Warning: This is a long one -- I didn't leave anything out. Seriously, you need a good fifteen minutes (at least) to read it all.
My goodness. That was quite the weekend I've just had. On Friday, I took the train into London and found the British Museum. There's a
ton of stuff in there! But don't worry, I think it will only take me about 14 more visits to see all of it. When it closed, I wandered around in the rain for a little bit until Ed picked me up in a taxi. I spent the rest of my evening enjoying their flat and watching
Forrest Gump while Ed and Christina went to a movie. The next morning I was up at five to get ready to leave. Ed had insisted that I let him drive me to the train station. He said we would leave at 5:30 but... I think he must have stayed up a little bit too late. At 5:38 when Ed was still asleep, I grabbed my stuff and made a mad-dash for the Tube. I got to the train station on time, no problem, and sat back listening to Harry Potter for my two hour journey into Paris.
Paris. It's so strange to be in a new place, especially a place that people are always raving about. When I got off the train I just walked around for a bit thinking "Paris. I'm in Paris. That's pretty cool." and just sort of getting used to the idea. I decided hot chocolate was necessary and found a cafe where I could sit and journal outside and wait for my cooking class to start.
The class was so much fun! I was really glad that I did it and really really glad that that was how I started my weekend in Paris. I think the best part was just being with people and sharing an experience like this. While I was still on the train, the class had actually already started at the market. Three of the other students met with the Chef at a market close by and they wandered around and chose all of the ingredients that we were going to need. I wasn't the only one who joined the class a little bit later though. There were two other guys who had been in Paris for a day but somehow still didn't have their clocks set to the right time and showed up an hour late because they thought they were on time. I was disappointed for them that they missed the market portion too but also kind of liked it a little bit because then I didn't feel totally left out.
At the market, they had bought two whole rabbits! They were headless rabbits. Our chef was disappointed that the butcher didn't leave the heads on. He said he likes to use them to make stock, but I was glad! I don't think I would have liked to watch my classmates chop off rabbit heads... Chef Pino showed us how to butcher rabbits and we made braised rabbit with carrots, bacon and shallots. The bacon was amazing! It was super thick and I don't often say this about meat, but it was beautiful. It really must have been a third of an inch thick if not more and it was so tasty. We also made a quiche with some really fancy cheese that sort of looked like a cantaloupe. It was orange and hard like parmesan but had a thick dirty looking rind. I make quiche myself so that wasn't really anything new but this one was really good! I usually try to load up my quiche with vegetables so that there are hardly any eggy bits since I don't much care for egg but this one was really tasty even though it was eggy. Probably because it also had plenty of cream and cheese. The tricks Pino showed us with making the crust were pretty helpful too.
We also made mashed potato and celery root as well as four different types of sauteed mushrooms. I have no idea what they were but they looked nice. Chef Pino showed us how to make our food look really pretty. We used circular cookie cutters to keep things in place on the plate but he said it's also just as easy to use a clean tuna can. It's amazing how NOT difficult it was for me to make my food like all fancy like that.
We cooked for hours then got out a few bottles of white wine and had the quiche as an appetizer with some salad. The mash and rabbit came next as the main course. THEN we spent a ton of time doing a little cheese tasting. There were twelve different types of cheeses! It was crazy. We drank wine and had bread and cheese and just talked about cheeses for maybe 45 minutes. When Pino was arranging all of the cheese out on the table someone commented that it smelled like stinky feet and Pino said "Yes, because it's the same type of bacteria." Well, now that's comforting, isn't it?
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I'm a bit picky about cheese, actually. I like the mild milkier ones like goat cheese or brie. There was one that was flavored with Paprika and tarragon and another that tasted like garlic (I liked it) and one that was walnut flavored (sort of mapley) and the one that looks really dirty is actually covered with dried squished grapes--what's left over after making wine. It was crunchy because of the dried grapes and the seeds too. There's another one that's not in the picture that was some type of bleu cheese with gingerbread. Did you know that the green bits in Roquefort are pieces of moldy rye bread? Disgusting! I don't know why people love it so much. That was one of the few that I really wanted to spit out. I was out of wine by that point and didn't even have anything to wash it down with. I was so stuffed by the end but the dessert we made was too good to pass up, plus... there's always room for chocolate.
We made molten lava chocolate cakes. They were FAR easier that I would have ever thought, and so so tasty. I thought mine looked especially pretty so I took a picture of it for you. It would have been even better with some raspberry coulis or just fresh raspberries. We had a shot of port with dessert, which I was also surprised to find that I enjoyed.
After the class, one of the guys, Perry, offered to walk up the hill to Sacre Coeur with me since I had said I wanted to go find it. I'm not too keen on spending loads of time alone so I was happy to have the company. I'll admit, it was a bit of a climb up the hill but well worth it. The church is gorgeous and the view is absolutely amazing. We wandered through the church and around that area for a bit and then down into Mont Martre to hop on the Metro.
I had already decided that I was going to take a bike tour that evening. The tour was supposed to meet at the south pillar of the Eiffel Tower so I figured I should head over that way. I got SO lucky with the weather!! It was supposed to rain all weekend and while it was VERY cold, I didn't need my umbrella once while I was in Paris and I even saw the sun a few times.
And there it is. The Eiffel Tower. I took this picture the very first moment I could see it. It's funny, I actually didn't like it all that much at first. It's just really iconic, you know, so that's what makes it a big deal, but I wasn't in love with it or anything. It grew on me. I like that it's unique and how the structure/design seems somewhat delicate, like lace. I like it BEST when it gets dark and all the lights turn on. Actually, I found that many of the buildings look more beautiful at night with their lights on. I think it has something to do with the shadows that are created by the different shapes.
I like it when it looks like this but at night, every hour on the hour until about 1am, they have a little light show on the Eiffel tower and it turns colors and sparkles and it looks pretty neat (you can see it for about a second on
The Devil Wears Prada). Especially just the sparkles without the other colors. It's very Disney : ) and makes me feel like I'm in Disneyland.
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The bike tour was WONDERFUL!!! It's my new favorite way to see a city. I'm thinking about doing one here, in London, with the same company and I think I'm definitely going to take a bike tour while I'm in Belgium in a couple of weeks. It was so much fun riding through the streets with the taxis and buses honking at us. The lights and buildings were absolutely enchanting and I enjoyed ever minute of it. I had two favorite parts of the night tour: 1) seeing Notre Dame for the first time. Oh. My. Goodness. I fell in love. 2) riding our bikes through the courtyard of the Louvre. Wow wow wow. It was magical.
After a few hours of riding, we went down by the river where we parked our bikes and hopped on a boat. Our tour guide had brought about ten bottles of red wine, which she poured into plastic cups and we all sat shivering and talking and drinking wine while we floated up and down the
Seine taking in the sights. The people on the tour were all very nice and friendly and it was fun just talking to everyone as we rode along. I met four girls who are studying in Madrid. They are all Spanish majors from the States and I sort of made myself part of their group. We had a good time talking and got crepes together at the end of the tour on our way back to the metro. It was late (11:00pm) but you never would have known it by how many people were out and about.
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Now here's the interesting bit: I got back to the hostel at midnight. I keyed into my room and though the light was off, I could see that there were four beds and there were people sleeping in three of them. I didn't want to make any noise or wake anyone up so I quietly closed the door and set my things up on the top bunk and took off my rain jacket so it would stop making crinkly noises. I climbed up on the bed and just laid down without taking my shoes off or anything. I lay there for a minute, exhausted and freezing, trying to figure out what I was going to do. I didn't want to make my bed because it would make too much noise, and I was feeling really awkward about being in a room with sleeping people I had never met. As I lay there, I was listening to the people sleep breathing (and snoring in one case) and it suddenly occurred to me: they were all guys. I was in a room with 3 sleeping strange guys who I had never met before. Well! Then, not only was I feeling awkward but I was starting to feel somewhat embarrassed. How weird was that? When they fell asleep there were only guys and then some strange girl snuck in in the middle of the night. What if they were sleeping in their underwear or something? I started to get all anxious about waking up in the morning and couldn't handle how weird I felt about it but was too tired to think about it much more. I took my shoes off, pulled the blanket over me and tried to fall asleep. I didn't sleep much though. I was pretty cold the whole time (even in ALL of my clothes) and people were noisy. They were noisy out in the hall and at some point I heard people shouting in the streets... finally, at about 6am, I heard one of the guys get up. He took about an hour to shower and when he left, I quietly put my shoes on, grabbed my stuff, climbed down and left. I was too embarrassed to stick around and shower or even change my clothes. I walked down stairs and had breakfast--I sat with a cup of tea just staring into space trying to wake all the way up for about fifteen minutes then used the bathroom in the lobby to brush my teeth.
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So you know how I made a big deal out of packing so light? I didn't need ANY of it! Seriously. I didn't use a single thing in my backpack except the tooth brush and toothpaste and comb (even that I only used once). I didn't end up showering or changing my clothes all weekend long. Not even to sleep. Gross.
I felt so yucky and I was wishing that I had a hat to cover up my not showered hair and keep me warm.
At the start of my second day, I walked through Mont
Martre to find the
Moulin Rouge. I figured I at least needed to see it. It would have looked cooler at night but there was NO WAY that I was going to be in that area by myself at night. Yikes. It was scary enough on a Sunday morning.
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Interesting thing about Paris... PDA is not an issue. There were couples kissing everywhere and I was missing Steven so so much! But I get to see him in 29 days so it will be okay.
And back to the Eiffel Tower I went to wait for my
second bike tour to begin. I
walked up the Eiffel Tower. What a climb.
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Dear Steven, I'm reconsidering going for a hike when I get home -- I just climbed Mt. Eiffel and I think I'm going to be tired for a while.
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Dear Hilde, This climb is not meant for people who have a problem with heights. I myself was a bit anxious about it and on the way down I had to look only at the steps and not to the sides because I was getting a bit light headed.
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The view was worth the climb and on my way back down, I stopped at the cafe on the first level and drank what was probably the most expensive and maybe the tastiest hot chocolate ever out of a styrofoam cup : )
I forgot to mention, the bikes have names. On the first tour, my bikes name was
Old Gregg, which I did not like. I was determined to get a cooler one for my second tour and I read through all of the names before choosing my bike.
Roll it like you stole it. It doesn't get much better than that as far as bike names go. I loved the day time tour just as much as the night time one. We saw some different sights and some of the same ones but the ones that we stopped and talked about were all different and having different tour guides changes the experience dramatically anyway. Our tour guide was really nice and lots of fun. Halfway through, we stopped and had lunch at a cafe in the middle of a park. It was beautiful but I was SO SO SO cold! I was really hoping we were going to eat somewhere where we could be inside but, no such luck. I could not control my shivering and it was a bit embarrassing as I was trying to have a conversation with this really nice New
Zealander. He's was part of a tour group--they're seeing 9 countries in 20 days or something crazy like that.
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After the tour, I was all of the sudden feeling very ready to go home. I was tired and very cold and not looking forward to spending the rest of the day alone and then going back to the awkward hostel--I'm not sure I'm cut out for the hostel experience... BUT I was dying to see Notre Dame in the day time so I went and found it. Oh wow. Can I keep it? I mean, seriously. I love it! I want to get married there -- how cool would it be to have wedding pictures with those amazing flying buttresses in the background?? I took about a zillion pictures of it, from every angle, and then I walked through the church. The inside was cool but not too different from any other church that I've been in over here. Then I decided that I wanted to climb the bell tower. I was SO disappointed to find that it had closed just a few minutes before I got there! I had asked one of the men working there how long it would be open and he said 5:45 but when I got to the entrance, it was closed and the sign said it closed at 4:45. Sigh. I was seriously bummed and can't wait to do that for sure the next time I go. BUT it all worked out for the best.
Since I couldn't go up to the top of Notre Dame, I decided to walk around for a while and find somewhere to get dessert or have another hot chocolate (I just haven't been in the coffee mood... hot chocolate seems cozier) and I ran into the Madrid girls again! What are the odds? They asked me to join them and we spent the rest of the evening walking around Paris together. Their hostel was close to mine so we got to take the metro back together as well. It was lovely and so much better than spending all of that time by myself. We had a lot of fun and I am already facebook friends with two of them : ) At one point we were walking through an area and didn't know where we were and Sima said "let's head back to Ravioli street." and I got all excited and said "that's what I've been calling it too!!" Since I can't really pronounce any of the names of streets and things there, I would just make things up in my head that were kind of close and acted as triggers so that I could remember things. For example, at one point I got off the metro at
George Clooney (it was really Cluny something) and I knew that there was lots of shopping on
Ravioli St. and on our way back to the metro we were on
Filet Mignon and had to turn left on something about booty. It was ridiculous but so helpful and I was glad to hear that they had been using the same trick. We ended the night with a stop in the Disney store and after that, I figured my short little Paris adventure was complete.
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(almost done I promise!!)
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I was back in my room at the hostel by 9:30 this time. There were a few beds made and some backpacks in there but I was alone. I was determined to stay up until someone got back so they wouldn't come back to a sleeping girl they had never met (I wasn't super comfortable with that idea) and so that I would be able to meet the people who were sleeping in my room. I journaled for as long as I could and then fell asleep on my bed without meaning to. Not much later, I guy came in and I sleepily said something along the lines of "hi-I'm-Stephanie-and-I-was-trying-to-stay-awake-so-I-could-met-you-but-it's-just-not-working-out-too-well." He laughed and said that if I wanted to stay awake then my bed probably wasn't the best place to be. He's from Tazmania and we talked for quite a while. I told him about my experience the night before and how uncomfortable I was and he sympathized. He said that he was also leaving at 6am to catch the metro at the train station and suggested we walk together. I was happy with that idea and felt much more comfortable going to sleep having talked with him. I just felt safer. Another guy came in shortly after we turned out the lights and then around 2:30am there was someone trying to key into our room who was shouting about drugs and saying the f-word about every third word. I assume he just has a small vocabulary and coudn't help himself. He was pretty quiet once he finally got into the room and I was able to fall back to sleep.
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The next morning, I was awake at 5am (4am London time) and Anthony and I walked to the train station together. While waiting to get on my train I stopped at Haagan Dazs and spent I'm not going to tell you how much on lemon sorbet and a bottle of Perrier. It was exactly what I wanted. I was so tired and un-showered that the train trip felt like forever and just a word to the wise, NEVER travel through London during rush-hour. Once back in London (at 8am) I had to take the tube to the train station (I got in such the habit of saying bonjour and merci that I almost said them when buying my train ticket once back in London) to get a train back to Virginia Water. There were so many people on the tube and in the stations that I couldn't even move and was starting to feel sick and a bit nervous being packed so closely with all the people.
I finally arrived back here at the house at 10am after 5 long hours of traveling. I got straight into the bath first thing, then into the shower (I had to make sure I was
really clean) and then I put on about four layers of clothing. I just couldn't get warm enough. I know I promised I'd blog the minute I got back but I just didn't have the energy yesterday to do much more than post facebook photos--this particular entry has taken me all of
The Incredibles to type (I started right when I turned the movie on and it's at the part where that little boy on the trike says "That was totally wicked!!!" which makes me think of Kristi Moore at Ashton cup a few years back--was that her?). Anyway, I made it back safe and I'm really glad that I went. I'm looking forward to going again someday--there's so much to see in Paris, you just can't do it all in 48 hours.
Missing you all!!
Steph
