Steelsings hit Paris - and Paris hit back !
This was... let's be blunt - it was an AWESOME weekend.
On Friday, early afternoon, I picked up Gecko, Silvia and Petra from the metro station and we put down their stuff in my flat. We had a few refreshments, my friends got to know Johan and JD (he was a riot ^^) and then we set off for a full afternoon.
We took the metro to the Père Lachaise cemetery, where we saw the graves of Molière, Edith Piaf, Henri Salvador, two monuments to deported men and women. There was also the grave of Oscar Wilde, but it was out of our way and we were in a bit of a hurry. Afterwards, we had a snack in a café, then we took the subway again to the Sacré-Coeur, which we didn't enter, but we did go all the way up the hill and take pictures with a good view of Paris. Then we took the metro back home and had taboulé and sausages for dinner, before going out again and seeing the Eiffel Tower at night, which was amazing. Gecko, Johan and I climbed up to the second floor of the tower, while Petra and Silvia stayed down to have a better view of the whole thing. At some point, the tower started glittering with a little lights show, which was unbelievable, but Johan, Gecko and I were inside it so all we saw was weird flashes of light, like lightning, and we heard people down there going "ooh" and "aah". Luckily for us, Silvia had taped the little show.
We got back home around 1am that night and promptly fell asleep.
We woke up the next morning at 8am, and around 9 there was a Jo on my doorstep! We had planned to have breakfast at a cafe near m place, but it was closed, so we had brekfast in another cafe, which was excellent anyway, with real hot chocolate (as in, melted chocolate plus a jar of warm milk) and tartines and croissants. And real orange juice.
We took the subway to Ile de la Cité and visited the Sainte Chapelle, where the crown of thorns resides (but you can only see it the first friday of each month), and then we went off to see Notre-Dame, which we visited. Right when we entered, the huge organ started playing, and there was a whole orchestra up there, so we got to tour the cathedral with amazing music - the accoustics were wonderful. We lost Silvia at some point but found her again, outside, and realized that it was POURING. So we got our umbrellas and plastic bags out and walked all the way to the Louvres, stopping at a few pet shops to be all "aww" at puppies.
We spent something like an hour at the Louvres seeing the Dutch and Scandinavian paintings - Vermeer, Rembrandt, those guys, which was really nice. Then it was sunny again, and luckily so, because we walked all the way up through Les Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, and up the Champs-Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe.
We then we home to a restaurant right under our place which is very very good and rather cheap by Parisian standards. Then we played games and went to bed.
The next morning we wanted to see the Catacombs, but they were closed (damn you, 15th of August), so instead we got on a flyboat (bateau-mouche) under the rain and saw Paris from the river Seine. Then Johan went home and Steelsings took the RER to see Versailles, which was amazing even under the rain. We saw the appartments of the Dauphin, the Ladies, we saw the Gallerie des Glaces and the King and Queen's chambers, and we saw a teeny-weenie part of the gardens through the windows. Gardens under the rain suck anyway XD
And then we went home, had pizza and a nice lemon pie that Silvia bought at a bakery, and we played more games and went to sleep.
On Monday morning, we left at 10h20 because I needed to take JD to the vet's for his stitches. We separated and I ran to the subway, but because of bag fuckwittery I missed my RER, so I got to the vet's RER station at quarter to noon, meaning that if the bus came right away I'd only be 15 mins late.
I waited for the bus under the rain, in the cold, for over an hour. No need to cover all the details, but guys, a word to the wise: when in France, AVOID THE BUS SYSTEM at all costs. Ride metros and RERs.
So the bus finally came and I got to the clinic at 1pm, but then it was closed, so I waited under the rain and in the cold for another 45mins till it reopened, and during that time I tried asking for a café. I stood at a stop sign (because there were no pedestrians, this village sucks) and this car came, so I waved politely so they could see me. The driver went out of her way to run the stop sign and avoid me, right there under my frozen nose, so I flipped her off. Luckily, this man drove the other way and he was decent enough to stop and tell me where I'd find a cafe, except it was closed. So I waited.
Then the vet came and took off the stitches, and JD peed on him (hahaha) and then I was allowed to stay in the waiting room because the bus wouldn't come for another hour, and there I met loads of people with rats and ferrets, including this adorable couple who offered to drive me all the way up to the before-last RER stop before Paris, so I was ver grateful and I got home around 5. Should've been 2, had things gone right... anyway.
VOILA! Pictures will be Facebooked.
On Friday, early afternoon, I picked up Gecko, Silvia and Petra from the metro station and we put down their stuff in my flat. We had a few refreshments, my friends got to know Johan and JD (he was a riot ^^) and then we set off for a full afternoon.
We took the metro to the Père Lachaise cemetery, where we saw the graves of Molière, Edith Piaf, Henri Salvador, two monuments to deported men and women. There was also the grave of Oscar Wilde, but it was out of our way and we were in a bit of a hurry. Afterwards, we had a snack in a café, then we took the subway again to the Sacré-Coeur, which we didn't enter, but we did go all the way up the hill and take pictures with a good view of Paris. Then we took the metro back home and had taboulé and sausages for dinner, before going out again and seeing the Eiffel Tower at night, which was amazing. Gecko, Johan and I climbed up to the second floor of the tower, while Petra and Silvia stayed down to have a better view of the whole thing. At some point, the tower started glittering with a little lights show, which was unbelievable, but Johan, Gecko and I were inside it so all we saw was weird flashes of light, like lightning, and we heard people down there going "ooh" and "aah". Luckily for us, Silvia had taped the little show.
We got back home around 1am that night and promptly fell asleep.
We woke up the next morning at 8am, and around 9 there was a Jo on my doorstep! We had planned to have breakfast at a cafe near m place, but it was closed, so we had brekfast in another cafe, which was excellent anyway, with real hot chocolate (as in, melted chocolate plus a jar of warm milk) and tartines and croissants. And real orange juice.
We took the subway to Ile de la Cité and visited the Sainte Chapelle, where the crown of thorns resides (but you can only see it the first friday of each month), and then we went off to see Notre-Dame, which we visited. Right when we entered, the huge organ started playing, and there was a whole orchestra up there, so we got to tour the cathedral with amazing music - the accoustics were wonderful. We lost Silvia at some point but found her again, outside, and realized that it was POURING. So we got our umbrellas and plastic bags out and walked all the way to the Louvres, stopping at a few pet shops to be all "aww" at puppies.
We spent something like an hour at the Louvres seeing the Dutch and Scandinavian paintings - Vermeer, Rembrandt, those guys, which was really nice. Then it was sunny again, and luckily so, because we walked all the way up through Les Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, and up the Champs-Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe.
We then we home to a restaurant right under our place which is very very good and rather cheap by Parisian standards. Then we played games and went to bed.
The next morning we wanted to see the Catacombs, but they were closed (damn you, 15th of August), so instead we got on a flyboat (bateau-mouche) under the rain and saw Paris from the river Seine. Then Johan went home and Steelsings took the RER to see Versailles, which was amazing even under the rain. We saw the appartments of the Dauphin, the Ladies, we saw the Gallerie des Glaces and the King and Queen's chambers, and we saw a teeny-weenie part of the gardens through the windows. Gardens under the rain suck anyway XD
And then we went home, had pizza and a nice lemon pie that Silvia bought at a bakery, and we played more games and went to sleep.
On Monday morning, we left at 10h20 because I needed to take JD to the vet's for his stitches. We separated and I ran to the subway, but because of bag fuckwittery I missed my RER, so I got to the vet's RER station at quarter to noon, meaning that if the bus came right away I'd only be 15 mins late.
I waited for the bus under the rain, in the cold, for over an hour. No need to cover all the details, but guys, a word to the wise: when in France, AVOID THE BUS SYSTEM at all costs. Ride metros and RERs.
So the bus finally came and I got to the clinic at 1pm, but then it was closed, so I waited under the rain and in the cold for another 45mins till it reopened, and during that time I tried asking for a café. I stood at a stop sign (because there were no pedestrians, this village sucks) and this car came, so I waved politely so they could see me. The driver went out of her way to run the stop sign and avoid me, right there under my frozen nose, so I flipped her off. Luckily, this man drove the other way and he was decent enough to stop and tell me where I'd find a cafe, except it was closed. So I waited.
Then the vet came and took off the stitches, and JD peed on him (hahaha) and then I was allowed to stay in the waiting room because the bus wouldn't come for another hour, and there I met loads of people with rats and ferrets, including this adorable couple who offered to drive me all the way up to the before-last RER stop before Paris, so I was ver grateful and I got home around 5. Should've been 2, had things gone right... anyway.
VOILA! Pictures will be Facebooked.