Whew- Paris Post!

Hello all! Below is the Paris Post. Also about spring and Aunt Char's visit. Originally I meant to post all of the topics: Aunt Char, Spring, Paris and Italy in one post but its taken too long. Italy is partially done, but it wont be finished tonight. So... please await the final Italian post, and enjoy this until then!
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So let us begin….

I am settling in for the longest blog post yet. It’s my own fault that I’ve been negligent and once the stories pile up, it gets harder and harder to find time to sit down and write them all out. But I have an obligation to these memories… some are too hilarious to not be shared electronically with all of you. So here I am, ready to relay in detail my life for the past few weeks.

Shall we?

First a quick recap. The past few weeks have been extremely exciting for me. My Aunt Char came to visit Aix and then right after that, Ashley and I jetsetted off to Paris to spend an extended weekend there. After the adventure that was the “City of Lights” we had a few days of school and then left for a week in Italy where we went to Rome and the Amalfi Coast. While we were away in Italy, “spring” arrived in Aix. I put that in quotes because spring here is like summer back home. We’ve had great weather the whole time we’ve been in France (from an Midwesterner’s perspective) so to classify this warmer weather as spring doesn’t feel quite right. Before I go further into details about Char, Paris and Italy lets discuss springtime in Aix.

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It’s like they finally understand its hot.

For the first time since my arrival in France, I am seeing the French people actually accurately dress for the weather. Normally, on what I would consider a spring day (a little cool but nice enough to wear long sleeves with no jacket) the French walk by me still dressed in their down coats. They take their warmth very seriously and pile on the jackets and scarves even when I find them to be completely unnecessary. I went over to my French aunt’s house once at night wearing a short sleeve t-shirt a few weeks ago and as I took off my coat she said, “What? Do you think its summer?” to which I replied “For me, yes” and explained that our weather was much colder than theirs. But now, spring has arrived and the French are walking around in capris, skirts, t-shirts, sandals, and other warm clothes. Their clothes are bright too, with much more color than the typical dark or neutral colors I’ve seen them sport up until now.

The funny thing is all of this happened while Ash and I were in Italy. But as we were rolling our suitcases off the bus and towards the Cour (as we locals like to call it- la cour mirabeau, for those new to the blog, is the main street in Aix) I turned to Ashley and said “I bet the Cour has bloomed.” I was excited. I had been waiting to see that street (which is lined with trees) in its full splendor seeing as how it was always on the Aix websites and on Google images when I compulsively researched Aix time after time before coming here. I knew Aix would look even more beautiful once it was fully in bloom. And sure enough, as I struggled to keep my rolly suitcase on the cobblestone sidewalk, we turned the corner and there it was. The tree lined street fully in bloom and its fountains spraying full force. It was beautiful.

All of the trees in Aix turned green while we were away. There’s even one by the fountain near my apartment that I never noticed existed that suddenly has leaves.

Also with the spring has come more tourists. Its fun to walk past them and think, “Ha! Tourists…” with the local attitude. Lol I think I am allowed this after having played the clueless tourist more times than I would like to admit during this 5 month adventure. There’s even this little tram that carts tourists around the sites of Aix. It drives past my school. Maybe I should try to sneak on it for a free ride up the street. Hm… there’s an idea…
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Bienvenue Aunt Char!

On April 5th and 6th I got the pleasure of showing my Aunt Char around Aix. I was extremely excited to see my aunt. I could hardly wait for her call on the first day she was there and I even checked the hotel to see if she had arrived (she had not). I love my aunt very much and she’s a fun travel buddy- we’ve done trips to Florida together in the past. I was pumped to show her my new French life and to catch up with her.

When she got into her hotel, she called me and I quickly walked to meet her. She was staying at a hotel that was literally down the street from my school. As I rounded the corner I saw her standing there and yelled “Bonjour” at her. I predicted she would cry and I was right. Like Old Faithful, she is. With a huge grin on my face and tears in her eyes the Aunt Char and Kelly team were reunited. We walked into her hotel and started catching up. Afterwards, we started to walk around Aix a little bit. I showed her the cathedral, which she found interesting. Then, because I get my jewelry gene from my aunt, we headed to Eric’s shop. We visited Eric and we spoke a mix of English and French. I enjoyed showing Aunt Char one of my French friends and we talked to him for quite a while. He complimented Char’s French as she was picking up on the pronunciation quickly. It started to rain and Eric lent us an umbrella. I walked Char back to the hotel and then had a glass of wine with her and her travel group. Everyone was extremely nice and it was funny to hear Lee Ranson, our weather guy, tell me it was nice to finally meet me. (She was on a tour of Provence lead by him). I was tempted to ask him to predict the weather for the next few days but refrained for my aunt’s sake. After that, I left her and ran back home to help Isabelle prepare dinner. Isabelle offered to have Aunt Char over for dinner. How much do I love my French family! Classic Isabelle.

After I sliced kiwi, I ran back to the hotel to pick up Aunt Char and walked her to my apartment. She thought it was adorable and I liked showing her my French pad. Introductions were made with her and the French fam (minus Guillaume who was off somewhere) and we settled into the sitting room to “boire un verre” (drink a glass). The French family and Aunt Char got to know each other. I played translator because Isabelle doesn’t speak English as well as the boys. It was fun. Ashley came over too and we moved into the kitchen and ate the WONDERFUL meal Isabelle has prepared. I had asked her to make Provincial foods and she did. Mmmm… I remember that meal fondly. It was a wonderful night- great people, good conversation, and a union of my real family and my new French one. Both my aunt and Isabelle had nice things to say about the other one afterwards. I spent the night at Aunt Char’s hotel and we stayed up late talking.

The next day after I went to class, Aunt Char and her travel buddy Sherry met me at my apartment and we saw more of Aix. We went back to Eric’s shop so that Sherry could see it and so that Aunt Char could make her purchases. We walked along the streets and stopped in at shops along the way. We wound up on the Cour Mirabeau and Ashley met us for lunch. We went to “Les Deux Garcons” which is a historic restaurant on the Cour that Sam Brown from the travel channel described as “timeless.” Maybe one requires a camera crew to be treated well by the waiters at “Les Deux Garcons” because we did not find it to be a pleasant attitude that had persisted through time. No, they were not nice to us there and the only one who was fed was Aunt Char. Ash and I decided we would take the ladies to a favorite stop of ours to get their grub on. Good ole “Crepes a go-go.” Always enjoyable. Crepes in hand, we continued giving them the tour of Aix and kept shopping. Eventually we stopped at a café and then we decided that we would try to get a view of St. Victoire (the mountain Ashley and I had climbed) from a Cezanne stop that Isabelle had suggested to me. This proved easier said then done, and I dragged our group up a GIANT hill. We did get a view of the mountain and then climbed back down. I’m lucky they were such sports about it. That night we went to a beautiful restaurant “Le Passage” that Isabelle had recommended. It was a really cute place. The four of us dined and enjoyed discussing what we had learned about French culture. After dinner, entertainment was provided, courtesy of Aunt Char and our waiter. I am laughing just thinking about it. Aunt Char asked the waiter (who spoke English) if she could have a Kahlua and coffee. His reaction?
“Oh my God. What is this?” (said with a French accent and a slightly disgusted expression on his face)
Aunt Char laughed and tried to explain it to him. She then asked if there could be whipped cream on it. He was really confused and not at all helpful. Lol. He actually sounded slightly grossed out as he listened to Aunt Char describe it. He then teased her by telling her
“I will bring you the three things separately and you can mix them together, ok?”
More laughter by our bunch and Aunt Char. Eventually he did bring her the drink and I got a picture of the two with the empty glass once she was done. Funny moment. After our dinner, we parted ways. Ashley came over and spent the night and I packed for Paris. We were leaving really early the next morning.

It was a really neat experience for me to get to share my new French life with a special loved one. I am very thankful that Aunt Char came and that we got to have two days in Provence together. I know we’ll have fun reminiscing about it in the States once I’m back. There are pictures from the visit posted on the left. :-D

Continuing on… the two big cities we tackled, Paris and Rome. When I was walking around Rome I kept trying to figure out how to describe the two cities. I think of it like this… Paris left us speechless and Rome kept us laughing. Maybe that’s cheesy. Its how I feel though. Both were awesome. I shall continue telling my story in chronological order…
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Paris, je t’aime!

The next day Ashley and I embarked on the TGV bound for Paris. Major thanks should be given to Guillaume at this part of the story. He not only drove us to the TGV station at a ridiculous hour of the morning, he also woke us up when we slept through our alarm. MERCI, MERCI, MERCI! Maybe I should have kept that to myself to preserve my image as a mature, responsible adult in all of your eyes. But I chose to share it, seeing as how Guillaume truly deserves international recognition for his greatness that morning. As for Ashley and me, we blame severe lack of sleep :-D But all’s well that ends well, and we caught the TGV as planned.

Isabelle has another son, Nicholas, who lives in Paris with his girlfriend Charlotte. They had kindly agreed to let us stay in their apartment during our stay. In fact, not only could we stay there but we would have the place to ourselves because they were going skiing. They live in a beautiful area of Paris too. Again, we luck out. The funny thing is because we were so scatterbrained the morning we were leaving, we just happened to remember we had no idea where the apartment was on the way to the TGV station. All Guillaume could tell us was the metro stop we get off at, a store near the apartment, and the address. I guess that sounds like a lot, but bear in mind that Paris is huge with many windy streets. Anyways, it was up to us to find out where it was. Being the expert travelers we are, however, we had no problem finding the place because we asked around until someone knew the shop that we mentioned. We found it and settled in to the cute but tiny Parisian apartment. We then went to get food at a grocery store. We then set out see more of Paris. We took the metro to Notre Dame. First, I should share that this metro trip was probably one of the funniest moments of the trip. As we sat down, two Arabian guys came on the train with a boombox and started dancing for money. They had some American rap with French lyrics played over it and started booty dancing. We happened to be sitting right in front of where they were dancing and this one guy started swinging his hips like a girl right in front of Ashley. We were both struggling not to laugh, and also trying to avoid eye contact with them. It was hilarious seeing Ashley trying to look casually around the cab as this guy was dancing like Shakira right in front of her. Great moment.

We got off and saw Notre Dame. It was a beautiful day and was even nicer than the weather in Aix. Notre Dame was beautiful and there were many people out. We took pictures and walked around. We decided to follow our Rick Steve guidebook and check out some of the things nearby. We went to a Holocaust monument right behind Notre Dame. It was a really moving tribute to those who died during that time. It was designed to be like a prison. Outside you could only see walls and sky and inside there was very little light and iron bars. There was an eternal flame in the middle and quotes from all different people etched into the stone walls about the horrors of war. It definitely created a solemn feeling and made you reflect on what life must have been like in Europe during the war.

After the monument, we headed back out into the sunshine and walked around for a while, over a bridge. We saw a bride and a groom taking pictures, many street performers and a lot of people out enjoying the weather. After meandering, we decided to head out to Montmarte to see Sacre Coeur. With the help of people at the Metro we quickly got ourselves to Montmarte and walked up the hill to Sacre Coeur. It was beautiful- look at the pictures. A ton of people were out enjoying the weather. After hanging out for a while, we climbed the stairs to the church and then decided to try to get to the top of the dome. We ended up having to walk around the church and down some stairs to wait in line. By the time we got to the door, the man admitting people started shutting the door and saying that we could not go up! We were actually the cut off point! I was not going to stand for that, lol so we made extremely disappointed faces and lingered and soon enough, a new cut off point was made. Lol He also told us we must get up to the top crazy fast and that after a certain point, it would be the Paris police who would escort us out if we were too late coming down. Haha. So we powered up those stairs. I shall compare us to Richard Simmons on speed working the new Stairmaster at the gym. Needless to say, it was intense. The staircase was steep, narrow and dark. Finally we reached the top. Once we regained our breath and the vertigo had subsided, we took in some amazing views of Paris. And yes, we did climb back down before the Paris police could get to us. After that, we walked around some shops and then went back to the apartment where we dinned on a classy meal of chicken nuggets and wine. Afterwards we hopped on the metro to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up.

We saw it from a distance. It was surreal seeing it for the first time. This sounds cheesy, but for two kids who had prepared for a while for studying abroad in France, the Eiffel Tower always seemed to us the symbol of our trip. And here it was. Hence why I took so many pictures. We sat under it on a park bench and after a while it began to sparkle. We got in line to get tickets to go up and then decided we wanted to do it another day. We got back on the metro and went home.

We had set the next day aside for Versailles. Rick Steve had suggested an early half day there. So Easter morning we sent off for Versailles and took the metro then waited a long time in the RER train line. We finally got our tickets, as well a paper that said to take a metro stop to get there. We were slightly confused seeing as how good ole Rick Steve had told us to take the train we were standing in front of. Deciding in a split moment when the train pulled up to trust our handy tour guide, we hopped on the train. We kept trying to figure out if the train was following the route we needed. Sure enough it was following the right route, but then why would they tell us not to take this line? Then the two idiots flipped over the paper which explained it- there was construction on the Versailles stop that weekend. ZUT!! So we got off at the last stop and went with a bunch of other people having the same problem to wait for a bus. We then took a long bus ride to another train station where we had to catch another train to get to Versailles. Again, we looked at our Rick Steve book to decide where to get off next. It looked like there were two, so we waited for the second stop to get off at. Then, in a moment of panic, I asked in French to the couple sitting next to us where we get off for Versailles. They informed us we should have gotten off at the previous stop. So we got off at the next stop and then had to wait for the train in the opposite direction to Versailles. Finally it came and we took it one stop back and then walked the 10 minutes it takes to get there. And saw the HUUUUUGE line we had to wait in. As I was later told by a French woman who worked in Versailles (who mistook my American accent as an Italian one- hey at least its European now!) that Easter was one of the busiest days of the year because it’s during the French vacation. But because Ashley and I are expert travelers now, we had packed a lunch and ate it in line as to save time. Finally we made it inside.

It was awesome to see the inside. We had the audioguides and listened to the history of Versailles. Very interesting. I took many pictures for Tommy’s class and we enjoyed walking room to room. The famous Hall of Mirrors was cool to see even though it was under construction. We spent a lot of time there and then realized we needed to get back. We did a very quick turn of the gardens and then power backed to the train station to get back. We then scrambled from the bus to the metro and then speed walked back to the apartment. Because I can be a time freak (just ask Ashley) I made sure we were dressed crazy fast for church and then we got back on the metro and got to Notre Dame. There was a line to get in so we were happy we were there when we were. We got seats without a problem and enjoyed Easter mass there. It was said by the archbishop of Paris and there were cameras filming it and broadcasting it on flatscreens throughout the church. It was a very beautiful mass with an impressive choir.

Our friend Katrina met up with us for mass and afterwards we wandered around for a little while. We saw Pompidou Centre, the famous building with all of the tunnels on the outside. I likened it to a gerbil cage. We saw the sun set on the Seine and then decided to go for a Seine River boat tour. When we got on our boat, we decided the best views would be from the back of the boat. Only problem was the back of the boat was standing room only- no chairs. Well, we were not discouraged. We went to the very back of the boat (front row!) and sat down. We were kinda waiting for people to tell us we couldn’t do that. Instead, people began sitting around us. We cracked up that we had started a trend. People got the floatation devices and sat on them, making it like an arena type seating area. Paris was beautiful at night. We saw all the sites lit up at night- the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Musee D’Orsay, and much more. It was beautiful. As we sat under the Eiffel Tower Edith Piaf started to be played on the boat’s speakers. We also heard the history about all the buildings as we passed them. And the boat went under all the bridges of Paris. It was an awesome way to view the city. There’s this bridge where you’re supposed to make a wish under. It was an exciting moment, being on the Seine River, with the lights of Paris all around you and then the darkness of the bridge for that moment where you close your eyes and make your wish and then when you reopen them the boat is pulling through under the bridge, showing you glowing Paris again. Just beautiful. It was a great night that I think I will always remember.

We headed back to the apartment where we ate pizza and listened to Edith Piaf and the Amelie (it’s a French movie) soundtrack and gazed out of our Parisian apartments windows.

The next day, we cleaned the apartment thoroughly (Nicholas is a notorious clean freak) and then went to the Champs-Elysee. At least, that’s where I think we meant to go. We took it very leisurely that day. It was another beautiful day in Paris so we just meandered. We walked along the prettiest bridge on the Seine (we nicknamed it the Sex and the City bridge for its famous final scene of the series on it) where we could see the Eiffel Tower. We stopped in a charming park along the Champs-Elysee, ate our picnic lunch and people watched. Afterwards we walked along the Champs-Elysee and stopped at the Arc de Triomphe. It was too beautiful of a day to linger there too long, so we didn’t go up it. Instead we hopped on the metro for Luxembourg. I am glad we did. Luxembourg was one of my favorite Paris memories. Seeing as it was a beautiful day, everyone was out enjoying it. Couples were lying on the grass among the tall hedges in the gardens, people were playing Frisbee and kids were pushing boats through the water of the main fountain. People were laying out and tanning and everyone seemed relaxed. It felt like we had discovered the Parisian’s Paris. It looked like they would really come here to hang out on the weekends. It was fun to be a part of that. We sat by fountains where the kids were playing with the boats and after a while, we reluctantly left. We grabbed some sandwiches at a boulangerie and headed to the Eiffel Tower. We picnicked under the Eiffel tower and watched and the sun started getting lower in the sky. We then got in line and climbed up the Eiffel Tower to the second level to watch the sun set on Paris. Magnifique! Very beautiful- there are pictures posted. Then we had to wait a long time before we could get to the top. I’m not quite sure why anymore, but there was some sort of delay. Ashley, nervous about her test the next morning, suggested we skip going to the top this trip. (I blame the fatigue of traveling- she wasn’t thinking right) I told her there was no way I was leaving without going to the top. She agreed and we waited in line. We talked to another American couple behind us to pass the time. Finally, we got to go. We were glad we did. Although I had to close my eyes on the elevator ride upwards, it was worth it. We were again silent as we looked out over the lights of Paris. It was awesome. They take you first to this conservatory look out point and then you climb a few stairs to get to the outside part. Both provided excellent views. It was a great final night in Paris.

We truly loved Paris! We quickly mastered the metro system (minus the RER disaster) and had no problem with the locals (no Parisian attitude- in fact, helpful). There’s this air about Paris, and Ashley and I kept talking about how we would love to live there someday. We are going back at the very end of our trip, so it softened the blow of having to say goodbye to the “City of Lights”. For now, we say a bientot and look forward to our return.