Meet Me in Paris? Um, Okay.

Mikey and I slept in this morning and waited for Rachel to arrive. This trip was a bit of a surprise. As we hung out in NYC in August, we talked about going somewhere. It was a bit last minute and they both left their families to be here, but due to how vacation timing worked out, they were able to travel to Paris!

Originally, I wasn't as keen on the idea as I like going to new countries. I lived in Paris over a month when I was 15 (summer of 1997) as part of an amazing program that integrated the city with our curriculum. I took a literature class, and when we read the various poets and authors, we would go to their gravesites or apartments; or when we read existential work, we would go to the famous cafe where they historically debated their theories. During that one month, my eyes were really opened and I saw everything you could possibly see. 

In the afternoons, we had walking tours with a Fine Arts Professor who would take us to neighborhoods or museums and explain everything to us. It was here, my hobby and love of art history really blossomed. Also during that one month, we did day trips to Giverny, Versailles, Vaux-Le-Vicomte, Fontainebleu, Normandie, and Chantilly. There is clearly more to see in France and coming when you're 33 is definitely different than when you're 15, so it didn't take that much convincing!

As many of you know, Rachel and I were roommates in college and Mikey was also Rachel's best friend from college. The 3 of us have been friends for over 10 years. Also, Mikey and I have traveled together to Israel (June 2006) and India (January 2009) to visit Rachel, and our love of travel and organizing complement each other quite nicely. 

Some throwback photos of Israel and India:

Around 1:30 pm, Mikey and I decided to go out for food and assumed Rachel would arrive after 2 pm and ate at a cafe near our apartment. Having made some wrong assumptions, during a small window, Rachel managed to sneak in and hang out in our building vestibule for an hour while we stared at the door from outside the cafe. When Rachel decided she did not want to be in the building's vestibule anymore, she came out and we saw her! We ate lunch while apologizing for our wrong assumptions and then we went home and planned out our week.

We decided to go grocery shopping, but everything was closed as it was Sunday. So we wandered and passed by the Notre Dame as pictured below and went to ÎIe Saint-Louis and bought cheese and wine. 

We returned home, bought crêpes from across the street, and watched a movie. We enjoyed our wine and cheese in our Parisian apartment and chatted the night away! Here's a picture of all the cheese!