Friday, June 26, 2009

Spit Spot


Tuesday afternoon my roomie and I headed into the city. It was already 1 o'clock by the time we left our apartment, but we managed to have quite a few adventures before returning home.

Our adventures began before even leaving the metro station. As we walked through Nation on our way to switch trains, we passed a store filled with dresses. "Do you mind stopping?" Sarah asked. I didn't, and we both ended up buying quite a few things. I knew Paris was quite fashionable, but who knew you could find great clothes without even setting foot on the city's streets?
We continued on to Montmartre, visited Le Murs des Je T'aime, enjoyed a lovely vegetarian meal at a slightly hidden cafe, admired the artists and their works, were awed by Sacre Coeur, ran back to the cafe to retrieve my bag of train station-bought dresses I had left at our table, and then sauntered down the steps in front of Sacre Coeur, enjoying the people, the performers, and the beautiful weather. Crepes were purchased and consumed. We made plans to meet my dear friend Katie in the city, so headed to our favorite area (Notre Dame) to wait for her there. *see romantic moment below* After joyfully greeting Katie, we walked to L'as du Falafel, Lenny Kravitz's favorite falafel joint. That was pretty much it for our Parisian adventures. We wandered the city finishing our falafels and made our way back to the metro, parted ways with Katie, and took the good ol' A back to the wonderful world of Disney.
* romantic moment*
Sarah and I were taking the metro to Notre Dame. We stepped off the train onto the platform and began to walk toward the stairs. As we passed a few of the train cars, I looked over into the train and noticed an attractive guy. No big deal, if nothing else had happened it would have just been a moment of subconsciosly noticing a cute guy. However, as I was about to look away, he looked over his shoulder (I had just seen his profile) and caught my eye. He turned away, but then quickly turned back, almost a double take. As if that didn't take me by surprise enough, he gave me this big, beautiful smile. Now, I'm gonna be honest, this guy was very attractive. In the perfect, cool but not trying, clean and intelligent looking, kind of way. Almost as a reflex, I smiled back at him before we walked out of his line of sight. Kind of giggling to myself, I figured that was the end of that. However, before we reached the stairs, the train pulled away from station, and his train car passed by us once again. I looked up and he had turned to face the window and was standing there with one hand pressed against the glass,the other hand waving, flashing me that beautiful smile. Though he was smiling, the look on his face was slightly sad, yet a little hopeful.

It's the kind of romantic chance encounter that only happens in movies. The kind of moment that would make me roll my eyes and make a cynical remark. But it really happened to me, in Paris, in my French harem pants that are all the rage here.
In Disney news, hopefully soon I'll be spending some quality time as everyone's favorite English Nanny.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Hogwarts Express, where are you??

Yesterday I went on an adventure in search of The Hogwarts Express. Don't get your hopes up, I'll let you know straight off the bat, the quest was not a success.

The Hogwarts Express is somewhere in France, touring train stations all over. I think, rather than traveling on a track, they have chosen to apparate it just beyond my reach.

Last night after the parade, my friends Scott and Shane approached me to see if I was interested in going to see "the harry potter train." That is all the information I was given, I had plans to go out with some other people, but all I needed was to hear those four words and everything else was forgotten.

We should have known we were in for an interesting trip when we had to sit on the train for a half hour due to "traffic." I'm not sure how a bunch of trains on tracks can experience traffic, but whatever. While we sat there, I gathered what little information the boys had (what little they knew they had gathered from a mysterious facebook invitation). The invitation boasted The Hogwarts Express, full of costumes and sets from the movie also had such glories as cast members and Hedwig! The train would be closing to visitors at 8pm (it was already 6:30), and it would be at Gare de Lyon. We finally arrived at Gare de Lyon just before 7 and began searching for the train. Scott took it upon himself to ask at an information booth. "Ou est le train Harry Potter?", he asked in his best French. He was answered with a blank, confused stare. "Ou est le train Harry Potter?". Still nothing. "WHERE IS THE HARRY POTTER TRAIN!". "oh! Gare du Nord."

Gare du Nord. Alright. Back to the RER. Led by Shane, we made it to our track to hear an RER train about to pull away. Shane yelled at us to get on, which we did, which we shouldn't have. It led us the opposite direction of our destination. Off at the next stop, we changed tracks, and were finally going the right way. We arrived at Gare du Nord, a gigantic behemoth of a station. At this point, we knew we may not make it on the train but at least wanted to see the thing. Scott wanted to just touch it. Shane threatened to lick it. I just wanted a picture. All three of us thought about kidnapping Hedwig. First thing was first, we had to find it. We began to ask around, and to our dismay, it seemed as if no one had any idea what we were talking about. We finally made our way to the tracks, looked around, obviously didn't see The Hogwarts Express (it would probably be a bit conspicuous). Dejected and heartbroken, we went to the information booth in one last pitiful attempt at finding it.
"The Harry Potter Train? It left."

"It left."















And that was that.

Disappointed, we ate and headed back home, where more unlucky events awaited us. We just missed our bus, so had forty-five minutes or so to kill. I had been invited to meet some people at one of the various Disney Village bars, so we all headed over there to kill some time. Apparently by the time we got there, everyone had already left to go to Hurricanes (the gross night club), so we just sat with a couple English girls at the Sports Bar until it was finally time to head home.

The trip wasn't a complete failure. I spent some quality time with Scott and Shane, who are fantastic. I got my first french "kebap" aka Turkish Sandwhich aka Gyro and a crepe for dessert.
And hey, it's quite the story, right?

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Animals Two by Two

The weather has been quite unpredictable the last few days. Sunny mornings give way to rainy afternoons, it makes getting dressed for the day quite difficult. Yesterday, the rain surprised us in an even grander way by finding it's way into our little apartment.

Sarah, Maggie, and I were sitting around, eating dinner, enjoying the sound of the rain, when we happened to notice the water level on our balcony was rising. Not too alarmed, we knew there must be drains of some kind, so we continued eating. Maggie made a few jokes about getting some goldfish and having a pond. As we all laughed at that fabulous joke, I got up and immediately found myself standing in a puddle. Our "little pond" had turned into a gushing river, coming in over the lip of our balcony door, across our entire living room. The water extended from the balcony to our kitchen, a length of about 10 - 12 feet.

Maggie was quick to action. A POT! As you can see, her efforts to scoop the water out of the balcony and over the side were quite fruitless.


We ran around the apartment complex, seeking a mop and the help of, well, men. Our dear manly friends kindly unclogged our drains and helped us clean up. Our once filthy balcony is filthy no more, our living room floor got a much needed mopping, so I think we came out on top.

(Here you can see our lovely male helpers, Brian the water sweeper with his "frickin' technique!" and Matt, Sham-Wowing our kitchen floor)

Monday, June 8, 2009

Castle on a Cloud

I have debated whether to document the events of this weekend chronologically or start with the bits I know everyone wants.

Chronological. Why? Because I say so.
I have officially had the most American meal of my life. And yes, I had it in France.
Friday night we went to see "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show" in Disney Village. It's a dinner show, much like Medieval Times. Our meal began with chili and cornbread, moved on to ribs, chicken and potatoes, and ended with a hot apple crisp topped with vanilla ice cream. To drink you had two options, coke or beer, both of which flowed endlessly all night long. Not only was the food extremely "American" but the entertainment hit the spot. Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull and his indian warriors, cowboys, Annie Oakley, horses, buffalo, rodeo games, and of course, Mickey Mouse. I am a little concerned about the portrayal of the Native Americans however. I was sitting there, watching the show, and it seemed to me like every segment with the Indian warriors was dark and quite creepy. I am a 20 year old American woman who has grown up being exposed to Native American legends and imagery, and I was was creeped out by these painted men crawling through the dark with flaming arrows and strange chants. Imagine the reaction of the poor little French, Dutch, and Italian children the room was filled with.

I spent Saturday in the city with a friend who is studying in Paris, Owen. His French host sister took us out to brunch and showed us around the 4th. Being escorted around by Paris by a true Parisian gives me a new appreciation for the city. I hope someday I can be as confident as she was, navigating through the various streets, pointing out great shops and cafes. Later, I took Owen to the English bookstore, where two Swedish guys insisted they knew me from somewhere and invited me to a tea party. I plan on attending next time I have a Sunday off.


VERSAILLES. That's right, my flatmate Maggie and I met an old childhood friend of mine in Versailles, where she, Michaela, is currently living as an au pair. We strolled through the palace and the gardens, despite the slightly rainy weather, and had a marvelous time. My favorite room in the palace is a long ballroom, lined with floor to ceiling windows and chandeliers. Maggie and I waltzed through that room with our imaginary Princes, much to the amusement of the other tourists and the palace guides. While we walked through the gardens, music came from hidden speakers and we were lightly sprinkled with rain. I can't wait to go back and spend an entire day getting lost in the gardens. Finally, it became too cold to linger in the gardens any longer, so we sought the shelter of a nearby cafe. We were just in time, because a few minutes after we ordered the skies opened up and for five minutes the rain came down in a thunderous downpour.
Maggie and I said our goodbyes and hopped back on the RER, chatted with a cute American couple, stopped by my bookstore, and then headed home. We shared a train compartment with a man in a Hello Kitty sweatshirt who thought it was ok to smoke on the RER as long as he cracked a window. Sir, I would address the smoking issue, but I'm actually more concerned about the Hello Kitty sweatshirt.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Cloudless Skies

Summer has begun here in France, at least as far as the weather is concerned. Cloudless blue skies have greeted me every morning this week, making it much easier to get out of bed and go about my business. My business included such things as; Leading the parade as Mickey Mouse's favorite pup. Marching around as a militant green toy. Obeying Captiain Hook's every order (Mr. Smee is quite obedient).

I have officially come to hate the ever so popular super store known as Auchan. The only way to describe Auchan in terms that may be understood by my beloved American family and friends is to call it the French equivalent of Wal-Mart, if every Wal-Mart had a giant grocery store downstairs. I much prefer shopping at the market known as Champion, seeing as how it is much smaller and less overwhelming. I could walk around Auchan for hours without finding everything I need. At least in Champion, to walk from one side of the store to the other in search of honey doesn't leave me too exhausted to go back to the other side for a baguette. I shall do my best to avoid Auchan at all costs, even if it may seem more convenient for one reason or another. I must remember that convenience by locale doesn't necessarily mean an easier shopping trip for me.




The highlight of my week (besides receiving dark chocolate covered pomegranates from my mum) had to be going to the ballet. That's right, my dear friend Katie took myself and her visiting friend Alyssa to the the Palais Garnier, aka the Paris Opera House, to see the ballet. Without a doubt, the Palais Garnier has to be the most amazing building I have ever been inside. As we walked up the grand staircase in the entrance hall, I couldn't imagine it getting any better. But upon entering "our box" and seeing the theatre, I think my heart may have stopped for a moment. I felt like I had stepped back in time. The chandelier, the private boxes. It was like something straight out of Phantom of the Opera (which just so happened to be inspired by this opera house, fyi). As the ballet started and I watched those dancers on that huge stage in that beautiful theatre, I got such a rush thinking about it from their perspective. What a dream come true. To be a part of the audience enjoying the ballet, sitting in that grand theatre, looking at the dancers was wonderful. But to actually be performing on that stage? Looking out into the theatre? Doing what they love doing? They have an even better opportunity to appreciate the beauty.

Honestly, just watching was a dream come true. I had to keep reminding myself to watch the stage, I was so taken by the theatre itself part of me just wanted to look around, take it all in. The experience at the ballet has me even more excited to see more of Paris. I realized there are so many things I don't even yet know about that are sure to blow me away. I didn't really know anything about the Palais Garnier, and it had such a powerful affect. I can't wait to stumble upon beauty after beauty after beauty, discovering more and more things I will remember for the rest of my life.