La Crème de la Crème= Paris

So far Andrew and I had visited Bruges, Brussels and Lille and now it was time to venture to la crème de la crème = Paris. Holy snapping crap was I excited. I still hadn't been to Paris yet, and I was high on life. This was going to be THE trip you know? So we were going from Wednesday to Saturday....so about 3 days in total. We would go Wednesday late afternoon and Andrew's flight back to the homeland was 1ish on Saturday. Beauty. As Barnie from 'How I Met Your Mother' would say: It's going to be legen...wait for it....dary. Legendary. Bring it on.

We got our tickets no problem and unlike our idiotic adventure to Brussels would be a direct train. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. We took the train from Lille to the Gare du Nord in Paris because our helpful booking agent said that it was closer to the hotel we were staying at. Fantastic. Much easier.

When I say easy, I mean it was straight forward. Except we made a bit of a mistake. I thought we were in car 7 and I asked Andrew and he said "yes". Great. We get on and carry our bags to our seats and....someone is in our seat. We were in car 6, sure, no problem, next car over. Now our seats were 63 and 68. Not beside each other but right across the aisle from one another. I'm looking at these two seats 63 and 68 in car 7 and they are not beside each other. Frig. Something is off. They are both window seats....hmm. So I take a look at our tickets and of course....we are supposed to be in car 16. CAR 16!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? After I picked my jaw off the floor and I killed Andrew with my glare, we were off. On any other day this would not have been a problem; except I'm broken. And as much as Andrew would have loved to carry both bags, he had his motherload suitcase for the week. So we each had our own bag and were off. Car 9, 11, 13...please please just fly me to car 16. Now in these trains, there are bars in certain cars, and I honestly debated asking the guy for a shot. Or 2. Or to honestly just drink for the hour train ride and be happy as can be arriving in Paris. Unfortunately, I kept my ass walking to car 16. Ugh. Once again 2 guys were in our seats. Pretty sure I was so tired, exhausted slash in pain I could have cried. GET OUT OF MY SEATS. They did. Must be good facial readers. Smart call on their part. I sat down and was asleep for the entire train ride. I have never been so happy to arrive on a platform rather than to be transferring trains.

I was surprised by how quickly And and I picked up the metro system in Paris. We got into the station around 4:06pm and we arrived at our hotel at 5ish. Superb. The plan was to take it easy that night and plan out the next two days to make sure we fit everything in. But before we get into those details let me tell you about our hotel. First off...it was 35 euros a night for 2 people. That is just unheard of. We were expecting the worst but honestly, not that bad. The bathroom was right across the hall, and the showers were on floor 2 and 4. This is what you pay for 35 euros a night. Ah well. We had talked about it on the way there and decided that if possible, we would upgrade our room. For 15 more euros a night you get your own shower and bathroom IN your hotel room. Done and done. No brainer really. Unfortunately for us the first night there were no rooms available, but for the next two nights it would not be a problem. Superb. Our hotel room was cute, obviously small, with a sink in the corner and a window that felt like it was open, but overall, not bad at all. We opted to try the breakfast that was included in the morning for an extra 5 euros a person. Turned out to be perfect! It was a buffet with croissants, chocolate croissants, cereal, juices and coffee/tea. Score.

I had 'borrowed' a bunch of pamphlets from the front 'lobby'...aka like 20 but still - we needed to plan exactly what we were going to see and when we were going to see it. We had this one map of a bus tour that showed the 9 key stops that it made. This would be our go to map of the important things to see. It covered (1) Eiffel tower (2) champ de mars (3) the louvre (4) notre dame (5) d'orsay museum (6) opera (7) champs elysees (8) grand palais (9) trocadero. We had decided that we would do the left side of the map the first day and the right side the other day. Clearly we would see more between each site, but we had a plan.

We walked around a bit that night in our area, but mainly we were on the quest for food. We stopped into a little Italian place and I had the osso buco and Andrew got this pizza...with an egg in the middle. It had said egg on the menu, but I just figured that was an ingredient in something...nope. It was literally an egg right in the middle of his pizza. After I had a good laugh at that, I decided to take a picture. Too funny. The meal was great though. We had some red wine, and Andrew actually liked it. However, there was this olive oil on our table that looked great, I decided to put some on the bread we were given and Andrew put some on his pizza. Oh boy. Bad call. It was the spiciest thing I have ever had. All of a sudden your mouth is burning and all I'm thinking is that the red wine in front of me will not save me. There was no water or anything. So were eating bread like its our job, trying not to cry at the table. I mean don't get me wrong, it was a good spicy, but I had a good bit on my bread and my mouth was not prepared.

We decided that we were going to be in desperate need of some sort of drink after and when we left the restaurant we were on the search for a corner store. We got some Orangina and some Sprite. Perfect. Back to the hotel to get a good sleep before our busy day.

Thursday was a crazy day. We bought our metro pass for the day and went straight downtown to find the eiffel tower. We were a little bit off, but we wanted to walk around. Clearly the weather was not aware that we were coming to Paris because it was foggy. Dumb weather man. We get off the metro and are looking around. "Shouldn't we be able to see the Eiffel Tower? I mean...its huge right?" Negative. Nothing in sight. Damn fog. So we start walking and I am playing "Where's Waldo?" with the Eiffel Tower. This thing is massive, you should be able to see it for miles. Then out of nowhere...I FOUND IT! Eureka! But we couldn't see the top of it. On our walk there though we came across the Quai Branly Museum. The fantastic thing about Europe, is that if you are between the ages of 18-25, a majority of museums are free. Fantastic. Brilliant really. So both Andrew and I got in for free which was a plus. And as it worked out perfectly when we came out it had rained, so the clouds separated and there was sunshine! We darted over to the Eiffel tower and started snapping pictures like it was our job. It was gorgeous - enormous and people everywhere. Better than any picture.

Funny story #1. We were walking along the champ de mars snapping more shots of the Eiffel Tower when this man approaches me and put a bracelet loop on my pinky. I stood there and as soon as I put out my pinky it was like "crap - they want money". Of course. But these two guys were hilarious and we were joking around chatting about Paris and Canada and their hometowns of Jamaica and Africa. I guess I was caught up laughing at the guy that was making my bracelet that I didn't hear the guy asking Andrew for money that was making his bracelet. Oh boy oh boy. Poor And got a tiny bit scammed. I won't post for how much, but I had quite the good laugh. "As if you just did that". Either way - we had a good laugh and now I have a Jamaican flag bracelet and he has a blueish bracelet to match. Funny memory, but I think poor Andrew wouldn't quite agree yet. I reassured him that one day, one day, he would think back and laugh.

The rest of the day was spent visiting the Hotel des Invalides, and the Invalides area in general, the Petit and Grand Palais (gorgeous by the way), the Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Trocadero, Palais de Challot, the Opera and caped it off with dinner. Like I said - we walked a ton! I'm pretty sure Andrew went through almost 5 sets of batteries in his camera - but boy did we snap a ton of pictures. Everything was new, and gorgeous, had history and with the weather, every shot was perfect.

A bit of a flashback - I had ordered a new VISA with a chip at the beginning of the month, but because my bank is so NOT international - they won't send it to me here in France. Right. Could that be anymore inconvenient? Well my dad being a genius decided to send the package to his company in Paris! Which was right beside the Arc de Triomphe! So smart. Long story short - pretty sure the girls at the front desk know my well by now, since I had to visit the office 3 times before I finally got my package. Turns out French mail is a tricky little bugger.

By the end of the day we were starving - our last stop was the gorgeous Opera and then we were going to venture around for something to eat. We came across this restaurant right down the street, something with Opera in the name. And boeuf bourguignon was on the menu. Done and done. This was the one thing that Andrew had been instructed to try while he was in Paris, and I sure as hell wanted a bite too. We ordered our food at 8pm, and we finished both meals by 8:20pm. A) she wasted no time bringing us the boeuf bourguignon and his pasta and B) like I said, we were starving. SO delicious. Then just as we were paying for the bill, the woman at the table next to us received her french onion soup. Oh jesus. It was the best smelling thing. All of a sudden we were starving again. Crap. Pay and get out. That was the plan. But we decided that wherever we went for his birthday dinner the next night HAD to have boeuf bourguignon and french onion soup on the menu.

This was also the day that we were to be upgraded to our new room. Right on. We were a little nervous. I mean the floorboards in the last room felt like we were going to drop down to the floor below us, and the bed was hard as a rock. But again, this is what 35 euros gets you. The moment of truth for the room....drum roll please. We made a little prayer before entering and it was well worth it. Our room was great - our own shower and toilet, and a bed. Nice. We noticed a little heater to plug in in the corner but didn't think much of it until we felt like we were dying of frostbite. How can this room be so damn cold!? Honestly though - 2 bodies walking around, getting ready for bed, and its cold as sin. We plugged in the heater and all I can say is amen. Toasty warm. The 15 euro upgrade was the best call of the trip. Needless to say I was out cold instantly. Shocked? I think not.

Friday was to be another crazy day - this was the last day to get everything else done AND it also happened to be Andrew's 22nd birthday. The big 22. What an old man. We were determined to make it a great day - and the weather was on our side. We started by heading up to Moulin Rouge. Ha. Honestly - not going to lie - a bit of a lunch box let down. It sort of looks like it's made of plastic, but it's one of those places you had to visit. Either way - it was still cool. We quickly deeked into Starbucks - I know, but they had pancakes too. Couldn't resist. After Moulin Rouge we ventured to the Basilique Cathedrale de Saint-Denis. Break taking. Honestly just gorgeous. We walked around the area for a bit and found the Stade de France. Didn't go in obviously but still pretty cool to imagine the thousands of people going to watch a football match. Then came the big one - the Louvre - and once again being between the age of 18-25 and being a student here I got in for free. The girl didn't seem to think so, but after showing her every damn piece of ID I had, including my passport, she believed me. And I have to say the Louvre did not let me down. Good ol Mona Lisa, and the rooms were just so gorgeous. Andrew and I agreed we propably admired the ceiling murals and the rooms themselves almost more than the art. But the day was not even close to being done, we hit up Notre Dame, the Musee D'Orsay for some pics and back to the Opera for some night time shots.

Once again it was the moment of truth - dinnertime. I recently watched the movie Julie & Julia and I have to say, I should be a chef. I love food, and really everything about it, yet I am absolutely dumb in the kitchen. Shockingly dumb actually. I really should take some cooking lessons, and trust me; it is on the bucket list. On our search for somewhere to eat we came across a 'happy hour' place with 5 euro drinks. Considering Andrew nearly had a heart attack when he saw that his ONE vodka tonic had cost him almost 14 euros, we were thrilled to see the happy hour sign. We each got 2 drinks, and I was feeling on top of the world. 2 Long Island Ice Teas, 1 Vodka Tonic and 1 Sexy TouTou was heaven. Like I said - we were feeling on top of the world. But we were starving - so the hunt continued.

We found this smaller quaint restaurant near the Opera for dinner which met our requirements: it had onion soup AND boeuf bourguignon. Perfect. I discreetly mentioned to the waiter that it was Andrew's birthday and the night was off to a perfect start. He brought champagne on the house, and treated us like gold. The soup was to die for, the red wine hit the spot, my steak was so damn rare it would never pass cooking requirements in Canada, and Andrew's boeuf bourguignon did not disappoint. Then came the music. The staff came out and say Happy Birthday in English and served us a chocolate custard dessert - perfect with a candle on top. Happy 22nd Birthday Andrew. The night was perfect.

All in all the trip was incredible - it was everything you hope for - good weather, good company, great food and even better wine. We saw everything we wanted to see and have a ton of photos to show for it. We woke up the next morning and couldn't believe that he had already been here for over a week - crazy how time flies isn't it. We packed up all of our things and we off to the races to check-out (which consisted of me handing the girl our keys) and heading to the metro. We were rocking the metro system pretty well but to get to Charles De Gaulle Airport we needed to take the metro and then the RER up. Right. I'll ask because I am the language guru. No problemo. Nearly cost us an arm and leg - 17 euros to be exact - for our "special" tickets, but it was well worth it. We got detailed instructions from the metro man and knew exactly where to go. Surprisingly enough - we didn't even make any mistakes! Points for us. Really though - we only had to transfer once and then catch the RER. The big question was whether we were in terminal 1 or 2. I knew I was in terminal 2 because I had to catch the TGV train back to Lille, but we had no idea where Andrew had to fly out of.

Then came our angel in blue by the name of Yasser. Who just happened to be sitting next to me while we were waiting for the RER train to arrive...and who worked at the CDG airport. Score. Yasser was able to tell us that Air France would be flying out of terminal 2 and answered every and any question we had. We ended up sitting with him on the train ride there (25 minutes) and honestly - such a nice man. We talked about traveling, the people, his time in New York and of course, Paris. It was the perfect person to have met. We arrived at the airport no problem, and since we had taken the train there I was already where I needed to be. This is where Andrew and I parted and he had to boogie; we had thought his plane left at 1:30, but turns out it was leaving at 1pm, and it was 11:45am...hence the boogie.

I was thrilled I was able to see all those places with Andrew and I was so glad we could do it together. The week had been fantastic and busy; exactly what we had wanted and more. It was so nice to see a familiar face from home and to top it off - we were in Europe. It just couldn't have been any better than that.