experience: paris sous la pluie

^the louvre, 2am.

I ACCOMPLISHED ONE OF MY MAJOR LIFE GOALS LAST NIGHT: getting caught in the rain while in paris. it would be a severe understatement if i told you that it was one of the most incredible nights ever. regardless, it was was one of the most incredible nights ever!

ben has a good friend from brown [university] who lives in paris. his family has a BEAUTIFUL apartment in an INCREDIBLE neighborhood. we showed up with the intention of buying groceries and using the kitchen to make food, but his dad arrived home and decided to treat us all to dinner! he reserved the entire restaurant for us, where we enjoyed some pretty fantastic french cuisine [including violet ice cream, which i'd never tasted and thoroughly enjoyed].

after dinner, we walked down the street to the MOULIN ROUGE. i've basically been DYING to see that place since i saw the movie in ninth grade. =]

we then ventured over to the latin quarter to enjoy the rest of the night. lots and lots of dancing! at about 1:30 am, we decided to find a cab and head home.

WELL.

we spent an hour trying to get a cab. FAIL. parisian cabs are IMPOSSIBLE. they were all full and NONE would stop for us.

THEN, THEN, THEN... [the best part]... IT STARTED POOOOUUUURRRRRRING RAIN!!!

I CAN'T EVEN TELL YOU HOW EXCITED I WAS!!! I'VE BEEN WAITING MY WHOLE LIFE TO BE IN PARIS WHILE GETTING CAUGHT IN THE RAIN. i think i already said that.

we were basically forced to give up on the cab idea [we'd resorted to obnoxious things like dancing and singing to get their attention...] we started WALKING back to francois' house, which is on the other side of the city [but was still FAR closer than walking back to our rooms at cite u].

it kept POOOOURRRRRING rain. so we sang and frolicked and walked and walked and walked through the city.

at night.

in the rain.

SO GRAND. =D

walking along the seine during a storm was gorgeous. gah, i love storms.

our walk was seriously stunning--we passed almost every famous building in france. the louvre, the opera, notre dame, YOU NAME IT! i was splashing in puddles, singing the beatles with francois, and generally having an utterly magnificent time.

we ended up arriving at francois' house at FOUR THIRTY IN THE MORNING. that's most definitely almost three hours of rainy, nighttime paris!

we walked in the door, took off our SOAKING clothing, raided francois' closet, dressed in whatever we could find, and then headed to the KITCHEN.

it was four or five by then, and we decided to make omelettes and eat nutella! SO GOOD. i was, of course, wide awake at this point and utterly oblivious to the time. we all really enjoyed each other's company, to say the least!

SUCH HAPPY SAUCE. =]

we camped out in francois' bedroom and woke up at about TWO in the afternoon. we then proceeded to gorge on a feast of more nutella, amazing baguettes, apricot jam, and some fantaaaastic cheese. SO GOOD. [we also ate quite a few jelly beans... they don't have jelly beans in france, so francois brought back a HUGE tub full of them from the united states! i'm not complaining...]

oh man.

paris in the rain.

=D

[m]