cousin katy

Changed the theme of the blog (plus the snow because it snowed in Paris last week on Monday!)  Like the old one better?  I like the other because it goes all the way across the page and makes my posts seem shorter, but I felt like I had to squint to read the page.  Did you have to do that?  I like both, let me know which is easier for you. 

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My cousin Katy, who is studying in Madrid came to visit me in Paris the first weekend of December.  It was quite the weekend trying to pack everything one should see in a two day period.  Which museums, which monuments are the best to see in Paris when your time here is so short.  We were able to get a lot done and see quite a bit.  She arrived late Wednesday night, where I waited at my metro station for an hour as she got lost in the metro.  Finally we met up after an anticipated reunion.

Thursday I skipped school and took my cousin around to certain places that her mom, my aunt, recommended that we visit.  One of her recommendations wasLadurée, infamous for their macaroons and hot chocolate.  It was all quite tasty and quite pricey, but it was all worth the calories and the price for a authentic Parisian dessert — for breakfast.  That was probably the more unordinary thing we did apart from the monuments we saw later that day, which included: Notre-Dame, St. Michel, St. Germain, Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomph, and the Champs-Elysées.  Pretty good in one day. 

Friday we went to Sacré-Coeur and attempted to eat at a Korean barbeque place, but to find out that it had closed out!  I just past the place the week before and I thought it was open.  Zut!  Instead we at the gourmet supermarket, Le Bon Marché and walked home in the rain.  Cousin went to the Louvre that night with a friend and after we met for dinner and watched Dexter. 

Saturday cousin went to Versailles in the morning while I went to Jean-Baptist’sspectacle where his school had their christmas performance.  Do you know what they did?!  They were mimes!!  Every Monday this semester they had “mime-time” (that’s what I like to call it) and I did wonder why they were learning such an activity.  It sounds pretty cool and I am sure I would like my kids to do it, but definitely not an American activity, so I definitely felt a little odd towards the activity.  The efforts of their miming changed my mind and miming is seriously cool.  It was so cute to see a bunch of three to five year olds performing these mime sequences about Christmas time.  They were all supposed to be les lutins, elves that were helping Père Noel prepare for Christmas.  The best one was when the class created a sleigh with their bodies for Santa Clause.  It was unexpected, looked really cool, and impressive to watch a bunch of little kids construct a sleigh with reindeer! for Santa Clause. 

Saturday afternoon, met up with cousin Katy and we attempted to go to the Catacombs, but they were closed, so we just walked around the bottom half of Paris until I had to go babysit that evening.  Not so great since my cousin was here, but luckily she had another friend here and they went out to dinner.  Sunday, was free museum Sundays and we hit the Rodin museum to see the Gates of Hell and the Thinker.  After, we went to Angelina’s, another aunt recommended eatery.  I think this place is the super place where they are known for their hot-chocolate.  I was kind of hot-chocolated out, so I went for the white hot chocolate and my cousin got the regular kind and I was able to try it.  My white was definitely not as great as regular hot chocolate and the hot chocolate was better than Ladurée.  In the afternoon, we went to La Marailles where we window shopped and picked up falafels for a semi-early dinner before returning to my house to watch multiple episodes of Dexter.  It was an early turn it because it was a Sunday (much is closed on Sundays), my cousin was tired from stuffing Paris in three days, and she had to wake around 500am for her flight back to Madrid.  We thought the metro/RER opened at a certain time, but alas, it did not open at the designated hour posted on the internet, thus my cousin had to the expensive cab ride to the airport after being rudely rejected at an information kiosk in the metro. 

Last week in Paris until I return to my comforts in Fresno.