Mary Part II

I left the moment I was done with the last blog post to spend the day in the north of Paris. Our first stop after picking Jonas and eating Lebanese food was a large open flea market. Now this flea market resembled the markets I had experienced in Istanbul, but here there were quite a few African art stores that Mary actually bought some presents from. The Turks I could spot because of their selling tactics and cheesy lines that were said with the same diction as in Turkey. Most of the products there at the market were very over priced and it was worth it to look for deals. When I was waiting for Mary to buy her boots, I got a call from Begum, a friend from Northwestern. She was in for the Thanksgiving weekend and I ended up meeting her to catch up after we were done up north. Before that and after the flea market, we moved on to Montmartre for Mary to experience one of the nicest and most cliché parts of Paris. There were not as many painters because of the cold, but there was a singer and hot wine/chocolate. Mary was content. After walking around Montmartre and taking a few pictures, we stopped into the Sacre Coeur to not only visit the basilica, but also make an appearance at mass which started at 6pm.

We stayed until the end of the mass, which was actually beautiful with the singing and the organ. Having to meet Begum, we hurried to the other side of Paris to the Eiffel Tower. Of course it was night by now, so it was all lit up and ripe for photos. We couldn’t stay long at the restaurant with Begum because we had dinner plans chez Charlotte. We ended the night with a brilliant movie, Delta Farce, which gave me a few laughs. It was nice just to see a good ole American redneck movie where Larry the Cable Guy leads his friends in an accidental invasion of Mexico. Mary woke up early the next day in order to make Swedish pancakes for everyone in my host family with maple syrup, something I haven’t eaten in months. We moved on to my French class, where Mary almost fell asleep in, but she woke up when we met one of her friends from Culver for lunch. We moved on from there in a hurry because it was her last day to the Champs Elysees. There at the Laduree we had macaroons and coffee, which the air of the restaurant seemed that of the 1800s given the interior design. One thing I didn’t plan for that day was finding out that I had a two page paper due at 7pm. So I left Mary on the Champs with my friend Jonas while I went back to do this short paper.

She came back by dinner time, which was amazing because it was a dish that basically allows you to cook potato skins for yourself. Charlotte put a small grill in the middle of the table and we put cheese in little cartons in the sides along with meat on top of the grill. She then gave us potatoes and onions to eat with our meat and fried cheese. It was definitely a healthful meal, perfect for Mary especially since she wanted to dance last night. After dinner I tried to get some rest before we went out on her last night, but couldn’t because Federico and Jonas who Mary spent the last few days with, wanted to come over again to hang out. Even though they both deny it, it was funny to see them take turns in hitting on her throughout her stay. We didn’t get out until midnight due to bad planning and our infatuation with the Office. Our first stop of the night was the Queen because apparently it is one of the best clubs in Paris and it was disco night. Mary didn’t bring her ID because the only one she brought on the trip was her passport. This presented a problem when she tried to get in the club. She actually would have been let through had the bouncer believed that Federico was 20. He is actually 20 so it was an embarrassing night for the both of them. That doesn’t mean it ended or that we didn’t have fun. We tried looking around for other clubs including Duplex and Etoile, but they were closed. Then again it was a Monday night so I don’t think we should have expected much. We were about to go home after making a brief stop at the George V café for a drink until I told Mary to call the same friend that we had lunch with earlier in the day. She did and we ended up meeting him and other of Mary’s culver friends at a bar that we stayed at until the wee hours of the morning. I did it for her even though I had class today because it was her last night in Paris and she was going back to the trenches at school. This morning she got up and packed while I slept until I threw on some clothes and walked her to the bus. It was a hell of a week and I feel like I better rest up and do some work before I go off to the south of France on Thursday night.

She has Tired me Out and its now only been 4 days

Mary is HERE!!!!!! She got in four days ago and she too is falling under the lull of French life with the strike. I could not take the RER to pick her up from the airport and when I tried to take a bus it never came. By the time I was able to find a mode of transportation, she was already on a bus headed my way. Took her 2 hours but finally she made it and I hurriedly took her to the apartment so that I could make it to my last class. I already told my French teacher for the first that I wasn’t going to make it and considering my grade in the class he didn’t care. I felt bad walking into my class an hour and a half late, but I actually only missed things that didn’t matter and was there for the 30 minutes that explained what involved me in the next two weeks. Great luck considering we stopped for coffee and lunch on the way there and with the strike it took about 30 minutes to walk. During class I saw Mary dosing off which is hard for me to blame her because I was almost as well but I needed to listen for details on upcoming assignments. After class I had her meet some of my friends and like many days after class we went to my favorite establishment, O’Neil’s. There the 5 of us all had their amber, while we all just hung out and talked. Mary seemed to fit in with the rest of my friends even though she is a good 3-4 years younger.

Considering we had a whole day ahead, we decided to go into Notre Dame and see the rest of the St. Michel area. Mary was awed by the cathedral and it was great for me a second time especially after just seeing the Hagia Sophia a few weeks ago. Hagia Sophia has some more amazing architecture, but Notre Dame clearly wins with its stained glass and good upkeep. As I have said before the Hagia Sophia is in great need of repair, granted it has hundreds of years on the Notre Dame. When I took Mary to Notre Dame, I told her to look out for gypsies. I didn’t see any actually and was sad because I wanted to point her out some. So yeah it’s been 4 days and Mary has not been stolen away into thievery by the gypsies. Mom and Dad can rest easily. After walking around a little bit more we went back for dinner with Charlotte. Mary was amazed by her cooking (vegetable lasagna) and then she was amazed by the French soccer team at the local bar. Although, due to time mix-ups on my end, we only made it to watch the second half. She went to bed the earliest that night being sick and all, for what would be a tiring week ahead.

Thursday was Thanksgiving Day in America, but not in France. There were never pilgrims or Indians here, although Canada has a thanksgiving I think as well. I had to plan out the meal and who is was coming. I invited three of my friends: two guys and one girl who ate the meal along with Charlotte and her two daughters. She was in charge of the turkey, so it was up for Mary and me to make the rest of the dinner. She brought with her: dumplings, wild rice, and stuffing mix. When we went shopping we decided to also make sautéed spinach and fried zucchini. We bought some onions and French mushrooms to make the wild rice dish that I felt was very North American for these Frenchies. We cooked the rice with the turkey in the morning and then did the rest of the food a few hours before the meal started. The fried zucchini took the longest but the food preparations took relatively a short time with 5 people working in the kitchen. My friends brought over more food in that they were in charge of dessert, drinks, and some random stuff like corn which was a most for an American dinner. We had the food ready by 7:30 but with the strike the daughters didn’t make it on time so we had to eat the food cold. That was fine, we went to the nearby store bought some champagne and Cassis de Dijon for aperitifs before the meal. The meal went fairly well especially with Mary making gravy that first looked like pudding but then when the grease from the turkey was added, looked more like New England Clam Chowder. But hey we didn’t have a lot to work with and it still turned out great. No kitchen mishaps and the only negative thing was that the food was a little cold. That is what the microwave is for…A great American dinner in style. We decided to follow up the meal with a trip to Mary’s first club, The Mix. It was free because I love my deals and took her on a night where it’s free for students. She was able to experience Paris night life with all of the other international students who are studying here. Let’s just say she tore up the place because as she walked in she told me that very few people could dance. That ended up being the case because she was on the podiums and in the middle of circles awing everyone. I of course always stayed near by for her to tap out whenever things got a little hairy. Jonas to say the least was impressed by her dancing. She will have a good time in college…

Friday marked the day that we got up late and decided to go to the Jardin de Luxembourg. Obviously it’s changed since I last have been there (now its winter), but we got some great pictures. We walked around some more and actually hit up a few shops, typical thing to do the day after Thanksgiving. Actually found a few things that were really cheap due to their quality, but were very Euro looking. We walked across Paris as the night began to settle in and she was able to see most of the historic buildings on the way to Angelina’s. We of course picked up a friend at the Louvre who we just happened to run into (happens a lot) and took her with us to the hot chocolate café to meet the others. Mary met all of the girls from Istanbul in one night. The hot chocolate was so rich I felt like they took bricks of choc and melted down and served it hot. It was expensive but worth it and we actually brought some of it home for the parents. Our next stop was the Louvre, which was again free but amazing nonetheless because the pyramid was lit up at night and we were able to see the usual famous pieces in a short time. We decided to stay out for dinner and we ended up going to this place off the Champs Elyeses that had great soup and sandwiches. We ended the night by walking around the Pantheon area and hitting up a few local institutions.

Saturday we had to wake up early, so at noon we did and got ready for a day at Versailles. We went to the local bakery so Mary could have her French delights and then made it off to the train station. By this point, the transport strike has now finished and its funny because it is not really in the press and nobody is talking about it. I guess King Sarko won this round, but there are still more battles to be fought. We were able to buy train and admission tickets at the train station that saved us hours of waiting time to get into the palace. It ended up being a beautiful day and unlike the last time I went there, everyone was actually working. Our admission got us into most of the rooms and the gardens which was enough to see because the experience is very tiring. Now the palace as I have heard is owned by an American corporation, hence you have to pay for each of the rooms. Our pass covered most of the palace so we were able to not only see the Hall of Mirrors. The whole place was very intricately designed and well maintained. It was so large that we probably only saw a fraction of the rooms. I could get used to living there although they would have to make the furniture bigger. The beds alone could only fit my legs. The gardens went on for acres and football fields. One hell of a view to wake up in the morning to. More great pictures even though it was quite cold. We ended up staying in the town of Versailles after the chateau to walk around the town. We ended up a café to eat some crepes and drink a hot beverage, hot wine same like I did in the Pyrenees. Before we got back on the train, we went to a cheese house and bought a few slices so that Mary could try some cheeses. Took the RER back and met a SMU friend at a Canadian restaurant just to get that Anglo Saxon experience. I enjoyed the barmaids and almost left my number after a few too many smiles. We hurried back for dinner where she made a garbage tart as she calls it, but it wasn’t smelly or horrid tasting even with the goat cheese. I wanted to sleep after dinner because my sister has been driving me very hard ever since she got here but I was awaken from my 5 minute nap by a call from guys who wanted to come over. It’s weird that since my sister has been here, my friends have wanted to do a lot with us. Even the lazy ones. We hung out and then went to an English pub that changes into a dance club at night. It wasn’t as good as the other nights, but Mary was able to dance with my SMU friend who could at least try and keep up with her. Now its Sunday morning and I am still really tired from these last few days, but I have to run because Mary is off to the races again..