Le Jour Neuf (Day 9)

Rise and shine! Nous sommes à Paris! It’s a beautiful morning to ride bikes…yes, again! Groups 1-7 had a 9:30 appointment with Fat Tire Bike Tours once again, but this time, it was to tour the city. Today our guide was from Australia, and his name was Johann. This time, Kelly was with me, and I loved the group we had; everyone is so fun and sweet. We saw many beautiful buildings and bridges, the Louvre (which is the largest museum in the world and home of the Mona Lisa), and best of all: the Eiffel Tower. It was a four hour bike tour, and as a break, we stopped outside of a beautiful garden and ate outside at this café in the shade. I sat with three of the sweetest Tri Delt girls and my friend Brady, and I ordered this yummy ham and cheese toasted sandwich. It came with a salad that had this awesome vinaigrette that tasted like salt and vinegar (or sort of pickly). It sounds gross but it was SO GOOD, and those of you who know me well know that I love pickled things. Don’t judge. My friend Sarah got an incredible quiche that had feta, tomato, spinach, and ham in it, and she gave me like a fourth of hers to eat and I gave her a fourth of my huge sandwich so that we could have the best of both worlds. Best quiche I have ever put in my mouth, Oh my word. We all enjoyed our blissful, enlightening morning in Paris, and soaked in each sight, the weather, and the company. It was incredible. Our last stop was of course to the Eiffel Tower, where we took a TON of pictures playing around on it. We even build a pyramid! What a fun morning.

After arriving back to the hotel, we rested for a while, and Kelly slept because she got dehydrated today :/ She took a two hour nap while I worked on my blog stuff for you all, and it was extremely restful. Around 4:30 we got ready to leave to go to the galleries of Lafayette. We put on our cute outfits for the evening (I wore my new pink dress I got before the trip), and the two of us headed out with our big brother/dad, Brady, who sweetly volunteered to stay behind with us and go while a bigger group went ahead. Also, we were supposed to meet up with Jennifer once there! We arrived, and we immediately decided we liked Harrods WAY better. The galleries were beautiful, but they were a little more chaotic and sketch (there were like Chinese black markets all along the side of it that reminded me of China Town in New York) and lots of pick-pocketer looking people, if that’s not being too judgmental. It is what it is, as mom always says. 

Anyway, we walked around on the inside for a bit, and after browsing through two whole floors, decided we couldn’t afford any of this Prada and Gucci stuff, so we made our way across the street to a store that catered to exactly what we were looking for in a shopping experience today: H&M, which is just a cute clothing store. Brady was so sweet as he followed us around, gave us his opinions, and held all our purses and such; what a great shopping buddy (although he may not want me to put it quite in those terms; he’s all male, people…just patient with girls and their needs, and he is solid in his faith and devotion to the Lord, and merely looks at Kelly and I as his sisters, for he has a very serious girlfriend back in College Station! He’s an answered prayer for protection, parents. We are so thankful.) ANYWAYS, I bought the CUTEST, stylish royal blue flowy dress that is long in the back and shorter in the front and some earrings for so cheap! It’s gorgeous, and I can’t wait to wear it! It shall be my Paris Dress. 

After shopping, we grabbed the quickest bite to eat I’ve ever and left to meet up with the whole group to go on a cruise in the Seine River at sunset! It was beautiful, and we all had such a great time together; we even got to watch the Eiffel Tower light display! We laughed, joked, and took lots of pictures, and I’m feeling like I’m getting to know these people so well, and I love it. I know so many of us will remain great friends back in College Station. When that was over, I was STARVING, and I had wanted a crepe all day long, and still hadn’t had one. 

 

So, I proposed we all go get crepes before heading back to the hotel! A group of like 30 ended up all wandering around together in a huge pack on and off the metro; geez, we were probably so loud and obnoxious, but we just love each other’s company!

By the time we got to almost our last stop to where the crepes were, half the group decided to go back to the hotel. However, I was set on getting my big o’ chicken crepe I had been craving all day long. It was literally a miracle that we wandered upon an AWESOME crepe stand that cooked and served nutella/banana/coconut/rum/strawberry/jelly/chicken/ham/egg/cheese…. On and on and on and so many more kinds of crepes! We were SO PUMPED. I spoke to the two cool men working in French, and we communicated so well! He thought my French was great, and he helped me say more sentences and words. Lots of my friends got nutella, coconut, and banana crepes or just plain nutella, but several of us were starving and needed the ones with meat, so I ordered spicy chicken and cheese. Heaven. That’s all I have to say, plain Heaven. We were loving these crepes and decided to do this again tomorrow night for dinner AND dessert and hang out under the Eiffel Tower since it’s our last night. Family, wish ya’ll could have been there; I know you would LOVE these things! I have a new favorite food. YUM!