December 15th

I coughed up a storm last night, sad. I woke up on time and was ready to go at 8:40 am, good. Kate and I made it on our train with no problems, very good. We arrived in Paris had some sushi at Galerie Lafayette, aw yeah. We then hopped on the metro lines to the Eiffel Tower for their Christmas market, great. After some hot spiced wine we found Jonathan, kick ass. Then the day started. Due to length of this blog I am going to crunch it into chunks for clear and concise consumption. C's rock, here we go!

Morning/Day. Kate, Jonathan, and I, the current "we", took several pictures around and of the Eiffel Tower. I'm never sure why we always do this, but somehow the Eiffel Tower has to be the backdrop of tons of photos when we're in Paris together. It was a lot fun, especially for Kate. Jonathan happened to bring his nice, and by nice I mean expensive, camera with him this time and allowed Kate to use it. She snapped probably over twenty pictures, that might be an understatement, in the Eiffel Tower area alone of both Jonathan and me, though mostly Jonathan. She was like a kid on the first day of summer, just running around with giddy giggling glee and fancy camera. Besides pictures we did actually browse the markets. I found, and am proud of this, a gingerbread cookie in the shape of a frog. I have a feeling the reason I bought it was because of my subconscious love of frogs or frog-like creatures. Namely bulbasaur. Remember when I was sleep deprived after pulling an all-nighter for a French essay? I drew a frog/baby bulbasaur on my arm for no apparent reason besides the fact that I wanted it there. Well this cookie stood out to me and I felt an uncontrollable need to have it. It was without a doubt my best purchase of the day.

Afternoon. We, still the troublesome trio of Anglos, moved on to another area of Paris. Notre Dame. Every time I look at that building I flush in the face. I cannot help myself, I'm just in love with the place. How I always wish that I could time travel to when it was solely a cathedral and not a tourist trap. Back when it was sanctuary with all of its glorious bells ringing in the towers. Sigh, I'm only able to visit that Notre Dame in my dreams. At least I can gaze upon the real thing. Luckily for us there was a market right by Notre Dame. I picked up some final Christmas gifts for my slew of chums back in the States and admired some of the various merchandise. My favorite stand was one that sold garters. That's right, a garter stand. And they were expensive too! Twenty euros for a garter, pretty steep guys. Although, these garters were by far the most eccentric, exciting, and elegant that I have ever seen. I've been garter shopping before, prom happened for me audience. These were definitely wedding class with all their lace and ribbons. Too much for prom, a least my prom. Truth be told I didn't spend more than five dollars on the garter that I wore for prom; two reasons, it was prom and my date wasn't worth that expense. Ouch, I'm cruel. Moving back to the present, now. That wasn't the only "interesting" stand at the Notre Dame market. Right next to the garter shop was a corset booth. Ah France you are funny. Little children running around with candy in hand and Christmas in heart and you still sell sexy lingerie that has nothing to do with the season as though it were part of the holiday spirit. This is why you amuse me France, this is why.

Late Afternoon. Worst part about this section of the hemisphere, sunshine in the morning with heavy rain hours later. Great. Ah well, water won't hurt a handsome man or something like that. Sadly our little group had moved on to the Odéon area in the hopes of seeing the Luxemburg gardens. The sad part is that the gardens now close at 4:30 pm due to sunset being earlier. We arrived at the gates right as the clock chimed 4:32 pm. Crap. We decided that we would just head over to the designated restaurant for dinner, we were hungry after a day of market browsing, but were stopped by a text message. You see audience, the plan for today was to meet Paula in Paris. She had arrived in Paris the night before and stayed with a French friend overnight. Kate and I had presumed that Paula would be spending the day with us at the markets, we presumed wrong. She slept in until around one, and became ready around three, informing us at 4:37 pm that she will meet us for dinner at 6:00 pm. Would've been fine, sept for the location. You see the restaurant that we were going to eat at has two locations in Paris. We were close to one, she was close to the other. Guess which one we ended up at? Yeah the other which turned out to be a pain in the ass to go to since the Metro decided to clog itself with people. I must say, although harsh it is hilarious to see people squish onto the subway at the very last second only to have their hand caught in the automatic door. Harsh, of course, but slapstick hilarious.

Evening. We made it to the restaurant, which is in the red-light region of Pigalle Paris, at 6:23 pm. We rushed too, but it was alright. Paula wasn't there yet, and would be about twenty minutes late from our arrival giving us some time to settle down. The name of the restaurant was The Indiana Café. No audience, it was not decked out in IU hosier attire or Cults banners. Rather it had pictures and trinkets of Native Americans to appeal to its southwest style. And the French think that we're stupid. Well we are, not all the time but America we fluke a lot especially with other cultures. However, France flukes just as bad if not worse. You need only to look at a map of the United States to see that the state Indiana is nowhere near the southwest badlands; it is Midwest farms filled with hosiers. Plus let's tack on the fact that there aren't any Indians, sorry Native Americans, in the state of Indiana. No reservations, no tribes, no prominent Indian history. True that the name of the state is derived from the word "Indian", but so are almost all the others. Illinois is an Indian rooted name, apparently it’s the French version of an Algonquin Indian word for "warriors" or "tribe of superior men. Indiana along with many states had its name coined from what the old tribes described the land as. Yes Indians lived all over the states back in the day, but the idea of southwest Indian tribes that hunted bison and had guerilla styled battles with cowboys is nowhere near Indiana. This restaurant in short, completely rules. The food is fantastic, they have that down fine. I had a very American and very "uncouth" dish as my dinner, barbecue ribs and wings with potato wedges and coleslaw. Hell yeah. Jonathan said something along the lines of, "your dinner is bigger than you are!" I of course laughed at this and devoured my meal, all of it. Paula made it before I finished my meal and commented on how well suited it was for me. Yay the "we" has finally turned into four! It was good to see her and her reaction to the restaurant. Pretty confident that she loved it, yeah confident. After my amazing meal I had a lightish dessert of hot chocolate with fresh whipped cream. That also kicked ass, but not as much as my meal. Why? Well hot chocolate and cream are two things France does very well. It's no surprise that the hot chocolate was wonderful, thus not as kickin'. Pictures were taken, menus were stolen, and hands were scrubbed clean. Second best meal of the semester*, and it wasn't even French.

Late Evening. Ok, here's where we, and by we I mean me, screwed up. So the plan was to spend the day in Paris and take a train back to Le Havre the same night. I had thought that there was a later train than 8:20 pm that left St. Lazare for Le Havre. I thought wrong. Yeah, I really screwed that one. You see audience I made the mistake of reading the arrival board rather than the departure board. Sure there were trains from Le Havre arriving in Paris after 8:20 pm, but none of them were going back until the morning. Crap! Paula, Kate, and Jonathan somewhat freaked out in their own ways. Paula called her French friend to see if she had a solution, Kate stood silently in shock, and Jonathan leaned on the railing with a frown on his face. Internally the word "fuck" was going through their minds. What did I do? What was my reaction? I went to the bathroom, call of nature and whatnot. I actually was very calm in the situation, the word fuck only went through my mind maybe six times which is low for bad situations. I decided to call my parents and tell them what happened because I was going to rent a room for Kate and me in Paris for the night. After explaining what happened to my mother she gladly told me that staying in a hotel was fine, no issue. Sweet, that was resolved quickly. I told the group the good news and everyone did a sigh. The only snag was where we were going to stay. Jonathan assisted with that one. Not too long ago he stayed in a hotel in Nation called Hotel Cosy that was both reasonably priced and rather nice. Again, sweet that was solved rapidly. Unfortunately every situation, even when fixed, has its somber sides. Kate wasn't feeling too hot, possibly from dinner or the amount of cotton candy that she had eaten earlier, and need to reach a bed for some R&R. Thus we, now back to the three, all said goodbye to dear Paula before departing for Nation. We made it to the hotel in due time and had Kate in bed soon after check-in. The beds at Hotel Cosy are amazing. My opinion of mattresses is skewed due to the sheer awfulness of my bed in Le Havre, regardless these beds were plush and flexible. Finally I will have a good night’s sleep, it's been too long. However, I didn't go to bed right away, oh no. It was too early and I was thirsty. Time for a fruity drink.

Night. Once Kate was settled in the room, which was equipped with twin beds, Jonathan and I left to go have a drink. Fortunately Hotel Cosy has Café Cosy right next door, easy access and easy return. Good work guys. Normally I'd have a beer or a basic vodka and coke, but I was feeling American that night. Thus Pina Colada was served to me. Jonathan's face when I ordered it, totally priceless. Hey, we all have our moments when we just want a taste of home. I was concerned when the drink arrived for it had a glow stick in it. Yes the glow stick was sealed and yes I wasn't poisoned. But it's still a tube with toxic chemicals floating in my Pina Colada. A bit uncertain if you ask me. Besides the poison stick that loves to illuminate the world with its green presence, I enjoyed Café Cosy. Jonathan and I, the writing prudes that we are, discussed literature over our drinks. I know, how dull of us. But why do you care audience? You weren't forced to sit in on our dialogue exchanges, only forced to read my sentences recalling the event. I'm glad I have a nerdy/remarkable friend like Jonathan; it makes grammar, book, and blog chats both mutually interesting and entertaining. True friendship right there.

Sleep. Although I coughed throughout a good chunk of the night, definitely best sleep of the semester. Yeah, our dorm beds suck that much. Tis all audience!

*The best meal was the dinner that Madame Racadot cooked for me.