Peppy Paris: Part I

I am listening to the awesome Italian music I bought my first week here. It's the best thing in the morning to wake you up. I am currently looking up Diana Krall's tour dates. I saw a poster coming back from Paris in Milan. Alessandra really loves her, so I hope we can go.

I also went to the markey today. I love the market. It's so much fun to go and watch or buy plants or sweaters or socks. As in, yesterday I washed all of my socks so I had none that were dry and had to go buy more. I needed more anyways, and some big fluffy ones for walking in the house.

Now. Paris. I truly don't know where to start. I took all of my trains and planes succesfully. So. I will start by bragging.

My train in Milano was cancelled, but I caught another one in time for my flight. Ryanair was good. It's kind of like a flying mall, though. Cheap flight, but they try to sell you anything from on flight food and drinks to perfume and watches to scratch tickets and smokeless cigarettes. Pierre and his father and friend Nicola came to get me at the airport. We recognized each other right away.

Pierre lives in a town called Soisy about a 45 minute drive from the airport, 15 minutes train from Paris.

The house is pretty much what you would expect in France. It's a magical little cottage with a lantern over the door and ivy on the roof.

My sweet ride from the airport.




A pretty house. France is full of these things.

Pierre's home

I felt very at home because they were realy welcoming and I can pretty much guarantee my trip would have been an awful mess if it was not for them.

I got changed from my travel attire and we heading for a drink. We went to a little bar where I realised what litte French I thought I knew had completely left my brain when I started learning Italian. I said Si instead of Oui and Grazie instead of Merci. I couldn't even remember Merci. Ridiculous. I also had a Desperado. It was delicious. We walked into the next town. Now, this is one of the most interesting things ever. The towns pretty much have no seperations. This freaks me out. What if they get in a fight and start throwing things across the only street that seperates them. I mean, riots are inevitable in circumstances like these. However, I now realise why Canada has so few people in such a large amount of space and in Europe they have so many people in such little space.

In Enghien les Bains (I think...) there was a Casino. Pierre told me it was very famous because it was the first one on the area, or maybe even France. It was really beautiful. Not tacky like the ones in the America's, as I will call it.

Pierre and Nicola:

Outside the Casino. There were music notes all over the pavement. Lalala; Ohlala. Ps, they don't say this. Ever. The Casino! This picture does it no justice. There were really awesome lanterns hanging inside and the whole front was just glass so you could see in.

There is a nice pond next to it that Pierre told me I should go swimming in. Hilarious. Oh, a note about Pierre for those of you who don't know him, he is insane. Also, he thinks he's very funny. He stayed with my family 6 years ago as an exchange student and we kept only in slight touch until now. However, when we saw each other, it was like no time had passed. We were right back into our old habits. These habits include jokes that aren't funny and lots of eye rolling on my part and lots of laughing for both of us. We remembered his first joke in English. Rollie and I were arguing. "I'm right." "No, you're wrong, I'm right." "No, I'm right, you're wrong." Pierre walked in and said, "I'm left."

We told him later that we only laughed because it was his first joke. But when I remembered it, I laughed a lot. Oh, Pierre. An idea of our relationship lies in a moment beside the little pond. There was a man outside the casino who heard me speaking English and he came over to talk. He was very chatty and ended up speaking French with Pierre and Nicola. He asked Pierre if I was his girlfriend, and he said, "No, she's my sister!"

We walked home, talking about Grimshaw and family and life, and went to bed. I slept in his brother's old room which was super awesome. He traveled to Africa, loves Bob Marley and is a huge advocate of legalizing Marijuana.

A sweet doll that I may or may not have had nightmares about...

Bahaha.

Before bed, Pierre's father gave me some chocolate from his wife who was away for the week with their current exchange student. We were both pretty sad to miss each other, but I will just have to head back.

In the morning I had a shower. A real, stand up shower. Ah, it was so nice to stand up in the shower. I hope you all enjoy this. We had toast and tea and I learned that Pierre's father jokes just as much, if not more, than Pierre. He does not speak English, but we still had a very funny morning. We walked to the trains, which are in the the next town, Enghains les Bains, and I bought a full day ticket. This was great because I could use it for all modes of public transport all day. The trains are so fricken cool!

We went into Paris and got out of the underground right below Notre Dame!

These are my first pictures of Paris:

One of the 48 (I think) bridges that connect Paris to Paris. Some beautiful roses at Notre DameNotre Dame

We went many places this day, we just walked and walked and walked and saw so may things and had such a fun time. It was really great to be with a Parisien in Paris. He would tell me stories about taking the trains or being in pubs as we passed them. We talked all day about the people in Grimshaw and had a great time. He made fun of my socks, and I made fun of his shoes, which were breaking but he did not want to wear his new ones because they still hurt his feet. It was really great to see someone I recognized from home. We talked about Paris and what we had both been doing since he left Canada and why I chose Italy instead of France. We talked about our futures and plans and it was great.

We argued about whether this was a horse hitch or a place to put your children while you went into the bank. I think I won with the horses idea.

Arc de Triumph! E multo bello. Did you know it is for all of the wars that Napolean won? I did not. There is an unknown soldier grave there too. I like those.

Pont des Arts. I liked this place. So we swapped cameras with a couple.

A pretty building with pretty columbs. Is that how you spell that? That looks crazy. Also, I should really start writing down some of these places that I go.

The front of the statue. The name reads Condocet.

This was the back of the statue. The name reads Perrin. Also, a pretty accurate representation of how much graffiti is mingled with the history in Paris.

Pierre! And the statue with two names.

Outside the Louvre. I would like to spend a whole day inside next time I go. I hear it's pretty spectacular.

More of the Louvre.

Those cute litte rats at the Louvre.

Art Nouvelle at the Louvre. There is lots of this new art around this city. Like, everywhere you go there is a very strange sculpture or big black balls lying around.

A temporary exhibit.

An Institute for Scholars. They pretty much sit there and think until their beards grow.

A picture for Rollie! Silver is coming around!

Highlander Pub and a sweet, mysterious looking alley.

A picture for Brianne. I thought you would like this and then Pierre said it looked like you.

The Great Canadian Pub! They were hiring. We met a friend here later. But that's another story for another post.

Cute little beaver and a brunch menu. O man, do I miss brunch.

At the most beautiful fountain ever. Later, when we were on a boat, (Oh yes. A boat.) the guide said students often make it into a bubble bath. Hilarious.

The fountain

I pretty typical representation of the Italians in France.

The crowded streets that smelled of cheese and smoked meat and pasteries. I think I will label this picture "Heaven".

Sweet gargoyles on a building among cafe's and souvenir shops. Did you know souvenir means both a physical souvenir and a memory in French? I prefer them to be seperate, personally.

A pretty much perfect picture of the French Flag. But I don't want to brag.

So this was about half of my first day. You can see how the post could be very large. Therefore, you get it in sections.