Parisian Insanity 7/26/08

Wallet: Day 20
Stupidly wore jeans today - crazy heat wave

Today a few other NU kids are coming into Paris and our plan is to meet up with them and their French friends from study abroad in Ireland. Zoe, an Northeastern student made us pancakes for breakfast and gave us authentic Vermont maple syrup on them, from her home state. Great way to start the day. Lyuba, Loyd and I headed back to Bree's place with our stomachs full after spending the night at Zoe's and Audrey's. We got back to the apartment and could think of only one thing - showering. I hadn't showered in almost 30 hours, the longest I have gone so far this trip.
I emerged from the shower a new person. I came into the living room and said hi to Kim and Lauren, both of which I know from school. I had heard that there was a 3rd person coming with them and when I asked about it they told me that Ryan had been held back in Dublin and was taking a later flight. We made our way to Jardin du Luxembourg which surrounds the French Senate. All the lawns but one are blocked off and the one that was open was absolutely packed with people. We managed to find a small patch and pack ourselves in. We opened the two bottles of wine we brought and got the party started. We arrived at the park around 2 with 8 people in tow but by 7 the group had expanded to 11. 6 more bottles and a full French meal was shared amongst all of us. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

The night only got better, we met up with Bree, her boyfriend Alex and 4 other Northeastern kids behind Notre Dame Cathedral. We sat by the river and sipped the evening away. We watched one of the most spectacular sunsets as the sun lowered behind the Cathedral towers. As it got darker the group of 15 began to move towards to the metro, as Alex suggested we check out a park that has a view of the entire city.

Once at the base of a hill, which sits about 300 steps below the park, we began the most serious hike we had taken on the trip. We all reached the top of the hill panting. It was that brutal. Truth is, the effort was entirely rewarded, as the view was incredible and the park was filled with young people sipping wine and listening to the live band covering songs. We jammed away until the rains came and dispersed the crowd. Instead of scurrying to cover as everyone else did, our group stayed out in the rain and started an impromptu sing-along. I shot quite a few videos and from the looks of them, they will be classics very soon.

We finally left our spot at the top of the hill with a few Parisians in tow. The rain was coming down hard at this point so we jetted into the first bar we saw. We were thrown out within minutes, classic Parisian rudeness. The second bar we found had live music and fit our attitudes perfectly. We absolutely took over the bar, packing it in with some of NU's finest. I started a Bon Jovi Livin' on a Prayer chant that picked up so much steam that I'm sure the next bar could hear it perfectly. The guitarist came back from his break and acknowledged it as the best cover he'd ever heard of Bon Jovi. Amazing.

We all finally split up as the bars were closing and made it back to Audrey's. Somewhere along the adventure today were invited to stay with Kim, Lauren, Ryan (who joined us after making his 2nd flight from Dublin) at their friend Coco's place in Bordeaux. So no Switzerland for now...off to WINE COUNTRY FRANCE!