The weekend went by way too quickly. Friday night we all bucked up like the good campers we were and got ready to go out. Emma and I were so tired but after chugging coffee and talking Julie into coming up we got in the mood. We made it to Rue de Buci an hour and a half earlier than last week but still ended up not making it out of the house until 1am. Before that there was a lot of loud jabbering and dancing to Britney. We've decided that the waiting for people is lame because the group dispersed the minute we got out the door. Never again! Pretty much the same group as last time followed Carter to Rue de Princesse and found ourselves at a place called The Frog and Princess. It was insanely crowded and their were weirdo and not-so-weirdo boys everywhere. I have been such the 'mom' or so they tell me, that I haven't had time to relax and just have fun. I'm constantly checking to make sure everyone's stuff is in my purse, that we all have drinks, that no ones wandered off, etc. That's ok, it's my job here. Anyway, because we'd made it out so late everything felt rushed because most bars close at 2am and this one was one of them. We chugged the one drink we'd all gotten and tried to figure out where everyone else had gone off too. Surprise, surprise we found ourselves back at the Dungeon. Maybe before I leave here I'll try to figure out what it's actually called. We were only there long enough to pee when Julie and I decided we needed food. We found a place actually serving late and paid a ridiculous amount for chicken and risotto, which we shared. After chatting up the three boys next to us we bailed. Emma wanted to dance so we found Chelsea and Ruchita at a cafe across the street. They were headed back to the dungeon with some boys they'd met. One of them was SO cute and I found out he's an American from New York...with a girlfriend. Darn. Anyway, Julie was over it and so we left not too long after our arrival...again. We were out until 4am but I have no idea where the time went. It was so much fun just talking to random people, hanging out with the girls, and feeling the energy of the city. Side note - Obama has been in town and Jenn's boyfriend Matt ran into them in a store near our apartments. I was SO JEALOUS. That would have been awesome.
The next morning we'd planned on going to Versailles for the afternoon but it was raining by the time we got up. Curses! We decided to go to the underground mall at Les Halles instead and shop. I got some awesome jeans because the ones I brought are now too big. Um, yay! Julie and I got food at McDonalds. It was tasty! We wandered the streets for a little bit since the rain had stopped because there are so many different shops to catch one's attention. They decided they wanted to see the Pompidou Center, which houses the Museum of Modern Art or something like that. I was grouchy about the whole thing since I had no idea what on earth we'd see there. I was even more grouchy paying 12euro for a mystery museum. I tried not to be too much of a pain until the nastiness wore off. We bought tickets, met Rachel there, and started the tour. The first floor, which is really like the 4th in reality, is filled with depressing, disturbing, and totally wack video, sound, and visual installations all under the title of 'feminism'. People are sick! There was a video of some naked girl with a barbed wire hula hoop on the beach. There were other rooms where there were 5 screens full of naked people doing odd things with chickens that I'd rather not describe. There were interesting parts that weren't so nauseating but modern art is seriously weird. The next floor up went back to somewhat normal and that was where all the Calder, Matisse, and Picasso was situated. Those were pretty cool but I was dehydrated and queasy from the other exhibits so Lauren and I decided to head downstairs. Right after we went to this creperie across the street that had a fixed menu for pretty cheap and ate dinner. We had to be up super early the next morning for the Loire Valley so we hung out at home and got some sleep.
Our meeting time was supposed to be at 7:30. I got up and had to rush around because we hadn't bothered to fix lunch the night before and I was on a slow roll. Julie and I were last on the bus. Whoops. We set off immediately for Chartres Cathedral which is an hour and half outside of Paris. It was SO COLD. We trooped through quietly since mass was going on and then Ruchita, Laura, Ouida, Julie and I parked ourselves at a cafe for breakfast and coffee. The cathedral was nice but its a church, I've seen alot. The only entertaining ones now are the baroque-style ones because they're just hideously over the top. Onward for two hours to the Loire Valley and Chateau Chambord. I slept everytime we set foot on the bus...something about the rocking... The chateau was seriously impressive. Built as a little 'ol hunting lodge for Francois I, it's one of the prettiest castles I have ever seen. The key element is a double helix staircase thats rumored to have been designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. It was pretty awesome, and we could have played on it for hours. Our guide took us on a tour and we ran out of time so we didn't get to explore hardly at all. That was a disappointment but I'll recover I suppose. We ate our lunch on a bridge overlooking the river and that was not at all a disappointment especially as I munched on the raspberry beignet I bought in the market. Rip van Winkled our 20-minute-drive-which-was-actually-an-hour to the winery we were headed to for a tour. When we finally arrived it was once again cold and slightly rainy and even more cold as we headed into the cave that they'd dug out of the mountain for storing the wine. Our guide was SO CUTE! The winery has been in his family for about 500 years or something like that, handed down from father to son and so on. I can't even begin to imagine having a legacy like that. After the tour and explanation we got on with the good part - the tasting. We got to try 11 different kinds. Lauren kindly let me have the remainder of the ones she didn't like. When we got to the sparkling wine our guide popped the cork towards the ceiling and it ended up ricocheting off of Cathy's head. It was hilarious. There were many purchases made and we loaded up to go home. On the way back the only road through was blocked by a bad accident so there were multiple u-turns and detours through fields. We decided to open one of the sparkling wines which managed to explode all over my hoodie that was being used to reign in the cork. Nice. We passed the bottle between the 5 of us and commenced with bus microphone karaoke. Karl, our director, started it off with "Milkshake" which sent us all into hysterics. We sang for hours...a little Backstreet Boys, a little Spice Girls, some Beatles. It was magnificent fun. I even sang out loud, by myself, which is insane for me as most of you know. It was fantastic. After a long time we all shutup and went to sleep. It was super late by the time we got back and most of us had class in the morning and the start of our extra hour of phonetics so we called it a night.
We woke up to dampness but no rain. I headed to class without my hoodie and boy did I regret it. It was raining by the time I got done with our test and also freezing. I trekked all the way to the phonetics class in the rain (not technically, I used the metro, but still) I can't even explain why tape recorders freak me out but they do. I was laughed at one time when friends suggested I get a tape recorder to get down writing ideas that come into my head at random times. I said I couldn't because the moment I hit record my mind goes blank. It still holds true today. My phonetics class might help me get over it, or it could be a total disaster. Hopefully tomorrow goes more smoothly. I stopped at the store on the way home, since I was already wet and passing right by it, to get something for dinner so I wouldn't have to leave again. I've now spent the remainder of the evening being stressed out about the dog situation at home and doing homework and blog. Fantastic. Too much time to think, too little ways to communicate with home...always a bad combo. I really really hope it doesn't rain tomorrow.
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