Yesterday was the last day of the Tour de France and even though I'm not into cycling, I was lucky enough to be a part of it! I had dinner at this little Mexican restaurant while I waited for my friends to get back from Loire Valley. I had Dos Equis with my really cheap 3 course meal and the waiter seemed to like me so he brought me a third one and said it was from him. So my very first drink bought for me! When I ordered the 2nd one he asked if I spoke French, and I said no, and he said well after this one you will speak French. But I had a full meal so it was fine. I met my friends at the Saint Paul Metro stop and we took the metro to Champs Elysees. There were tons of people everywhere and we walked down a back road and back to Champs Elysees to be closer to the ceremony spot. My friend Maddy is really into this kind of stuff and has been watching the Tour de France since she was little. So this was a dream come true for her and it was fun to see how excited she was and have her explain everything to the rest of us. When the race was officially over, we walked into a cloud closer to the ceremony and there were a bunch of angry people about to start a riot. So we got out of there and started to walk to the metro. On the way to the metro, we passed a few groups of teams on their bikes and we yelled nice things at them and Maddy said she loved them.
We went to a piano bar in the St. Michel area and had such a great time! We knew almost all the words to every song the cute pianist was playing. He sang a little bit and a lady was the main singer and she was awesome. We requested Britney and he played Baby One More Time. We were the obnoxious group of 6 American girls in the bar. No other table knew the words like we did. He played a little Shakira, Katy Perry and Duffy. There was a guy there who asked if he could play randomly and he got up to the piano and played Ordinary People by John Legend and said "This song is dedicated to a girl back in America." So sweet. We cheered for him a lot when he said that. Maddy thought he said it was dedicated to the "girls from America" so she cheered extra loud. He did such a good job! His friend videoed it on his phone, probably to show the girl. The drinks were expensive, but totally worth it! The cute pianist also played Twist and Shout which The Beatles covered and I fell in love!!
Maddy (because she's a real Tour de France fan) and Danielle (because Britney Spears had one) bought yellow Tour de France bucket hats. They made the night! Side note: Maddy looks A LOT like Topanga from Boy Meets World so the bucket hat was very 90's and made her look even more similar.
Topanga and Danielle
We had such a fun night! It was one of the best nights I have had in Paris yet. We even planned to go back on Wednesday night because we had so much fun!
Today painting was at Gare de Lyon. It's a giant train station with people everywhere! Danielle and I went to lunch before and when we were getting to our meeting spot I was thinking "Where are we supposed to paint?!" It was sooo hot inside the station and there were people crowding around with suitcases. Christopher did a demonstration and I about passed out from the heat. Mine and Maddy's easels don't stand high enough for us to stand while painting and there was no seats or place for us to sit. So Danielle, Maddy and I went outside because when we initially walked around there was breeze. We set up in the middle of a giant cemented area and after 10 minutes there was no breeze or clouds. I at least got to sit against a light pole. We were getting a lot of stares and a few homeless people came up to us and spoke in French. Thank god I can say "Je ne parle pas francais"
Three little adorable little girls came up to us and started speaking French and we said over and over that we were American and we didn't speak French but they just weren't getting it. They had chocolate all over their faces and they kept running from us and back to their parents. They kept asking if Maddy was done but after a while of not being able to communicate they whipped out their Spanish! So we said "chicas bonitas" and they all got big smiles on their faces so we knew they understood. They were from Venezuela. We were all jealous that they were about 4 years old and bilingual. During our last half hour, a fight broke out between a homeless couple. They were fighting over the stuff that was sitting in the corner. The man was yelling in her face and even put his fist in to her chin and nudged it. He then tried to push her down the stairs and picked up her suitcase and tried to throw it but he was either so drunk or weak that he fell over. I thought they were going to really throw down and I was scared and felt so bad for her and their dog!!! Someone ran and found security and they kind of broke it up. But the girl kept going over their stuff and trying to get something. It was a mess but we just sat there and watched. And when Christopher came over he watched too. I wanted to do something though. Before class was even half over, we all decided we wanted mojitos so we went to a chill restaurant and had a drink. We were also so hot from sitting in the direct sunlight for about 3 hours we ordered water and it was THE COLDEST WATER I HAVE HAD IN 2 MONTHS. It was delicious. The water at other restaurants here comes luke warm and in a small vase thing so it runs out fast! It was so much fun with Maddy and Danielle! I am reallyyyy going to miss them.
Bonne nuit!
No comments:
Post a Comment