Today is our last day on our trip, and also my birthday! It's the first time I'm celebrating my birthday outside of New York! But I'm very excited to be going home tomorrow!
Today I met up with my friend Benjamin. My friend that I met up with in London, Gaylen (and her family), was Benjamin's host family which is how I know him. So around noon, I met up with him and he tried to take me to the Jewish quarter of Paris where we had lunch. We got on the wrong train about 3 times. We went back and fourth and back and fourth and finally, we got to where we wanted to be. I tried Falafel, which is an interesting dish to say the least. It's a Middle Eastern food in the form of balls made from chickpeas and/or fava beans. It also came with purple and green cabbage, a pickle, hummus, pita bread, cooked peppers, mushy things (top right of the plate in the picture) and a cucumber salad. It looked something like the picture below minus the orange stuff on the bottom left. We also had french fries and Ben put mayonnaise on them! (apparently that's popular in France)
After the delicious lunch, we walked around looking at all the expensive French shops in that area. Even though neither of us could afford anything at that time, it was fun to look. Soon after, we went to the church Sacre Coeur. I could not believe this church. It was absolutely beautiful inside and out! It had a wonderful view of all of Paris! You could see for miles and miles! We had to pass so many "crap shops" (what Ben calls survivor shops) and go up about 150/200 stairs to get to the church but once we got up there, it was so worth it.
Again, we couldn't take pictures inside but the memories are still very much going to stay in my mind for a long time to come. After we toured Sacre Coeur for a little bit, we walked around the side streets and found little french shops and cafes. Where we warmed up with a glass of 'vin chaud' (hot wine) for me (which i have never tried before-Ben recommended it) and a cafe (coffee) for Ben. The hot wine was really good. It tasted just like grape juice! After we warmed up, we walked around a little more than went back to our hotel. There I introduced Ben to Lisa and Danielle. (who surprised me with beautiful flowers for my birthday!) Once they got acquainted, we all went out to this baby bottle wine place. I was expecting it to be small bottles of wine, but in fact it was literally baby bottles filled with wine. The door handles were even baby bottles! It was a very cool but very small place. People had to climb over the table to get to their seat. We had the baby bottles of wine and cheese fondue! It was my first time trying fondue and it was pretty good for being French cheese (which I was not used to yet) We had a great time there. After that, we started going back to our hotel. While doing this Ben got off at the stop before Lisa, Danielle and mine to go to his party that he had tonight. He was being very crazy and said he didn't want to leave us because he was having so much fun. So he got out of the subway at his stop and just stood there outside the doors, then the train started moving, he started running with it trying to keep up with us. After he fell behind (when we were out of that station) I heard laughter from behind us. Everyone on the train was laughing at how he tried to run with the train! He's too funny. After he left, we all got back to the hotel and finished packing. Tomorrow morning we leave for America! I cannot wait to get home! It will be a long day of traveling but it will be worth it in the end to see my family and friends again!
Until tomorrow!
Au Revoir!
Until tomorrow!
Au Revoir!
Question of the Day: Have you eaten something that you have never tasted before? What was it like?
I tried the falafel today. I was feeling very adventurous in my food choices today. If Ben wasn't there, I would never ever have tried this dish. Not only did I try the Falafel but I tried all the things that came with it. The red and green cabbage, the pickle, the hummus, the peppers and the mushy things whose name escapes me at the moment. I'm not a fan of vegetables to begin with so when I tried all of these things, it was so far out of my comfort zone. But I'm glad I tried them. It is a very popular dish in France so I could say I ate what the locals ate.
Describe an incident that you saw on the street that amused you.
When Ben and I were walking up to Sacre Coeur, we saw this man playing a game with a crowd of people around him. We watched a little bit but we didn't stay long because we didn't want to get dragged into it. The game was pretty much like the game we have in America, where there's three cups and you put a ball or something in one of them, turn them upside down and then mix them up and try to figure out which cup the ball is in. The french version is played with discs and a little white piece of paper which is attached under one of them. You have to have a quick eye for the dealers quick hand. It's pretty easy money the first couple rounds. The first person that points to the correct disc with the white thing under it bets 50 euros they are right. If they are, they get that 50 euros and 50 more! So it's easy to get money but on the other hand it's easy to get rid of your money too. Every time you guess you have to put down 50 euros. If your wrong, you don't get your money back. The dealer makes it seem like your lucky that you keep picking the right one (when you start off) but when you get through a couple rounds, the dealer gets faster and makes you lose the money you just won. Oh, and there's another catch. It's completely illegal! The dealers play it on cardboard box so if the police come, they can just take the discs and run- they can leave the box there as if it was garbage on the street. It's really a cool game.
What was a complete surprise?
Something that really surprised me was all the PDA (public display of affection) that I have seen in London and especially Paris! I know Paris is the city of Love and everything but there's so much! I asked Ben about it and he says he doesn't even notice it! It's like a 'way of life' here. It amazes me that people will just make-out on the subway with everyone around them looking but not thinking anything of it! I have seen more people kissing than holding hands! In America I know some people that get so disgusted with PDA. I feel bad for them if they went to Paris! They would see so much more of it!
Describe a park or market that you have visited.
After Sacre Coeur, Ben and I strolled the side streets to get back down to the metro. We saw so many cute little markets with vendors selling all sorts of things. They had paintings and prints of Paris and France itself. As we were walking we also saw the ending of a wedding when the bride and groom came out of the church and people were throwing rice at them in celebration. The market people around them didn't care about the music and song going on around them. It's as if it happens regularly and they are just used to it. It's really cool to see how other cultures do things differently than what we have grown up seeing.
Describe a park or market that you have visited.
After Sacre Coeur, Ben and I strolled the side streets to get back down to the metro. We saw so many cute little markets with vendors selling all sorts of things. They had paintings and prints of Paris and France itself. As we were walking we also saw the ending of a wedding when the bride and groom came out of the church and people were throwing rice at them in celebration. The market people around them didn't care about the music and song going on around them. It's as if it happens regularly and they are just used to it. It's really cool to see how other cultures do things differently than what we have grown up seeing.
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