Oui, Paris!

It was our first four day weekend and we decided to go to Paris. My roommate Cheryl has a friend who lives there, so she, Amanda and I stayed with him and his family during our visit, and enjoyed having a relaxing weekend to enjoy the city without being overly concerned with the sightseeing aspect of it.

We took the train after class on Thursday, and arrived late at night. Quentin, Cheryl's friend, picked us up at the station and took us back to his home on the outskirts of Paris, where we chatted for a while before going to bed.

It was Katie's 21st Birthday, and she convinced us to celebrate with her at Euro Disney. We got student rates and had a lot of fun on all the rides. It was a chilly day, so we were sure there were be no crowds, but we were wrong. Tons of Europeans from all over flocked to the miniature version of Disneyland, so the lines weren't as short as we had hoped, but still were a lot of fun. They had all the best rides that I remember from when I was a kid (Thunder Mountain, the Tea Cups, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Carribean, It's a Small World, etc.)

We were excited to eat bar-b-q and hamburgers in the park that actually tasted like American food, because we had all been craving it for a few weeks. We spent the entire day in Disney Paris riding roller coasters and taking in the Disney experience until Mickey and Mini Mouse lit the castle at night, and went to the village to celebrate Katie's birthday.

The next morning, Cheryl told us that she had come down with the infamous stomach virus that is slowly making its way through the Montarina, and was not feeling well. She pushed through it though and Quentin, Cheryl, Amanda and I drove into the city and walked to the Monmartre and Sacre Cur. We ate French Onion Soup and crepes for lunch and Amanda and I broke off to do some shopping. I bought a purse for 6 euro and a new scarf. I envied the beautiful paintings by the street artisits, but they were a little too expensive fro my budget.

We met back up and continued to the Notre Dame where we walked along the Seine for a while and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We went back to the house and ate dinner before Amanda and I went to grab dessert and wine in the Latin Quarter.

The next morning we woke up and had croissants and coffee in the breakfast room, said “Au Revoir” to the family and went to the train station. Unfortunately the luggage storage facilities were closed on Sundays so we had to meet up with the rest of the group at the Eiffel Tower and carry our stuff with us that day. We wanted to go to the Musee de Orsay, but were not allowed in with our luggage, so we just enjoyed taking in some sights that we could see from the streets.

We went to dinner in the Latin Quarter, where I split some Escargot and Crème Brulee. We had to be at the train station for our overnight train, so we finished early and made our way.

The night train was more comfortable than I thought. The 11 of us filled 2 cabins, and I got a top bunk. We slept pretty soundly until were were awoken at 6AM in Milan. We made it back by 8 Monday morning, in time to shower up, take a quick nap and go to class.