So here's the second one.

  Week 11: The End

     Sunday was a free day. We started by visiting Saint-Chapelle (shoutout to our EU student visas!! Love the free stuff in Paris). Then we went to Shakespeare & Co. and I spent a good hour looking for which book I wanted. I absolutely fell in love with that little shop- the typewriter and the cat and the color scheme and the piano tied it all together. The selection was also perfect. I would have bought ten books if I could.

               I settled on “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” after hearing an employee explaining the plot to Melania. She said it was about a boy who loses his dad and goes on a journey after finding a key that belonged to him. I have been dealing with loss for the past year and very fearful of losing my dad, and I had been craving to start another book for a while, so I quickly made up my mind after hearing that. I also got “the Physics of Everyday Things” because practical purposes for what I’m learning always refreshes my excitement to learn it. I thought it would quench my curiosity well.

               I sat in the café next to the book shop for a little while, reading the first few pages of my first book. Within the first three pages, I was laughing at the character and had shed a tear. I had a special latte in front of me and I could’ve stayed there for ages, looking out the window at the Notre Dame. However, I wanted to make it to Musee D’orsay before it closed, so I went on my way.

               I expected Marcus and the Ryans to have already finished looking around, since they left me at the bookstore a while before, but they actually got there after I did. As I walked around alone, I saw so many familiar pieces. Van Gogh and Monet, Manet and Degas and Rodin. I liked it better than the Louvre! And it was, again, free. When we felt satisfied (although I could have definitely spent another hour there), we walked out and ran into Jessica, Masha, and Sebastian. We decided to go get Berthillon ice cream before they closed that night (and because it was closed on Mondays). Finally, we went back to the hotel to get our things and find St. Christopher’s Inn (our hostel for the night).

               I was in a room without any Aggies. But it was okay, because I met another Julian! This was a 22 year old from Argentina, and I spoke Spanish with him. He was relieved to find someone who could speak with him. I invited him to meet my friends, but he was tired from his travels so he slept instead. I went down to meet everyone and have dinner at the bar restaurant below us and Kevin, Sebastian and I stayed up to drink wine as we walked around the city. (I love those two. It’s always us.)

               Monday was spent with Kevin. We spent the day avoiding buying subway tickets at all costs, and it was funny and invigorating. He’s my type of people. We went to L’Orangerie, and right as the subway pulled up to the stop, I remembered I had left my passport in my locker in the hostel, forgetting that it gets me into places for free!

               I was heartbroken, but hoped to figure something else out. I gave the admissions worker my Bonn bus pass and my Texas A&M student ID (which I had printed out, cut, and laminated to make it look legitimate since I lost the real thing). They asked me to show I was younger than 26 so I used the museum wifi to log into Howdy and go to my profile where it shows my birthday.

Vivian 1 Forgetfulness 0

We looked at Monet’s water lilies that I had seen in pictures in high school. I had no clue they were even in the L’Orangerie. We left and walked around the Tuillerie Gardens and into a famous bookstore and Café Angelina. I got some hot chocolate from Angelina (even though it was hot outside- it was for the experience) and we found a small café with and ordered baguette sandwiches for a cheap lunch. We took our sandwiches and sat outside the fountain of the Gardens in silence. Another heavenly moment in a heavenly day.

I told Kevin I would take him to Shakespeare & Company since I loved it and wanted him to see it before he left. When we were done there, we asked a waiter where we could see Napoleon’s casket since Jessica and Sebastian loved and recommended it. He told us to go to the War Museum, so we hopped on another unpaid subway to get there. After I used my bus pass and Texas student ID once again to say I was an EU student and showing him a picture of my BIRTH CERTIFICATE ON MY PHONE, we got in for free.

Vivian 2 Forgetfulness 0

We chilled in the garden after and I practiced my Spanish on Kevin. We had two crepes and a drink for 5 euros for dinner and scoped out a good rooftop to watch the sunset from. Unfortunately, the rooftop bar was closed on Mondays, so we settled for the bridge. Kevin and I relaxed and waved at barges passing underneath us and Sebastian met us there. When the sun was all the way down, we bought wine, grabbed our things from the hostel, and transported to our overnight bus.