The Last Paris Post

me cyling!

Hi everyone!

So the blog is a day late today but I have a good reason (like always), it was my very last weekend here in Paris and I spent it in the best way possible - with Lukas. It was a special weekend for us as things began here just a couple of months ago and it was our last chance to explore some more.

He arrived Friday afternoon and after taking the metro back to mine we cooked dinner. Lukas isn’t a vegetarian (or to be more specific, dairy free pescatarian) like me but fortunately he is very open to trying veggie-friendly food, which makes cooking something we both enjoy a lot easier. We made a delicious vegetable chili and served it with quinoa and garlic bread and then we took a blanket up to the roof to enjoy a few coronas while watching the sun set. That night we went to a bar round the corner from mine, had a few cocktails and played a few games of cards (I won, of course). Lots of people seemed to be fascinated by us playing, which made me realise I’ve never seen anyone playing cards in France. At one point we were interrupted by a guy who wanted to show us some magic tricks which was a slightly awkward experience as he failed on his first attempt and kept calling the ace an ‘ass’ which made us both giggle like children. We ended the night by watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Day which is one of my favourite films and Lukas had never seen it. I’m not sure he enjoyed it as much as I did but I’m a hopeless romantic.

rowing at Versailles

Saturday morning, we had a wander round our local market and picked up some olives, strawberries and other yummy things. Then we went to the shops to get some more picnic supplies, which mainly consisted of dip, because we are obsessed with dip. We then took the bus to Versailles which was pretty unremarkable until the end when a woman turned around and asked where in England we were from. After a quick conversation we discovered she was from near Bath, and then later that she was actually from Pensford! It was uncanny! The day in Versailles was absolutely perfect. We had our picnic in the gardens, hired bikes and cycled around for a bit, and then hired a boat and went rowing on the lake and ate our strawberries and grapes. I was surprisingly good at rowing and Lukas managed to get there in the end after watching how I did it!

Saturday afternoon, I surprised Lukas with a night in the hotel round the corner: here in the flat I have a tiny bed so that isn’t ideal. He loved the surprise and we spent the night munching on crisps and watching Merlin – heaven. Sunday morning, we checked out of the hotel and went for a swim. It was quite eventful; we had our first fight (we both think we started it which is a change!), did some gymnastics and then an alarm started blaring and everyone had to get out of the pool. 15 minutes after freezing in my bikini, the alarm stopped and we were none the wiser about what had happened.  We ate sushi in the sunshine for lunch and then headed to the catacombs, which are the largest in the world according to a sign we saw. It was eerie down there but really interesting, I’d recommend it as long as you’re not claustrophobic or afraid of bones.

Versailles!

Sunday evening, we went to Montmartre, explored the flea market and had dinner and got chatting to this lovely French man who was impressed that we ate mussels how they’re supposed to be eaten – with another shell, not a fork. We then wandered up to the Sacre Coeur, watched the sunset and listened to some musicians who were busking. We ended the night last night watching more Merlin and eating more strawberries.

Today was really sad, Lukas left and we were both gutted that our time in Paris is over. We’ve said we’ll definitely come back some time next year so that’ll be lovely!

So, I have three days left of school and that’s it. My year abroad will be over. I can’t believe it.

Thanks for reading all this time.

Bisous a tous!

xxx