Paris...with my sister, JESSIE!!

1. Jessie on the metro...lookin' good after no sleep.


2. Jessie, Natalie, Caro, and Maris a Paris!!


3. Jessie and Maria at "Le Roi Lion"!


4. Natalie, Jessie, and Maria in front of Sacre Coeur cathedral.


5. Natalie et Jessie a Paris!!!



















Weekend of March 21-23

On Saturday afternoon, Maria, Candice, and I took the TGV (super-fast train) to Paris where we met up with one of Candice's friends from the US, who is studying in Paris. We spent the evening wandering around Paris (5 hours of walking!) and we saw the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, and walked up the Champs-Elysee to the Arc de Triomphe! And ate two pastries each for dinner! That night we stayed at Candice's friend's apartment.

On Sunday morning, Maria and I got up early and took the metro/RER to the airport where we met up with Jessie! After trading her a pain au chocolat for an excellent Taco del Mar burrito (they don't eat burritos here!!!!!!!!), we returned to the apartment to leave off our stuff before joining the other girls for lunch in a pizzeria. After lunch we met up with an ex exhange student, Caro, and hung out for around an hour. Then Maria and I walked Jessie to the theatre where they were showing "Le Roi Lion" (the Lion King)--and surprised her when we pulled out tickets for the matinee! We all loved it!! It was in French, but since we know the story, it wasn't hard to understand. Afterwards we bought the cd and discovered that we saw the Original Cast! sweet!
Jessie hadn't slept at all on the plane, so she was getting pretty tired at this point. However, we managed to get her up the hill to the Sacre Coeur Cathedral, where we caught some of the Sunday Mass.
We ate dinner with our friends (who had seen the French musical, "Cleopatre" while we were at our show), then they (and Maria) returned to Angers by train. Jessie and I dragged ourselves to the youth hostel and slept very soundly.

On Monday, I skipped my one class and stayed in Paris to hang out with Jessie. We ate breakfast (patisseries!!) in the Parc Buttes-Charmont, which is enormous and absolutely gorgeous. We spent some time exploring it before returning to get our packs at the hostel. Then we took the metro to the Notre Dame Cathedral, so Jessie could see it. At 2:00pm, we took the RER train to Arpajon, where Jessie's friend (who was an exchange student in our family last month), Aloise, lives. I spent the afternoon with Jessie, Aloise, and Aloise's mother, before taking the train back to Angers. (And then writing a 4 page paper for the next day...)

Jessie will be coming to stay with me in Angers on March 29th! :)

-Natalie

For more pictures from Paris, check out this link!!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007195&id=1451010052&l=5b9c42507f