The Perfect French Day

This afternoon, Lauren, Caitlin, Ken and I once again made our way into Paris. As I'm sure you've probably figured out by now, there isn't much going on in Cergy where we live, thank goodness the city is just an RER ride away! We made it into the city and grabbed a quick snack before heading to the Louvre. Our timing was perfect, we knew it would be crowded on a Sunday, but it was not nearly as bad as we expected, there wasn't even a line to get our tickets! We made our way through the museum and saw all of the must-see things. We didn't stay long, it's free for EU students, so we decided we could always come back on a day off of school.

After we left the Louvre, we headed to the Latin Quarter for crepes (yes, our whole day did revolve around food, how could it not in Paris?!) We enjoyed our snacks in a small park and just took in the perfect weather in the perfect city. After we ate, Caitlin left and went back towards home and Lauren, Ken and I wandered around the Latin Quarter for a bit. Ken ended up hearing from 2 of his friends from France who he met while studying abroad in Hong Kong who were in Paris for the weekend and we went and met up with them and a few of there other friends. We went to a bar and sat outside for happy hour, talking and people watching. They taught us the important lesson to always double check the bill before you pay, we were charged for THREE extra drinks! The group of us then made our way down the cobblestone street and found a typical French restaurant for dinner. Everything from the food to the decor in the restaurant screamed French, our meal even took us 2 1/2 hours! You would never find that in the US, where typically the waitress is annoyed if you are there more than an hour or so. The French people we met were so nice, asking us about how we liked France and complimenting us on our French when we ordered. They were nothing like the stereotypes you hear about. After dinner, we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways.

We got on the Metro and on our way back to the station where we caught our RER we decided to get off at the Eiffel tower, since none of us had seen it at night yet. From the minute we got off the Metro, it was breathtaking, the closer we got to the Eiffel tower the more and more excited we were. It was truly amazing and seeing it lit up at night made everything seem so much more real. Despite any homesickness I've felt or any difficulty I had adjusting the first couple of weeks here seeing the Eiffel Tower made everything worth it. We hung around just long enough to see the tower sparkle and then made our way back to the train to head back home.

It was the perfect, leisurely French Sunday, I couldn't have imagined a better way to spend my day.