First amazing news of the weekend: The family was gone all weekend and I got to have some peace and quiet! Yes! They wonder why I would rather stay in Paris than go with them to a nice house in the country. Hello... I need a break! I had a wonderful time being without children this weekend.
Second amazing news of the weekend: I was finished early this Friday because the family had to leave, and therefore was able to get to Rosa Bonheur on time. I know nobody reading this (other than perhaps Sylvain or Crystal) has any idea what Rosa Bonheur is. It is a very fun bar in a park in Paris. It consists of good times and LOTS of dancing, but it closes at midnight and is very popular, so it is important to get there around 7 or 7:30. Last week I was very bummed because I did not leave the apartment until around 9 and on my way Sylvain called to say that they were not letting anyone else in. My whole Friday night was ruined. Totally not cool when you have little time to do whatever you want.
Third amazing news of the weekend: I am a total rebel. I am not supposed to eat in my room. Nothing...not even crackers. However, I LOVE to snack all by myself so I have decided that civil disobedience is the way to go. I'm not giving up my comfort because someone has a crazy OCD about cleanliness. After all, I have to vacuum my room everyday anyway. That's another story...
Friday night, J'adore! Ah yes, I live for Friday nights at Rosa Bonheur. I have many new friends because of these nights. When I say "many," I mean about 4. Trust me, that is a lot when you know nobody other than Crystal and Sylvain. Actually they are Sylvain's friends who I hope have adopted me. I think I burn off all of my snacking calories from the week at Rosa Bonheur because of all the dancing. I also have a few foot bruises from Friday night...I guess it was worth it. Here is a picture of me and some of my new friends. Yes, we are very sweaty.
Saturday: A day of wandering...big surprise. (I must mention this right now before I forget. As I type this, I keep thinking of words in French and it is kinda throwing me off my game. I am thinking in French! Well, sometimes. Today, as I was writing an e-mail, I could not figure out why a word was mispelled, and then I realized I had spelled it in French! So exciting for me!) Anyway... Crystal and I slept in on Saturday and then met up in the Latin Quarter. Right away we went to the nearest Monoprix to buy some lunch meat, fruit, and a baguette for lunch. The next monument for lunch happened to be the Sorbonne. We both attended the Sorbonne for a few weeks last summer. It is the University of Paris and is way older than the US. It consists of several building, but we ate right in front of the main one on some fountains at Place de la Sorbonne.
After lunch, we walked down to Luxembourg Gardens just in time for the start of the Techno Parade. I have no idea why there is a techno parade, but it was nuts. Well, it was not as crazy as the gay pride parade, but it was definitely something to see...very European. It consisted of extremely loud music, lots of dancing, crazy costumes, and who knows what else. Luckily we are open-minded and always up for an adventure.
That night, after watching the Eiffel Tower from Crystal's terrace, we went to a grocery store to get some beer before going to a bar. What can I say, we are on a budget.. We never even went to a bar, but we did end up back at Place de la Sorbonne with our giant Heineken's to finish the evening. And yes, this is totally legal here.
Sunday: Absolutely nothing happened today...seriously. We met up at Place de la Concorde (I love how we meet up at monuments full of history. This happens to be the former home of a guillotine that chopped a few royal heads from their bodies, including none other than the heads of Marie Antoinette and her hubby, Louis XVI.). We wandered in search of food. However, Sundays kinda suck around here when you are in search of inexpensive food because everything is closed, other than restaurants. Well, we found McDonald's, aka McDo, and then we headed back to Crystal's place to relax and eat. Later that day we decided to walk to a Roman amphitheater, Arenes de Lutece. We decided we should do something productive with our day, and well, being history people, we thought we should see some ruins. They were pretty small compared to other ruins we have seen. It was pretty cool that they were in the middle of Paris and happen to be one of the oldest monuments here... actually, they might be the oldest. Arenes de Lutece once held gladiator games and you can even see where they kept the animals!
That is about it for our weekend. It was fun while it lasted. I just have five days of kids and then I can have another weekend. It gives me something to look forward to. My mantra keeps me going. "I live in Paris."
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