Aux Champs Elysees...

Oh it feels so good to be home! As some as you may have noticed, the titles to my posts have been song lyrics :) So I think I'll start putting up a link to the song so you guys can check it out if you're not already familiar with it.

The title for this post is a famous French song by Joe Dassin about the Champs Elysees- it was the very first thing I learned about this year in french class lol Its also in a lot of movies, including the Darjingling Limited, and it's pretty popular here in France. Here's the link (and you better believe we listened to it on the Champs Elysees :) )!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAMuNfs89yE

So, about Paris. I will admit, the city was definitely better the second time around. Not only was my french and knowledge of the french culture better (though still minimal), but it was a weekend of casual tourism, which I really liked. When we went over the summer, we did and saw a lot, but I feel I got more of an appreciation for the city with more time. This trip we stayed with Hugo and Auxence who we met via couchsurfing, and they were fabulous! Their english was great, they were friendly, and they took us out to the club with their friends. They even left us a key to their apt because they were going to be out when we arrived in the city! All in all, it was a really nice time. Did I mention they had a cotton candy machine in their kitchen?

So the first day (Friday) we spent at Versailles, which was really pretty but we're definitely going back in the spring. The city was still beautiful, but Paris in the spring is pretty cold, cloudy, and grey like the rest of Europe, so a trip back when the flowers are in bloom is a must! Now I don't remember exactly when we hit up the clubs, but maybe it was the first night? Anyways, the boys had half a dozen friends or so over to socialize and pregame before we hit the clubs. At first everyone avoided Devon and I because not only were we strangers, but we weren't french speakers. This was a bit unnerving, but then they all eventually made their way over one by one to see what we were like lol they literally came by one by one to do this. They were all pretty nice, their english was fabulous and they were curious about America. One even knew about Tim Tebow! lol it was so funny. Apparently ever since Joakim Noah (whose mom was french), UF sports have been put on the map. They also knew UF to be a big party school because it's one of the schools available to be an exchange student at. Interesting fact: many schools over here require all their students to go abroad their third year and to get internships. It's really well done in my opinion. Anyways, we hit up the club (the theme was flourescent, and there was glow sticks and paint everywhere) and came back to the apt earlier than the rest (we are playing the tourists after all).

The next day....*gasp* we slept in til 11:30. This would NEVER happen on family vacation lol which made both of us feel guilty, but there was no denying that we needed sleep after staying out late! We started the morning with a metro ride out to the Arc de Triomphe (which we climbed!) and then we walked the Champs Elysees. We decided to eat lunch there, though we were banished to the bottom level of the restaurant with the other english speakers even though the first floor with windows had PLENTY of room. Oh well. After that we walked to the Louvre, which is by far my absolute favorite tourist attraction the city has to offer. I love it there SO much. Afterwards, we wondered around and made our way to the Eiffel Tower, which sparkles at night. Not going to lie, I'm kind of surprised how gaudy that monument is considering the elegance of the city. Once we checked that out, we were kinda lost on what to do. When you're with the family and you're only out til 9 or so, you don't need to have plans because you're going to bed. We, however, were not going to bed because we 1. were not tired and wanted to see more of the city and 2. sleep in the boys living room and cant go to bed until they do. So we went back to the apt (right in the heart of the city! It was amazing!!) and caught a bite to eat on the main stretch for a decent price. This is where I discovered beef with fried egg over it- SO GOOD. We also had hot chocolate and coffee and planned out the rest of the days ahead.

Sunday: I really wanted to see a service in the Notre Dame so that's we decided to do first thing the next morning. We got there in the middle of a service, but they keep the church open while it goes on, so we got to soak that in. They still have a Christmas tree and nativity scene up, so that was a new happy sight there. What I was most excited for, however, was the big organ (5 organs put together) that they play. Boy was I in for a shock! Alright, so the Notre Dame means "our lady" referring to Mary, the mother of COMPASSION. The music they played that morning was wrath of god music. Like...horror movie scary lol I still feel it was an angry message to the tourists to leave. We also had crepes for breakfast! SOOOOOOO good. It was Devon's first crepe and he talked about it for an hour afterwards lol Then we walked through the latin quarter, which we both found a bit unimpressive and both originally thought was a section of the city Latinos lived in haha...yeah, I guess that shows how different our country's culture and history are. After that we headed over to Monmarte which was a great time! Amelie was made there, I believe, it was definitely a cute artsy place (though again, probably better when not in the off season and with better weather). We saw sacre course, walked around, ate, and saw the Moulin Rouge. I must admit....I was not impressed by that at all. I didn't get to go inside, so that is probably why, but I thought it to be very small and the outside totally looked like some cheap strip club. Nothing like the colorful place where Ewan McGregor serenades Nicole Kidman as seen in the american media! :) So at this point...it's Sunday....which means even Paris shuts down. The boys called it "their day of rest" Auxence didn't even get out of bed until 6 lol Just when Devon and I are realizing everything is closing...we pass a movie theater! That's right, I saw Avatar in 3d in Paris. It was in english, THANK GOD, and I absolutely loved the movie. It was absolutely brilliant! It was also fun to get the french movie-going experience, and we apparently had the right idea because the theater was packed full....nothing else to do on Sundays I suppose. Once we got home we just hung out with Hugo and Auxence and watched Lyon vs. Monaco soccer and then a show on the party scene of American campuses (it was called Cheerleaders, alchool, and hazing)...oh yeah, it was a great reflection of our culture. That really is the only kind of information they get about our culture though, so it's no surprise when get asked if that's what it's really like back in the states.

Monday: We woke up early the nexy day so we could get shots of the Eiffel Tower in the daylight. We were the only ones there! It was 9, the city was asleep, and there were on a dozen people on the whole plaza. It was pretty amazing, though still too cold for my liking (but I suppose I should get used to that), and we got some great shots! After that we headed over to the Notre Dame to get some more crepes for breakfast (omg. best.thing.ever) and sat on a bench on a bridge to eat. This epitomizes my favorite thing about Paris. I love being able to just walk around, eat crepes, and soak in the surroundings. The scenery and the food is what does it to me (but then again, you could say that for most of France), not the Eiffel Tour. As we headed back to the apt so get our stuff for the train ride home, we kept our eye out for a place where we could find a "golden book". Here's my new experience with French culture. Apparently over here they have "golden books" which you leave at a party or a house and people sign and say how much they enjoyed the event. Devon and I stumbled upon an BH, and not going to lie, this made the top of my list of things to do in Paris lol. This store is a 7 story dept store, that has the COOLEST THINGS EVER to buy. Devon and I both agreed we could easily stay half a day just rummaging through everything. It was really cool to see how the average Parisian shopped and the uniquely french things they have. Plus, everything there was really classy and fun and ON SALE (during the entire month of Jan the ENTIRE COUNTRY puts everything on sale). So yeah, as a thank you gift, Devon and I got the boys a " live d'or" which they really seemed to like. We figured it'd be good for the couch surfers that come through (and boy do they have a lot).

After we said goodbye and took pictures with the French flag (LOVE IT), we got to the Train station and almost missed it due to lack of a ticket and lack of english speakers to help us. It was very scary and nostalgic of almost missing every flight over the summer lol

Well there you have it! Sorry I have nothing too exciting to report. It feels wonderful to be home and we'll probably be going to a club/bar in Juan les pins tonight to attend a school-organized event :)

Take care and take it easy and know that I love you all bunches and bunches!
As far as pictures go, I think I'll just join an online photo sharing site, as it takes way too long to post them all here. Okay. It's done lol I don't have it in me to go through and label all these pictures, but I trust you can figure most of them out. Also...I apologize if this blog post is choppy, I have so much stuff going on and I'm losing patience to edit...I have to be up for class in less than 6 hours...ugh
LOVE!

Here's all the pictures I have from the trip:
http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac43/kolormekatie/Paris%20Jan%202010/

Here's a slideshow if you don't want to sort through all 145 pics:

http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac43/kolormekatie/