Paris
The main reason for going on this trip was to visit my friend Emeline, who was working at PwC SF for a year. I got to see her and see a bunch of tourist stuff.
The jetlag sunk in when I got into Paris. I woke up at 12:30 and I was like, holy shit! But I made it to the Louvre.
There's Aphrodite. Mona Lisa was kind of unexciting and no pictures were allowed.
This guy didn't seem like the standard Egyptian. I lacked an attention span staring at all the 16-17th century paintings.
The gardens outside of the Louvre had some fun statues. There was pretty decent grass in this area. That's the Eiffel Tower in the background!
The Louis Vuitton store was freakin expensive, the cheapest thing was a notepad or a pen for 150 euro. This Chinese woman asked me if I could get a wallet for her, because Chinese residents are only allowed to purchase one wallet. She was ready to give me the money and everything, but I had to get going. I felt kind of guilty later on, since I didn't help her out, but then I decided that I probably shouldn't feel bad for someone who can afford two Louis Vuitton wallets.
I took this long ass walk down that Champs Elysees (I have no clue how to say that properly, since I took Spanish in high school) and made it to the Arc de Triomphe.
View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. I am not too old in Europe, so I qualified for the youth price and decided to make the trip up the 284 steps.
You can't see the man standing next to this woman, but that's ok because that's him on her bag. I thought this bag was hilarious. On the other side, they are both smiling at a Buddhist temple. I had to be kind of discreet when I took the picture, "Oops! I was trying to take a picture of the view!"
Cafe de Flore is one of those hip caffes that Emeline recommended to me. Some existential philosophers hung out there. I spent almost 20 euro on this damn coffee and pastry.
This harpist at Montmarte played generic songs such as Romanza (spanish guitar classic), some song my friend Hellen played at a junior high talent show, and Greensleeves.
The view at Montmarte was kind of hazy.
I wanted to go to this modern art museum but the workers were on strike so it was closed. My friend Emeline was happy, "Good! You experienced a strike while in France! You got the full experience!"
Besides eating foie gras, some dried sausage and assorted cheeses, another French dish I ate was beef tartar. For those who are unfamilar, it is raw ground beef that is seasoned and has a raw quail egg mixed into it. I was expecting a little portion but I got enough to make 3 hamburgers. I felt kind of gross halfway through and had to stop.
On a walk to some cool parts of Paris, Emeline took me to this mosque where we had sweet tea and she smoked cigarettes. I am terrible at smoking cigarettes. This was a cool mosque cuz you could also get a spa treatment.
We finished the walk with a nice tour of the Jardin des Plantes. Emeline was being shy and hid. I admired the grass.
Other highlights:
- Not really a highlight, but my fear of snails continued to haunt me. I avoided one area in the Louvre because of a featured statue with a snail. I also saw cartoon snail icons in random places in Paris.
- People in Paris actually carry baguettes around in the street.
- On the subway, this dirty old man grabbed two girls' asses and spoke dirty to me. Luckily, ignorance is bliss, since I don't know a word of French, I wasn't offended. He sang "Maria, Maria" and wore a pinstripe suit with an ugly long sleeve polo shirt and black sneakers.
- We went to a bar one night and I noticed rose petals sprinkled on the ground outside a few bars. I was like, oooh how romantic. My friend Emeline said, "That isn't how Paris really is!"
- French pastries and desserts are awesome. In addition, I love that the French eat foods that I don't feel comfortable eating in public (ex: liver pate).
The jetlag sunk in when I got into Paris. I woke up at 12:30 and I was like, holy shit! But I made it to the Louvre.
There's Aphrodite. Mona Lisa was kind of unexciting and no pictures were allowed.
This guy didn't seem like the standard Egyptian. I lacked an attention span staring at all the 16-17th century paintings.
The gardens outside of the Louvre had some fun statues. There was pretty decent grass in this area. That's the Eiffel Tower in the background!
The Louis Vuitton store was freakin expensive, the cheapest thing was a notepad or a pen for 150 euro. This Chinese woman asked me if I could get a wallet for her, because Chinese residents are only allowed to purchase one wallet. She was ready to give me the money and everything, but I had to get going. I felt kind of guilty later on, since I didn't help her out, but then I decided that I probably shouldn't feel bad for someone who can afford two Louis Vuitton wallets.
I took this long ass walk down that Champs Elysees (I have no clue how to say that properly, since I took Spanish in high school) and made it to the Arc de Triomphe.
View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. I am not too old in Europe, so I qualified for the youth price and decided to make the trip up the 284 steps.
You can't see the man standing next to this woman, but that's ok because that's him on her bag. I thought this bag was hilarious. On the other side, they are both smiling at a Buddhist temple. I had to be kind of discreet when I took the picture, "Oops! I was trying to take a picture of the view!"
Cafe de Flore is one of those hip caffes that Emeline recommended to me. Some existential philosophers hung out there. I spent almost 20 euro on this damn coffee and pastry.
This harpist at Montmarte played generic songs such as Romanza (spanish guitar classic), some song my friend Hellen played at a junior high talent show, and Greensleeves.
The view at Montmarte was kind of hazy.
I wanted to go to this modern art museum but the workers were on strike so it was closed. My friend Emeline was happy, "Good! You experienced a strike while in France! You got the full experience!"
Besides eating foie gras, some dried sausage and assorted cheeses, another French dish I ate was beef tartar. For those who are unfamilar, it is raw ground beef that is seasoned and has a raw quail egg mixed into it. I was expecting a little portion but I got enough to make 3 hamburgers. I felt kind of gross halfway through and had to stop.
On a walk to some cool parts of Paris, Emeline took me to this mosque where we had sweet tea and she smoked cigarettes. I am terrible at smoking cigarettes. This was a cool mosque cuz you could also get a spa treatment.
We finished the walk with a nice tour of the Jardin des Plantes. Emeline was being shy and hid. I admired the grass.
Other highlights:
- Not really a highlight, but my fear of snails continued to haunt me. I avoided one area in the Louvre because of a featured statue with a snail. I also saw cartoon snail icons in random places in Paris.
- People in Paris actually carry baguettes around in the street.
- On the subway, this dirty old man grabbed two girls' asses and spoke dirty to me. Luckily, ignorance is bliss, since I don't know a word of French, I wasn't offended. He sang "Maria, Maria" and wore a pinstripe suit with an ugly long sleeve polo shirt and black sneakers.
- We went to a bar one night and I noticed rose petals sprinkled on the ground outside a few bars. I was like, oooh how romantic. My friend Emeline said, "That isn't how Paris really is!"
- French pastries and desserts are awesome. In addition, I love that the French eat foods that I don't feel comfortable eating in public (ex: liver pate).