Bonjour, Paris!

Today would be the last morning spent in Bordeaux. I have never kissed so many people (cheeks x2) in my entire life until I came to France! I kissed everyone and their mom. Literally. Hahaha. It was definitely different at first, but I got used to it so it almost became second nature. It's like at the end of the day when you announce your departure from someone's house, give an extra 30 minutes because you have to kiss everyone goodbye before you leave. =D

For me, going to Paris would mean hearing some English for the first time in about five days. I really wish I took some basic French lessons so that I could pick it up more quickly. I got the gist of some conversations by understanding a few words here and there, plus watching the hand gestures but it was still difficult for me to actually retain some of the language. I have never taken French before so I really have no understanding of the logic behind the grammar, etc. I think if I just had that, I would have learned a lot more on this trip. Ah, well, next time! Rafael's mami and papi are Spanish so he suggested that they try Spanish with me since I understand a tad bit more. (Papi used to live in Barcelona, but moved to Paris after the Spanish Civil War. He didn't speak French at the time. He met Mami and found out she was Spanish as well, so she helped him. Cute, huh?)

I have always wanted to learn French but never had the time because of school. Since I graduate this December, I'm definitely going to sign up for some classes. =) I also want to learn Spanish again too since that is extremely useful as well. Hopefully when we go visit again, I'll be able to understand and at least speak in broken French/Spanish.

Most of what I know in French is how to order FOOD, surprise surprise! I also know the usual greetings/courtesies. Funny because when I would meet Rafael's families' friends, I would say "Bonjour, Enchante, Comment ca va" *kiss* *kiss,* then they would go off in French to me, and like at Mango in Spain, it would be the "deer in the headlights" look! Ah, I don't know how many times I felt dumb on this trip, especially since everyone that I have come into contact with spoke at least two - three languages.

Anyway, onward with my day. We had to catch the TGV to Paris. Mami, Papi, Uncle, and Aunt accompanied us to the train station where we enjoyed some cappuccinos and coffee before our departure.



When we boarded the TGV, I was already starting to miss them even though we hadn't left yet. From the day I met his family, I immediately felt comfortable even with the language barrier. But I am sure we will meet again soon. =)



Au revoir!


Speaking of trains, did you know that NOBODY checked our train tickets from Spain --> Montpelier, Montpelier --> Bordeaux, AND Bordeaux --> Paris? Do you know how many Americans would abuse this system? I mean you just go to the train station, put your bags through security, and hop on the train! Anyway, this was a three hour train ride to the city. We arrived at 15:30 only to walk around for 30 minutes looking for Timo, whom we'd be staying with. Since we couldn't reach him by phone, we hopped on the M4 line to Saint-Michel (which, by the way, is one of the trendiest places to live in Paris, score!) in hopes of finding Timo's apartment by wanderingly mindlessly. Around 16:40, we were able to contact him and finally met up. PHEW!

Saint-Michel is an awesome area full of endless restaurants, cafes. It's directly across from the Seine and Notre-Dame.

Timo's new pad, photo courtesy of Timo's blog.


Notre Dame, outside the apartment at night.


Timo's apartment is on the sixth floor. No elevator and 104 steps. We forgot to take a photo of the main stairways!

View outside his window. You can actually see the Eiffel tower from his window but we forgot to take a photo of that.


Stairs outside his front door - Japanese style


After catching up for a couple hours (it was weird to hear English again! Thanks Timo, I hadn't spoken much for the past few days), we got ready and headed off to our first Parisian dinner. There were so many restaurants to choose from in the big maze of alleys near his apartment. We decided to check out Le Bistro Saint Andre.



Romantic futbol night out for the boys. I let them sit in the booth so they could watch the game.


It was pretty crowded because the World Cup was going on. Most restaurants have televisions, and even the waiters were watching.

We ordered:

• Sangria
• Scallops with crème sauce (this was PHENOMENAL!)
• Fois gras (Timo's first time trying it)
• Magret w/ fois gras and poached pears
• Beef with a wine sauce
• Confit de canard (preserved duck which is very popular in France and can be bought in cans)

Confit is a marriage of flavor between the duck meat and the fat -- the duck slowly tenderized in a warm bath of silky fat while the fat becomes infused with the rich, gamy flavor of the dark duck meat.

Where's the beef?


I can't get enough of duck with poached pears. SO GOOD.


Everything was completely delectable. And again, this is your average restaurant down the street!!! Sigh. We ended the meal with a very tasty apple tart and cafe avec de la crème chantilly.

*Oops, I had forgotten it was Fourth of July. Happy 4th!