On y va ou quoi?

Coucou à tous, I have decided to write my first blog entry on the magical city of Paris. I want to share with you many of my photos and also suggest places to eat, drink, party and of course sites to see. I have been to paris already 3 times, but this time I stayed for the duration of 10 days (because luckily I knew a family friend who lives there, so she let me stay there).

I went to Paris during April this year while i had easter holidays from my university in Perpignan (which is in the south of France).

Here is a list of the places I shall discuss or briefly mention:

• Champs-Élysées (nightlife/perfect for shopping, many commercial shops)
• Château de Fontainbleau
• Montparnasse
• Montmartre
• Saint-Martin
• Quartier Latin
• Tour Eiffel/Arc de Triomphe/Le Louvre
• Jardin de Versailles
• Maison de Claude Monnet-Givenry
• Shakespeare&Company (37 Rue de la Bûcherie )
• Maison de Victor Hugo (6 Place des Vosges)

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I arrived at night and stayed for the first night with other Erasmus friends (who also by chance were visiting Paris but for a shorter period of time). We arranged we would go out together, to check out the nightlife. We went to a club at the Champs-Elysées (which is an area considered to be very wealthy, elegant and beautifully lit up at night). The club was called "Duplex nightclub", there were three floors with different music, ranging from techno/electro to indie /rock. I have to say it was very expensive, for example; 26euros entry fee (with 2 free drinks) and then drinks were 8-10euros. Maybe it's better to drink at home with friends before you go out! Also, keep in mind that I went out on Saturday so most clubs in that area are expensive. But I really enjoyed the music and the ambiance.

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One of the funny and rebellious moments of that night, was hopping over the metal bars in the metro station to get to and from the different metro lines. We were still so confused with which metro line to take, so we were running around the station like crazy cats.

The following day I left the 3 girls and headed to the Gare de Lyon (one of the main train stations in paris). I ended up staying in the station for 4 hours, because my host was not going to be in her house till later on in the day. One would think that spending so long in a station would be very tiring especially with a hangover and very little battery (10%). Those were a stressful few hours. However, I came to the conclusion that I should just go to one of the cute cafes and sit and write in my diary.

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Following my recent confidence in conversing with the natives, I then decided to take a chance and ask one on the waiters if they had an iPhone charger (which in the end one of the cooks did, and he was such a gent). To be completely honest, prior to moving to France for my 8 months of Erasmus, I would have never had the confidence to ask natives for help. However, having already spent 6 months in Perpignan before Paris, I became more confident and was used to asking for help when I needed it. Otherwise, I would not have become more open as a person and would my knowledge of the French language not have been improved.

For the next 5 days, my friend Ala (who came to meet me in Paris) explored with me the streets of Paris. We were able to see many places for free, because students until the age of 25 get a lot of discounts. This is great, because when we went to the Louvre, and were able to skip the queue to pay the entrance fee.

The Louvre is incredible inside. Apart from the epic portrait of the Mona Lisa, to Egyptian artifacts, Roman or Greek art, there was such a range of amazing paintings. I had been to the Louvre before in 2008 with my mother, but we just went around the grounds and observed the architecture. I also bought my first jazz album in the book shop there, with many artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Chet Baker and Billy Joel. From then on I became a big fan of jazz music.

Each day we visited many of the "Quartiers" and my favorite ones were Montparnasse, Montmartre and Saint-Michel. Montparnasse is a great street, full of cafes, record stores and cinemas. We had also done some research on where to find a good jazz bar, so we went to the Swan Bar. It turned out to be run by Americans, and that night they were having an open mic night, where I decided to sing a song or two, because why not be spontaneous?!

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We also found a cute Cuban bar, called Le Cubana Café, where they served amazing tapas and cocktails for great prices! They had such lovely staff as well.

Saint-Michel is a lovely "quartier" with many student bars and it looked a bit like a road in a fairytale or Diagon Alley from Harry potter.

We then saw the Quartier Latin (which had many lovely Boutiques), and the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe (all of which are worth a visit).

The next day we took the train to the Castle of Versailles where we just visited the Gardens, which were incredible. We did not go inside the chateau because i had previously seen the Castle of Fontainebleau (the beautiful decor of each room).

The last 5 days my mother came over and together we saw a lot of art and culture. For example:

• The Shakespeare & Company bookstore: a small cute 2 story building with many old and new versions of old classics. I bought myself a small pocket book of "The hunchback of Notre-Dame"
• The house of Victor Hugo: it was great, because I had studied him in college
• The house of Claude Monnet & Gallery: such amazing paintings

During these 10 days I did not eat out much because I was staying at my friend's house, so we constantly cooked. Still, I discovered a great cafe one day called "Cafe Ginger" when my mom and me were walking along Rue Jacques Coeur. It's an organic cafe that serves amazing soups, pumpkin pies, and veggy quiches for set menu of 10 euros.

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Twice I also ate in a small family restaurant at Montmartre called "La Paname". They served wonderful food and for a reasonable price.

I hope you enjoyed my Blog.

Irene

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