The very next day we decided to make a second trip up to Sacre Coeur/Montmartre because Julie and Rachel hadn't gone the first time. The rest of us also wanted to spend some more time in that gorgeous area of Paris with windy streets and square-filled artists. I wanted to do some shopping at H&M so I met Julie outside our apartment and we walked up to Saint Placide. This took quite a bit longer than I'd anticipated so we were running behind practically before we began as we were to meet the girls at 3pm. I HATE H&M still but I did find a fantastic black dress to wear on nights we go out. Julie and I rushed back to the metro and rode it all the way up to Northern Paris because Emma, Rachel, and Lauren had already headed in that direction. The metro was terrible, crowded and hot and smelly. We skipped one transfer train but pushed onto the next one for the short one-stop ride to Anvers. We were pretty much about to faint from heat stroke so we stopped and purchased multiple beverages for the trip up to the cathedral. We met the girls at the top and stopped for some photo opportunities. While we were hanging out there was this street performer who could spin a basketball on pretty much anything...WHILE climbing up the giant lamppost. It was cool. We were hungry so we dragged the other girls to Place du Tertre where all of the street artists gather. There are restaurants in the center of the square as well for outdoor dining. After perusing every menu in site we ended up at Chez Eugene in the center of the square. I had thrown a minor tantrum because I did not want anymore paninis or crepes but I settle myself down when I saw the menu was quite varied. We got squished into a table meant for four and the French ladies next to us muttered something about us being sardines. They were incredibly sweet to us and we took over an extra table of theirs when they left. Dinner was amazing. I got the Confit du Canard...duck leg and it was seriously good. We got little carafes of wine and had great conversation. The end of our dinner was terribly exciting as Rachel got pooped on by the same kind of evil bird who stalks me through my apartment window. She kept talking about scrubbing her arm while slathering on mass amounts of hand sanitizer. We did a little shopping in the souvenir stores and Rachel and I got Gelato - Nutella Gelato. Yum! We had a little time before we were supposed to meet Ruchita for wine on the Seine so we sat with everyone else on the steps up to Sacre Coeur. Lauren, who was still sick, managed to croak out a few practice round of her oral presentation for class. I somehow got the giggles and couldn't stop laughing. Finally it was nearly 9:30 and I insisted it was time to go. We picked up wine from home and Emma, Lauren and I went to meet Ruchita at the Saint Germain stop. We were nearly to the Seine when three men stopped us. We figured out that they were inviting us to their 'accommodation' meaning their apartment and I put my foot down about going to anyone's apartment. We ditched them and made it to the Pont Des Arts to fulfill the promise of seeing what all the fuss was about with the rest of the locals. The Pont is one of the best bridges in Paris. It's a wooden pedestrian bridge situated directly between the ornately carved Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris, and a view of the Eiffel Tower which sparkles for 10 minutes every hour. Everyone on the bridge is sitting in groups with wine and/or picnic items, playing music, talking...it's fantastic. We pick a place and sit down trying not to gripe about the lack of cute boys in the immediate vicinity. As we would learn time and again, the weirdos will come to you without fail. After awhile of girl talk and bonding two moderately cute boys join us for conversation. Matteo and Greg. I chat with Matteo about politics and Sarkozy for awhile, who knows where the other conversation was headed. They attempted to punk some of our wine, a talent specifically reserved for Frenchman, it wouldn't be the last time that happened. At some point Ruchita and Julie had to pee so they followed Greg because he said he knew where the bathrooms were. Thankfully I didn't join them because the 'bathrooms' were some bushes off of the bridge. Classy! Not only are we swigging from the bottles we're peeing on the streets...actually, that makes us more Parisian than anything. Its starting to get late and the bridge is clearing out when we notice we're out of wine. THANK GOODNESS there are hobos selling bottles of wine on the bridge. That's what I call service. We purchase one and decide to find a bar somewhere else because now I have to pee as well. As we're trying to leave we get accosted by random people wanting us to smoke weed out of a hookah. Thanks but no thanks. These same fellows happened to have a 'preservative' (aka condom) on them when Julie asked. Why she asked I will never know because she freaked out the minute it was produced. Hilarious. All of a sudden the boys disappear so we ditch them to go find someplace that Ruchita knows about. All of a sudden they reappear and jog after us up the street. I need a bathroom really badly by this time so we magically arrive near Rue de Buci and the bar that we always manage to happen upon when it's time to use the facilities. I remember it because there's a creepy painting of a peeing little boy on the door. We somehow manage to convince them we're going home, which WAS the plan at the time, at least for Emma, who decided it was late enough for her. Ruchita, Julie and I decided we were hungry and I remembered that the Dungeon always serves pizza for decently cheap. How we find ourselves there so often I will never know. Maybe because its open til 5am?? Anyway, we order a pizza and the rest of the night passed until somehow its 6am, daylight, and I am making the trek back to our apartment with Julie. It was a FUN FUN evening.
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