Preview of Paris

Monday, December 1st
What a great way to start off the month of December- Paris for the night! My friend Gabriel (from Venezuela, also studying at the CUEF) asked me to join him for the night to visit Paris and see the City of Lights. We hop on a train around 6pm at night, after classes, and catch the TGV from Lyon to Paris. We are so silly at the bar at the back of the train, laughing and joking around over a beer - but after no dinner and two beers later, we get off the train at Gare de Lyon in Paris with no idea where to go! Soon his cousin Hugo (from Venezuela, but lives in Paris now) comes to pick us up at the station. We take the metro over to St. Michel, right near Notre-Dame Eglise in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. What a beautiful little quartier..It's filled with quaint little streets and loads of restaurants. We walk by shops, bars, pubs and loads of ethnic restaurants, and finally settle on a Savoyard Fondue place down some little rue. The food and wine is delicious, as is conversation. Hugo's wife Carla does humanitarian work all around the world (is in Colombia right now), and does independent consulting for organizations like the Red Cross. Immediately, I want to meet with her to learn more about the work she does.
Around 22h30, we all take the metro to the 2nd arron to meet Juliette for drinks in her neighborhood. She is Meredith's lovely daughter, now working at Warner Bros studios in Paris. She shows us around Montorgueil, another great area filled with Christmas decorations, little shops and people! Another Venezuelan friend Isabella joins us for drinks. Ironically, Isabella, Gabriel and Juliette are all into FILM- either working or studying it...so they have lots to talk about. Meanwhile, Hugo makes me laugh so much! He's so chubby and lovable- love him! We all order vin chaud at the bar and talk about Venezuela. Later, we catch the bus back to Hugo's studio near la Mairie de Lilas on the onze.
Next morning, Hugo's up early to do work but Gabriel and I aren't too stressed to get out of the house. We all enjoy a very French breakfast of cafe, hot chocolate and croissants with apricot jam. Gabriel and I start our adventure with Montmartre- Hugo, who could not be any nicer, accompanies us to the right train stop and leaves us to explore. On the train, some guy who is very nicely dressed (but still reeked of alcohol from the night before) talks our ear off about decibels or some crap like that... ha!
Soon we find Le Sacre-Coeur, right on the hilltop of Montmartre, overlooking all of Paris. It is magnificient ! Just like in my favorite scene of Amelie.... We take some fun pictures, and then explore the square with all the Montmartre painters. Their favorite thing to paint? Oui, la Tour Eiffel. We take the metro from Anvers to Trocadero- coming out of the metro is like BAM! Cuz the Eiffel Tower is right there in front of you- so gorgeous. I feel the same way about the Eiffel Tower as Lillian does about Il Duomo of Florence- I don't think I'll ever tire of it and could stare at it all day. We spot some (real-live) models (in their natural habitat) doing their little catwalk thing right in front of it- I mean, could you be more Parisienne?
But, the highlight of our day was not so much the touristy bit, but opening a bottle of wine on a bench right in front of the Eiffel Tower and slowly sipping it for about 2 hours and just enjoying life. We bask in the sunlight and crack jokes about how French we feel right now.
Next stop- Arc de Triomphe! It's fun because we have a mutual friend at the CUEF, from Dubai, who half brags all the time that he has an apartment on Champs-Elysees...so when we're there, the two of us joke around shouting his name, going "Faisal! Ou est tu?!" The Arc de Triomphe is naturally magnificient, as is Champs-Elysees - all decked out in Christmas decorations. We go into the Peugeot car boutique and admire all the beautiful new designs coming out. Next stop: Louis Vuitton- pourquoi pas? It is...unreal. An experience. Luxury at it's finest, but it's a bit overwhelming. We walk alllll the way down La Seine, past Place de la Concorde, to the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay to admire the beautiful architecture, the glass pyramide and Notre-Dame in the distance. We hop on the metro again to meet another cousin (I swear, that's how every story starts with Gabriel: "I have a cousin...") Pierre at Rambuteau, in the 1eme arrondissement. Pierre is half Venezuelan, but grew up in France and lives in Paris now (and about to become a papa!) We have a drink all together and talk in French, then I'm on my way to catch my train home from Gare de Lyon.
It's a short visit, a taste si vous voulez, but I can't wait to come back and explore some more.