can't make it a month

without going to paris... rough life i know.

we have one 3 day weekend and it just occurred. the majority of the group when to either paris or amsterdam. seeing as how hookers and hash aren't my style, i chose the best city in europe, possibly the world. yes i was there a month ago with mom but that was more of a tourist visit. this trip was relaxed because stacey is also a paris veteran so we got to do things at our own pace.

see jo. see jo ride the bus in disgust.

we left oxford at the crack of dawn friday morning to catch our bus. our travel group consisted of myself, stacey, christina, and kevin. poor thing traveling with 3 girls. we headed to london, via bus. i doubt i will make this mistake again unless 100% necessary. im not a bus fan. once in london town (before 8 am) we hopped on the tube and made our way to the eurostar train. this was my first real experience on public transportation. the train ride was about 2 hours and i really enjoyed myself. i had a window seat and stacey was my seat buddy. we were one car (or carriage as they say here) away from the snack cart and that was nice to be close to, im an avid snacker fyi. 

a neon sign saying tourist would have been less obvious.

"secret" garden by the eiffel tower

we got to paris mid morning and made our way to the best western "les theatres" .... wait for it.... IN THE RAIN! bad luck and bad weather aren't synonymous though. im a metro pro so in my newly purchased bright red poncho i guided my bright yellow ponchoed ducklings expertly to our hotel. we dropped off our stuff and started to find kevin's hotel... in even more rain. special times in paris when its raining so hard you can't see across the street to read a sign and the people you're looking for refuse to give you an address. my hotel was a stunning 68 euros for two nights divided among us (illegal guests were never discovered, anne frank should have contacted me... i work for waldo)im all for a nice hotel, but when you're there two night and will be sight seeing and going out for the majority of those 48 hours, is chic hotel worth it? no. and when you say my hotel is right by the arc de triomphe don't lie. sure its cool if it is but no one cares if it isn't. and news flash 15 minutes away isn't right by it. so after a set of vague miserable directions mother goose and the ducklings arrived. i deposited one duckling and was informed of a bike ride that had been scheduled... for those of you who know me, i do not bike. i REALLY do not bike in paris rush hour traffic... at dusk... for over two hours. so i passed and decided to  meet the group at the boat stop. took a pal with me and we sat under the eiffel tower for a while in a dog park while i chatted with locals. i've got to admit my ego was out the ceiling being the only french speaker. we met up with the boat at 10 and did a mini cruise down the seine which was nice. after that we asked the biker guide what bar locals head to. so we went with him and a few coworkers to "la dernier metro" when no one could speak english and stayed for about one drink before heading home.

we stood here for at least 15 minutes stalking
a potential photographer...

day two started off early for everyone but stacey and i. we slept in a little bit then made our way to versailles. this is one of the few tourist spots i'd never seen. i'm so glad we went! it was GORGEOUS. and beyond massive. clearly the sun king was compensating... we got within a few hundred yards and guess what... the sky opened up. so we sprinted back to the nearest establishment and waited out the rain with a crepe. once it quit we headed back and went to the gardens.

rowing is difficult

when i say gardens everything else i've ever seen claiming to be a garden is actually a patch of weeds. this garden went on for miles in all directions!! the flowers were enough but throw in the hedges a mile high, the fresh OJ stands, the sculptures, and the fountains, and you have versailles. at the end of the post i'll put up some scenery shots...y'all know how artsy i am. but as we strolled along we saw a particularly large pond... there were boats on it. naturally me being part fish, i demanded that we commandeer a vessel. and to the tune of 11 pounds for 30 minutes we did! it was beyond entertaining. i rowed since i have knowledge of boats, thanks papa, and stacey sat and photographed me and the scenery. which included a family of swans. the swans had babies with them! and as i rowed towards them and they leisurely paddled towards us i suddenly recalled that swans are aggressive and territorial, now add in some floating lumps of fluff that they're feeling inclined to defend. i nearly lost an oar trying to get us away from a white hissing beast. but we survived and it didn't rain while we were on the water! after our boating venture we headed home. the train ride is a long one... often full of asians. we saw one man sporting keds and a silver rain coat... a true gem. and he also had inner ear problems or germaphobia because he refused to sit or hold on to anything so i watched (with great amusement) as this spiky hair sporting thick frame wearing doofus fell all over the train... and then we were accosted by an accordion playing individual. he stayed on our train a good 5 stops... i nearly paid him to leave. an accordion from 3 feet away isn't nice... one played by a homeless man who hasn't maintained his instrument is torture at this distance. i nearly punched a hole in that thing.

bon soir 

i know you've seen it but this was
an especially great day for a pic

once back in the city we headed for sacre coeur. my most favorite parisian spot. stace has been coveting my white scarf so i took her to that store and got stuff for mom too! and as i was seeking out a painting for my dear mother i stumbled upon one that i would "accept" not a great one but one i could grab just to give her... FOR 1900 EURO! so a 2500 dollar painting from a nameless artist on a canvas from the streets. i nearly laughed in her face... sorry mom, no painting. after that debacle we ate dinner at the bottom at a delish italian restaurant since french food is awful. we took the metro home and touched base with the tourist half of our group and learned that the plan was to head to the eiffel tower for a nightime trip up... little did they know, it closes and the lines are miles long. oh well. we all met up there for one of the boy's birthday's at midnight! we sang happy birthday to him in french at midnight under the tower and popped a bottle of champagne! i'd kill for that french of a celebration. most of the girls headed home and we sat with luke and kevin and our third roommate christina for a while longer before dragging our exhausted behinds home to the best western...

copines.

sunday may have been my favorite day yet. THE TOUR DE FRANCE WAS ENDING IN PARIS! hah like i could care less... i hate cyclists and i think those road bikes should be illegal. so stacey and i stayed as far away from the crowds of asians as possible and let our friends take photos for us. we headed to rue cler for a market run. fresh EVERYTHING. bread, meat (ew saw a chicken with talons and face on it) fruit, veggies. you name it they just picked/made it. we stocked up on baguettes, cheese, fruit, and tartes and headed back to the eiffel tower. we looked like locals with our picnic. so fun playing music and basking in the sun, which is such a rarity in oxford... there were tourists by the thousand and we watch two girls make fools of themselves and give americans a bad name. cartwheels, handstands, legs propped up anything embarrassing you can do with your body in public they did in front of the eiffel tower. yelling at each other to move left right up down ha ha ha all the while. i was ashamed. stacey and i were much more discreet with our tourist shots.

we headed home, picked up our luggage and got on our train home. sad to say au revoir to paris, but strangely homesick for oxford. home meant homework. so we worked on our train and bus ride and some very tuckered kids got home sunday night.

versailles flowers