le weekend

Sometimes Paris can be overwhelming. And the metros get stuck and it smells bad and you can't find a public bathroom. But most of the time Paris is a magical city. And this weekend was one of those weekends that reminded me that.

Thursday
We met up at our professors apartment to prepare for our picnic. We needed to buy food for 26 people so we divided up into different groups: cheese group, baguette group, fruit group, ham group and drinks/salad/treats group. I quickly put myself in the treats group (i have discovered that choosing and buying pastries is almost as fun as eating them) with Monsieur Olivier, John, and Claire. We headed across the street and picked up some juice and carrot salad, potato salad, and couscous salad. Then we followed the knowledgeable Olivier to 3 of his favorite pastry shops. We bought 10 pastries at each place, debating between the millefeuile or the opera. Or the citron tarte. Or the millefeuile with raspberries in it. Or the dark truffle chocolate mini cake thing. Or the macaron that combines pistaccio AND caramel. So many choices! Eventually we made it out of there with our choices and met everyone back at the apartment. Then we headed over to the Eiffel Tower which is about a five minute walk from his house. We set up picnic blankets and layed out the goods. We finished up our perfect meal and then lay on the grass discussing things like, if you had to listen to only one song for the rest of your life what would it be? And then listening to that song and singing along. We finished up the picnic with an attempt to recreate the Eiffel Tower in human pyramid form. Unsuccessful. But fun.

After the picnic we headed to the Champs Élysees to go see Minuit à Paris. The theater was beautiful and the movie was cute. Then we weaved our way through the streets and headed back to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle at 10. So we headed to a bridge over the Seine and sat on the railing and watched it, while police chased down those people who sell the little Eiffel Tower figurines. I love Paris.


Friday
We went to the catacombs. Claustrophic and kind of freaky but really awesome. And we got in free with our art cards. Those art cards are magic! Then we searched for anywhere that had a salad under 13 Euros (no luck. Being here really makes me appreciate Paradise Bakery, Chipotle, Café Rio etc etc etc.) and ended up at a McDo and got a salad there. Then we went on a walk and discovered a very cool old church. We decided to head in early and we watched Chocolat which was parfait!


Saturday
We slept in and then took the RER over to Croissy and went for a run by the Seine. It is such a beautiful trail, and my roommates were kind enough to come and walk so that I didn't have to run by myself. We headed into the city around 2, and went to the Musée D'Orsay. Definitely my favorite museum so far! Yesterday was an event that they do where most of the museums are free to the public. So after grabbing dinner we went to the Petit Palais and saw exhibits while there was a little orchestra playing and a singer. Such a lovely evening and great end to a great weekend.