after a sweaty two hour endeavor across the border, we pulled into gare du nord in just enough time to realize that we had miscommunicated with cooper, leaving him with the wrong time to meet us, while simultaneously losing our portable wi-fi signal (little did we know it would never return). we gathered our teeny little suitcases and disembarked onto the platform with an unsure idea about what would happen next. also available only by wi-fi signal: the address of our next home. good times.
wouldn't you know that cooper had re-read old messages i had sent in a not-so-rare fit of ocd to find our train number and the correct arrival time. so he was there to greet us when we arrived, which was a beautiful change from the past several days. no sight in the entirety of the universe is sweeter than that of a familiar face. especially a face that speaks the native language of the country you're visiting. coop led us onto a creaky old train, profusely apologizing as though he alone were responsible for this RER train, that led us into the 5th arrondissement where our apartment was located. we met up with our host's mom (who's name translates into "small potato" so i think her parents hate her) at our place at 61 rue du cardinal. once inside the entry, there was a small spiral staircase leading up to the fourth floor and also one tiny and super-claustrophobic elevator. i was, non-consensually if i may, nominated to ride up four flights with all of the suitcases in all of the tiniest of spaces ever in all of the history of all elevators ever. thinking wistfully upon benzodiazepines, i totally nailed those traumatic thirty seconds of my life.
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| courtesy of airbnb |
pomme (aka the potato woman) showed us into our newest home. the perfect little parisian apartment, it consisted of a kitchen/entry/dining area/bathroom and one bedroom where the walls were lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves and dotted with quirky pieces of art. i will never forget the blissful breeze that streamed through the open kitchen window from the double doors in the bedroom that opened onto a balcony overlooking the street. some days it was an enabler of naps, some days it dried our freshly laundered clothes, and some days it served as a gentle reminder that we were living the dream in iconic paris.
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| doing laundry is cooler in paris |
woof. i just got lost for a second. where were we? after we checked in to our place, we walked along the rue mouffetard until we ducked into a coffee shop for une noisette or deux and settled into a corner booth for some overdue conversation. also, they served us an entire bottle of water and i almost cried. remember how i said europeans are chronically dehydrated thus making simple tap water the nectar of the gods? still true. we talked and laughed and got to be annoying americans while we planned the rest of our day. we made dinner reservations. for 8:30. which was so late for us. and so early for cooper. 8:30 WAS AN EARLY DINNER, YOU GUYS. DO YOU HEAR ME? i swear. anyway, we went off for a walk and explored the fifth and sixth arrondissements and through the beautiful luxembourg gardens. we crossed the pont neuf ("the new bridge") which is, of course, the oldest bridge in paris. we walked down the steps to the river seine and took in the scenery. the seine! what!
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| sunny seine |
after walking around the outside of notre-dame, we finally made our way over to le petit leon for our first taste of parisian cuisine! it was a quiet, empty bistro with large, open windows and a friendly waiter. "que voulez-vous pour le dîner?" he said. i looked at him, bewildered, as if he had asked me the meaning of life. jett didn't miss a beat, so he and cooper took the reigns and helped me order a three-course meal. i won't describe every meal in detail (yes i probably will), but this one had me at hello. it opened with briques de chèvre au miel, followed strongly by boeuf avec pomme de terre en purée à l'échalote, and complete, and completed by moelleux au chocolat coeur caramel. all accompanied by one to two bottles of vin rouge. man, my life sure is rough!
i think i will go back and re-read that paragraph next time i am feeling sorry for myself. after dinner we waddled back to cooper's home to drink more wine and check out his living quarters. though assuredly compact, cooper's place was happy and bright and cozy. you could see the eiffel tower from his window! plus he had some lovely japanese décor that stirred up just the right amount of nostalgia for the last time he opened up his home to us in a foreign land. after a long day of travel, exploration, and gluttony, cooper walked us back home like a proper gentleman so we could sleep it off and do it all again tomorrow.
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| don't stop reading now. these are about to make their way into the story. |
monday began our first full day in paris and it was a) perfect and b) the busiest day in history. we wanted to get an early start on the day, so naturally we overslept. when in paris, sleep as the parisians do. seeing as this was day ten of our trip and we had only enough clothes to fit into a carryon, the stink factor was winning. we put our worst outfits on, shoved everything else into tote bags, and trekked down the street to get some laundry done. we accidentally chose the largest, most expensive washers and ended up paying about three times more than we should have, but i would have paid eight million euro for a clean pair of pants, man.
once we were clean human beings and our pigpen-esque cloud had lifted, we met up with cooper and headed to his favorite crêpe place for lunch. both delicious and a bargain, we ate our jambon et fromage crêpes, followed by nutella crêpes, and sipped on coca-cola light for only five euro a piece. don't tell me you can't eat cheap in europe. don't do it. i will send you endless photos of crêpes.
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| be in my life forever, nutella crêpe |
we walked over to notre-dame to tour the cathedral. it was unbelievably vast and ornate. such a breath-taking experience! once outside, we ran into a construction zone to tap our toes onto zero point (like i was just going to stare at it from a distance?), ensuring our return to the city of love. then we circled the building and looked at the gargoyles and the gaggles of tourists trying to find the front entrance. much beauty. so wow. very paris.
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| no justice done with this photo |
as we headed to our next destination, we strolled along and weaved in and out of pet shops to see puppies and kittens and BUNNIES SNUGGLING WITH GUINEA PIGS (that was a real thing). since it had been about an hour since our last indulgence, we decided it was time to re-fuel at a café along the seine, embarrass cooper by ordering iced coffees, and enjoy the people-watching for a bit. we made it over to sainte-chapelle and waited in line for a bit before they announced that the doors were closing because the wind was kicking up too much dust. they didn't want it getting to the stained glass. womp womp. we did get to witness an angry parisian yelling into nothingness about her disdain for the situation. travel tip #482: always have a translator for angry parisians yelling into nothingness.
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| the cafe frappé and the creeper |
our next place of interest was the louvre, though today's itinerary only included a look around the outside. we walked up to the pyramid and took a few must-haves before strolling through the jardin du tuilleries on our way to champs-elysées. it was essentially a straight shot from the louvre to the arc de triomphe, so we took our time taking in the sights and sounds of the gardens and the lazy parisians hanging about in them.
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| jardin du tuilleries |
i went from sophisticated (alright that's a stretch) adult to giddy little school girl in 0.3 seconds as we hit the beginning of champs-elysées. we walked paris' grand avenue, peering into shop windows of little boutiques and straight up gawking at the five-story louis vuitton mothership. i audibly squealed when i spotted ladurée. the boys let me go inside and pick out eight lovely macarons to put in a pretty little box and skip away with: pistachio, orange blossom, salted caramel, coffee, red fruit, rose, strawberry mint, and framboise. a moment of silence for the macarons, s'il vous plaît.
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| where you at, blair waldorf? |
since ladurée emptied our shallow pockets, we decided to head to our final destination of the evening: la tour eiffel. we took the metro to trocadéro and walked up by the opera to catch a picture perfect view of her majesty. seeing something that iconic standing in front of you is oddly humbling and difficult to explain (which is why you should go see things for yourself!). we took lots of pictures and then back tracked a bit in search of a grocery store to supply our perfect picnic.
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| isn't she lovely? |
most of our time in paris was undecided. we really wanted to play as the parisians do and see where the wind (and cooper) blew us each day. but this eiffel tower picnic has been in the works since day one, my friends. players: jett, cooper, mal. supplies: fresh chèvre and brie, salami and other unidentified sliced meats, a bottle of wine (okay this time there were three), yummy blueberries and juicy peaches, a box of ladurée macarons, and a freshly baked baguette. oh! how perfect you were, picnic. also in the game plan was to find the perfect picnic blanket in london as a souvenir to use under the eiffel tower so it could brag to all the other throw blankets when it got home. we gathered our bounty and took it to the lawn facing the tower and posted up in the shade. i pulled the aforementioned blanket out of the backpack in which it had been hauled and stuffed ALL DAY.
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| perfection, n'est pas? |
(this would be the perfect time to ask jett about his bathroom story. spoiler alert: he suffered greatly while cooper and i finished off the first bottle of wine. you'll have to ask him.)
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| wine teef |
this night was my very favorite part of our entire trip to europe. we sat for hours eating and drinking and hunting for more wine and buying tacky touristy scarves for warmth. we watched the sun go down and the darkness take over the city while we waited for her to light up and sparkle at ten o'clock. bliss, i tell you. pure bliss. we walked up underneath the tower after a few hours had passed, sneaked a kiss or two (we left cooper out of that, don't worry), then were off to find more wine to pass the rest of the night away at the apartment.
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| bonne nuit! |
since our first two days in paris were so lovely and eventful, i think i will take a break here and finish the rest of the adventure soon. hope you are enjoying reading these at least a fraction of how much i am loving revisiting the stories.
