Vyvacious

*Transcribed from my handwritten journal that I started for Europe

Thursday, June 21st

7:00AM (Paris Time)

So it seems so far that the only time I can really write in this journal is ass early in the morning. Right now the others (Emiliza, Diane, & Tim) are all sleeping and I’m awake. Most likely due to me passing out last night after a major bout of food coma. Haha. A medium rare duck breast + caramelized plantains + passion fruit crème brûlée + 2 bottles of rosé split among friends + no sleep + crazy ass time difference = me passing out pretty much the second my head hits the pillow :P I’ll post more about that particular deliciousness next time :)

I can’t even begin to explain how fortunate I feel to be able to have this life experience. I’m not gonna lie, it hasn’t really hit me yet that I’m in Paris. Yes, I walked around and gorged on amazingly delicious foods. Yes I passed by the Louvre and several other key monuments of France. Yes, I’ve felt horribly ignorant as people spoke to me in rapid French and all I could squeak out was “Désolé…” But still…nothing! Usually when I travel places, I get hit with this sense of “Holy shit, (for example) I’m standing in front of the Niagara Falls from the Canadian side and it’s the most powerful and damn beautiful thing I’ve ever seen“. But this is what I wanted, right? I wanted to be able to experience the true culture of it. Of being able to truly soak up what Paris is like. Maybe I’ll have that Ah-HA! moment when I’m staring up at the Eiffel Tower or when I’m staring directly into the face of Mona Lisa herself. But for now, I’m perfectly content with this steady absorption of French culture.

I wish I could freely ramble on about where I’ve been and what I’ve eaten but let’s be realistic here, I can’t even pronounce, let alone spell correctly on the whim where the hell I’ve been or any of the dishes I’ve had the pleasure of tasting.  So here’s where I rely on lovely Diane to help me out.  Thank you for the helpful and thoughtful emails with all the info included! :)  By the way, this is only going to include morning/early afternoon escapades.  I don’t have any info on our late afternoon/evening adventures yet :)

So we finally got to Diane’s & Tim’s apartment.  I’m really grateful to Bahman for being so nice and helping to point Emiliza and I in the right direction.  Bahman and I got off the plane, he helped me get my luggage, walked to 2E departures (we landed in 2C) so I could find Emiliza <3, helped us buy Roissy Bus tickets, and sent us on our merry way.  What a sweetheart.

After many complaints about hunger, lots of confused wandering around the streets of Paris, numerous near death experiences in the taxi (the drivers are CRAZY here! I thought NY was bad!!), major claustrophobia while cramming my luggage into the teeny tiny elevator, we finally made it to Tim’s & Diane’s! :D

Once settled in, we took a nice little walk in Place de Vosges (square park) and sidled on over to Fromager for a freaking amazing mozzarella/tomato/olive tapenade baguette.  (That’s right, doing the BIG picture(s) for parts of my Europe posts, to enhance all the deliciousness!! :P)

Let’s get something straight.  I HATE baguettes.  I usually regard them as dry pieces of shit which Lee’s Sandwiches tries to unsuccessfully sell as a meal with sad morsels of meat scattered inside.  Someone once told me “But it’s only $4!”  Yes, but I could get 10 of them and still be neither satisfied nor full.  Anyway, I’m getting off topic…BEST DAMN BAGUETTE I’VE EVER EATEN!  Gods, it was crispy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside.  Smothered with butter, light/crispy lettuce, oh-so-creamy&fresh mozzarella, and that olive tapenade!  Oh that tapenade was sooo flavorful and abundant and the sundried/roasted tomatoes just pushed this sandwich over the edge.  We passed around the stuffed baguette and all you could hear were moans of pleasure (seriously.  PLEASURE.) coming from three girls’ mouths.  That’s right.  Wish you were that baguette, don’t you?!  Well too freaking bad!!  You will never be as delicious!!!  Hahaha :P

And then it was off to Miss Manon for some cheese quiche and pain au chocolat (while still munching on the sandwich of course).  Over to La Cafeotheque for some coffee and quiche.  So this sounds so generic.  But the food and coffee was far from it.  The latte I got was so carefully made and spot on.

And that quiche (*wipes drool from mouth*)…perfectly light/fluffy (IT’S SO FLUFFY I’M GONNA DIE) with just the right amount of ham layered in it to give it that boost.  Bites of that heavenly quiche followed by a little of the fresh salad with a simple vinaigrette, only to be brought all together with a few sips of my latte.  Ahh, perfection :)

We brought our quaint group of 3 to Notre Dame where the picture taking commenced but we were in too much of a meandering mood to go inside and be confined to a certain space.

So we took off again to the streets of plants & puppies :)  Can I just say that my allergies were already killing me.  I pretty much sneezed all day from the moment I stepped out of the airport.  That street didn’t help any but damn those puppies were cute! :)

The Louvre called our name and we headed over to take pictures of the outside and went to a few other places but I’m too tired to remember what they were.

Oh well.  I’m going to have to stop here and explain our wonderful evening as well as today’s festivities next time :)  I’ve been blogging since 6:30am and I’m damn tired.  The others have awaken and it’s time for me to get my grub because I AM SO HUNGRY!!!

Overall, it’s been great so far.  I’m loving every minute of it.  Can’t wait for more today :)