Paris - Easter Holidays

Woo, Paris! This is short, I'm really not in a writing mood!

7 April

I left the flat at 1am to catch a 1.30am bus for my flight which left at 6. Needless to say I was not that chirpy once I landed at Charles-de-Gaulle (although the business man next to me was listening to Christina Aguilera and Girls Aloud on his ipod, which cheered me up considerably!). I was very proud of myself when I was buying tickets for the train to Anna's house - I asked a French lady next to me if she could help me out (in French obviously - anything I say in this blog is in French unless I say otherwise) and we had a nice little chat about holidays and travelling and I could understand what she was saying! Once I got to Anna's house and had a big hug-filled reunion, we lay out in the sun and chatted for ages, then I went to watch one of her dress rehearsals. I also got to see the friends I made last time I was in Paris, which was really nice! They remembered me and everything.

8 April

I went to Paris by myself to do some more exploring - and springtime in Paris is incredible, beats winter in Paris by a mile! It was around 25 degrees, beautiful and sunny, and flowers were out everywhere. I strolled to Notre Dame and went inside (after asking a lovely old German couple to take a picture of me outside it). I prayed, then afterwards walked all the way down to place de la Bastille. I could have taken the metro and saved myself 20 minutes, but it was such a nice day I didn't want to waste the sun! I was a Revs nerd and checked out the outlines of the formation of the Bastille, then as I walked down rue de st antoine, I popped into a little bookshop and found an Ionesco play for 4€! Done deal! After buying an apple for lunch I sat back in Louis XIII square and lay in the sun, it was lovely. From there I kept walking down until I hit the louvre, then walked through the tuileries garden, all the way up to place de la concorde. The tuileries garden was AMAZING, the flowers were out and smelled amazing, fountains were everywhere... By this time I was hot and tired, so I way my home way by metro. I got lost at la chapelle, so luckily a guy who saw me looking lost helped me to gare du nord. Unluckily, he tried to hit on me (despite him being quite cute I didn't want to get drugged and abducted a la 'Taken') so as soon as I found my train I bailed very quickly! 'Merci, Merci! Au revoir!!' *runs like the wind*

That night Sylvie and Anna took me to the ballet at the Theatre National de Chaillot (excuse the lack of accents, I really cant be bothered). It was the Swiss Ballet doing 'Romeo and Juliet', but a really contemporary version - bare feet, disjointed time, dancing to silence - SO COOL. Anna fell asleep on my shoulder, and woke up during the sex scene (which they were dancing completely naked bar flesh coloured underwear, under this massive white sheet suspended from the air...). She mumbled 'That's so weird' and fell back asleep again. Bless her.

9 April

After sleeping in and having a leisurely lunch, Anna and I went into Cemetaire Pere Lachaise (the really really famous one with lots of famous French people - and Jim Morrison). It was beautiful, very old and very French. Found Jim Morrisons grave, and helped some American tourists. After that we walked back up to the Bastille, and watched a funk band play for a while, chilling in the shade and dancing and singing along. We also had to find a sneaky place for me to inject after lunch...THAT was an undertaking. I finally injected ninja-style through my jeans as Anna sheltered me from view - apparently it's illegal to inject in public in France, diabetic or otherwise. Bastards.

10 April

We took a road trip, and I got taken all the way up to Le Havre and Normandie! Check out the photos on facebook, it was so beautiful. The age of the villages and buildings still amazes me. Driving through the country we passed chateau after chateau - the French countryside is so beautiful! We had a stroll through Le Havre (was full of British people -French seaside towns are their equivalent of Sydney, then had a picnic lunch on the beach before heading to Normandie. Normandie was fantastic, it had a REAL BEACH WITH GOLDEN SAND AND EVERYTHING!! It was full of very rich and wealthy people, the kind who own chihuahuas and wear lacoste t-shirts to bed. We lay on the sand for ages - I can feel summer already!!! On our way home we made a detour past Monet's (as in the artist) house and garden :D

11 April

I headed into Montmartre, and spent an hour or two lying in a shady garden square, writing and reading. So relaxing! I walked all the steps up to Sacre Coeur, beating the fat tourists who were taking the lift up hahaha. I took a slow walk around Sacre Coeur, prayed for a while, then walked out down the hill feeling refreshed and rejuvenated! I had a bit of a low (stumbled into a man, checked my blood sugar..oh hello 2.3) so grabbed myself a baguette and some cheese (which meant I spent a whole €1.50 on lunch, broke student ftw) and sat in a little park with nannies and grandparents watching young french kids play on the playground. :) Strolled to the Moulin Rouge, then checked out Cemetaire de Montmartre before making my way home.

12 April

Musee d'Orsay! I finally got to go there! Anna and I had pre-purchased tickets, but we still had to wait half an hour in the queue before we went in. Inside was incredible - I saw 'The Ballet Class' by Degas, and 'Blue Water Lilies' by Monet, two of my favourite paintings ever, so that was amazing! After spending a good two hours wandering through there, we had lunch then I dragged Anna to the Musee Carnavalet, which is a museum dedicated to the history of Paris....there was a whole floor dedicated to the 1789 French revolution. Needless to say I nearly died, and went crazy snapping photos of everything. Original banners, paintings and artifacts, my nerd side was well and truly out. Fairly sure Anna thought I was crazy. After cramming so much revs into my head last year it's nice to put some knowledge to use! After that, we were both museum-ed out, so we headed to the Jardin de Luxembourg for a stroll and a lie in the sin. It's beautiful (my camera was flat so no pictures :()....we lay there for about an hour in the sun, chatting and resting our feet!

13 April

My last day in Paris! We slept in, after being up late the night before, and headed to Anna's grandparents for lunch. 'Mamie' et 'Papie' aka Michel and Genvieve are pretty much my third set of grandparents, they are so incredibly nice and friendly, it was fantastic to see them again. Michel insisted on driving me to the airport the next morning, no matter how much I said that he didn't have to! After a lovely four course French lunch, I took a photo with them and promised to be back asap. I mean it. They won't be able to get rid of me this year! Anna and I went into Paris to visit the catacombs. We just made it on time, they close at 4 and we got in at 3.45! They were incredible, but horribly scary and creepy. My fear of tunnels and enclosed spaces didn't get any better, lets say that. Anna and I were clutching each other for dear life. I was quite happy with my french though - one of the staff was telling us information in french and I understood most of it! Maybe listening to 'et pourtant' in french class about a million times last year really did pay off!

Would that not scare you as well?!?! In the half dark with water dripping down the back of your neck?!

14 April onwards

I left early in the morning, giving Sylvie and Anna a huge long hug, and promising to come back. My flight went smoothly, and for the past day or two I've been back in good old High Wycombe, doing boring things like laundry and organising stuff for Turkey. On a side note, the health kick I started about a month ago has payed off - I've lost two kilos since March! Yay! Did a great work out today so hopefully it continues. Tomorrow is all organisation and then we're off to Istanbul. I'm so excited, can't wait!

Promise blogging will be more regular once I'm back at work!