My friend Matt from Skidmore had been traveling around Europe for 2 months after he graduated with his friend Greg. After finding out that Paris was their last stop before heading back to the States, I told them they should come stay with me for the 4 days they were here because I have this pretty big new apartment! It was a lot of fun!
Day 1: Saturday
Matt and Greg arrive, settle in, do an amazing walking tour of Paris where they see EVERYTHING...because I have a lunch/theater date with my good friend Thomas. For dinner Greg makes chicken wrapped in ham in a cream sauce, green beans, and pasta. Saturday night we have my birthday/halloween party.
Day 2: Sunday
We start the day a little late...but Greg makes amazing omlettes for breakfast! Greg and go out in search of a store open on Sunday (a hard task in France) to buy food for dinner. We find a local butcher and produce shop open...we buy rabbit, potatoes and carrots. Then we go to Musee d'Orsay, meet Katie there, and check out the impressionist art (i looooooove that museum). Greg makes a fantastic meal of rabbit in a yummy carrot sauce and potatoes. Matt, Greg and I head out to find a cute bar in the area, only find pretty lame over priced ones open on sunday, and end up heading back and hanging out in my apartment for a while.
Day 3: Monday
Greg makes yummy breakfast of eggs, homefries, and bacon!!! The bacon was 1/4inch thick, salty and DELICIOUS! (by this time I've decide that Greg should never leave my apartment, just stay and cook for me all the time!). We head off to a day at the Louvre. Standing in line FOREVER at the Louvre...a nice man in accented English walks up to us and gives Matt 3 tickets and says we should use them because he and his family are finished. We weren't sure what to do...not sure if it was for real...but took the tickets and they worked fine!! So we got into the Louvre for free!!!! (we attribute Matt's BRIGHT yellow jacket to our luck...he was the brightest person visiting the louvre that day!) In the Louvre we wander around, see lots of art...but can't seem to find this painting that Greg has been wanting to see the entire time they've been traveling in Europe ("In the Garden of Earthly Delight but Bosch). I ask a few people...no one knows...and eventually they tell us it's not there. Having seen a lot of what the Louvre has to offer, we gave up (perplexed) and headed home to get ready for dinner and google the painting. On the way home, we walked by the Grand Palais. At home, we found out that the painting is actually in the Prado Museum in Madrid! Poor Greg...he'll just have to come back to Europe now! Then we got dressed and showered to go meet Katie and eat at a restaurant called "Dans le Noir." Now, this restaurant needs some explaining. It is a place that Matt and Greg heard a lot about in their travels. Basically, you eat in complete darkness (NO light at all). The wait staff are blind. Not being able to see is supposed to highten your other senses of taste and smell and give you a new experience eating. When I heard about this, I was obviously in!! So we went...and it was AMAZING! The only menu they were serving was the "surprise menu," so you don't know what you're eating (but they do ask you your food allergies). Our blind waitress led us into the dark room (each person with their left hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them). She sat us down, explained that we should put our napkins in our laps and our silverware to the side. Then she brought us our wine, explaining that to pour we should place our finger in the glass and stop when we felt the wine. After feeling completely dissoriented and accidentily taking all of Matt's glasses (he was across from me), I got used to the dark and it was a really amazing experience. The food was incredible....cold salmon and mango and salad, beef in a delicious sauce with cheese, fennel, and other delicious stuff, and for dessert lavender rice pudding with strawberry and grapefruit. And eating in complete dark did make the textures and tastes stand out...not to mention was fun because it was a really interesting task cutting without seeing! Then we heading back to my place where we hung out with Eiren, Stephanie, and Maggie up stairs.
Day 4: Tuesday
Last day Matt and Greg were here...as they left Wednesday morning. After a delicious breakfast medoly (leftovers and other things Greg bought at the store), we headed off to the Eiffel Tower. We walked the Champs de Mars to the Tower, got into line...then proceeded to miss the elevator somehow and walk up to the second floor of the tower (something like 600 steps maybe more...) But it was fun! Took lots of pictures on the tower...then headed down. We walked over to Trocadero, took some more pictures of the tower...then headed back toward my place. Stopped at the market and bought lots of stuff for our dinner date at Lucy and Gareth's place....we had planned to make crepes there with Lucy, Gareth, Eiren and Etienne. Then we did some laundry, hung out, and went over to Lucy's. Lucy and Gareth have the cutest parisian apartment!!! It is kind of funky and old looking, exactly what you'd want of a paris apartment! (Greg was in love with it and never wanted to leave). Crepe making was fun and delicious!! Then Matt, Greg and I headed back toward my place and met Stephanie for a beer at a cute place on the corner near us. It was fun and we had a good time.
Day 5: Wednesday
Woke up early, made pancakes...Eiren came down too. Then Matt and Greg packed their stuff and I walked them down to Gare du Nord to catch the RER B to the airport. It was a bit of a disaster at the Gare...we had problems getting tickets from the machine because they don't take US credit cards and the line for the window was REALLY long...but we got them tickets and they caught an express train to the airport. Later I would learn that all this caused some pretty tight timing to make the plane (a little close for comfort) but they made it ok. I was sad to see them go...it was a really fun 4 days...and about as exciting as my vacation will probably be. I was really glad their arrival corresponded with my vacation time so we could have such a great time!
PICTURES...not in chronological order....
Gareth making crepes
Crepe making...
waiting in line to enter the Louvre...i love Greg's laugh
Matt and Greg with the Grand Palais in the background
View from the Eiffel Tower
Another view from the Eiffel Tower (Matt has most of the pictures as my camera battery was dying...so there will be more eventually from the Eiffel Tower...with all of us in them!)
Eiffel Tower from Trocadero
View of my neighborhood (Sacre Coeur) from the window of the Musee d"Orsay
Yummy sausage, tomato and cheese appetizers that Greg made before the rabbit
The master, hard at work in the kitchen
Katie with her delicious rabbit
Close up of the rabbit meal....yummmmmy!
Commuters at Gare du Nord (i didn't take this picture...but i could have, i've seen this sort of thing too many times now)
This is what it looks like when I try to get on the metro! Today i was crushed, but at least this time by a cute french boy who then talked to me while others were pushing him into me and me into the back corner of the metro car :) (again, i didn't take this picture...i'm too afraid to enrage the crowd by whipping out my camera at times like these...and also not really able to reach into my bag since i'm being crushed by the crowd!)
