We woke up and met Audrey's father, Didier, pronounce Deh-de-ey. I'm not very good at saying his name. But I'm trying! :) He made us eggs and coffee, and we talked for a bit and then headed off to Paris! It was about a 5 and a half hour drive to Paris. Audrey's house is in the Alps so it was a winding drive down to the highway. The view was breathtaking.
The entire drive to Paris we passed fields of Sunflowers.
We arrived in Paris and settled into Audrey's Grandmother's house. It is outside of Paris, it is not in the downtown. I never realized how huge Paris is! 12 million people live in Paris.
We changed and got freshened up and her father drove us into Paris. Normally you cannot drive at all in Paris- it is basically impossible, he was shocked and amazed that we found a parking spot!
Then he showed us around Paris. He is so passionate about Paris. He grew up here so he knows his way around really well and he knows all there is to know! I mentioned to Audrey how passionate he was and she said "well it's easy to be passionate about Paris". They love where they are from. It's amazing.
We walked up hills and through buildings.
Vineyards
Then Didier blindfolded Kevin and Audrey blindfolded me and they walked us about 5-6 blocks to a view they wanted us to see. Audrey said "sometimes my dad has good ideas" :)
They walked us up the steps of a cathedral and told us to open our eyes. This is the view- it is the "rooftop of Paris" as they said.
This is the cathedral whose steps we stood on. We then went inside the cathedral and since it was Sunday they were having a service. We were not allowed to take pictures of the inside, but it was beautiful!
We were blown away. I don't think we realized how huge Paris truly is. Didier spent about 20 minutes pointing out buildings like Notre Dame, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower which is to the right and hidden behind trees in pictures. He explained that if you split this view down the middle the left is old Paris, with very tiny streets and to the right is the newer Paris with wider streets so people can get where they need to go. They started making the streets wider so the military could get through and not be blocked off. He said that Paris hasn't changed...that the Paris we see now is the Paris that has been the same for centuries.
We stopped and had crepes at a street side cafe. I had Nutella and banana, Audrey had Nutella, Kevin had blueberry, Didier had apricot. Delicious! Kevin also had an espresso which they call expresso.
View while we ate crepes:
Next Audrey's father walked us to some places he wanted to show us.
There was a wall that says I love you in every language. If you look about 4 tiles above Kevin's head you'll see it in English. The woman at the top says "Love is disorder...So love"
This picture was taken at Pigalle (pronounced pee-gal) - it used to be where the prostitutes would be, but now it is where all the burlesque shows are, including Moulin Rouge.
Audrey ordering bread for dinner
Then we got chicken ...in French it's called poulet (poo-lei) for dinner.
Next we stopped into the market to pick up cheese, milk, tomatoes, etc.
We walked back to the car probably about a mile walk, up and down hills.
Audrey's dad said this is a very famous restaurant
For dinner we had tomatoes and feta with olive oil, poulet with scalloped potatoes in a very creamy cheese- almost tasted like Macaroni and Cheese, and bread. They just put the bread on the table here. Not on a plate. And shake out the tablecloth after dinner.
After dinner we had the cheeses Didier picked out for us to taste with bread. He picked out a wine that he said is the best. You have to take a bite of cheese and then sip wine. The wine was delicious! And so was the cheese. The first cheese reminded me of Brie but with a little more flavor and the second cheese was like Stilton, and in the picture you'll see the mold in the cheese. If you like bleu cheese/Stilton then you would love this. It's very creamy. I couldn't stop eating it. Didier then had us taste a few French liqueurs. When I took pictures of the bottles he was afraid people would think the French were drunks...it was very small sips :)
This liqueur is made with plants found in the Alps. It is green- it looks like and smells like listerine. But tastes sweet.
Then we went to bed so we could be rested for the next day.
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