High fat? No, high FUN!!!!

Bonjour mes cheries! I am writing this from Becca T's fabulous marble-floored flat in Nice, on the gorgeous Cote d'Azur. I have not actually seen the coast yet since we arrived this evening, but I am confident it will be gorgeous. Right now BT is working on an assignment for her French course, and I am blogging as to not distract her. She is singing Bad Romance as she works. It's funny.

Anyway, we had a AMAZING time in Paris! Find me someone who does not have an AMAZING time in Paris, and I'll have to verbally berate them. There is no way you can't love that city.

My flight on Friday night was pretty good, although there were not one, but two, groups of teenagers also on their way to Paris. What kind of deity of cruel irony did that to me? I am trying to escape groups of teenagers for a week, and I'm stuck on a seven hour flight with them.

However, I perfected the Christielli-method of flight: have some wine with your plane dinner, and then out like a light you will go. I slept very well on the flight.

As soon as I went through the marvel of French customs, which consists of a cursory glance at your passport, I was able to quickly grab my luggage and meet BT's flight in the neighbouring terminal. It was so great to see my beloved pal in person! It's been so long! And what better place to catch up with a friend than in Paris?

We quickly grabbed the RER to the Centre of Paris, and it was super easy to find our hotel with my spatial memory of Paris from the summer. Now, this hotel was in the Latin Quarter, where I stayed last trip, but it was the hotel where BT stayed a couple of years ago. Her description was "it's super budget, but it's fine" and I was OK with that.

She did not warn me about the stairs of death.

To get to our room, we had to go up many flights of windy narrow stairs. The kinds that are triangular in shape and hard to walk on because they are much smaller than your foot. Try doing that with your suitcase after a long journey! I had to have a shower right away to recover, and I scalded my hand in the hot hot hot water. At least there was hot water, right?

The toilet wasn't in our room. You had to take a flight on the death stairs to get there. After I returned from my first trip there, I asked BT "how did you stay here for a week? That washroom is so small! I think I bruised my knees on the door!" BT laughed and informed me there was a bigger washroom on the next flight up. Thanks for the tip, buddy old pal.

Our first day was a classic Becca T/Christielli day. We went to Starbucks which BT misses immensely since there isn't one in Nice. We caught up over frappucinos, then headed off to the Musee de Cluny to see "The Lady & The Unicorn" tapestries. They are awesome. The rest of the museum was a little dry (it's medieval), but the tapestries were worth the admission. After our requisite culture, we did some shopping, and had sushi for dinner (none in Nice either). Then we sat on the steps of the Panthenon to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle. Yes, I got my video, but then Becca T pointed out that since I took it vertically, it would be sideways. Fail. Then the tower stopped sparkling, and it was def too cold out to wait another hour. Anyway, a sideways video is better than no video, right?

We went for a glass of wine at a place with a cute friendly dog, then risked the stairs of death to bed. A very successful Parisian Saturday.

On Sunday morning, we hiked to the Marais for brunch. I wanted to go to the fabulous restaurant that I brunched in at the summer, but we got there too early. Since we were famished, we found another that my guidebook recommended, and it was so awesome. We got there just before the rush; as we left there was a long line-up out the door. The name of the place translates to "the small dog in the teapot" and it was all decked out in Alice in Wonderland murals. It was great, and the brunch was to die for. I had yogurt with fruit, freshly pressed OJ, espresso, a mini croissant, a mini pain au chocolat, toast, and eggs and bacon. So good.

After brunch we wandered around the stores in the Marais and I splurged on the coolest silver bird earrings by a Paris jewelery designer. I love them.

The rest of our day was spent doing a lot of walking around Paris (we definitely walked off brunch), another Starbucks stop, and some touristy moments. We went to Saint Chappelle, which is a church with the most amazing stained glass that you've ever seen, and La Conciergerie, which is the remains of the prison from revolutionary days. We got to see a recreation of Marie Antoinette's cell. It was eerie, but you know how I love my gothiness and my French royalty, so I enjoyed it.

Then we hiked back up the stairs of death for a nap, and went for dinner at a super cute restaurant that I ate at last time in Paris. I knew BT would love it, and I'm so glad that she agreed to go. This restaurant, conveniently located up the street from our hotel, is in an old horse stable. In the summer, there are lots of tables outside, but in the winter, people sit in the cellar, which has the feeling of a dungeon, and is awesome. The restaurant is family-run, and the owner likes to give people free alcohol; we got free sangria, and free glasses of this very very strong liquer. Also, he only charged us 5 Euros for our wine! And the food was great.

Needless to say that the trip back up the stairs of death was extra dangerous last night.

We had a super rude awakening at seven a.m. this morning; a random water leak sprung from our ceiling right onto my suitcase! However, it hit my waterproof jacket, so everything was A-OK. We laughed about it, and when BT told the owners, they were very concerned, but didn't really apologize. That illustrates a huge difference between hyper-apologetic Canadians, and the laissez-faire attitude of the French.

Today's morning/afternoon was spent having coffee with a work-friend of Becca's, and spending sometime in the lovely sunny weather in Luxembourg gardens. It was beautiful. In the mid-afternoon we caught the train to the airport for our flight to Nice. The flight was all right, it arrived a bit late so we didn't get to BT's until about 9 pm. BT cooked me a fabulous dinner of microwaved baked potatoes. Almost better than what you'd get in a Parisian restaurant. I should have just come straight here!

Well, that's a super long post. I have a lot of exciting things on my itinerary over the next few days. I'll keep you in suspense. BT has work stuff tomorrow night, so I'll check in with all of your blogs as I chill here and watch some movies.

Note: The title of this post comes from an episode of Will and Grace that Becca T and I watched way back in university. Jack said that in reference to ice cream or something, and BT and I have quoted that line ever since. While walking by a shop in Paris with beautiful pastries, BT resurrected this line, and I laughed and laughed. It sums up being in France perfectly.