie. After taking lots of ridiculous pictures there, we wandered across the street to this bar called The Station… prime attraction? Live music.
Said “live music” just happened to be playing Sweet Home Alabama when we walked in… we took this as a sign and plopped our butts in the nearest booth, then proceeded to order food and drinks while singing along and cheering quite loudly… “loudly” probably because we were the only ones cheering and dancing in our seats. Luckily, the waiter got a kick out of us and did not only point to us and then cup his ear every time the band finished a song (since we were evidently not being loud enough for him), he also came over and started dancing with us, next to our table. We ordered a bruschetta and continued to sing along to a medley of old-school rock and roll.
We left just in time to catch the last Metro, returning to our luxurious hostel chamber to prepare for the next day’s tourist activities.
First stop on the Parisian sightseeing tour? Cimitiere Père Lachaise, a massive 60 acre cemetery where one can find lots of famous dead people, such as Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Jim Morrison. The place is so huge that it even has street signs inside, and the newsstands outside the cemetery walls sell maps of the cemetery.
After taking sufficient “rock on” pictures with my good friend Jim, it was back to the Metro for the day’s second adventure: searching for Hard Rock and Starbucks. After walking around in a circle for about 45 minutes (it should have been a 20 minute walk, according to Mr. Office of Tourism) and asking for directions at a pharmacy, we located not only Starbucks, but Hard Rock Café-Paris right next door! You better believe I got a huge White Chocolate Mocha and batted my eyelashes all the way to a free shot glass.
This is the part where we cue the soundtrack… the song is called, appropriately enough, “Aux Champs-Élysées,” and that’s exactly where we were headed next… find the NoFx version if you can, its quite entertaining…
Long lines, tourists, some sightseeing pictures, a marché de Noël, and one very overbearing heater later, Lauren and I had not only spent some more money, but were on our way to St. Michel (that’s near the Notre-Dame area) to meet up with Lauren’s friend Sara, currently studying in Paris via EAP. She not only took us to a delicious crêpe street stand, but to Angelina’s, a hot chocolate and pastry mecca. They basically served me a cup of melted chocolate to drink with some unsweetened egg whites as thickener (right, cuz I totally needed thickener)… and of course, I got a delicious berry cake thing to complement it. Feeling sufficiently stuffed and on the verge of the food coma, we returned to our hostel to drop off our bags and see what the night held.
Turns out the night held one very sketchy late-night McDo run and some weird French TV (think American Gladiators, but with only one “gladiator” and mental exercises too, like putting together puzzles), since we wanted to go to bed early in preparation for our day at EuroDisney.
The most exciting part of the Disney day started before we even left our creepy Parisian hostel corner. As we left the hostel and headed for the Metro, we realized that the rain falling from the sky wasn’t quite right… examination of the flakes landing on our hands and jackets revealed that it was definitely not rain… it was SNOW!!! That’s right, it SNOWED in Paris!! We were like little kids freaking out and running around, aside from the fact that it was melting as soon as it hit the ground and meant that it was cold enough to freeze the rain on the way down. Nonetheless, it snowed!! Snow!! In the fall!! Gah its cold here. Anyway…
As you can imagine, aside from getting up early, having to buy an expensive RER ticket to get home, it raining all day, and me losing a glove before I even got out of the RER station, Disneyland was indeed Disneyland, and therefore quite fun and fantastic. All the Christmas decorations were up and they’re celebrating their 15-year anniversary, so the entire place was decked out. My favorite part of the day? (Aside from WAY TOO MUCH SHOPPING… I should have had a leash on me or something… too many shiny objects.) The “souvenir mug, coffee, free refill, and Mickey-shaped brioche stuffed with Nutella” combo. Delicious, and above all, warm. Of course, we had to see le Père Noël too… he told us that he was going to give us French fiancés for Christmas.
After spending the day as a Mouseketeers, I returned to the hostel loaded down with Disney paraphernalia and a very angry credit card. Our train was set to leave at 8:10am the next day (I had a 1:30 class), so we set the alarm for a ridiculously early hour (allotting time for the Metro) and drifted off to sleep, with dreams of Tinkerbell and Mickey brioche dancing in our heads.
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