Un rendez-vous à Paris

Marianne and me in our 2004 trip to France

I'm writing from the lovely home of my dear from Marianne in one of the suburbs of Paris! Marianne is a friend of mine from elementary school, whose family spent a number of years in the States before returning to France (where they are originally from). For several summers, Marianne spent a month with me in Bethesda, but somehow over the course of our time in high school we lost touch. Fast forward to 2012 when she and I found each other on Facebook and she invited me to visit her in Paris (OR London where she has been studying/living for the past 5 years) while I was spending the semester abroad. And so, a few days ago I boarded a plane for Paris and we have been reunited! I'd been nervous about seeing her again after so many years… would we have anything to talk about? Would our personalities clash? It took about 30 seconds for me to realize that I had absolutely nothing to fear… I've been right!

Pastry, laprop, and my
window seat!

Saturday morning, Lars yet again saved the day and drove me to the airport at 6am enabling me to get an extra 2.5 hours of sleep (since I didn't have to take the night bus). The flight was nice and easy, and in addition to a free checked bag, Air France even gave me a [small, but delicious] French pastry. I did work on the plane ride, enjoyed a very nice conversation with a man from India who was seated next to me, and arrive just before 9am at Charles de Gaule in Paris! 

First views of France

Once at the airport, I collected my baggage and found the RER (the french train). I got to use a bit of French to inquire about ticket sales and then whether the train I was taking did in fact go to my stop (it did). It felt WONDERFUL to be traveling on my own and equally fantastic to be in a non-English speaking country in which I actually understood what was going on. I don't mean this in a conceded way at all, I have been amazed at just how good my French has been. I would say that I understand about 90% of what is said around me, and can usually express most of what I want to say (though I know that my tenses and grammar have suffered from a significant gap of a few years of French classes). 

The train ride was beautiful and along the way I called Marianne to tell her I was 30 minutes from my stop. When the person answered the phone I was very confused… the girl who spoke on the other end of the line had an honest to god BRITISH accent. Baffled, I only listened to about 50% of what was being said, and when Marianne and Danielle (her mother) picked me up at the train station and we broke away from our hugs, Marianne spoke again… yep! Her 5 years in the UK have turned her into a Brit! It's still strange to me to hear her speak at times. The last time we saw each other she had flawless English, but spoken we a French "twang" (as she calls it). It's a rather strange phenomenon to see someone you know talking, but to hear her voice as completely different from the years you've heard her speak in the past. 

Danielle and Marianne enjoy drinks as we plan

We went to a cafe and got tea/coffee/fanta and planned our three days together. We were laughing hysterically in no time, and had laid out a great itinerary involving a day in Paris together (Saturday), a day driving to somewhere outside the city in the countryside (Sunday) and an afternoon for Marianne and me together in the city (or where ever we wanted to go). Danielle had taken the three days off from work to spend with us, which is so nice of her. And so we set off for our day! First stop a museum was the Musee Jacquemart Andre. 

The [not so secret] museum queue 

To get to the museum we took a bus, an interesting cultural experience that emphasized some some stark differences between the French and the Danes. For one, the French have no concept of "queuing" or waiting one's turn (which I also noticed on the train). Getting on the bus, finding a seat, and getting off were a free-for-all. You just pushed and shoved and stepped on one another's toes. The French also seemed a good bit crabbier than the Danes have been, though that may have been a bit of a biased perspective. 

The museum, which Danielle and Marianne referred to as a "secret museum" that not even the Parisians knew about, ended up being quite crowded (implying that the secret was out!). In fact, when we arrived there was a line out the door with a post saying that past this point it was an hour-long wait to get inside. The visitors did a good job of waiting their turns (in contrast to the bus/train situation), and even though we enjoyed our conversation, it was nice that we made it inside in only about a half hour. 

Marianne and I converse with
a lion statue 

The exhibit itself was very interesting and was a collection of works by Eugene Boudin, a pre-impressionistic painter. Impressionism is my favorite style of art so it was quite neat to see what came immediately before its development. Marianne and I chatted about the subtle differences that we could see as Boudin's career progressed and (although it was still hard for me to get used to hearing her speak with a British accent) it was so nice to get to talk and start to catch up. 

We left the museum and started a walk towards the center of the city and found our way to the Champs Elysées! We reminisced about the fabulous 10-day trip that my mother and I took to visit them in France just before I started high school, recalling some of the most hilarious moments. 

Making our crepes 

Danielle and Marianne had asked whether there was anything that I had as a top priority in France. My answer: yes... eating crepes and fresh baguette! We decided to take care of the crepes along the way and stopped at a delicious creperie. Inside, the crepes were made at a circular table/stove in the center of the room and we could watch the chef pump out crepe after crepe with ease and incredible efficiency. We decided to get both savory AND sweet crepes.  

Savory 

Sweet (mine is the one covered in chocolate and crushed hazelnuts)

After finishing, we continued our walk towards the main sites of Paris and found our way to the Arch de Triumph. We stopped for me to take several pictures and looked in the windows of the many expensive stores. 

The famous Arch de Triumph! 

 

After we wandered for a bit, we took the metro a few stops away to an area where we thought there would be some affordable shopping (I wanted to find a mid-season coat and a gift for the Hellesens). While we didn't find any reasonably priced stores, we did accomplish something important (that ended up being a hilarious experience)... buying contact lens solution for me. 

Marianne is exhausted
after our trip to the Chemist

There was a pharmacy (which Danielle kept calling a Chemistry) that they told me is known to be the cheapest around, which also means that it is ALWAYS packed. Marianne described the trying experience of fighting her way around little old angry French ladies trying to get cream, being pushed/elbowed/shoved, but ultimately paying significantly less than at a normal, less crowded pharmacy. I was up for a cultural experience (and wanted to save money) so we fought our way in. Success, but poor Marianne was exhausted afterwards! ;-)

Finally, we started in the direction of home. It was already 7:30pm, but as we walked down the street we passed a special store where I had to stop and take a picture. All day we'd been passing sites that we'd visited with my Mom in 2004. I tried to take a few photos, and decided that this one should put a smile on her face:

My mom's FAVORITE little shop in Paris

Once we were at home, I met the family's new dog and was reunited with the old pets (in total they have 2 dogs and 3 cats). Marianne and I disappeared upstairs to her brother's room (where we have been sleeping since there are two beds) and emerged nearly 2 hours later, unaware of how long we'd been talking. Remember that we have 7 years of catching-up to do! At around 9:30pm, we all sat down to dinner and I had a chance to try to use my actual French to sustain conversations with her father and two brothers. It's been SO wonderful and really makes me miss the language. 

We eventually happily collapsed (although not until after 1am), both grateful for a great first day together and a renewed sense of wonder at the power of old and lasting friendships. :-) 

Yesterday we had a FABULOUS trip into the French countryside and I have many pictures to share, but for now, Marianne and I are going to venture into the city for the afternoon so I will have to write more later. à toute à l'heure!