Paris and Pints

So, just returned from further adventures in Paris. It was an interesting trip, to say in the least. Now, that's not to say that it was a bad trip, or a fantastic trip. It kind of held a middle ground- one really good night, one "ehhhh" night, and heinous style of travel. However, the group was good (when they weren't hung over and sleeping in until 2 while I ran around the city after waking up at 9) or when they were horribly angry and tired and bitching about the travel style. They wanted cheap- you need to understand you'll be treated like cattle if you're paying the least amount possible. Oh well. The city is an amazing place and no less beautiful each time I visit, so that in and of itself made it well worth it. Mostly... I do have to say that my first excursion to Paris with people my own age (excluding the other times with my family- those have all been great trips) back in October was, well... yeah, it was better. Oh well. We win some and lose some.

Anyhow, with that grand introduction (kind of a downer) there were some amazing moments! The start of the trip was a bit rocky, what with a 3.5 hour bus ride to the port, then the ferry, then another ridiculously long bus right into Paris (this all started at 9:30pm and we travelled all the way through the night, arriving in Paris at around 6:30am). However, once we got there, we chilled in a cafe until we were able to check into our apartment (Vivian did a fantastic job picking this place out and getting a brilliant deal- seriously, it was quite awesome). Once dropping off our bags, we walked around the Champs Elysees (we literally were staying a two minute walk from it), hit the Arc, and then found another cafe for lunch in which I indulged in a croque monsieur. Had to- I was in France. Following this, we found a supermarket, grabbed some champagne and orange juice, and finally were able to settle into our apartment and grab a few well-earned napping hours. After such, we popped the champagne, had a little pre-dinner festivities, then found a delicious little place where we got amazing pizza. Seriously... this stuff was... wow. And I don't think the obsession with it was champagne-induced. It was really that good.

Following dinner, we met up with the other group from the London house that were traveling in Paris, saw their hotel (our apartment won) an then trekked off to the Eiffel Tower for some nighttime hanging out, pictures, and overall fun. This was definitely my favorite of the two nights of the trip. We got some fantastic pictures of all of us, had a great time hanging out in a different city, and then utilized the metro to return to our apartment's area, where we were rudely declined from many clubs due to being American, and finally settled on going back to the place we all had dinner, cause apparently it worked as a club as well. So, we basically made up half their crowd (kind of a silly place, but we had fun cause we were together), danced, hung out, socialized, the like. It was a good time. Once completing our shenanigans there, we wandered around for a bit more, then decided on heading back home due to the ridiculously late hour (and we were all still pretty exhausted from our earlier journey into France). Some of the girls went out again and apparently ran around aimlessly- I opted for getting some amount of sleep.

The following morning I woke up at 9:30 and ended up playing mom for a couple of hungover people. Apparently not everyone handles champagne as well... Oh well. I got up, ran to a cafe and got some baguettes for the girls when they finally decided to crawl out of bed, and then proceeded to get a little reading done at another cafe after dropping off the food. I returned around noon, showered up, and finally saw some liveliness, although we didn't get out of the house 'til about 2pm. Ah, so much for our 1 full day in Paris. After getting out of the house, we walked all the way to the Notre Dame (a hefty feat considering out distance from it, but we got to pass the Musee d'Orsay, Louvre, and walk along the river). We grabbed lunch in another cafe, went into the Notre Dame, walked around the Latin Quarter, found the Shakespeare bookstore that's featured in a movie- Julie and Julia, I believe? After such, we actually walked around the Louvre, then back to the house, where we rested up just a bit to give our hurting feet relief, and then headed out to a nice dinner on the Champs Elysees. It was nice not worrying about prices so much as just sitting down and having a delightful time.

After dinner, we grabbed some more drinks at the market, headed back to the apartment for a quieter house party evening, where the other group joined us for a bit, and then peaced out (all but one). Regardless, we enjoyed an evening of party tricks, truth or dare, and other such silly games that were very reminiscent of sleepovers from years ago. It was fun. Another late night, but we all managed to get up at a far more decent hour the following morning. We hit the Tower in the daytime, went back to the Latin Quarter for further exploring (where I had to get a gyro, no matter how unhealthy), and then headed back to our apartment to check out. Following such, we found another cafe for a final dinner in france (I got poulet frites) and then we prepared ourselves for the evil journey home.

It was once again, a very, very long bus ride, followed by the ferry, and then a slightly less evil bus ride into London, although we got in before the tube opened, so we then had to run around with copious amounts of luggage looking for one of the few buses that was running and would get us home- we failed. So, we founds cabs, got home around 5am, and then crashed the heck out after barely managing to wash my face. I was so exhausted. I "napped" until noon, then got up, unpacked, ran to the gym, and then decided to grab my computer and go back to my favorite pub - the Hoop & Toy - and get a little writing done. One of my friends from the house ended up finding me there, so we hung over and chatted over a pint before I met up with some other people for dinner. Trying to stay awake, I headed back to the house with Vivian, bought some baking stuff, and proceeded to blog this while she created some ridiculously awesome brownies. Now? Well, now I'm helping in the process of consuming and waiting to skype my family before I go to sleep and prepare for the awfulness of tomorrow's schedule:

Class 8-10am, convo from 12-1pm, class 1-3pm, class 3-6pm, play @ 7:30. Ugh. Too much to do.

Oh well, it looks like I'll be meeting up with some friends from America soon, so I'm really excited to see some faces that I haven't seen since September. It's been far too long!