After our entry about Versailles, we pretty much stayed warm at home and watched movies, read, played cards, and caught up with friends and family all weekend. It was too cold to go out and we thought we'd lay low after being nonstop on the go since we've been here. Saturday ended up being a day of complete homebody-ing and Sunday, we spent part of the day doing intense research on Ryan Air and Easy Jet websites to seek out cheap flights for trips around Europe and then finally decided to venture out for dinner.
First we contemplated going to Little India, but then our friend said that she heard it can be a bit shady at night, so we decided to save that trip for a lunch one afternoon. Instead, we went to what was recommended to us by several people: the best falafal restaurant in Paris located in the Jewish quarter! Sahil was jumping up and down in excitement as he does whenever the idea of good vegetarian food becomes a possibility.
We met our friend Smruti and the three of us headed over to L'as du Falafel at
32 Rue des Rosiers. It was pretty tasty and much more affordable than some of our other meals here! Sahil LOVED it and Mana and Smruti liked it. Regardless, we all indulged and then went to Cafe Feria down the street, a really cute cafe with fantastic ambience for some hot chocolate for Sahil and molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream for Mana and Smruti. We hung out for a while and then finally decided we would walk home to work off our dinner. It was a low-key evening out but it was a really tasty and wonderful one nevertheless, being able to appreciate walking around Paris with the city beginning to feel a little bit more like home!
Today, we woke up early to meet our friend Gary at Galleries Lafayette, one of the most popular department stores in Paris, so that Mana could do some basic research for her Luxury Retail Management class on the brand she chose: Guerlain. We then did some additional research down the street at Printemps, the other famous department store only a block away from Galleries Lafayette at the Opera Metro stop. After about fifteen minutes, we were all on our way to Montmartre, a very cute area of Paris which included one of the city's most beautiful sights, Sacre Coeur along with Moulin Rouge and even the Musee de L'Erotisme :O!
On the train, we ran into Stephanie, who was another exchange student's girlfriend as she was planning on meeting us there. We then waited for one more friend to join us and in the meantime took some photos of the Moulin Rouge. With bright lights around it, we went in to investigate the price of tickets to the show. Once we learned that they started at 80 euros per person, we decided to move on to the museum. As odd and unusual as it is, the popular Paris book said it was a must-see sight, so the six of us ventured into what seemed like an endless number of floors on the subject of "Erotisme".
After about an hour and a half, we left deciding we no longer wanted to feel like we were in the Red Light District of Amsterdam and went to our final and most exciting destination of the afternoon: the beautiful Sacre Coeur. We made our way up and came across Rue de Norvins, which was a very cute and happening street with cafes and tourist shops, where we found a perfect Brasserie for lunch. A little while later, we were recharged and ready to make the final climb to the top. We got to the Basilica and though Gary insisted that today was supposed to be a sunny day and would be perfect for us to see the city of Paris from the top of the mountain upon which Sacre Coeur stood, he was wrong! Haha, Gary, we had to tease you in our blog! Like almost every other day in Paris, it was gray and cloudy and ultimately less visible than we expected. Even so, it was gorgeous! We took photos of the city and then went into the Basilica. Mana reminisced about her last time to Sacre Coeur with her friends Markus and Hannah when she came to Paris for a quick three day trip while she was working in London. Sahil spent his time inside taking pictures secretly with his camera of which none came out right anyways! :)
It was beautiful on the inside and out and it was the perfect Monday afternoon excursion around Paris! We took the metro home, and though it has now become a regular means of transportation for us, we continue to marvel at the efficiency and speed of the Metro in Paris. We love that we can walk and metro it everywhere!
Tomorrow begins week 2 of classes - we are crossing our fingers that it fares better than last week!
No comments:
Post a Comment