Scones!

Salut!

Alors, aujourd’hui, je vais ecrire en français un petit peu :) J’espere que ça te derange pas trop! (Inquietez pas, je vais ecrire apres en anglais pour ceux qui savez pas le français.)

J’ai lavé ma voiture aujourd’hui! Ca prends beaucoup de temps, malheursement, alors je n’ai pas beaucoup fait à partir de ça. En fin, j’ai rien accompli aujourd’hui sauf faire le menage. Apres diner, j’ai fait la cuisine—j’ai fait les scones de myrtille avec un glaçage de citron. Ca m’a fait beaucoup de plaisir, parce que je vais les manger pour petit dejeuner demain matin! Ils sont très bons—mon frère m’a dit ça et il dit jamais les choses gentils au sujet de la cuisine que je fais! xD Mon premier cours de l’ecole à l’universite est demain matin, à 8h. Je ne suis pas pret!

En fin, j’ai dit au revoir à Via et maintenant, je vais au lit! :D

*****

Okay, In ENGLISH now! :D I just wanted to practice my French, since the only time I write in French is when I talk to my French friends… unfortunately, that’s never frequently enough, due to my busy schedule and the 6 hour time difference. Anway, I hope that didn’t annoy you too much, and any of you that speak French, feel free to correct me ;)

Today, I ended up washing my car, though I didn’t originally plan to. That took up most of the day, so I really didn’t do much else! I didn’t end up accomplishing anything today except a few chores. After dinner, I baked—I made blueberry scones with lemon icing, which are DELICIOUS, and a smoothie with leftover blueberries, some raspberries, strawberries, and cranberry juice. The scones will DEFINITELY be my breakfast tomorrow, and even my brother (who never compliments my cooking!) said they were good! xD

My first class at the community college is tomorrow morning at 8, so I have to get up reallyyyy early :( Luckily, I’ll have scones to look forward to as breakfast, instead of cereal! I’m not ready for this at all, so I really hope I’ll survive—I guess I’ll talk about it tomorrow?

After all that, I went over to Via’s to say goodbye, but didn’t cry. I’m still trying not to think about the fact that so many of my friends are so far away. GAHH MY LIFE IS BORING!

I’m going to bed now :)

BONSOIR/GOODNIGHT!

-Aly

P.S. What would you say if I make EVERY blog post from this month a food-title? I think I’ll make it my Thing.

Dreamland

Hello again!

I’ve put this off for a few days now, but it’s about time that I sit down and actually write this blog, so here it goes.

I’ve been here for five months now, and in that time, quite a bit has changed. The most obvious is, of course, language-wise, but I’ve also gained many amazing friends and experiences.

Some things haven’t quite been what I expected them to be, but some, such as the relationships I’ve built, have been so much more important to me than I expected. I’ve spent these last two months (ever since the last vacation) in my own personal version of heaven, so busy with my French friends that I didn’t have time to miss home. And now, I’ve moved in with my friend Charlotte—I finally get to experience a “host family” with somebody my age, which is quite fun.

I could get all sappy here, but the video I posted on the 21st shows it pretty well—all that video was taken in a span of four days, and it’s kind of a present for the Frenchies, with whom I’ve passed so many good days lately.

OH! In other news, I only have 2 days of school left. And then I’m off to Bordeaux again, and the final few weeks in June, I’ll spend with Charlotte (B.) and my other friends. I’m so not ready for this to end, it’s just TOO GOOD.

♥,
-Aly

Trips to McDonalds/Quick: 12
(*hides in shame*)

Kick Ass Frenchies

JP, Lisa, Nolwenn, me, and Cindy before Kick Ass :D
(Picture credit: Jean Paul, except I think Charlotte took this one.)

Hello again!

I know, you probably feel like you're hearing from me a lot lately. This is due to the fact that I've decided I really need to use my time better, and I've just kind of needed to write on here lately. I think this will be my goal for the next 2 months, so you should be hearing a lot more from me! (I've actually got plans for some things for this blog; check for updates and interesting things! :D)
I have FIVE more postcards. I sent 4, then 10 last week, and today another 11. I lie, it's technically two, since I owe three of you a postcard! Though I may cave in and buy more, if I get more people that want them. So, uhh, seriously, ASK IF YOU WANT A POSTCARD! I would love to send one! Also, I love postcards. Even with pears on them-- thank you, Katherine! (She is awesome! Go check out her blog full of pretty things, happy thoughts, and Grand Schemes :D)

I've been hanging out with my friends lately! They have completely pulled through for me on things we've mentioned doing, such as going to Nice and having sleepovers and such.

I spent Saturday hanging out in Centre-ville with Nolwenn, Lisa, Charlotte H., and Jean-Paul. We went to lunch (I ate another American, you guys. I admit, I really just wanted to say I've eaten more Americans. Such a cannibal...!), took pictures, wandered around, and finally joined Cindy at the Cinemas to see Kick-Ass. I thought it was awesome, but I enjoy such nerds-conquering-the-world-I-mean-being-Nerdfighters type movies. I kept dying of laughter, even though I didn't even understand what exactly they were saying ALL the time. After all that, we had ice cream and hung out more. We managed to convince people walking by we were insane, as well as stalk a marching band in Period Dress (I still don't exactly understand why there were so many people in Old-Fashioned Clothes were wandering around... and all the BOOM!s that weren't fireworks?), and various other fun things. Oh, Frenchies, how much joy you bring me...
[I took pictures! They're on facebook.]

JP, Charlotte H., Lisa, Nolwenn, Cindy

I'm going to Nice with Charlotte B. on Wednesday! We're going to tour the Old part of the town, eating the Best Ice Cream in Nice, and I'm spending the night at her house! (Why, yes, I do have school Thursday. *feels B)

OH! And tomorrow, I've got TWO CLASSES (technically 3, but 2 hours of French except one hour is with the Premier ES1, and 2 hours of "hande." [Handball, they always leave off the -ball.])! After which, me and the Frenchies are going to McDonald's (I think that will be the 10th time), then the Theatre to see Mozart's Flute Enchantee. It will be AWESOME! There's ACROBATS!!!!! (I hope I'm allowed to bring my camera because I definitely am.)

I'll tell you about tomorrow and Wednesday as soon as possible-- hopefully with pictures! But at the moment, I have to run errands and do Important Things, so I'm going to peace out and not include any details about why today is fail, but in a way that I don't really care about because I'm in a great mood. :D

-Aly

Trips to McDonalds/Quick: 9 [this is including during the last vacation, so this is the as-of-today count]

Guest Post: Insaf sur Les Etats-Unis

Hello, everybody!

I have a special treat today! Hopefully this will make up for yesterday's shortcomings...

In lieu of starting my one long-overdue vacation post and my newer ones, today I bring you a GUEST POST! My friends Insaf has a blog (c'est en français), and we've agreed to exchange guest posts. I'll write mine for her (in French, of course), and she has written one for me. Without further ado, I bring you Insaf's guest post with my translations into English. Enjoy!
*****
Les études consacrées aux représentations européennes des Etats-Unis sont nombreuses :
The devoted studies of the European representations of the United States are numberous:

elles concernent bien des disciplines et se partagent le plus souvent entre l’analyse d’une fascination...
they affect the discipline and share themselves most often with the analysis of a fascination...

et celle d’une répulsion.
and one of repulsion.

D'un côté, les Etats-Unis est vu comme un pays où tu as toutes tes chances d'atteindre les sommets:
on nomme cela le "rêve américain",cette idée selon laquelle n'importe quelle personne vivant aux États-Unis , par son travail et sa détermination, peut devenir prospère et importante.

On one side, the United States is seen as a country where you have all the chances to reach the heights
we name those the "American dream", this idea according to the one any person living in the United States, by their work and their determination, can become prosperous and important.

Ce pays semble si mystérieux et passionnant vu D'Europe. Un pays où tout semble possible, un pays à part. Le pays le plus riche, le plus grand, le plus important, tout le monde souhaite y mettre les pieds un jour. New-York et ses bâtiments; Central Park..., Los Angeles et ses stars, le Texas et ses cow-boys, Miami et ses plages, Las Vegas et ses casinos, San franscisco et son pont rouge ... font rêver et intrigues.

That country seems so mysterious and fascinating seen from Europe. A country where all seems possible, a country apart. The country that is the richest, the biggest, the most important; everybody wishes to set foot there one day. New York and its buildings, Central Park..., Los Angeles and its celebrities, Texas and its cowboys, Miami and its beaches, Las Vegas and its casinos, San Franscisco and its red bridge... create dreams and intrigue.

Mais les Etats-Unis sont aussi souvent perçu comme étant un pays où les inégalités règnent, où les
gens n'ont pas d'hygiène de vie, toujours en train de faire la fête et de ne pas manger sainement,la
gastronomie n'étant pas leur point fort ... (mc'do par là, mc'do par si ^^).

But the United States are also often seen as though to be a country where inequality reigns, where the people do not have a healthy lifestyle, always trying to have parties and not eat healthfully, the cuisine is not their strong point.... (always McDonald's ^^).

Le chômage est élevé, le système de santé est incompréhensible (même si un homme censé vient
de changer cela) ,

les gens sont virés de leur maison comme des mal-propres, les bavures policières
sont trop souvent présentes, l'obesité est un problème de santé qui touchent beaucoup de gens
telle est la vision péjorative qu'ont une majeure partie de la population Française.

The unemployment is high, the health care system is incomprehensible (even if one man is supposed to change that), the people are evicted from their homes like garbage, the police brutality is too often present, obesity is a health problem which touches many people is a major part of the belittling view of the French.

Les Etats-Unis possède donc nombre de qualités et de défauts et reste donc un pays comme les autres !

The United States possesses, therefore, a number of qualities and defects and stays therefore a country like the others!

*******

Okay, guys, so there you have it! The thoughts of a French girl about us. What do you think? Any responses?

And, what do you think of more guest posts? Tell me! :D

<3,

-Aly

Day Ten: Fire Dancers

Jan. 1, 2010

Hello!

I still owe you, my dedicated readers (=P), the rest of the posts leading up to this week.

I’ll start where I left off from the last post; refresh your memory if you need to.

This evening (except it was still 2009 at that point), Dad and I headed over to the Roqui’s for dinner. We have been corresponding with the Roquis since sometime last January. I was supposed to live with them originally, but that didn’t work out as planned. At any rate, they have been tremendously helpful with getting me here to France, particularly with paperwork for both my enrollment in the lycée and to get me the visa to come here.

Dinner was moules (mussels) frites, and appetizers! Jean-Pierre, my friend Angela’s father, said it’s a tradition, though I don’t know if he meant a FRENCH tradition or a family tradition. The frites are eaten dipped in mustard (which in this case was mayonnaise and mustard? Uhh. It came like that in the jar.), which I tried and enjoyed. (I swear it’s better than it sounds…)

Dessert was buche de noël in ice cream form, which I have to say is a completely acceptable way to eat a Yule Log. I had three slices :D

George and Therese(I probably spelled their names wrong) were there, too (my dad’s friend Pierre’s parents; Angela’s mother, Elise, is Pierre’s sister. Got all that? It’s not really that important other than to explain how we know them.); it was nice to see them again. They remember us (or at least my dad) from when we met them during their stay in North Carolina a few years ago. (Though that may have been quite a while ago, like my sixth grade year.)

Dinner was an interesting affair—I think Angela, Alaina (her younger sister), and I were all being awkward and not talking, but our parents were talking. There was a constant mix of English and French, which is always interesting.

After we finished eating, we started watching the French review-of-the-year show (that’s what I think it was), which seemed to consists of things that a group of people sitting around the table thought were funny, if not particularly important. This shows seem quite popular, though, because I swear the Chassons were watching the same type of show the night before.

Finally, after a few pictures with George and Therese, Dad and I headed down to Saint Raphaël-plage to see the annual fireworks spectacle (show). We went expecting something like Fourth of July fireworks… loud, colorful explosions, and not much else.

It was a bit wet and chilly, if my memory serves me correctly, which made waiting a bit uncomfortable, but when the show began and we had a pretty good view, I definitely wasn’t complaining.

I’ll let you see what you can from the pictures, because it was just really awesome and different.

This was the beginning; dude crouched on a rail looking out over the dark water.

Anyway, those aren’t very clear pictures. I’m trying to decide the best way to put more pictures up at least so that you can see pictures I DON’T include on the blog. Not sure how to go about this in a safe way. Let me know what you think (about the idea and any ideas!).

Dad and I decided that was definitely a satisfactory way to bring in the New Year, though technically it ended before the New Year began. Everybody was yelling “BONNE ANNÉE! DEUX MILLE DIX!” (“HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2010!”)… there wasn’t a BIG GRAND FINALE (unlike American fireworks where there must ALWAYS be a Grand Finale). It was cool though. That was much more interesting than watching the ball drop on television. xD

The next morning we slept in until noon, skipped breakfast, and began our quest for Pizza, which ended up taking quite a bit of time as nothing was open. Hence, after we didn’t actually have pizza (we had very large salads. yum.), we immediately had to go to the Bruzzone’s for tea at 2:00 (14h).

I haven’t mentioned the Bruzzones on here before, except in brief passing as the OTHER Nathalie (Rick-with-the-blog’s friends in Fréjus). Nathalie B. works for “Vous Accueil”, which is an organization that welcomes newcomers to the town and provides information. [If I understood that correctly.] She is the one that received Rick’s email and did a lot to help find me another solution of someplace to live before I came here. She doesn’t actually know Nathalie Chasson, but it is partially thanks to Nathalie Bruzzone that we found me a place to stay here.

They invited us for tea so that we could actually meet them: Nathalie, her husband Laurent, and their daughters Fanny (14) and Laure (17; she’s 13 days older than me), and Aurlien, Laure’s boyfriend and Jerome, Laurent’s friend, joined us. Tea actually meant tea for my dad, but I just had fruit juice. With tea, we ate Galette des Rois, which is what you might know as King Cake. It isn’t the same though; king cake to me meant what we eat every year in French class, but this is quite different. (The ones we have in NC are the “Louisiana Style” King Cakes, which are cinnamon rolls with frosting and sugar.)

(click through to source of picture, since I didn’t actually have a picture; there's a recipe, too, except it's in metric measurements.)

At a later date, I'll post a recipe for Galette des Rois in American measurements; I've asked Nathalie (Chasson) for it, and I'll translate & convert it for you :)

Apparently there’s two types of King Cake, one for Northern France, and another in Southern France. The kind pictured above is typical in Northern France, and it’s particularly delicious served warm. As is typical for king cakes, there is a small baby Jesus inside; when you find it, you get to wear a fake King crown (and be “King” for a day! WHOO!).

The nice thing about my dad’s networking while trying to find me a place to stay is that I now have met more French people that are incredibly kind and welcoming, and want me to have a really great experience here.

(Dinner was that elusive Pizza from this really great Pizza place that was decorated with Pirate-y-ness in Saint Raphaël. I consider that a great success in Pizza-Questing.)

-Aly

Day Six: Gare

28 Dec. 2009

Hello!

I promise that I’ll get caught up with my posting and fill you in on all the details of my overly-busy life! If you want to know all the mundane details, that is… and I assure you, I have plenty of those to share.

So, until I catch up (today is Day Eight Eleven), except posts like Day four/five; just PRETEND I posted this on time! ;)

D’abord (first of all), I’d like to say that le matin was not very interesting. Our NaviGo passes (for the bus and metro in Paris) had expired the day before, so our only form of transportation was our feet!

Dad had discovered that there was a Roman arena near our hotel in Paris, so after we had breakfast (some pastry; I didn’t like it), we walked until we found it. That was pretty cool; something so old (older than Notre Dame de Paris, I think), right in the middle of the city (MORE OR LESS; Paris is a very large city.) It was kind of like the “beautiful ruins” I told you about before, except these weren't exactly ruins and they were incredibly old… I would still say they are “forgotten”, though. There weren’t any tourists (except for us, of course) standing around admiring it.

A few locals were wandering around; there was a small playground behind the arena, and small families with young children were there. It was otherwise empty, which I guess is a good thing because for once in Paris, we weren’t two of the hundreds of people. The emptiness allows you to imagine the arena not surrounded by buildings and instead, filled with throngs of people watching some sort of likely-inhumane entertainment. xD

Anyway, we continued walking past le Jardin des Plants, which apparently has a menagerie. Unexpectedly, looking through the the bars of the fence surrounding the park, trying to catch sight of les animaux is quite time-consuming.

We took pictures of some of them:

(uhhh… just kidding. You can’t really see the REALLY CUTE ANIMAL in it. Silly animals, walking around being cute where we couldn’t get a good picture of them…)

Eventually, we found a way into the actual Jardin! (I think. Again with the not knowing what something or other is.)

*about to sneeze*

Once we had made our way out of that small portion of the Jardin, we returned to the hotel to pick up our bags and walked awkwardly (it’s impossible to NOT walk like an ape when you’re hauling far too many things) to the bus. Soon after, we had arrived at Gare de Lyon, where our train was arriving an hour and some later.

Quick side note: When’s the last time you took a train? Not a subway/metro/underground/etc., but an actual TRAIN?
The only time I’ve ever taken trains has been in Europe, and if you never have… you should experience it sometime. The confusion, chaos, and everything… it’s quite fun and you don’t have to go through security like at airports! You don’t even have to arrive an hour early! (Thirty minutes will do just fine, if you can figure out the signs, that is.)

Right. So, after a longgggg wait, during which we ate gaufres (waffles!) for lunch, the platform was finally displayed on the screen (they only show a color, for which area of the train station a certain train will be in until the train actually arrives) and we struggled through the crowd to the near the front of the train (which is the farthest away, naturally), and found our car.

(hahaha at the guy next to me.)

(this wasn’t our train, nor was it even the correct area of the train station. I’m just throwing this in there because it shows a bullet train and the station.)

Our train was actually two trains connected together, near where I’m standing.

When we found our seats (after dumping our excessively huge bags on the storage racks), we discovered that they were taken! Luckily, the guy sitting there spoke English so we could communicate the mistake. Trains are confusing like that; there are multiple cars with the same seat numbers, and sometimes, like with our train, there are two different trains and you have to pay attention to know which one you SHOULD be on. xD

Finally, we started moving; through the beautiful French countryside, heading to Nice. There wasn’t internet on the train, but they had outlets, so I wrote the Day Four blog while on the train, which took up most of the ride when I wasn’t staring dreamily out the window, listening to music on my iPod (Owl City, probably; I’m only a little obsessed), or watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince :)

The entire ride, Dad was trying to get a picture of the trains that would pass us. It was rather funny; he’d reach across me, holding his camera near the window, just waiting for another train and then jumping when one passed before finally trying to take the picture. He mostly just watches the countryside, though; this time, he was talking a lot to the people across from us, who seemed to be playing musical chairs, as there were three different people that sat in those seats at different points in time. Apparently they (the two women whose seats were actually across from ours; the other one was this guy although I don’t know why he was sitting there) live in a town near mine.

The sky got darker, and at last, we arrived in Saint Raphaël, the town next to Fréjus, where my host family was waiting to greet us.

I admit, I had no idea what they would look like, but I guess Dad knew or they knew or something, because when we reached the end of the escalator at the main entry, they were standing there waiting for us and smiling. Immediately, they took the suitcase that Dad was hauling (the heavier one xD), and gave us bisous. (That was unexpected, though it shouldn’t have been.)

[I will explain bisous more later on in this post or another, but what you need to know is that bisous are the air-kisses on either cheek.]

We all piled into their car (a Ford Focus) and drove to their house for dinner. Nathalie (pronounced “Natalie”), my host-mother, was worried that I would be picky, but I’ve kind of promised myself (and my dad) that I would at least TRY everything. Nathalie’s daughter, Alexandra, came to dinner as well—she was on holiday from university in Paris, where she is studying to become a translator (so she knows French, English, Spanish, and a little bit of Russian). Quentin acts just like a younger brother; in fact, I think he would get along really well with my “other” little brother, being Molly’s brother Christopher. Olivier is a bit of a goofball; he and Dad get along with signs and broken phrases.

Anyway, it was nice to finally meet them, and it looks like (from here) I will get along with them quite nicely.

From the top left: Nathalie, Olivier, me, and Dad.

-Aly

Day Three: Fêtes de Noël

Hello!

So, I really hate my keyboard right now because every time I try to insert an "e" with a circumflexe, it's like: "Navigate away from this page?" NO. DO NOT NAVIGATE AWAY FROM THIS PAGE. *gnashes teeth* (Souhm, there probably won't be any accents in this post since my computer, Gandalf, is being quite annoying. Sorry!)

ANYHOW!

I know a lot of you were jealous about the fact that I got to go to Notre Dame de Paris for midnight mass on Christmas. Don't be. If you have EVER been to a Christmas Eve/Christmas service at any church, then you probably have a good idea of how it works. You should understand that going to Notre Dame for Christmas mass isn't an original idea at all; Paris being the hot spot for tourists that it is, there were maybe-thousands of people all crammed in there.
 
We got there at 9:20 or something like that (potentially earlier), but all of the seats were already filled. We crammed along the sides with the other seat-less people. Standing room only; I should have worn more comfortable shoes because I was definitely shifting the ENTIRE time. If you plan on doing something like that, ARRIVE REALLY EARLY. It's insane. Take ANY seat possible, even if it means sitting apart from your group. There's this whole "Introduction to Christmas" photo montage with French speakers (all pre-recorded), and English subtitles, followed by music from the Choir.

  

I wish I would have known to stand along the sides because people get up and leave every once and a while, so if you were right there, you'd be able to grab the seat before anybody else could. They had security people (maybe? I'm not sure; they were wearing bright orange and blue. We decided that they must be the new Musketeers-- this one guy had an AMAZING goatee and pointy mustache! :O)

“The Snuggie Choir” is what we called them. Don’t they look like they’re wearing Snuggies?!

 I edited this picture so you could see the big screen during the Christmas story part. You can tell that we’re off to the side, instead of in the main part of the cathedral.

Anyway, we could kinda-sorta see, and they had monitors set up all over (they were filming the service; you can watch it on TV here), and we took blurry zoomed-in pictures. I don't know if any turned  out well, but here's a couple just in case.
 

This is the arch-bishop in his hat.

  This guy is reading something in French. He is not the archbishop.

  The archbishop finally took off his hat! That’s him; he has ANOTHER hat UNDER the pointy hat. (I should really learn the technical names for these things.)

(The Archbishop wears this pointy hat, which is amusing (it shows that he is the arch-bishop, not just another priest); they wave around a lot if incense, which we think makes it seem a lot more important. We left before communion though, because at that point, there wasn't any more pretty singing, just rather monotone French blessings or something.)

 Incense!

We got back to our hotel room around 1:something, but of course, we didn't go to sleep until later. Amazingly, we woke up before 11 today! YAY! (9:30, actually, but we didn't actually get anywhere until almost noon.)

We did end up going to Montmartre today; we wanted to see Sacre Coeur, and Simone (the "New Paris" tour guide from yesterday) had informed us that Montmartre is the stereotypically charmingly French part of town, so that moved to the top of our list. Besides the fact that last time, we didn't go here, so it's all new to us. Montmartre, for those of you unfamiliar with the layout of the city, is the highest hill in the city. It offers panoramic views of Paris, and has lots of stairs and cute little streets. The movie Amelie (I still haven't seen it, grr!) is set there. We took the Metro to somewhere near the bottom, and climbed a tiny little staircase to the side of Sacre Coeur.

Wandering towards the "touristy" section, you are basically swarmed by artists with giant clipboards, telling (not asking) you to stop so they can sketch you. I'm not sure how much that costs, but we made it through the crowds of them by saying "Non! Non!" and shaking our heads until they stopped following us. They're certainly enthusiastic. We considered it for a moment, but knowing that they would over-charge and it really wasn't necessary (even for the experience), we continued to decline. Besides the fact that we were hungry.

Brunch (Breakfast. At lunchtime. Same thing as brunch? I think yes.) was on Montmartre, in this little cafe, Au Petit Creux de  Montmartre. I had a crêpe chocolat et boule de glace, which was a crêpe filled with chocolate with a scoop of ice cream on top. The fact that it was cold is forgivable due to the fact that we once again had chocolat chaud. (It wasn't that good this time, but it came with SUGAR CUBES so that's okay. :D)

 
After brunch, we wandered awhile, up and down the streets, attempting to avoid the busy areas, which we ultimately failed at. We ended up in a tiny square with artists all set up, painting and sketching and selling their pieces. All of it was unique, and so pretty, too! Unfortunately the REALLY neat ones were out of my price range. :(
 

 
Finally, we walked up to Sacre Coeur and wandered inside. It's free to tour the inside and the crypt below, but you aren't allowed to take pictures in the Basilica itself. I got snapped at (literally) for resting my feet against the back of a pew. (This was after I was sitting like that for no less than thirty minutes) Dad sketched a picture of one of the columns, near the top of the dome. We paid the ten euro for both of us to climb the 300 steps to the very top of the dome. We had some issues with the ticket machine, but luckily the people behind us were patient. :D

It was REALLY windy at the top of the dome, and I was freezing up there (seriously. Bad wardrobe decision is NOT to layer on Montmartre). When we finally descended the stairs (luckily, Dad didn't break a foot this time...), we bought more roasted chestnuts (yum) and tossed some coins to a dude playing Coldplay songs. He was really good; you could hear him all the way up at the top of the dome and we wondered if Chris Martin was on vacation... xD

 
As we passed the famous stairs (and the escalator-thing on the side of the hill... errrrr... I don't remember what it's called... >.<), we stopped to take a picture but we were intercepted and cornered by these two African men that basically conned us into buying these "friendship bracelets" that they made on our fingers. They kept saying, "Hakuna Matata! Timone and Pumba! We like Americans!" and all these other things. When I referenced the actual song from Lion King, though, they had no idea. Everybody wants to sell you something... but we eventually escaped (not without paying far too much, argh!) and obviously got lost on the way to the Moulin Rouge.

In this picture, you can tell I’m holding roasted chestnuts! Behind me is the Chris Martin guy. xD

You must be getting tired of me just standing in pictures.

*acts silly* Dad: *fails at taking a picture*

We didn’t get any closer than this, because right after we snapped this picture, we were cornered by those two guys.

  This is the last working moulin (windmill) on Montmartre. “Moulin De La Galette.”

 Rue Lepic.

We got confused; this is NOT the entrance to the Moulin Rouge.

I was debating whether or not to dance around. I didn’t, mostly because I felt awkward :)

Once we had taken enough pictures of the Moulin Rouge, we took the Metro to this modern park, called Parc de la Villette, which was designed by an architect named Bernard Tschumi. I wasn't that interested in the park at the moment, largely due to the fact that I was hungry (I know, lame excuse, but this always happens me! I like art and such but when I'm all grouchy due to hunger, I just can't appreciate it.) Dad was pleased that he finally got to see it though; he wanted to last time but he was vetoed by the rest of us.

It started sprinkling, which ruined the sunny, breezy, and chilly day that we had been enjoying. (*sarcasm*; why won't it just STAY WARM and DRY in Paris?!) At that point, we just went back to the Hotel.

After we rested our feet for while, we headed back out for dinner at Le Petit Marius, which is this rather-expensive fish restaurant near the Champs-Elysees. Dad's meal freaked me out a bit; I mean, who wants their food to be LOOKING BACK AT THEM?! Eugh. I had cod, but that was really bland. It looked nice though! The mashed potatoes were delicious, though. Oh, and the appetizer, too: more salmon and creme fraiche (fresh creme sauce; I'm an idiot for not figuring that out before).

 Ewwww.

 

Once Dad finished eating, we wandered around the streets, "window shopping" as much as we could with all the shops being closed. Some other random tourist (from England, I think) came up to me asking if I spoke English (in French, of course); I think she may have thought I was a local? (She asked if I knew were a Pharmacie was... I didn't.) At least, that's what I hope she thought, because that would be SO COOL. xD

From that point on, we just strolled (you don't walk on the Champs-Elysees; you stroll and pretend that you have enough money to buy something) up the Champs-Elysees. Eventually, we wandered into a brightly-lit drugstore, because the shops on the Champs-Elysees are supposed to be unique, exclusive, and... not-common, and does a drugstore not sound common to you?

 

  Publicis drugstore.

Well, upon entering, we discovered that is was not, in fact, common. They had Marc Jacobs bags, a bookstore (since when are there bookstores in drugstores?), a wine cellar (no joke), a pharmacie, an electronics/generally cool technology/random thing shop, a deli, and a bar. We bought some water ("no gas"/ “sans bulles”) and some French books (err... sort of. We bought some "phrase books" because they're funny, I'll talk about one of them at a later date because I have my own copy. I also bought The Tales of Beedle the Bard in French, because I don't have my own copy anyway and I would like to read it. I'll let you know how THAT goes!)

And now... we're back at the hotel room! Not much else to say for today. We didn't make it to the Musee d'Orsay due to the fact that we want to actually experience it, but tomorrow we're going to try to go the the flea markets in town as well as the Eiffel Tower (despite the fact that we've already been there. SHH! We'll try to go during the DAY this time!).

Anyway, I hope you had a very merry Christmas! Joyeux Noel from France! :)
-Aly

P.S. "Fetes de Noel" is Christmas Day in French; literally, Feast of Christmas.