PARIS

Hello, hello. It’s been a while since I’ve written, à cause de my lack of internet (yep, we don’t have internet in good old Busset town) and my general laziness.


Anyways, I’m going to tell you about Paris. Because I finally went! One of my friends from school, Melissa, has sisters there, so she invited me to stay with them for the weekend. It was all very rushed. I barely had the permission of the Rotary until after we’d arrived in Paris haha. We left by train, on Saturday afternoon (because I have school all morning…argh) and arrived 3 hours later at the Gare de Lyon. Her sister picked us up and we headed straight to her uncle’s bowling alley/restaurant. It was very flash. We played 2 games (I came second both times… they’d never played before so I was relatively awesome) and then ate a tasty dinner. I had duck with yummy potatoes. And then a fondant chocolate pudding :)

The next morning we headed into the city to explore the beauty that is PARIS! We started at the Arc du Triomphe and walked along the Champs Elysee, wondering at the bizarre people who roller skated (yes, roller skated!) by, dressed up in suits, and drinking Starbucks. There was Louis Vuitton on our left and Chanel on our right. It was all very glamorous.

Second stop, was the Eiffel Tour. I mean, it’s not that interesting, and not very attractive at all, but its Paris, so we had to go. We didn’t climb it though, because there were waaaaay too many people. C’est dommage. There were some cool buskers at the foot of the tower though. They were young, probably university students, and were dressed up bizarrely (tutus, pyjamas, etc). They all played brass instruments, except for the drummer (who has a little drum on a stand) and played everything from “Fly me to the moon” to “Help” to the starwars theme. It was cool.

After that we headed to Saint Germain for lunch. It was gorgeous… lots of little, cosy restaurants tucked into cobbled side streets. There were so many choices, so many cultures (or maybe it just seemed like that, after being deprived of multiculturalism for 10 months); Greek, Turkish, Indian (!!!), Japanese, ahhh it was lovely. We settled for a creperie, which was a tad disappointing (I would have preferred Indian) but nice all the same. We walked around a bit more, just generally gazing at everything wonderful, and then went to La Marais (or Le Marais? Je ne sais pas), which is officially one of my favourite places in the world. It was WONDERFUL. It was everything I love about everything!! There were buskers and artists strewn about everywhere, people lying around reading and talking, kids skateboarding, and cafes that tumbled onto the foot paths. We stopped at several op shops, but they were the loveliest op shops I’ve ever seen. There were fur coats, 60’s mini dresses, vintage scarves, Chanel heels, and retro Gucci sunglasses. I couldn’t afford anything, but it was nice looking :) We went to this brilliant pub. It was exploding with life and ambience… like it literally glowed invitingly on the dark street corner. The walls were covered in colourful mosaics and there were people and tables and chairs crammed into every corner. Piano accordion music with roudy French voices sung out over us, as we drank Coca Cola from glass bottles and ate salted popcorn from a big vintage circus-type popcorn machine. If I could live in the pub, I would. It was so cool. And en face there was a little shop dedicated entirely to socks and stockings!! They were beautiful, woolen, perfect socks, in pastel pinks, and mustard, and faded blue. I went crazy and spent 50 euros on a couple of pairs. I don’t think I’ll ever wear them… they are too pretty.

The next day we went to the flea markets, which was like one of my major life goals. At first I was really disappointed, because they were just those stupid stalls like at the Victorian markets, with lame Chinese cheapo versions of expensive labels, and ugly 5 dollar shoes. But then I noticed a side street, with some antique looking furniture so I went down it, and discovered the flea markets of my dreams. There were hundreds of stalls and stores crammed with richly upholstered chairs, flouncy floral dresses, beaded necklaces, old postcards, wooden 1950’s toys, and much more. It was fantastic. I bought a floral button up shirt and a leather satchel bag (1 euro each!) and some gorgeous vintage tin airplanes, one marked France, and the other marked England.

We went to Montmartre afterwards, which was beautiful, but a little disappointing. The problem with Paris is that the magic always gets ruined by graffiti, or rubbish, or tourists. It’s actually kind of more beautiful in the films then in real life. I wanted the Sacre Coeur to be like in the film Amelie, with a merry go round, children running about, and piano accordion music. But instead there were hundreds of tourists, beggars, and artists pushing their palettes in my face, asking if I wanted my portrait done. Haha I did get my portrait done, but it doesn’t look anything like me. Oh well, it was Montmartre, I felt I had to. Anyway, the Sacre Coeur was still magnificent, and I bought freshly roasted, caramelized peanuts off a little street vendor, so that was nice. And after wards, as we were descending the stairs, passing all the cute little boutiques, I noticed a vegan restaurant AND an organic foods shop, which is like a miracle in France, so that made me happy. We went and ate what was possibly the best meal of my life at this tottery, warm, wonderful restaurant. They served us these massive salads, in big, stone bowls, with melted goats cheese, and bacon, and thinly sliced fried potatoes. Seriously, it was brilliant. I will definitely be going back if I can!!

Anyways, that is that. Paris was gorgeous, exhilarating, dirty, and beautiful. It truly is a remarkable place. I’d love to go back and see it all again, at my own pace. Haha that almost rhymed. Like almost almost.

Hope everything is going fabulously,

Just 6 weeks now!

Love Jess