We'll always have Paris

Let's be honest, I still haven't recovered from last weekend in Paris! But it was an incredible weekend all the same =D

at a glance:
Friday: dinner, hanging out with Alex and Meghan, watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle, hanging out in the apartement
Saturday: Montmartre, Place de la Concorde, Jardin des Tuileries, Louvre, attempted Musée D'Orsay, Friends, crazy night at the apartements
Sleep-deprived Sunday: church, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower (sorta), more Friends, come back to Nantes

Okay. Friday night was absolutely FANTASTIC. I got to see two of my favorite Wooster girls and do the whole hyperventalating-I'm-really-in-Paris gawking tourist thing. The best part was when Alex and I were waiting for Meghan by one of the metro stops on the Champs
Elysées; I decided I should probably actually go to the street and look up and down it...it's kind of an iconic street! I went to the street and looked to the left and thought to myself "oh how neat, there's a really big ferris wheel there. that's cool" I looked to the right and nearly jumped out of my skin/fell over and thought "HOLY SHIT THATS THE ARC DE TROIMPHE!!!" I started dancing around and laughing like an idiot...I couldn't help it, it was amazing...and HUGE. I guess I never realized how big it was in real life =D Meeks found us and when she and her friend Kevin found out that it was my first time in Paris, she decided she wanted to see my reaction to the Eiffel Tower =D It was...pretty much amazing, I'm not gonna lie. Because it was nighttime, it was all lit up...and then every hour on the hour it sparkles. Literally SPARKLES with hundreds of flashing lights...all I could think of was how mum found a journal I kept for class in 5th grade that talked about how the attraction I would most like to see is the Eiffel Tower...my dream finally came true and I won't lie, I almost cried/squealed when I saw it =D

Afterwards we went and hung out with Alex's IES friends...and bounced balloons back and forth like little kids for about an hour =D ...we're entirely too easily entertained!

Saturday was a day of random "what should we do now?" We started in Montmartre and sat by the Sacre-Coeur eating lunch...it's a gorgeous building. I remember in highschool I used to sit in Mme Zadin's class and stare at a poster of Sacre-Coeur after finishing quizzes and classwork...it's so much better in person =D We went to Place du Tertre (?) which is pretty much the artist's square...people have their artwork up for sale and work on new pieces right there. It's what I picture whenever I think of artistic bohemian Montmartre...and it was even more meaningful for me because of my Junior IS last semester on Suzanne Valadon =) We attempted to go to Musée d’Orsay, but it was closing early because of the transportation strikes, so we went to Place de la Concorde/Jardin des Tuileries/walked around the (outside of) the Louvre instead. I enjoyed it very much...the art and architeture (I know I say that a lot, but I just can't get over it!) was so...amazing. We decided we were tired from our late night and full day, so we went back to Alex's house to watch Friends...'cause that's how we hang out at Wooster, why not do the same in France? after a while we went back to the apartments to hang out with even more of her friends...and that was the most bizarre night EVER. I'd say the 7 bottles of wine they consumed helped out just a bit...though Alex was sure to assure me (and I believe her) that her friends are NOT usually that...intoxicated =D the only bad thing was that it resulted in getting to bed at 4.30...and then having to get up about 4.5 hours later for church =P

Needless to say, we were both extremely tired on Sunday. After church (at which I saw ANOTHER wooster person - I had forgotten Anna was in Paris too!) we went to L'Arc de Triomphe, which is even BIGGER when you're standing under it! we got then went to the Eiffel Tower and got in line to go up to the top...but realized we didn't quite have enough time, so we're going to do that on thursday before catching our flight to Barcelona for fall break (yes, I'm going to Barcelona for the weekend. I love europe!) we watched another episode of Friends before I got my train back to Nantes (which was stopped for a while, resulting in my not getting home until quarter of midnight. yikes, I was tired).

all in all, it was a pretty fantastic weekend =D

hopefully there will be another post today/tommorrow about my life in Nantes...travel entries are fun, but I want to get some of what's in my head (scary thought, I know) and what's going on in my *real* life into this blog. that stuff usually goes into my journal...I'm pretty sure I've already written about 160 pages since coming to France. I've finished one journal and started another...and it hasn't even been two months!

lunchtime and then tango - à+!