It occurred to me on my drive in to work this morning that if I didn't write down my Paris memories, they would quickly become too foggy to make an interesting blog post (this of course assuming that people find the previous England posts interesting). So lets start with us getting up at like 6 despite going to bed VERY drunk at 2:30 the previous night. That was a blast! Anyway we manage to make it to the train station and then to Heathrow. Of course for the first time in my entire life I got stopped for an inspection because we forgot about the liquid restrictions. Brian had to give up a semi-expensive bottle of hair product because god knows we could take over the plane by fixing their hair. So we get to the gate (which was the scariest thing ever. It was kind of like herding into a slaughterhouse.) and then get to wait because apparently the flight crew couldn't clear security. This probably should have concerned me, but really all it did was annoy me because I wanted to get on the damned plane. And you know, I've said this before, but after taking numerous 16+ hour flights, any other plane flight seems short. This being said the trip to Paris was less than an hour. Yet for some reason they decided to serve food. And I've never been on a flight with such retarded people.
So enough complaining. Brian and Mattie were in Paris! Charles de Gaulle I don't really feel as an airport, but no serious complaints. It was a damned good thing we decided to buy the Paris guidebook at Heathrow. Even as it was Brian failed to trust in my navigation skills and dragged me off the train at a random station, only to have me drag him back onto another one with promises that if we got into trouble I would take the lead. We got to our hotel, which was this cute little boutique hotel with a color theme, and I really liked it except for the bathroom door which didn't close properly (or quietly, for that matter). We had a red-themed room, which was cool. And it was in a fairly convenient area, as we could walk to the Bastille and take the metro from there. By the time we finally got settled and rested, it was late, so we decided to see the Louvre. The glass pyramid is pretty awesome, I have to say. And the rest of the museum is neat because you know how old the paintings are, even if there are TOO MANY for my personal taste. We got to see the Mona Lisa, which was cool. Unfortunately the Egyptian exhibit was closed, but the greek statues were also pretty cool. Afterward we walked down the Seine for a bit. Paris is absolutely, postively, the most gorgeous city I've ever been to, especially at night. The view across the Seine was fantastic, and I wish my camera was better so I could have accurately captured it. After that we walked to a Brasserie and had a meal. This is where we realized that Brian apparently looks European, as no one spoke English to him. We were told before we went that if you didn't speak French perfectly, all Parisians would start speaking English to you, but apparently this isn't the case with Brian, as he got nothing but French from every person we met. I got English, because I scream American Tourist in that stupid yellow coat. It was actually amusing and Brian freaked out about it each time. And side note the food in Paris was also excellent. We went to the places recommended in our guide, and it was always fantastic.
The next day we got up semi-early and headed to the Champs Elysses. After Japan seeing all the designer brand stores isn't quite as incredible, but it was still cool to be there. We walked up to the Arc de Triomphe (sorry for the bad spelling) and then down to the Eiffel Tower. So many damned beggars who apparently speak enough English to be annoying. We went up in the Eiffel Tower, but really once you're up, there's not much else to do. Not that I expected much else. But I can now say "I've been there!" After this we metro'd over to Notre Dame, saw the cathedral, which was really cool. It was made cooler by the fact that the sun finally came out by this time. The place is freaking HUGE. We didn't go up in the bell tower because frankly we didnt' care, but the architecture and stained glass inside were really pretty and cool.
Then we went to this tavern on the edge of the island that Notre Dame is on. A bottle of wine, a plate of pate, and a ginourmous cheese plate later we were done lunch, and walked towards the Metro. We stopped in this REALLY cool fantasy art store, with pictures of dragons and fairies all over the place. Brian bought me an awesome Dragon art book in FRENCH as my souvenir, which makes me love him all the more. Then we got on the metro in search of shopping destinations Brian had picked out. You can imagine his distress when he couldn't find things in his size. I swear I thought he was going to buy a 300 euro jacket that was a size too big just so he could say he bought something at a Paris fashion boutique, but he didn't. After this we decide to metro it to the Champs Elysses, because it was night and there was a Christmas village type thing set up. Of course there was some issue with the metro being stopped, so we decided to walk a little bit. It would have been fine if it wasn't A) so freaking cold B) I wasn't getting sick, and C) Brian's knee hadn't given out on him at some point during the trip. Also I kind of got lost halfway through, which freaked me out. We finally found our way back to the Seine though, and again, absolutely GORGEOUS at night. So, so, so pretty.
The Champs Elysse Marche du Noel was really neat, with lots of little shops up and down the street. I got a santa hat that lights up, and Brian got some heated wine. It was so neat with all the lights and the shops and such. Still cold as a witch's tit, but fun! After this we walk towards a wine bar we had picked out of the guide. Again, fantastic food. This old british man who lives in UCLA tried to pick us up after the meal. Brian was mad at me because I was having none of it, and he thought to at least get a free meal out of it. In hindsight I probably should have played along to save money, but I wasn't feeling especially well at the time. After this we went back to the hotel and crashed hard. The next morning all we had time for was to get a bagette before going to the airport and waiting two hours for our delayed flight to finally take off. Yay baggage handler's strike!
Friday night we were back in England, and had an Okonomiyaki party with Brian's Japanese peeps. They were all really nice, but it drove home how bad my Japanese has gotten. It's a shame I dont' study more. It's easy to forget when I don't hear Japanese on a regular basis anymore. Not that I studied especially hard when I was living in Japan, either. Anyway, it was good food and a good time. And that really finished out my England experience. The next day we finished packing and headed off to Heathrow. The whole trip was fantastic and it was good Bao and Mattie time, on top of a good time anyway. I strongly recommend everyone go! I don't know when I'm going next. I want to go in the summer maybe, but I also want to save up some days so that I can go to Japan in the fall. I've been gone so long now, it feels funky.
Anyway, now that I've finally knocked the Paris post out of the way I can fill in the rest of the blanks, such as the Heroes finale.
11 years ago
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