Sushi and Sightseeing

On Friday, my cousins invited me to get Japanese food with them. The buffet was only 11,90 euros! When I commented that seafood buffets are much more expensive in the US, my cousins were quick to say "It's because the French only take what they can eat." This led to a discussion of American stereotypes vs. French stereotypes. I told them some people think the French are snooty and smelly. And they say people in France think Americans are fat and eat hot dogs all day. What other stereotypes are there? HMMM? (Dora the Explorer stare)

I guess the waitress thought we ordered too much because she told us if we don't finish everything, we would have to pay extra. She also addressed us by the impolite version of you "tu" and didn't give us water! My American self was extremely offended by this poor customer service, but alas the sushi was good. At Japanese restaurants here they also serve a lot of skewered meat, which was AMAZING. The most popular is beef with cheese. Here was our platter

After that, my family took me sightseeing...by car! First time I've ever done that. I played around with the filters on my camera for some of the pictures and voila, here they are!

I love this old film filter

Les Invalides, where the military history of France is celebrated (aka Napoleon)

My uncle pointing to the tunnel where Princess Diana died

On the happy note...bonne nuit!

Montmartre

Thursday we went to Montmatre, which is an artsy neighborhood in Paris.

On the way there on the metro, we heard an amazing violinist. I also saw this bizarre tall bicycle.

Non sequitur: Other tall skinny things around the house. The fridge almost reaches the ceiling

This teapot makes me laugh everytime I see it on the stove

In the streets of Montmatre, my cousin got a portrait done by one of the street artists. She seems displeased

There were a lot of interesting stores like le petit musee du chocolat

Chocolate Eiffel Tower!

For Neel

A rainbow of macaroons

Chocolate shoes...what more could a girl ask for?

and a store full of paintings

my fav

pinkkk

Montmatre is where the Sacre Coeur is, one of Paris’s most famous churches. The view was tres magnifique, with the clear blue sky in the background and the turquoise carousel in front of it. I think I liked this one better than the Notre Dame...Remember to enlarge the pictures!

Is this real life?

Sigh imagine sunbathing here on the weekends

Moi!

On the steps

The view

zoomed in on some weird graffiti

Afterwards we went to the smaller Chinatown (there are two in Paris) and got food. It was delicious!!

My excited cousin and her food

Damn...I should have ordered this

And finally, these are the shoes that I bought from today's trip!

My 16 year old cousin assures me these heels are very Parisian

The latest fad in Paris that has not yet made its way overseas...high heeled sneakers! I am obsessed with them

Versailles

Wednesday I woke up really late because I had the strangest “Inception”-esque dream(s). First I dreamt that Christian Bale was promoting the Dark Knight Rises by riding the Batman roller coaster in Six Flags in his Batsuit a lot of times. So many times that he eventually collapsed from exhaustion and died. I was really upset at this news. Then I “woke up” and realized it was only a dream, and felt so relieved. Then I “woke up” again and learned that he actually did die, and pondered whether I would be more upset if my parents were dead, and decided I would be more upset if my parents had died (logical Dream Kristin). Then I “woke up” again and realized he did not actually die, because it wasn’t on the internet anywhere. Then when I “woke up” and learned that he was dead, I explained to my aunt and uncle that I thought these movies were cursed because Heath Ledger died after acting in Dark Knight. Finally I woke up for realsies and felt really disoriented.

For those who are concerned about Christian Bale’s health, he seems to be doing just fine. Here is a dreamy photo of him:

Moving on from my obvious obsession with Batman, my family decided to take me to Versailles today! The castle was gorgeous. At first I was bit underwhelmed by what I thought was the main garden, but then I realized Versailles is actually a BIGASS estate. When I visited my family in France when I was 8, I apparently got lost in the gardens of Versailles. My parents must have been panicking because Versailles is huge. Here are some pics (Remember you can click on the pictures to make them larger!)

The front gate

A bunch of Asians who are afraid of the sun haha

Voila! Le Chateau de Versailles

Chillinnn

Part of the garden

Serene

Me and a rather large teapot

Starting to realize that the grounds are bigger than I thought...

Some statue heads

Sunny

Gloomy boobies

It's like a maze here

Marble statues of people like Hercules and Pandora

Pretty!

My cousin and I enjoying some soft serve in Versailles

Swans in the lake

GORGEOUS! Can I get married here?

Oooh Marie Antoinette! Let them eat cake!

Lake. My cousins were très disappointed they were not allowed to rent a boat.

Sigh so pretty. Statues in the background.

More statues chillin

Interesting blue monument!

So of course I thought everything was pretty like the castles in the background, the lake full of canoes, the fountains, the marble statues of famous Greek gods and goddesses, and the flowers, but as I was leaving, I turned around and saw everything as a whole…and I was speechless. I always thought I understood what people meant when they say “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” but now I could really visualize it. I felt like weeping when I looked at the grounds altogether. I have never been in the presence of such beauty! Imagine being one of the kings or queens of Versailles and knowing all this is yours! Of course, the following pictures do not do the grounds justice. I definitely want to come back here.

Some attempts I made to capture the incredible grounds

That night we had chien-chauds, or hot dogs, for dinner. The French do it differently than the Americans. They eat them with baguettes for the bread, fromage (cheese), and Benjamin sauce, which reminded me of mayonnaise. It was a bit weird; I had to put ketchup on it!

À toute à l'heure!