Crêpes, Escargot, et Vin + Waffels, Frites et Biers

To start off, I have realized that being abroad has done nothing to help with my procrastination. I am writing this post one week too late as a means to procrastinate packing for my upcoming week away from Genève.

Last last monday (Feb 22nd) I traveled to PARIS. Here are some highlights from my 4 days there!

Monday: We arrived on monday after a much anticipated ride on the TGV. Arriving to our hotel in montmarte, we quickly settled in and headed for a quick walking tour of Paris. We started off at the Opera House, walked to the outside grounds of the Louvre (for adventures inside the museum, see below on Wednesday), through the Louvre gardens, arrived a place de concorde, walked the entire champs élsyées (while having the song champs élysées stuck in my head the entire time), and finally to the arc de triomphe. A couple people in the group decided to climb the narrow, swirly stairs to the top, but having done so before I saved 5 euro and grabbed a metro to Notre Dame with some friends. Notre Dame was how I remembered it: incredible. Its enormity and architecture is breathtaking. Luckily we caught a bit of a prayer service, which was beautiful to watch. After a sweep around the church, we walked along the Siene only to see the most amazing thing: a proposal. Marching along a non-touristy part, we see a man on his knees getting up while the women is looking at her hand. The next thing we know they are making out and we quickly realized what we just witnessed. As we squealed in excitement because it was SO romantic, we walked passed them and gushed about it for the entire trip back home. I can quickly say i re-evaluated my life and have now decided where I want to be proposed to. Anyways....monday night we grabbed a quick dinner and I met up with some of my GW bests. Me, Al, and Dave caught up a bit- exchanged old embarrassing stories about me to some of my Geneva friends, had a few drinks and then called it a night!

Tuesday: After lengthy briefings at medicin du monde et action conre le faim, I met up with Dave again for a night out in Paris! We grabbed dinner and drinks and just caught up! We walked around the area he lives in by the Bastille and went to Place d'Italie for dinner. It was delicious and I even got myself to try escargot- it was actually really good! Though I was nervous and def. never thought I would eat snails..i manned up and did it! And I will say, I would def eat them again.

Wednesday: After more briefings at MDM, we hit up the Louvre on Wed. night. The Louvre is magnificent. I could spend 5 days there and not see everything. From the architecture outside, to the walls and ceilings inside, an the beautiful paintings and sculptures in it.. i didn't even know where to start. I hit all the famous things that I had seen once before pretty much but here is a laundry list of things we looked at: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Napoleon's Apartment, French Revolution Painting (forgot real name), crowned jewels... and def. a lot more. Not to mention the tapestry we spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out...first as a joke..but then we actually tried to make sense of this. Thanks Chad, for the pondering sound effects, otherwise we probably would not have sat there trying to figure the carpet out! After the Louvre, we bought some vin, got some dinner, attempted to go to the eiffel tower (and failed) and went back to the hotel. After warming up with some wine we walked to sacre coeur- my favorite part of Paris from my trip there 4 years ago. Though it was really dark, 2am, and kinda scary at night- it was still stunning. The view from paris wasn't the best because it was so late but I was still in awe just from being back at sacre coeur. We eventually found our way home, after chatting with some french locals and passed out to get ready for our last full day in Paris!

Thursday: I was woken up at 8:30 but some who will not be mentioned who missed their flight to barcelona. Asking to use my blackberry to figure out what they could do. After being up and getting some breakfast, three of us finally made it to the tour d'effiel. Though a bit overrated, it is still undoubtedly a cool monument. After being touristy and searching for berets, we began our journey to lunch. Now me, jenn, and chad coincidently all had friends in the same paris program. Al happened to be friends with both of them- so we all grabbed lunch. We got some mexican food and massive amounts of quac which made up for the 45 walk we had to take to get there since we got off at the wrong metro station! anyways after that, we went to pompidu (the outside) and then to les halles. I ventured back to Notre Dame and finally got a "dank" crepe- nutella and bananas. Mmm. After a bit of mis-communication and not working of cell phones I finally found Shira and Jenn again (sorry for the stress Shiraaaa) and tried to get into Victor Hugo's house..but it was closed =(. So we went back to the hotel to get ready for some dinner! We had one thing in mind for dinner: MORE CREPES..and we got them. Still delicious- this time savory with ham and cheese..but so good! We then ventured to an absinthe bar. It was interesting....nothing happened after a few shots of it..it was pretty underwhelming, but it had to be done. We then checked out social club- a french techno club. Though it was rocking and really fun we were all exhuasted by 2:30 and peaced out so we could be semi alive for our train ride to Bruxelles!

Bruxelles

Friday: After some frustration at the Paris Nord train station and our first train being cancelled, we finally made it to belgium! After stepping off the train, we were greeted with the amazing smell of WAFFLES. Though we didn't immediately get one, it was definitely worth the wait. After Jenn, Shira, and I met up with Spitzy (!!) we wandered to the Grand Place which is beautiful at night. We walked around a bit and finally made it to a waffle stand. After they lady gave me the waffle, I have never been more excited to eat something. Waffle with hot melted chocolate, bananas, and strawberries. I immediately fell in love with brussels. We grabbed our waffles and ate them by the Mannequin Pis. Now, for those of you who have never heard of it, it is regarded as the national monument of Brussels...compared to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. However, the Mannequin Pis (a statue of a boy peeing) is actually the size of my arm. It looks like a gold doll that is just peeing. It is more amusing then monumental..but to each his own. We then ventured to some bars. Found great 2 euro glasses of beer and watched some rugby at another irish pub. We then went back to the first bar for more 2 euro beers. After, we stumbled upon fresh, hot, frites (french fries). Let's just say, i love belgium. The sauce that the frite man recommended was delicious and the frites were a perfect ending to a great first day in brussels!

Saturday: Saturday was like our Monday in Paris we went everywhere we could! We strolled into the EU (commission and parliament) walked through gardens to see the outsides of beautiful museums, saw the grand palais and the palais de justice, saw the cathedral, and some other tourist spots. For dinner I was able to meet up with a friend from high school, BWALL! We all grabbed dinner then went to another bar- Delirium, which had 100 beers on tap. I got one really good blonde beer and then a beer that we referred to as the cookie beer. I don't exactly know how to explain it but it tasted a bit like gingerbread and was out of this world. Brussels was def. a GREAT idea and perfect for a weekend trip!

Sunday: we got up WAY early and headed to the airport. I slept the entire trip home (unusual for me) and then made it back to Gland to get ready for the week ahead!

This last week was okay, nothing to eventful, i was sick for most of it..but all is good now! We 12-5ed friday night to celebrate a birthday! It was a great time, as per usual. I strolled back home at 6am and slept until 12. I then explored Geneva a bit with Jenn and Shira. We attempted to go out but got to comfortable and warm on the trains and decided going out was going to be a fail so we rested up so we would be good for the week ahead!


UP NEXT: we leave for lugano tomorrow and then take the overnight train on thursday to ROME for the weekend. Now, let's see if i remember how to speak italian!

so, sorry for the lack of pictures: refer to facebook if you want to see them!

ciao ciao!