With the sun shining bright (and strong, my glaringly lobster red body reminds me), we began the day with a picnic on the Seine, complete with all the must-haves: baguette, cheese and wine. With our feet dangling over the edge of the bank and watching the boats flow past nonchalantly, making delicate ripples in the remarkably dirty Seine water, we talked non stop, only breaking to take sips of wine and bites of a fine Boulangerie baguette. When we discovered our legs were almost numb from sitting still for so long, we got up and strolled along the Seine to Pont de l'Alma to catch a Bateaux Mouches, one of the touristy boats that go up and down the river constantly, packed with the camera toting, awestruck visitors.
It was my third time going on these boats, the first being my whirlwind trip as a 17 year old schoolgirl, the second as a fresh Paris étudiant still with open eyed wonder and the third time, a certified local, regalling my visitor with annoying tales of my personal experiences towards Paris' most famous tourist attractions, ("Wow, there's the Notre Dame. I walked past that after every late night class at Sciences Po, even during the frigid winter temperatures when the courtyard in front of it was decked out with a gigantic Christmas tree and you could sometimes hear the soft lull of the organ and the echo of the carol singers" to which I would want to tell myself to shut up.)
But there is something different about doing these things with a new perspective of the city and made me appreciate a little more the beautiful place in which I live. Even got another obligatory snap with the Eiffel Tower. After the cruise finished we checked out the statue at the Pont de l'Alma, the bridge which took Princess Diana's life and the statue at the place she died without quite referencing that it was for her (I don't think you would want to make a big deal of the fact you were the city that took the life of one of Britain's favourite Royal's either...)
We cooked up a wonderful feast for dinner and all my colocs happened to be in the kitchen at the same time, an amazing first! With 5 colocs and two of us with an extra friend staying, a kitchen of 7 in a Parisian appartement was a comical sight. It was an enlightening mixture of languages and accents that gave me vivid flashbacks to 'L'Auberge Espagnol' and made me suddenly realise that this is similar to the melting pot my life has become.
We polished off our dinner, bid 'bonne soirée' to my colocs (two of whom were heading to a Brit themed party and had swiftly encouraged my new British coloc to be their obligatory British 'item') and off we headed to the Irish bar where one of my friends works. We were able to skip the line (and the entrance fee) thanks to her and the security guard she described as 'a big, cuddly bear' who was about 6 foot, 200 pounds and with a neck the size of jumbo jet. Hours (and many free or half price drinks) later when we were ready to leave, we were confronted with a torrential downpour but decided not to wait it out, instead strolling past all the sensible people holed up under verandah roofs, stopping only to grab a sucre et cannelle crepe which was A-mazing. Definitely won't be my last time at that creperie. By the time we had walked home, my belly was content and we were soaking. Drenched. C'est la vie, hein?
The next day we metro-ed all the way out of Paris to La Défense, Paris' business district and home to the gigantic statue that represents the shadow of a 4D cube (confusing much?) which was cool to see again in all its ginormity. Its big. B.I.G. You can see the Arc de Triomphe directly ahead which makes for a cool photo, granted the weather obliges. La Défense is also home to Paris' biggest mall, Les Quatre Temps, and we ignored our weary eyes to check the latest finds. By the time we were starving we headed back into Paris and went to our favourite sushi restaurant, with its compelling menu message "eat as much as you can". And we did. The poor Asian lady that served us failed to hide her shock when she kept on returning to take our orders and we kept on ordering. We tried to keep count of how many plates we ordered but lost count after 21. We followed it up by lying on the edge of the Seine and eating fine 'chocolat aux noisettes'.
Monday morning was spent buying French breakfast goodies (more baguettes, croissants et pain au chocolat) and eating them in Jardin de Luxembourg where we were happily, and bizarrely, accompanied by a full band at the central Band Rotunda. One last 'chocolat a l'ancienne' at a café and we 'au revoir'ed' our copaine de Norvège. But it's not goodbye, its see you soon...
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