Off to Paris!

I woke up in the morning with the delighted realisation that I was not going to work today! Puttered about and got a few things done, before heading off to St. Pancras to catch the Eurostar.

As though I don't love my iPad enough already, I had a marvellous time sitting around in the waiting lounge, utilizing the free WiFi to send e-mails to my friends. I wrote to my friend Doro, sharing the agony that I had STILL not heard anything from that boy {Sigh!} and determined to simply run off to Paris and not think any more about silly boys.

The train was delayed due to some mechanical fault, but after about 15 minutes past our scheduled departure time, they had us up and boarding the train to leave.

When I first found my carriage and my seat, I assumed there had to be some mistake. I'd bought the ticket last-minute for £34 (an absolute steal!), yet the seat seemed to be in a First Class compartment, with plush leather seats, plenty of leg room and tables, reading lights and plugs for electrical devices. So I walked through the entire compartment, leaving the train again, and checking the outside of the carriage. No, indeed this seemed to be my carriage, so I went back in, found my seat again, and awaited a ticket agent to surely tell me I was in the wrong place. So you can imagine when the train pulled out and I was still in my seat, I was utterly shocked, wondering how on earth that had happened! Buying that ticket had been very fortuitous, obviously a sign from above!

As the train started rumbling through the countryside, I suddenly thought to check the balance on my phone. After all, I was going to be using it abroad and wracking up huge charges, particularly as I tried to get in touch with my friend Megan, who I was meeting. I blanched when I heard the automated message telling me my balance. Only £2? That was not going to get me anywhere in Paris!

So I tried refilling my phone using the automated menu system, but it turned out I had gotten a new credit card since I last topped up my phone, that was unregistered, and I got stuck on hold waiting for a customer representative....at which point we went through a tunnel and I got totally cut off. Realising that I was never going to have more than five minutes in which to complete the transaction, I started to freak out. Obviously I had been wasting my time in the departure lounge, simply writing e-mails!

Then, I realised that my iPad had 3G, and if now was not a time to use it, when was? So I pulled out my iPad, and with a few clicks had managed to top up my phone by £20. I called the automated menu to confirm, and it was done. How amazing is that, when I can utilise the internet on a high-speed training whisking me off to Paris? There are some days I love modern technology so much!

The train itself was so fast, it really made me realise how different this was from your usual suburban commuter train. You could feel the train tilting around corners as we went for speed. And then we went through the Chunnel, and instantly all of the announcements (by the same guy) went from being in English first and then French second, to being French first and then English second!

Once the train arrived in Paris, I quickly ran out to a boulangerie that I know of (how awesome is that, when I have a favourite little boulangerie outside Gare du Nord in Paris) and got a pain au chocolat to eat, as I was starving.

Then I attempted to call my friend Megan, and my heart sank: Every time I tried to dial, I got an automated message saying her phone was not in service! Absolutely panicked as she was the one I was supposed to be staying with that evening, so what on earth was going to happen to this Paris trip if I couldn't get ahold of her?

So I sent her a text and prayed that it would somehow go through...you can imagine my relief when a reply from her popped up, saying she'd been trying to call me as well!!

After a bit more back-and-forth, we realised that voice just wasn't going to happen, so she gave me an address to meet her at, and I headed off onto the Metro. I was utterly delighted when I used one of the six leftover tickets from a carnet I'd bought with my parents when we were in Paris last year, and it still worked!

As I was on the train, I was surprised when my phone buzzed again, with another message from Megan. How awesome is that, phones work underground in Paris!! Not like I don't absolutely love Paris already, but here was one more thing to love about the City of Light!

I got to the station, and there was another message from Megan telling me to walk west down a certain street, "Towards the sun". Ah yes, you know she's a military type, used to having to give compass directions!

I walked down the street, and was surprised at a certain point when walking down a random street in Paris, to suddenly hear my name shouted. And shouting it was my old high school friend Megan! We ran across the street and hugged, and I couldn't believe how great it was to see her again for the first time since high school!

She'd apparently been looking for the USO, so we went off down Ave George V looking for it, but eventually asked at a nearby hotel and found that it had closed. Megan had no Euros as of yet (she had been hoping to change money at the USO), but I gave her one of my carnet tickets, and we got on the Metro and went back to the hotel. There I dropped my bag off and we met up with another friend of Megan's, a disabled vet who she'd known since they did basic training together.

We then decided it was time to go out in search of some dinner (I was STARVING!), but of course still looking to exchange some money for my friend Megan. We went to a train station (no luck), and then to Opera (lots of exchange places, but none that were open), so I assured Megan I had enough money to cover dinner, and got them all on the Metro (love those Metro tickets that still work!) and went to Chatelet, where I tried to remember where the Latin Quarter was. Eventually stumbled into a bunch of restaurants on tiny streets that sort of did the trick, and we passed one where the steaming plates of mussels turned out to be too much to resist. So we sat down (they arranged a table for us outside, as it was this wonderfully balmy summer evening, just about as perfect as you can get), and ordered up a plate of mussels, steak frites, chicken with ham and cheese, and a giant salad. So much food, we were all bursting by the end (particularly amazing given how hungry I'd been, I thought I could eat for a week!)

It was funny when reading the menu, as the disabled vet asked me, "Do you think they can get us a menu in English?" But I protested, "This menu IS in English!" It was only after the disabled vet looked at me like I was insane, that I realised the menu was in French, yet I could translate everything on it. I always tell people that I don't speak French, which is true, but I'm very good with French words for various kinds of food. Most important kind of French to know, in my opinion! (So I translated the menu for them, very pleased with my nascent French-speaking ability).

The food itself was passable, although I've had better in France. So I was surprised when my dining companions kept remarking on how amazing it was, saying, "I feel like I've just had an orgasm in my mouth, this is so good!" Ah kids, if only you knew quite how good it can get in France!!

My friend Megan is absolutely nuts about French men, it's really like any man speaking French makes her heart beat fast. So she ended up making friends with our waiter, and by the end of the evening, they were bringing us free drinks and offering to take us out dancing. Although I was somewhat suspicious of this (holy crap, these were random French waiters, I'd never pick up guys like that!), Megan was keen to go along, and since it was her birthday, I felt I couldn't protest.

Hence, that's how we ended up dancing in a gay bar with these random French guys until 2 AM. We managed to just make the last Metro back to our hotel, racing through the station with our new best friends (the French waiters) leading the way. Got back to the hotel and stumbled in, laughing about our evening Parisian adventures!!