Mon retour à Paris: Making Mme. Sorrell Proud

My flight out of Dublin to Paris was small, but nice. Though I really enjoyed Ireland, it was really exciting to be headed back to France - and to see places I'd seen five years ago. I met some really nice people who were taking the same flight - two older ladies that hung out with me at the gate, and then the young man sitting next to me, Gregoire, on the plane. He was so obviously French that I wanted to talk to him - but was intimidated. I ended up starting up a conversation by offering him some medicine, because he sounded sick. By first impression, he had a seemingly unbreakable serious air to him, but as soon as I started talking, his face lit up, and we had a wonderful (albeit short) time. At the gate, he waited for me to get my luggage (which took about 20 minutes longer than his), and made sure I had directions to get from Charles De Gaulle to the center of Paris - very sweet. I never learned his last name, nor did we exchange contacts - so he's yet another person that I'll never see again. I regret that - and at the same time, think it's really cool. I think I'll always remember him, whether or not he'll remember me - weird that he'll never know how much he helped me get ready for Paris.

When I say that, I simply mean that the French are slightly intimidating. We all know their stereotypes, and some of them are true. They're unwilling to speak much to you in English, which is why the entire time I was there, I tried my hand at French. I actually succeeded - cheers to all my French teachers! It really did come back easily, and it was really wonderful to be able to speak a different language conversationally - because for me, Danish is frustrating because I can usually only get out half a sentence or so. I was complimented fairly often on my accent and knowledge of the language, so that was really nice. When I say that Gregoire helped me, I mean that he managed to erase many of my fears just by being friendly.

As soon as I got my luggage, we split so he could find his family (he had been in Ireland for the past five months, studying and practicing English), and I met a girl named Kelly, who was as jetlagged as I had been on my first day in Denmark, and looking for a way out to the city as well. I helped her figure out some of the public transport, and never saw her again either - but I do have her contacts. She was an interesting character and told me I acted older than I really am - but I hardly believe it.

I met up with Deni, who was the most wonderful tour guide. We hung out in Luxembourg Gardens for a little while, which was BEAUTIFUL - the weather the entire time I was in Paris was great. She showed me my hostel, and I got settled, then we went out for dinner and dessert, which was fun. The next day, we met up and took a trip to Mon Martre, which was interesting because I'd already been there. It was the one place I REALLY wanted to go back to - things like the Eiffel Tour, the Louvre, and L'Arc de Triomphe held little or no interest for me, but beautiful Sacre Coeur and Mon Martre, certainly. We walked around for some time, while I refamiliared myself with the French culture. It was so beautiful - the views from the top were gorgeous.

After that, I went back to Luxembourg Gardens (because it's right by where Deni lives), and hung out there and read/people watched for an hour or two - then we went back to her host parents' house to cook dinner for ourselves. I got really lucky, because Deni's host parents, instead of making me find a hostel for the night, let me stay with them, and their adorable little dog, Samba:


The next morning I was up bright and early (so I could leave when Deni left at like 7:45), and so I hopped on a train, took a walk on the Seine, and got some breakfast. Musée D'Orsay opened at 9:30, which is another place that I wanted to go. Unfortunately, museums just make me realize how much I DON'T get art. I went up to take a look at all of the impressionist artists, and I find that even walking alongside Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Cezanne, I just don't get it. Sad, I know. I left after about an hour to meet up with Alex Klikunas - we had a great time wandering around the city, getting lunch with his girlfriend, and finding this absolutely gorgeous park that Deni had recommended to us - Parc des Buttes Chaumont:

Alex also took me to a place where I could grab some French-food souvenirs for Stefan's family, where I encountered the most giant toblerone bar EVER, as well as buckets and buckets of Nutella. As you may have realized, I'm not one for taking lots of pictures, but this was necessary:

When we finally split around five, I met up with Deni again, and we made dinner, then headed out to Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge where all the Parisians hang out, to talk, chill, and drink some wine - the most lovely and picturesque way to end my trip to France.


Meeting up with Deni and Alex was so wonderful - I had SO much fun in France. I got to see their lives while abroad, which was really cool. Deni is currently in Copenhagen, so hopefully I'll be able to see her and her boyfriend while she's still around. Having tourguides from Vermont was really special to me - it's cool to meet up with childhood/high school friends in Europe - a totally different experience. I also got to see two really close friends that I hadn't seen in a long time, so it was nice, and of course, fun.

The next morning, I checked out of Oops! Hostel, and attempted to catch a train to Brussels, but unfortunately it was 86Euro - a little bit too ridiculous for an hour and a half train ride. Not only was it that expensive, it was to Bruxelles Midi - not even Bruxelles Central. I heard English behind me, takling about how terrible Bruxelles Midi was, and turned around to ask. I ended up meeting this awesome couple - Lauren and Michelle from LA. They were touring around Europe for a couple weeks, and were headed to Amsterdam. They suggested I hop that train with them, because it was only 110Euro, which, compared to the ridiculous cost of Brussels, sounded good to me. We ended up getting assigned seats near each other, and found it surprisingly easy to pass the time chatting with them for our four hour train ride through the northern tip of France, an entire country (and they weren't lying, our train stopped at Bruxelles Midi, and it looked really sucky - like NOTHING to do there), and the southern part of the Netherlands. Beautiful place to see - and as soon as I stepped off the train into Amsterdam, I realized I was in some completely different place and atmosphere. I ended up exchanging numbers with Lauren and Michelle, and then found my nice hotel for the night, and went to bed early, so I could find Stefan at the airport the next morning bright and early.

I'm currently safe in Copenhagen again, overjoyed to be back home, and to be with my computer again. I'm going to have a happy reunion with my bike & Tali now, so I'll update on Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Easter soon. Lots of love from COPENHAGEN (Hooray!!)!