Is Paris burning yet?

Ahhh so I'm in the romantic city right now :) Even though it's tres expensive, it's unbelievably beautiful so I guess that makes up for it! I got here on Wednesday afternoon....Andrew met me at the train station (holding up a sign that said Sally...made me feel so special, haha!) and we figured it had been 2 1/2 years since we had last hung out....and now we get to meet up in Paris! Funny how things work out :) Anyways, he brought us back to his apartment which is in an area called Alesia. I'm still not oriented with Paris, unsure of where everything is actually located around us but his apartment is in a great area. His two roomies, Renee and Kim, could not be any nicer and it's extremely comfortable here :) So glad I logged onto Facebook that day and saw that Andrew was in Paris!

So anyways, we headed right out into Paris when I got here. Took the metro to Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter where I got a bit of a tour from Andrew and had my first french crepe (sooo delicious!). Andrew's roommates are tour guides for this company Fat Tire Bike Tours and he's learned a lot of details about the city and about the main sights. Sooo he was a great tour guide at Notre Dame, pointing out things I never would have seen. It's Holy Week too so it was a bit crowded but that definitely wouldn't have stopped me heading in there :) I'm going back for Easter Sunday mass too which I'm so excited about....I don't care if I have to stand in the way back, I'm squeezing in there! We grabbed some dinner and drinks after that...it was a loooong night since the bartender in there was from Seattle and proceeded to load us up on free shots. And of course you cannot deny anything "free" in Paris!! So it was a fun night to say the least :)

Andrew had it rough yesterday morning but I went to breakfast with his roommate Renee at Breakfast in America. Haha I know I should have had a french breakfast but I couldn't resist eggs, bacon, and chocolate chip pancakes...not crepes, pancakes!! Oh it was amazing. Andrew and I decided to do one of the Fat Tire bike tours last night and it was an absolute blast! It was from 6-midnight and you go all around Paris. And I'm not sure if everyone would agree with me but Paris looks 1,000 times better at night!! The Eiffel Tower sparkles every hour on the hour for 10 minutes, there are twinkle nights in all the trees lining the Seine, all the bridges are lit up, and every building seems to have this magical glow! Ohhh it was awesome. My favorite part of the entire tour however was biking through the Louvre. We biked down this bridge (where the last episode of Sex and the City was filmed, haha) and went right into the Louvre square. I can't describe the feeling I got as we just rode around and around the fountain in there....a saxophonist was playing off to the side and the square was empty besides us being in there. Oh wow, I couldn't believe where I was at the moment, it really took me back. And it may have just been the wind but there were a few tears....hehe :) I'm a sap for beautiful experiences! Anyways, we also took an hour boat cruise that was included in our bike tour (oh and wine too!) so it was great sailing up and down the Seine. It had started to rain by then but that definitely didn't put a damper on the tour. It was the greatest night :)

We headed out for a bite to eat with the tour guides once we got back but called it a night pretty early. Got up this morning and had lunch near Notre Dame and went to the Pompidou. Andrew is an artist and his mecca is on the floor with Jackson Pollock. So he let us experience modern art....which I'm still having a hard time understanding. But I guess that's the point....to not understand it, just have your own impression of it. Anyways, saw some Picasso and Kandinsky also, which was great. We were going to do the Louvre after because it's free on Friday nights if you're under 25, but we were exhausted after the Pompidou....walking around so slowly really takes it out of you. So we decided to relax a bit and save the Louvre for tomorrow. Not much planned for tonight besides some dinner. Will definitely upload my pictures so I don't get behind again. Anyways, that's all I have for now....Paris is amazing :)