(dramatic tone) so there I was writing the desperate email to Sarah and just praying she read it in time! I came to find she did not receive my letter until we were reunited that evening though. So, there I am getting on the plane at 4pm, leaving my phone on as long as possible in hopes that Sarah, who I believe is frantically looking for her long lost friend at the bus station, will call.
She didn't.
I sat on that two hour flight with my phone in hand the entire time. just waiting for the tires to touch down so I could call Fanny, Sarah's friend, and try to get an update on her status/talk to her and make sure she was okay. I land, I call, I hear Sarah is fine and I hop on the metro into the city.
When we were reunited I found out Sarah encountered similar trouble. Her bus from Amsterdam was stopped for two hours after crossing the French border. She was borrowing some one's phone and trying to call me during my flight and thinking oh noes! Brianna is sitting in a bus station looking for me. Alas, we got to Paris at the same time.
So, having gotten in much later than anticipated I headed to meet the crew at dinner, rolling suitcase in tow. We then went to a concert (Fanny is a concert promoter is France). Heyene was the band and it was lots of fun. Here is a photo from the show...
He isn't standing on the stage, people are holding him up by the ankles
Fanny let us stay at her apartment, which I am eternally grateful for. She is an amazing lady! The next day Sarah and I just wandered the city. This was my first time, so I let Sarah take the lead and show me the sights. Paris is full of beautiful buildings, amazing restaurants, and beautiful people...I found sensory overload to be common theme in Europe. We walked along the Seine, and the fall colors, the pastel buildings...all of it, just breath taking.
oui?
We strolled the river banks until we hit Notre Dame! The flying buttresses are pretty amazing and the building is just stunning. I have studied it in art history classes and you see pictures in history books, but standing in front of such a landmark is just so darn awe inspiring. It's surreal. The whole trip was a unique, surrealistic fantasy that I did not want to end....speaking of I will end that tangent and show you pictures!
That famous facade!
To get the facade pic we had to lean so far back we ended up with out heads in the spikes, cute picture of said incident was necessary.
more amazingness
The next day was my twenty-second birthday...I have been incredibly lucky these past two years to celebrate my life by doing new things, which is what life is all about I think. So, 22=Paris. We tried to go to the Picasso museum, but it's closed until 2012(ish), and wound up just walking around the city and strolling through the many parks until Sarah's dad, Margaretta, and Oscar arrived from Dublin. I came across a pretty impressive piece of street art along the way though,
a beautiful piece
Then, we spotted prickly pares at a fruit stand and that naturally inspired the singing of bare necessities from the jungle book...
naturally
We had our reunion and then all went to lunch, where I was sung happy birthday with candles in my french onion soup (bad idea for any other creative souls, soup melt wax for future notice). Our waiter was quite handsome and Margaretta wanted to take a picture of him, but he thought she meant he would take a photo of us...a funny situation ensued, but Margaretta got her photo!
We decided to go to see the Eiffel Tower, which I had glimpsed at the day before, but Margaretta and Oscar had never seen. Against all of Abrahm's instincts we did something touristy and went to the top of the tower. I will always be able to remember the day and year I went to the top of the tower, which I think is pretty special.
This photo is fun because Abrahm just wanted a picture of me and Sarah (ps that is grammatically correct because you would say photo of me, not photo of I, so don't correct me!) ah hem...AND asked Marga and Oscar to move out of the frame, alas they just moved closer, but continued to be oblivious. We have Marga talking to Sarah and Oscar dreaming about his video game while we are just trying to not crack up...silly moment
This is not the most flattering photo of either of us, but EVIDENCE we went to the top. We did the damn thing!
We then went to a lovely dinner filled with fun conversation, amazing salads, and plenty of fantastic French wine. Pretty fantastic 22nd birthday if I do say so myself.
The next day we went to the Pompidou, which is a modern art museum that looks like a giant hamster fun house from the outside (check it out on google image search, I am 100% serious). They had great exhibits and I recommend going there if you are in Paris. Right near the museum is a pretty sweet statue too,
it took me a while to get one when a child wasn't climbing the hand...
Sarah and I headed to the metro and to the a stop on the 12 line called Abbesses. It was an amazing place. The neighborhood is quite close to the Pigalle (sex shop central), but we took the exit with like 4 flights of stairs and then went left down the main street there and found amazing restaurants and bars. It is definitely a neighborhood I would like to visit again.
As I mentioned we walked through this lovely, quaint neighborhood and into sex central. The Pigalle is not a place to bring your kids, folks! But, I did get that classic shot
The Moulin Rouge!
We all headed back and then met up for some champagne outside on the streets of Paris and Sarah and I headed to a fun bar we had found and I tried Absinthe for the first time. Being someone who hates licorice, it was gross. But damn it! I can check it off the bucket list. The next day was silly. We were supposed to wake up, get pastries and head over for a lovely breakfast and to say goodbye to Abrahm...but surprise surprise! Europe's time changes a week before Americas. So my alarm didn't go off and I shoot up at 82o and freak Sarah out, she then says no my clock says its 720...I check the computer and it says 720, but all other clocks say 820...it was confusing, but we figured it out and breakfast happened as planned.
The next item on the agenda? The Louvre! Sarah and I spent our entire day there and it was lovely. I didn't finish the whole museum, but was just mesmerized by the place. I saw Hammurabi's code! and one of my favorite pieces, the Winged Victory...
ta da!
If you go to Paris dedicate at least one day to the Louvre, at least! Along with the Mona Lisa, you see less well known but stunning pieces! The details in the building, everything about the place is magical...there is a beautiful statue garden as well and knowing my affinity for statues I spent a lot of time there, this was one I feel in love with
And that my friends was Paris. It was time once again to say good bye to Sarah and another country. I was returning to a familiar country though, Germany.
Next stop: Berlin.
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