I am currently back in Montpellier after an amazing and unforgettable weekend in Paris. Although the weekend was incredible, it's nice to be back in quiet Montpellier and I feel quite at home here sitting in the courtyard and sleeping in my little bed in what we have dubbed "the treehouse." Paris as a whole was full of adventures and crazy stories and here it is in this week's video breakdown...
jk - no video - but i was feelin the need for the tosh.0 reference...
Friday
We all woke up bright an early at 5 am so we could get on the bus at 6 and get to the train station in time. We rode the TGV, the fastest train in the world, 2.5 hours to Paris. Like true soccer moms/Americans, my friends Beth, Lizzy, Natalie and I filled our little table with all sorts of food and drink. Highlights of the trip include playing Old Maid completely wrong and playing name that tune with Lizzy and Natalie so wonderfully acting out songs on an ipod.
As soon as we got there we loaded on a bus and took a tour of the city. Although our tour guide was pretty funny, about 95% of us fell asleep... which seems to be a common theme here in France... We stopped at this little plaza in front of the Tour d'Eiffel for some pictures and to be harassed by the 15 people selling Eiffel Tower keychains within 50 ft. To call us over the men go "Lady Ga-Ga, I show you keychain." Why the hell we were Lady Gaga, I have no idea. One of these lovely gentlemen actually followed us on the bus and gave us 10 Eiffel Tower keychains for one Euro because he loved us so much. Clutch. The next exciting thing that happened on the bus is the start of one of themes of the trip: urination. So the story starts with Lizzy's extremely full bladder and lots and lots of water. Of course, what should have happened was her going to the bathroom when we got down to take pictures, but one never thinks of the practical things to do. So she's sitting across the way from me on this bus tour with her legs crossed and face in pain. What to do?! She goes up to the front and asks if they can pull over for a bathroom. After 15 minutes of trying to find one, the bus turns down a street with porta potties but was denied. Another 10 minutes goes by and Lizzy is about to burst like a geyser. She keeps saying "Just pull over I'll pee behind a bush!" Alas, the driver will not listen and so Lizzy takes matters into her own hands. She marches back to her seat, pulls out her empty bottle of water (which she now wishes she hadn't finished) and takes it down the little steps of the bus, like a true Philadelphian. I'll let you all finish the story on your own, but needless to say, the entire bus was half flabbergasted and half ridiculously proud. Best moment ever.
We finally got to our hotels and were divided amongst them. Of course me and Lizzy got stuck in the reject hotel with the professors and leaders but it wasn't that big of an issue. Our place was really nice nonetheless and we got the penthouse room with the double balcony. Right away we walked to Notre Dame, did some souvenir shopping, and then went on our boat tour of the Sienne River. I did this last time I was in Paris, but it was still amazing all over again. My absolutely favorite part was the Padlock Bridge. Here lovers come together and write their names on a padlock and lock it onto the bridge. They then take the key and throw it into the river, symbolizing their love forever locked. Hundreds of locks are currently there. Incredibly romantic.
That was my girl moment of the post... continuing...
Then it was time to experience nightlife in Paris. It was one of the girl on the trip's birthday so we all attempted to go out to dinner together.... that ended up being completely chaotic and took an hour to wait for everyone to come together. We eventually had to split up because restaurants could not accomodate a group so large... duh. We then went out to the club district in Paris and the girls got handed free "lady passes" which was a free entrance to an otherwise 20 Euro club PLUS a free bottle of champagne to share amongst 5. We basically took over the dance club and raged with ourselves to American music. We met some nice british men who joined our dance circle and tried to show us up... to no avail. Then a one armed man asked Natalie if she wanted to bang and grabbed her ass under her dress.... swear to God. So, we moved on to bigger and better things. The second place we went to was a nice bar with a basement just like Drexel house parties, except for with a higher ceiling... and way nicer. Still the same amount of creepers tho...
Saturday
After what felt like no sleep, we woke up bright and early at 8:30 for our Eiffel Tower trip. We walked around a bit and I got a free print of the Eiffel Tower from one of the vendors! French people love giving me free things apparently... We went up to the first level of the Tower which was fine by me because I was not tryna have another anxiety attack thank you very much. The view was beautiful and I got some nice pics that y'all can check out on the fb. Afterwards we went to a cute antique market and got some lunch. We then decided to take advantage of the month long sale that goes on in France (with 50-70% off all items) on the metro another unexpected adventure occurred. Somehow everyone got off at the right stop and I was left on the metro by myself watching as the back of Beth's head flew by me... Thank god I'm a philly girl and can handle myself on the metro... I got off the next stop took it back and made the connexion in time to meet up with everyone else. When I met them on the platform it was a glorious reunion. We had dinner and then got ready to go out.
At the pregame we went to the other hotel and sat out on the balcony with our wine. Such began the best drinking game ever. Natalie was rockin the boob wallet and accidentally dropped a Euro coin off the balcony and onto the sidewalk. Drink for every group that walks by. Drink 4 seconds for everyone who steps on it. Drink 6 seconds for every biker who runs over it. Chug and cheer if someone picks it up. Sounds semi-dumb but for some reason it was the most fun game ever. Finally the dumb concierge picked it up and it was sort of anti-climactic... so we decided it was time to leave! We went down to watch the light show at the Eiffel Tower. The stupid metro took an hour because people are slightly dumb when it comes to buying the ticket but we made it in time for the midnight show. We sat out on this strip of grass with our champagne bottles in the fresh Parisian breeze. Cue second peeing story of the weekend. So as you all know (or maybe not) but some girls in philly spend their nights out peeing all over philly streets and bushes when they can't hold it in when shwasted. I can happily say that I have never done that, because I think it's kind of gross. BUT sitting outside of the Eiffel Tower and having other girls going off to do so... eh... sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do... Also, in continuing with the night of firsts I also uncorked my first wine, smoked my first cigarette and cigar (and by smoked I mean took a drag of each and coughed up half a lung. You know, totally like a boss) All in all it was the perfect night with perfect people. Minus the 2 hour walk back afterwards (which included one of the girls peeing on the Louvre.... urination story #3). Eiffel Tower to about 4 blocks past Notre Dame... look at a map...
Sunday
9 am wake up once again... (we are pretty exhausted by this time) and headed over to the Louvre! Of course when we got there I was dyingggg of thirst so me and this girl in the group walked over for about a minute to buy some water from a vendor. Of course, with my luck the entire group left to enter the museum so we ran around like crazy people trying to find them. We actually entered the museum and after a call to one of the guys, were able to meet up with the group. We saw all the famous artwork and I found my new favorite painting: Le Jeune Martyre (The young Martyr). Check it out: Le Jeune Martyre. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it is a beautiful piece that plays with the darkness and light. She looks so peaceful in death and I love the way she's painted. We were all really exhausted after a long weekend, so we didn't stay that long in the museum so we went and got some lunch and did more souvenir shopping (with more of being called Lady Ga-Ga... apparently all Americans are Lady Gaga...?!). After that we met up with the group for the train ride back to dear Montpellier. At the Gare de Lyon a few of us stopped in the famous Train Bleu and had a drink before the train ride. It was the perfect ending to an amazing weekend.
Oh geez...that was so long.... I hope you stayed with me! :)
I did stay with you, Sim, and I loved every word!
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