as weird as it was to be in europe for thanksgiving,
walking among people who had no idea a whole culture was celebrating a holiday,
i had a greeeat day.
i got to celebrate with my "familia sevillana,"
people who i had no idea existed 3 months ago,
and now i have trouble imagining life without them.
THEN:
we spent the weekend in paris!
seeing SO MUCH,
exhausted and happy...
i'll list off the sights:
1. Snow!! - paris' first snow=our first snow.
(it was COLD. quite the shock to this sevillana who has just started to see leaves turn yellow and fall in andalucia. northeast usa's winter...we'll see how that goes in a few weeks.
2. Champs-Élysées - comparable to nyc's 5th avenue or la's rodeo drive, this was LIT UP. katie and i had been googling this image for months, and then we finally saw its magic in person!
3. eiffel tower: on the hour...which means it was lit up, too! and sparkling for a few minutes.
we saw it during the day too...
with kaitlin!!
putting our V's up in "Paree"
4. A brass band in a bar: katie's friend, studying in versailles, was in paris for the evening and invited us to see this band from her school play. what hook ups!
5. Père Lachaise Cemetery: where jim morrison, oscar wilde & other famous dudes are chillin' - postmortem.
6. Paris' sewers: we took a free tour with kaitlin's program...i learned that the rat population is double the human population in paris. that is all.
7. Notre Dame: and the christmas tree getting decorated on the outside!! beautiful.
8. the jewish quarters...hosting the best street food ever: my first falafel. delicious. & then followed by a nutella and banana crepe. i was in food heaven.
9. moulin rouge: katie's all-time favorite movie. it looks quite similar!
10. the ferris wheel: after a fail at the louvre...where we got pictures with the glass pyramid, but not tickets to enter (it was "impossible at this time. it is closed.")
so we decided to treat ourselves to the huge ferris wheel to cheer ourselves up. and it sure did! it was at the end of the Champs-Élysées, so we could see all of those lights, the stripes of red and white from the car lights, and then we saw the sparking eiffel tour again, good timing, huh? unplanned, believe it or not.
11. Christmas Villiage: along the Champs-Élysées (which runs between the ferris wheel and the arc de triomphe) there was the 'villiage de noel' where we had some "vin chaud" (hot wine) and walked along the avenue, looking at the stands of gifts and sweets and delicious french baked goods.
i'd say that this weekend was the best 'intro to the christmas season" i've had yet.
even if it didn't include black friday at king of prussia, pumpkin pie & awesome leftovers.
and i even got to skype with my family before thanksgiving ended!
<3
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