Excursions to Paris and Troyes

Salut!

Well, as I said in my last post, my 2 weeks of holidays were only finished briefly and this is because I had to meet up with my uni lecturer to in Paris to discuss my time so far, and my upcoming university project.

So bright dark and early on Wednesday 5th November I was boarding the train to Paris, and I wouldn't be returning to Guingamp until Sunday evening. I managed to get the time off work as it was mainly for university work. After the three and a half hour journey, I arrived in Paris Montparnasse and had about 6 hours to kill, so instead of navigating the metro, I decided to pass the time by walking through Paris towards the Seine, and trying to find a Kiko on the way!

I flânered through the streets on Paris, managing not to take any wrong turnings, and ended up at the love lock bridge. I tried to find the lock me and Lewis put there last year, but I would have been there forever. I walked over the bridge, pausing to take in the view of the Seine and Le Louvre from across the river. 

There's something quite peaceful about walking around leisurely in a busy city. I felt like it really gave me a bit of time to breathe after being so caught up in everything since moving abroad. I sat around people-watching in Le Louvre for what seemed like hours people watching, and it was so relaxing, watching people eat food on their lunch break, rushing to take photos before moving onto the next tourist spot and people hastily moving towards the exits, probably running for the next train, whilst I was calm and still watching the hustle and bustle. It reminded me of the line from that poem, "What is this life if full of care? We have no time to stand and stare...".

Afterwards I decided to walk to the hostel where I was staying for a couple of nights to drop my bags off before meeting my tutor and classmates. On the way, much to my surprise I saw three "women of the night" only it wasn't the night, it was mid afternoon, in broad daylight. What on earth?!!!!

Then I caught the Metro to Saint Michel and waited by the fountain for a good half an hour before anyone else from uni turned up. The fountain was quite spectacular compared to street corners at home. 

After our meeting our lecturer, myself and my friend Dan went for a stroll around and Dan took me to the bookshop Shakespeare and Company, somewhere I have read about a few times, and always wanted to have a peak inside. It was so quaint, and for the second time on my year abroad I felt like I was in a bookshop in Diagon Alley!

After heading back to the hostel for a second time for Dan to drop off his luggage, we headed back out to see the tower all lit up. Not quite as good as the Bonfire Night I was missing back home, but it was definitely a close second!

Me and Dan spent ages trying to get decent pictures of the Eiffel Tower, hence the amount of them...

...but this is the best by far!

The next day we decided to go to Le cimetière du Père-Lachaise which was as Dan put it "strangely beautiful". I didn't take any photos as it really didn't sit right with me. We walked around for hours, paying our respects to Edith Piaf and Jim Morrison, but I was disgusted to see people clambering over graves, or standing on them in order to get a better picture. Have some respect! We continued to walk and talk for a while, and then we had to leave to meet another classmate, Izzie. 

Once we met up, we headed straight for the Champs Elysees. First stop M&S! It made me miss home so much when I saw all the food that it's so easy to buy from home! Then we had enough time for a brief picture of the Arc de Triomphe, before meeting up with our lecturer for a second time.

After our little meeting, our lecturer took us around a few of his favourite places in Paris. We headed for The Pantheon which was really interesting. We found out that very important people who have impacted on France in some way get buried here, which I had never heard of before. I felt quite honoured to be able to stand at the tombs of the Curies particularly, who's work has had such an effect worldwide on their discoveries in medicine.

We walked through Paris and ended up settling in the Jardin du Luxembourg, which felt sooo Parisian on a crisp November day at dusk, sat on the little green chairs. After an evening of crepes, baguettes and fresh cream cakes, it was our last night in Paris before moving on to Troyes, where Dan is spending his year abroad, the following day.

We were so tired by the time that we got to Troyes that we just popped out for essentials (baguette) and then spent the evening watching Love Actually. (Well it is nearly Christmas!)

On Saturday Dan decided to host a dinner party for all the assistants in Troyes, so we popped into Troyes to get some ingredients. On the way to the marked we bypassed H&M, and I had to go in because it was the first clothes shop I'd seen in France that we also have at home. Anyway...we got all our ingredients from the market, fresh fruit and veg, and it was also an opportunity to interact with French people!

We walked back to Dan's and got to work on chopping the veggies for the shakshuka we were making whilst listening to Abba. As you do! We also decided to make Eton Mess for pudding. It was more like Eton slop as the local food shop didn't have the powder to make the cream whipped cream, but still, tasted delicious! 

The dinner party was great and the food went down a treat. It was so nice to meet lots of new people and they were all lovely. We spoke French all night which was exactly what I needed! The following morning it was time to get the train home. I was a very sad to be leaving, but my time in Paris and Troyes made me feel a bit more positive about my time abroad, and that's never a bad thing!

That's all for now! I'm slowly catching up on myself on this blog, but it may take some time yet!

A bientôt! 

Jess
xx