For those of you who have seen my multitude of photos or social media updates, I'm sure you already know that last week MICHAEL CAME TO PARIS! We had an incredible week together and instead of boring you with all of the cheesy and romantic typical paris things we did, I decided to write a blog post about all of the incredibly awkward and interesting things that happened in our short amount of time together. Sooooo here we go:
1. I picked Michael up from the airport and decided to take the RER public transit system into the city to get to our airbnb apartment. I'm pretty confident with the Paris public transit system, but Michael was delirious and jet-lagged, so running through metros with 2 large duffle bags and a bookbag was pretty painful for him. To make matters worse, when we finally arrived in the neighborhood, I took us in circles trying to finally find the apartment. We then had to climb 5 flights of stairs to reach it. Sorry Mike...
2. Later that day we went to the Montmartre wine festival, which was complete with cheap glasses of fantastic wine and tons of delicious food. We each got a glass of Bordeaux wine from a nearby stand. After the lady gave us our glasses, she told us that in Bordeaux, it is a tradition that if two people finish a bottle of wine together, they will get married in the next year. I think she just told us that so she could jip us from a full glass of wine.
3. The next day we went to the Champs-Elysées to explore, during which, we demolished 8 macaroons together walking down the street in a matter of 5 minutes. It's a good thing we like food so much. But ooo still dreaming about that caramel macaroon.
4. Sunday night, we met Claire at Wide Open Spaces bar, which claims to be the only Packers bar in Europe (sorry to all my Bears fans back home..). When we walked in the bar, it was almost like we walked back in to America, complete with random strangers in Packers jerseys yelling loudly at the television. The owner of the bar brought pastries from the neighboring boulangerie for the entire room to share, and a rich couple bought a round of shots for everyone in the bar when the Packers scored (although that was before Michael and I got there). We also met a couple who had come to Paris to accompany some friends who had a planned proposal at the top of the eiffel tower. Weeks before the trip, the couple broke up and cancelled their trip. I THOUGHT IT WAS SO SAD!!
5. After that, we went to dinner on Rue Mouffetard to a restaurant that had a set price for a 3 course dinner, a common thing at restaurants in Paris. We had a lovely meal and as we were trying to pay for our dinner, the waiter was running around the restaurant frantically because he had lost the key to the cash register. I still wonder if he found it, the poor guy.
6. Later in the week, we decided to have a wine/cheese/bread night at the Eiffel Tower. On the hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles for 5 minutes and it is absolutely incredible to see. When it finished, we heard a shout from behind us "OH NOW IT'S JUST A STUPID TOWER!" It was hilarious, but don't insult my bae like that.
But the best moments were definitely during our trip to Marseille on Friday and Saturday
7. While selfies are tons of fun, it was a little bit of a bummer to not have any good photos of both Michael and I at the Calanques together. I'm always paranoid to ask people because I'm incredibly insecure about my french speaking skills. In the midst of a selfie, a man asked us if we would like him to take one. Although he asked in english, I immediately responded "OUIIIII S'IL VOUS PLAAAAAIT" in an obnoxious American accent. I have no idea why I did that but I was slightly mortified.
8. When we were leaving the Calanques, an older french woman noticed our half full plastic water bottle and bravely asked for some as her and her friend began their hike. We had a short chat with her and gave her the rest of our water, to which she was very thankful. It was a strange encounter but it was also fun talking with her!
9. We took the bus to the end of the line to find the Calanques or "Cliffs" of Marseille. We had planned to spend most of the day hiking and after 4 hours, we were completely wasted. It was unbelievable to witness, but it was also time for a nap. When we made our way back to the bus stop, there was a large group of people waiting which didn't seem unusual because the stop was situated right next to what appeared to be a university. A few minutes later, a kid walks up past the line and holds his thumb out, clearly attempting to hitchhike. Soon after, many people followed his lead and started hailing down cars on the road. I was little skeptical, but I went up and asked the kid in french if there was a bus coming. I didn't catch the entirety of what he said, but he mentioned that no more buses were coming by our stop. Believe it or not, Michael and I WEREN'T too excited at the thought of hitchhiking, so we decided to wait it out for a little bit more. A few minutes later, a group of (I think) Irish students walked by speaking in English. They seemed to know what was going on so I ran after them to finally figure this out. One of the girls told me that someone had mugged a bus driver and all of the buses had gone on strike. Michael and I realized we were a good 2-3 hour trek from our hotel and it was well after 5 PM. Before we knew what we were doing, we had our thumbs up and were standing by the side of the road. Surprisingly, a car quickly pulled over and I tried to communicate with the guy in my poor french. He told us that he couldn't take us far into the city, but he could take us to the nearest taxi stand or metro stop. We exchanged a few words and when he finally dropped us off, he wouldn't let me pay him at all. Bless this guy's soul because we still might be stranded in the outskirts of Marseille
10. So that was the end of the madness right? WRONG. He dropped us off at the nearest metro connection only for us to discover that the metro had stopped running also. THANKFULLY, there was a taxi stand just across the street. Unfortunately, because of the public transit shutting down, every taxi in the city was occupied. We quickly realized we were in a pretty sketchy part of Marseille when twice we saw a kid running with a policeman sprinting after him, nightstick in hand. We were anxious, tired and the sun was setting. After waiting for about 30-40 minutes, we finally made it into the safety of a taxi cab. Best 20 euros I have ever spent.
11. Everywhere we went in Marseille, we were aggressively approached by people asking us questions in French. I don't know but I guess we blended in like the locals. To make matters more awkward, they ALWAYS directed their question towards Michael, who does not speak a word of french. Twas quite weird.
12. For our only night in Marseille, Michael found an incredible restaurant on TripAdvisor. There weren't more than 10 tables in the restaurant and there was only one waitress who I assume was also the owner. She was very sweet and spoke to me in French while still translating for Michael. She even showed some interest in our lives and had short little conversations with us. We noticed a couple in the center of the room who had been attempting to speak french, very poorly and very loudly. When the waitress noticed I was staring, she told the man that we were both from America also. He asked us where and I responded "Caroline du Nord" (North Carolina in French which he did not understand). The waitress proceeded to tell the man how great my french skills were to which he responded, "Hey they are smart in North Carolina. They probably go to Duke." SORRY SIR I'M GOING TO NEED YOU TO REWIND AND REVIEW YOUR STATEMENT PLEASE THANK YOU AND GOODBYE.
I'm very thankful that I got to share all of these interesting, fun, scary, and awkward moments with my best friend. It was a week I will never forget and I feel so incredibly blessed. With everything that has happened recently, it was so comforting to have him here when I really needed someone to lean on. Thanks for everything, Mike. I can't thank you enough for your selfless and unconditional love.
To ease the pain of one goodbye, my brother is visiting Paris on Thursday! On Saturday night we are going to a Paris Saint Germain soccer game and it should be a great time. I can't wait to have another little piece from home here in the city of lights.
As always, thanks for reading and until next time...AR!
1. I picked Michael up from the airport and decided to take the RER public transit system into the city to get to our airbnb apartment. I'm pretty confident with the Paris public transit system, but Michael was delirious and jet-lagged, so running through metros with 2 large duffle bags and a bookbag was pretty painful for him. To make matters worse, when we finally arrived in the neighborhood, I took us in circles trying to finally find the apartment. We then had to climb 5 flights of stairs to reach it. Sorry Mike...
2. Later that day we went to the Montmartre wine festival, which was complete with cheap glasses of fantastic wine and tons of delicious food. We each got a glass of Bordeaux wine from a nearby stand. After the lady gave us our glasses, she told us that in Bordeaux, it is a tradition that if two people finish a bottle of wine together, they will get married in the next year. I think she just told us that so she could jip us from a full glass of wine.
3. The next day we went to the Champs-Elysées to explore, during which, we demolished 8 macaroons together walking down the street in a matter of 5 minutes. It's a good thing we like food so much. But ooo still dreaming about that caramel macaroon.
4. Sunday night, we met Claire at Wide Open Spaces bar, which claims to be the only Packers bar in Europe (sorry to all my Bears fans back home..). When we walked in the bar, it was almost like we walked back in to America, complete with random strangers in Packers jerseys yelling loudly at the television. The owner of the bar brought pastries from the neighboring boulangerie for the entire room to share, and a rich couple bought a round of shots for everyone in the bar when the Packers scored (although that was before Michael and I got there). We also met a couple who had come to Paris to accompany some friends who had a planned proposal at the top of the eiffel tower. Weeks before the trip, the couple broke up and cancelled their trip. I THOUGHT IT WAS SO SAD!!
5. After that, we went to dinner on Rue Mouffetard to a restaurant that had a set price for a 3 course dinner, a common thing at restaurants in Paris. We had a lovely meal and as we were trying to pay for our dinner, the waiter was running around the restaurant frantically because he had lost the key to the cash register. I still wonder if he found it, the poor guy.
6. Later in the week, we decided to have a wine/cheese/bread night at the Eiffel Tower. On the hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles for 5 minutes and it is absolutely incredible to see. When it finished, we heard a shout from behind us "OH NOW IT'S JUST A STUPID TOWER!" It was hilarious, but don't insult my bae like that.
But the best moments were definitely during our trip to Marseille on Friday and Saturday
7. While selfies are tons of fun, it was a little bit of a bummer to not have any good photos of both Michael and I at the Calanques together. I'm always paranoid to ask people because I'm incredibly insecure about my french speaking skills. In the midst of a selfie, a man asked us if we would like him to take one. Although he asked in english, I immediately responded "OUIIIII S'IL VOUS PLAAAAAIT" in an obnoxious American accent. I have no idea why I did that but I was slightly mortified.
8. When we were leaving the Calanques, an older french woman noticed our half full plastic water bottle and bravely asked for some as her and her friend began their hike. We had a short chat with her and gave her the rest of our water, to which she was very thankful. It was a strange encounter but it was also fun talking with her!
9. We took the bus to the end of the line to find the Calanques or "Cliffs" of Marseille. We had planned to spend most of the day hiking and after 4 hours, we were completely wasted. It was unbelievable to witness, but it was also time for a nap. When we made our way back to the bus stop, there was a large group of people waiting which didn't seem unusual because the stop was situated right next to what appeared to be a university. A few minutes later, a kid walks up past the line and holds his thumb out, clearly attempting to hitchhike. Soon after, many people followed his lead and started hailing down cars on the road. I was little skeptical, but I went up and asked the kid in french if there was a bus coming. I didn't catch the entirety of what he said, but he mentioned that no more buses were coming by our stop. Believe it or not, Michael and I WEREN'T too excited at the thought of hitchhiking, so we decided to wait it out for a little bit more. A few minutes later, a group of (I think) Irish students walked by speaking in English. They seemed to know what was going on so I ran after them to finally figure this out. One of the girls told me that someone had mugged a bus driver and all of the buses had gone on strike. Michael and I realized we were a good 2-3 hour trek from our hotel and it was well after 5 PM. Before we knew what we were doing, we had our thumbs up and were standing by the side of the road. Surprisingly, a car quickly pulled over and I tried to communicate with the guy in my poor french. He told us that he couldn't take us far into the city, but he could take us to the nearest taxi stand or metro stop. We exchanged a few words and when he finally dropped us off, he wouldn't let me pay him at all. Bless this guy's soul because we still might be stranded in the outskirts of Marseille
10. So that was the end of the madness right? WRONG. He dropped us off at the nearest metro connection only for us to discover that the metro had stopped running also. THANKFULLY, there was a taxi stand just across the street. Unfortunately, because of the public transit shutting down, every taxi in the city was occupied. We quickly realized we were in a pretty sketchy part of Marseille when twice we saw a kid running with a policeman sprinting after him, nightstick in hand. We were anxious, tired and the sun was setting. After waiting for about 30-40 minutes, we finally made it into the safety of a taxi cab. Best 20 euros I have ever spent.
11. Everywhere we went in Marseille, we were aggressively approached by people asking us questions in French. I don't know but I guess we blended in like the locals. To make matters more awkward, they ALWAYS directed their question towards Michael, who does not speak a word of french. Twas quite weird.
12. For our only night in Marseille, Michael found an incredible restaurant on TripAdvisor. There weren't more than 10 tables in the restaurant and there was only one waitress who I assume was also the owner. She was very sweet and spoke to me in French while still translating for Michael. She even showed some interest in our lives and had short little conversations with us. We noticed a couple in the center of the room who had been attempting to speak french, very poorly and very loudly. When the waitress noticed I was staring, she told the man that we were both from America also. He asked us where and I responded "Caroline du Nord" (North Carolina in French which he did not understand). The waitress proceeded to tell the man how great my french skills were to which he responded, "Hey they are smart in North Carolina. They probably go to Duke." SORRY SIR I'M GOING TO NEED YOU TO REWIND AND REVIEW YOUR STATEMENT PLEASE THANK YOU AND GOODBYE.
I'm very thankful that I got to share all of these interesting, fun, scary, and awkward moments with my best friend. It was a week I will never forget and I feel so incredibly blessed. With everything that has happened recently, it was so comforting to have him here when I really needed someone to lean on. Thanks for everything, Mike. I can't thank you enough for your selfless and unconditional love.
To ease the pain of one goodbye, my brother is visiting Paris on Thursday! On Saturday night we are going to a Paris Saint Germain soccer game and it should be a great time. I can't wait to have another little piece from home here in the city of lights.
As always, thanks for reading and until next time...AR!