We have been enjoying Paris thorougly so far this weekend. On Thursday morning, poor Sahil had to wake up early and commute to Cergy for a twenty minute group meeting at 9am while Mana slept in, but when he returned he napped (we know, tough lives we live) while Mana went out around the city to see what kind of sales really existed right now.
Paris apparently has huge sales twice a year in the stores and on January 6th the sales begin for the first week at 30% off in most places, 50% the following week, and 70% the final week. Of course even with the sales, as two students we are unlikely to be crazy spenders at this point in our lives, but you better believe Mana will keep her eyes open for good deals!
In the evening we attempted to get tickets to see the Ballet at the Opera Garnier but they ran out of student tickets so we went to Plan B and had dinner with friends at Le Bouledogue, a restaurant recommended to our friend Yamini by her friend who lived in Paris. The food was not bad, but we realized we really need more spice in our foods. French food is rich and buttery but not spicy at all! We can't help it - its the Indian in us! After dinner, we decided to drink wine and hang out with our friends in a warm apartment (since its FREEZING in Paris these days) and called it a night since we were going to Versailles early the next morning.
At 10am the next day, we met at St Michel to take the RER C train to Versailles. With six girls and Sahil (he was a real trooper being around so many woman for an extended period of time and listening to conversations revolving around fashion and eyebrow waxing), we had an adventurous journey there. We realized once we got on the train that we were on the wrong train, got off, jumped on the return train, got off, and then finally got on the right train. The perk to this back and forth experience and feeling like characters out of National Lampoons European Vacation was seeing the best view of the Eiffel Tower three times from the train ride!
We eventually made it to Versailles and there was snow on the ground when we got there! We walked a few hundred feet and found a cute creperie so we all decided to stop for lunch. First, we all ordered hot chocolate with whipped cream - yumm (in Paris, the hot chocolate is pretty good, not too sweet, but rich enough!) Then, Sahil ordered the savory crepe with onions, tomatoes, and egg, Mana ordered the sweet crepe with nutella and bananas. The crepes were a wonderful delight that morning before we made our way to the Palace.
After we left the restaurant, we made our way in the bitter cold for the Palace and oh what a sight it was. Both of us had been there with our families when we were younger but Mana had not been there since she was 10 so she barely remembered the magnificence of the Palace. It is absolutely beautiful with gold trimming along the fences and a simply royal and grandiose piece of art. We walked through the entire palace and with our very helpful personal tour guides with English translation, we learned all about Louis the XIV, XV, XVI, Marie Antoinnette, Napolean, as well as several other significant members of French history. It was really amazing and SO interesting! Our favorite part of the Palace was the Hall of Mirrors with around 51 gorgeous chandeliers hanging from the ceiling along with 357 mirrors and 17 glass doors.
Our friend Elena is a phenomenal photographer with a side business in wedding photography (for those who are interested- shameless plug: http://elenagorelik.smugmug.com)so she not only captured the beauty of the Palace, but being the she happens to love shooting couples, we had the honor of being captured in many of her Versailles shots as her models.
We spent a few hours in the Palace before making our way out and heading back to Paris. On our way back, we talked about wishing we could watch movies at home and our friend Maria (who we like to call Masha - the Russian version of her name) gave us insight on this fantastic website: watchnewfilms.com where we can watch movies that are in theaters right now for free!
So, we decided to check it out when we got home and watched the Time Travelers Wife, took a nap, called our brother Sagar to wish him a happy birthday, and rallied to go out at night! We went to Elena's for some wine, vodka, and her homemade crepes and then made our way to Favela Chic, a place that her landlord partly owns where we danced and partied and partied and danced into the night. Eventually we went home and slept in today!
While we had plans to go see a European Rugby match, it is bitter cold again and we decided it probably wasnt the best idea to sit out in the cold all day so we may do a low key afternoon and perhaps have a date with WatchNewFilms again!
Au Revoir for now!
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