Visitors! Finally!

What an amazing weekend! Thursday night, I went down to Orly Airport, which only took 25 minutes (how convenient!) to pick up Alli and Meg- it was so nice to see them! Meg got her hair cut in Italy, and she looks so great! It's a bit shorter, but it frames her face and she looks so pretty! It was great to see the two of them- they strutted off the plane like two Italian models, dressed to the nines. We took the Orlybus back to Paris, and it was great, it took 15 minutes! They came back to my place, we hung out for a bit, then went to their hotel and stayed up talking.

The next morning, I had phonetics, but after class, I picked up some fresh pain au chocolate for Alli, Meg, Norah and Laura and we to go meet Laura and Norah at Denfert- Rochereau, where Orlybus drops off. We dropped their stuff off at the hotel and hit the town. We did major site seeing at the Pantheon, which was decorated in honor of Women's day. We checked out the necropolis (greek for "City of the Dead" - enjoy that Big Fat Greek Wedding reference, that's all you're getting Nan!) Seth, Norah's boyfriend (studying abroad in London), met us (after finishing up his spring break in Rome). We did tons of site-seeing from there. We went to Trocadéro, the Eiffel Tower in daylight, dusk and night- then headed over to Notre Dame to have dinner at Hippo- a great chain restaurant in France- with AMAZING sangria! We had a nice dinner, went for Gelato and Hot Chocolate, then headed back over to the Eiffel Tower, to see it again- and then head up to the Arc de Triomphe.

We were pretty beat after that, so we headed home. The next morning, I woke up, did some food shopping for my guests- then headed over to Charles de Gaulle- the largest, most confusing airport in Europe. I found Callie, which was so nice- even though her flight was a bit late. We came back, she freshened up and we hit the ground running, again. We went to meet everyone else at the Louvre and we walked down rue de Rivoli to see the Vendôme, Concorde and then a bit of the Champs Elysées, over the the Grand and Petit Palais, pont Alexandre III, the banks of the Seine, the Invalides, a cute garden- then took the metro up to Montmartre. We walked around admiring the artists paintings, then walked the corner to see the greatest views of Paris. We also enjoyed the beautiful Sacre Coeur basilica before going to a Fondu restaurant- where they pack you in like sardines (Brett would hate it- no leg room)- and drink wine out of a baby bottle. Of course, me like an idiot, never having gone there- dipped the raw beef in the cheese and continued to eat it until the guy who works there came over and called me an idiot (basically) and gave us oil to cook the beef in- oups. Luckily, I am salmonella free.

After that, we walked around Montmartre and had desserts and after-dinner drinks at this bar where they decided to play the Sax and piano extremely loud- nice. We left there. Walked around the Faubourg Pigalle (sex district) and saw Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergeres - before coming home wiped and tipsy.

The next morning, we woke up to go have these great pastries for breakfast, but the Patisserie was closed! Pas de soucis- we went to Crêpes à Gogo for the best French Onion soup in Paris (or as we call it - Onion soup)! Meg and Alli had to return to Italy so we said our "au revoirs". After, we headed over to the Impressionism museum - Musée d'Orsay (a former train station,n converted) for a few hours, before grabbing a quick lunch and sending Laura and Norah back to Spain. Seth later went back to London, around dinner time.

I was sure to stuff them with amazingly delicious Parisian food. I gave them quite the tour, spitting out endless facts about the sites. I really enjoyed being a tour guide of Paris! But even more so, being with my friends.

Now, I'm so lucky- I get one-on-one time with Callie for the REST OF THE WEEK! I'm so happy! Tonight I cooked us dinner, and we had tacos- yum!

Today, Callie and I did the Louvre in the morning. I hate the Louvre for so many reasons- mostly being the fact that it's always crowded and it's poorly organized (you always have to backtrack to get out! and it's impossible to find what you want to see too!). So after getting quite frustrated- but still seeing the sites like Napoleon III's apartment, the old fortress of the Louvre, the Jaconde (Monda Lisa), Coronation of Napoleon, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory and the Cheater- I headed over for class- and Callie chilled out in Subway- right across the street (They have self-serve soda fountains- so I load up on ice, a luxury in France!). After class, and in between the bouts of rain, we checked out Notre Dame, which Callie really liked, the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) and the modern art museum of the Centre Georges Pompidou.

It's so nice having this company here! I missed her (and the rest of my friends) so much!
After Callie leaves, Laura and Isa will be visiting for a few days too- it should be great.

Anyway, Callie and I are going to go watch some Will & Grace.
Hope all is well with all of you- I'd love to hear from you!

Miss you!
Bisous
<3 Josh