Le Premier Jour

Today has been our first full day in Paris, and it's been pretty nice! Steph B and I are finally settled into our tiny apartment in the Citadines St.-Germain on the Seine River. This is my bed:

It's absolutely gorgeous. You step outside and see the river and can see directly towards the Académie Française and a 1 or 2-minute walk down the street will take you to the Notre Dame. The view is absolutely amazing and it's weird to think that I"m actually living in Paris and will be for the next month. No joke, this is the view from the bridge right next to our hotel:

This morning, Steph and I got up at 8:00am and went to the Boulangerie de Papa for croissants and I also ordered an espresso. Then we headed back to the Citadines for 2 classes, one of which is taught by a really hot French man and another one taught by an adorable old man who uses a cane and wears a beige trench coat. Then, for lunch a few of us went out to a Greek restaurant which was deliiiicccciiiiiouuuus. Then, Steph and I went walking around and then went on our first grocery shopping excursion at the Champion supermarché. We learned a few important things:
1. People are nice.
2. French markets do not sell skim milk.
3. French markets run out of eggs, early.
4. Markets do not give out plastic/paper bags for free. So, you should be badass and bring tote bags like Steph and I did. Yeah, we're pretty awesome.

Instead of going out to a French Truffault movie with a bunch of the other girls in the group, we decided to take advantage of the BEAUTIFUL weather to go on a long walk around le Quarter Latin, St. Germain-des-Près, et les Invalides. Boy, was it worth it. It was I think in the low 70s (F), and the Notre Dame looked absolutely stunning against the sky this evening. We also mistakenly stumbled across the Louvre and we just sat and stared at the palace and the glass triangle for a while. Lots and lots of walking. But it was worth it for these pictures:

Then, we realized at 8:30pm that we should probably eat dinner so we returned to the hotel, changed our clothes and then headed out to the 4e arrondissement to find a nice place to eat. We ended up eating at Le Pre-Grill, a nice big restaurant filled with a mix of patrons from all over the place and we each ordered some exotic combination of foods using the "prix-fixe" menu. I ordered the escargots, a cheese fondue, and crème brulée, with a glass of white wine. DAMN THAT'S A FRENCH-ASS MEAL. Yup. It was delicious. We were there for at least 2 hours. Now we're back, I'm probably gonna shower and then go to bed by 12:30am my time.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow, we have the day free until 4:00pm, but some girls are thinking about seeing the Jewish Quarter tomorrow and getting falafel for lunch. I was thinking about being boring, buying a French book and trying to read it tomorrow next to the Seine. I kind of want to have a slow day. I'll decide tomorrow morning over breakfast :)

Bonne nuit.