How has your week been?
Since I wrote last Wednesday, a few things have happened.
Thursday I had class, and Friday I left for Paris to meet my friend Gabriella. (She's the one I met in Amsterdam a few weeks ago!) Since she was only visiting for a short time, she wanted to get started on Paris right away. We dropped off our stuff at our hotel, then began walking Paris. We headed in the general direction of the Seine. On the way we stopped by a bookstore, had a quick lunch, and had a drink at a cafe.
We eventually made it to a neighborhood I recognized near the Louvre, so we stopped there and saw quite a bit of it. Of course we went upstairs to see the Mona Lisa, but after that, we were pretty much finished. (It's a great museum, but oh my goodness, the walking.)
We left the Louvre and began walking through Jardin des Tuileries and stopped for another drink and a quick snack at a small outdoor cafe in the park. Afterwards, we began walking back in the direction of our hotel. On the way, we stopped by Galeries Lafayette and went up to the roof to look out over the city. We walked through the mall a little, then went across the street for a glass of wine before we started for the hotel.
Gabriella decided that she wanted a pair of shoes she had seen inside, so we ran back to the shoe department 15 minutes before the Galeries closed. She asked the sales associate for her size, but the lady was so rude. She was acting exasperated that she had to be working when they were about to close. I'd understand if we'd come in 5 minutes before closing and wanted to wander around, but we were there and Gabriella knew exactly the shoe she wanted-- all she needed was the size. Anyway, she finally got the shoes and paid for it and we were out of there before closing.
We started walking and only got a little bit lost on the way home. Actually we walked in the entirely wrong direction for a while, but we eventually got there. We stopped on the way to eat dinner at a restaurant. Gabriella ordered snails, and I had duck. They both came with delicious fried potatoes. We were pretty exhausted by this time because Gabrielle wouldn't let me hop on the Metro to go anywhere.
When we left the restaurant, we thought we still had a few blocks to walk, but it turned out that our hotel was just right around the corner. When we got up to our room (6th floor, and we took the stairs) we both crashed quickly. Unfortunately, we had forgotten to open the window, so we woke up at about 1 am sweating and unable to sleep. However, once the window was open and we cooled off, we slept the rest of the night peacefully.
Our hotel served a free breakfast, so the next morning, we went downstairs for that, then took the train out to Versailles. I had never been there before, so I was pretty excited to see something new. We were on the train for about a half hour before we arrived.
As we walked up on Versailles, I was surprised at just how massive the place is, and it's so gorgeous. The gate and the tops of the buildings have bright, shiny gold, and everything is very ornate. Once we were inside the gates, we walked through part of the Palace, but it was packed. I get frustrated when I have to navigate through that many people, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have otherwise.
We exited the Palace and walked out to the Gardens. I love walking through nature like that. The gardens are extensive and we were out there for a while before we reached the end. At the rear of the gardens, there's a park called Petit Venise. There's a pond with boats and more walkways. There were people on bikes and runners and families on picnics. It's the kind of place I wouldn't mind taking people I love to spend the day in the sun.
Beyond Petit Venise is a path that leads to Marie Antoinette's Estate. The Trianon wasn't nearly as crowded as the Palace, so it was much more enjoyable. Honestly, I think the rooms were prettier here than the Palace too. Afterwards, we walked out into the gardens, found a spot in the grass, and laid down for a quick nap in the sun.
We took the trolley back to the main Palace, walked back to the train station, and went back to Paris. We got off at a stop very near the Eiffel Tower. After we walked around it and admired it, we found a spot on the grounds and sat for a while. The Parc du Champs de Mars is a nice place to be on a Saturday. Everybody and their dog is out enjoying the weather. Many people brought bread, cheese, and wine to picnic amongst everyone else. It's a fun atmosphere.
We finally made it to Notre Dame and stopped in a cafe to have a glass of wine. I deserved it. At this point my feet were hurting so, so bad from all the walking. Gabriella and I wanted to picnic at the Eiffel Tower, so on the way to the nearest Metro station, we bought a baguette, then when we got back to the Tower, we bought some cheese and wine at a small shop.
We sat on the grass and watched the sun go down behind the Tower and just had a grand old time together. We stayed until the Tower began to sparkle at 9 pm. We watched the show, then went to get dinner. After dinner, we went back to watch the sparkles at 10 pm, then hopped on the Metro and went back to Montmartre to our hotel. Instead of going straight to the hotel, we walked up the steps (225 steps) to Sacre-Coeur. We wanted to look over the city at night, but little did we know that the steps of Sacre-Coeur is where the party is. We made our way through all the people drinking and went to the balcony.
Paris is such a beautiful city. Exploring it with someone who had never been there was good for me. Gabriella was in awe of everything and it reminded me of just how beautiful it is and how blessed I am to be able to spend time there. She reminded me to appreciate where I am in life.
Sunday morning I woke up with a swollen right foot and crippling pain when I tried to walk, so I decided to leave Paris early and go home. We had planned on going to a museum before we had to get Gabriella to the airport, but there was no way I could have walked through a museum.
I showed her how to get there and back to the airport and she went, and I took a taxi to the train station, bought a ticket on the next train and made it back to Poitiers. Lauren and Joe are amazing and came to take care of me. I was really kind of worried about how badly my foot was hurting.
Monday I went to a doctor and he said I probably had a stress fracture. He gave me some meds and sent me on my way. It was definitely a different experience than an American doctors visit. It wasn't bad or anything, just different.
I hobbled back home and since then have been trying to stay off my feet as much as possible. Tuesday night I had French class, so I had to walk to that, but mostly I've done ok with not walking. Today when I woke up, the swelling had gone down a bit and it didn't hurt quite as much to walk on it. I'm hoping it'll be close to healed by next weekend when I go back to Paris. (This time I'll be cautious and will stop if it starts to hurt.)
Anyway, that's my week. Oh! I passed my French test! (Yayyyy.) It's definitely not a good grade, but it's passing and for that, I'm happy.
Je t'embrasse,
Sarah
Here are the other pictures I took over the weekend :)
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