Coucou

I had a CRAZY BUSY week this week, trying to pack in everything I've been putting off before I leave Paris. I did get better but had to take a day off of school to do so.

THURSDAY: Went to Heaven on Earth a.k.a Giverny, to see Claude Monet's house and gardens. This place was absolutely BREATHTAKING! I saw the bridge (Pont Japonais) and willows and what I like to think are the great-grand children of the water lillies he so often painted. The place was bedecked in tulips and daffodils of every color, daisies, pansies, everything. Mom, you'd know the names of all of them no doubt. And you would have loved this place.
We hit the basilica of Saint Denis on our way back to Paris. It's where all the French kings were buried. It's actually quite ghetto, not gonna lie. Used to be really pretty I'm sure, before the strung out inner-city kids tagged every sculpture and tomb in the place, probably for some gang initiation. Saint Denis is the armpit of France.
When we got back, Eurah, Diane and I played tourist and climbed the Eiffel Tower for a sunset view and the Arc de Triomphe for the nightscape of the city. So when you count the killer steps at Chatlet metro station, all in all we mounted well over 900 stairs that day.

YESTERDAY: Oh so French. I mean, I wore a red and white striped shirt! Come on! I went back to the Rodin Museum for one last walk among his incredible sculptures. Funny: when I got on the train after leaving the museum, I sat down next to a guy who was in the exact same position---I kid you not---as "The Thinker," Rodin's most famous statue. I picked up some groceries, dumped them off at my apartment, and went to Trocadero Park (10 min. walk) to sit under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and write in my journal and read "Around the World in 80 Days" (French author!), which I had bought for 2 euros at the American bookstore before going grocery shopping. A couple hours later, I went home, ate dinner by myself (actually this whole day was by myself), and got dressed to go out with some friends and friends of friends. I met up with them at Place St. Michel (kind of over my Notre Dame), which is apparently THE rendezvous spot if you're young and hip and live in Paris. Who knew. I'm discovering all these things seriously the last week I'm here. Like the fact that there's an RER (train, not metro) station 5 seconds from my front door. All this time I've been taking the metro (5 min. walk) when I could have been taking the RER for a much nicer view. Oh well. Anyway, we sat outside at a cafe and drank over prived drinks. Monique and I shared one to ease the pain a bit. Come 11:00 or so, we went over to Showcase, a club that is seriously UNDER Pont Alexandre, the giant bridge that crosses the Seine over by Place de la Concorde. Definitely the chic-est club I've ever been to and the best part was that it was free before midnight. We did more talking than dancing, which was fine by me, and called it quits around 1:00. And now I'm sitting at home trying to do a number of things, including packing and researching for a report I have to give tomorrow. Oh joy.