Seven days in Paris and I'm in love again

"Three days in Paris and I'm in love again. Paris, Paris it's me again" is a line from the song "paris" by Jeremias, one of my favorite German indie bands. However, I wasn't only in Paris for three days, but a whole week. I visited my best friend Jana here, who is doing her volunteer service at the Goethe Institute. I had visited her for six days in December and I really liked it. My parents then gave me a huge surprise for my 19th birthday and gifted me a round-trip flight to Paris. It was the coolest birthday gift in a long time. I was really excited and even downloaded a countdown app to track when it was time to go. From 58 days, it became 20, then just 7, and finally everything happened so quickly and I was in line for the security check at Barcelona airport.

Of course, I arrived at the airport way too early, my flight was at 10:10. But, as a true German, I got up at 05:30 and was almost done with the security check by 8:00. After a brief language difficulty, an employee tried to get me to push my backpack over the rollers, but she pronounced "push" in a weird way, so I didn't understand what she actually wanted until later. I sat down for a cappuccino at the duty-free shop and soon after that, I was on the plane. I landed safely at Paris Orly, where Jana unfortunately wasn't waiting for me yet because there was a tram issue. After an hour, she was there, but unfortunately at the completely opposite end of the airport, so we still had a 15-minute walk to meet each other. Finally, we saw each other and almost crushed each other. I was so happy, my stomach was doing somersaults. She even drew a little welcome sign for me and I baked her a brownie. While searching for the right way to her place, which was also a small challenge, we chatted just like always. Although we video chat at least 2 to 5 times a week, talking in person is still completely different. It was as if no day had passed since our last meeting in Münster. When we arrived at Jana's apartment, she was finishing her motivation letters for several degree programs in Paris because the deadline was on Thursday. As a good friend, I was understanding, apart from the adrenaline rush of the reunion, I felt the tiredness in my bones and slept like a log for two hours. In the evening, we went out to Chez Julia, where I had the best salmon pasta in a long time. Jana gave me strict instructions not to talk, so that the waiter wouldn't charge us for water. Apparently, the French like to do that when they realize that you're a tourist. The waiter actually thought I was French because he was thrilled when he saw me taking pictures in front of the restaurant, since my name is Julia. He always addressed me as Julia and said something, but since I never had French in school, I didn't understand anything. So, I just smiled and said oui and merci. After dinner, we went back to Jana's place, where we showed off our singing talents during a freestyle karaoke session. I even showed off my rap talent with Slim Shady by Eminem. Then we talked for a long time, probably until 3 in the morning or so.

As a result, we slept in on Wednesday, until about 12 noon. Jana and I are like an old married couple in many ways. We argued about the same things every day. For example, we both woke up relatively late every day, but I always stressed out and said that half of the day was already over, which drove Jana crazy. Even though Jana took longer to get ready than me, she was always faster and had to wait for me, which was somehow quite ironic. The weather on Wednesday was great. Actually, the weather was very good the whole week, mild and sunny. But I packed as if winter was about to come. I still had the shock of freezing temperatures in Paris in December, where I always went out with a scarf, hat, and extra warm layers. This time, I was actually always feeling too warm rather than too cold, but the scarf and the thick jacket came in handy in the late evenings. We were both ready to go at 12:00 and headed to the Centre Pompidou, a museum of modern art in Paris. As an EU citizen under 25, you can enter most museums for free in Paris, which is pretty cool. Many things are quite expensive here, but at least the museums are affordable. Jana suffers from severe museum autism, meaning she has to look at every artwork and every room in great detail. But I don't mind because I also really like museums. So, we spent quite a lot of time in the museum before heading back to Paris city. On our way to the Seine, a pigeon flew into my face, which scared me to death and confirmed my belief that pigeons are evil. Jana just laughed at me. We visited the Eiffel Tower and watched people by the Seine. We went to a small park and listened to a brass band. The sun was shining and the Eiffel Tower in the background made the scene perfect. In the evening, we went to a bar called "La Mazane" for a jazz night. I was pleasantly surprised because it was really cool to listen to such talented musicians. The vibe was nice and I really liked the bar. Afterward, we went to Burger King with Jana's colleague (Adrian) and later to Jana's place where we talked until 2 o'clock in the morning because we wanted to surprise a friend for her birthday, but she didn't open the door. In the end, I fell into bed completely exhausted and slept deeply, which was much needed.

On Thursday, I woke up at 09:30. I had a lot to do that day. Unfortunately, Jana had to go back to work on Thursday and in the evening, she had a karaoke cinema birthday party, which I couldn't attend because there were no more tickets. But it wasn't a big deal because I had a busy schedule. Like almost every morning in Paris, I went to a bakery and bought a croissant and a pain au chocolat because you have to treat yourself on vacation. I enjoyed them in the metro. I met up with a former classmate and friend near the Pantheon. Although we didn't have any classes together in high school, we always got along well. It was really cool to see her again and chat with her in peace while discovering Paris at the same time. We spent quite a long time in Jardin du Luxembourg, a beautiful park, where we talked about former classmates and our future plans. Then we had lunch together, the set lunch cost 22 euros. It was relatively expensive, but the quiche was a 10 out of 10, as well as the small salad. The steak that followed was also quite tasty. After that, we went to Place de la Republique, where we said goodbye because I had plans to meet up with a friend there.

We had met at a bar in Barcelona at the end of January. During our conversation, I found out that he was studying in Paris. We stayed in touch and when I told him that I was coming to Paris in April, he promised me a city tour. The city tour he gave me was a 10 out of 10, I learned a lot of new things about Paris. For example, there are four Triumphal Arches that are all in a straight line and used to be the trade route of the Romans. We also admired the little Eiffel Tower, "Eifella", which was only visible until April 10th (on the occasion of the 134th anniversary of the real Eiffel Tower). There was a pretty funny situation on the metro, we were having a normal conversation and a German family sat down next to us. While the girl listened attentively to our conversation, her mother gave us both death stares. I smiled at her, but her eyes spoke only of pure rejection, unfortunately quite typical German behavior. The city tour was a perfect mix of relaxation and action: chilling with coffee in the park, buying tourist keychains at the Eiffel Tower, walking through Paris, and drinking white wine in a bar, which was definitely much better than the €2.10 white wine from our supermarket here. Maybe someday I can repay him with a city tour of the world city of Premia de Mar.

Friday was a very relaxed day, but the few hours of sleep and all the walking of the previous days took their toll. So, the visit to the Louvre didn't happen and even though I had planned not to sleep too long, I failed miserably. It happens to the best of us. I spent the time relaxing and watching "Türkisch für Anfänger" on my iPad. Jana came back from work soon after and I could annoy her again with Quedate, or as she says, brainwash her. But music wasn't the only thing that entertained us that evening, we also watched the movie Shazam. Now, all DC fans have to stay strong, but honestly, this movie was a maximum 3 out of 10. It felt like we were both falling asleep at the end. Only the overly sugary cinema popcorn could trigger our dopamine receptors, but definitely not this movie. Well, it wasn't a big deal, we still had fun and talked for a long time.

Although I was well-rested on Saturday, getting up was slightly stressful for a moment because I had unread emails from the airline I flew with. My flight had been canceled due to strikes in France and I had to reschedule, which fortunately was very easy. So, I had a stroke of luck. Even though my flight was canceled, I had an extra day in Paris and one less day of work, completely unexpected. Somehow, we managed to leave the apartment very late again because we wanted to go to a park. Adrian had recommended one to us, but we just couldn't find it, so we spontaneously decided to go to another park. And it was absolutely worth it. The park was really beautiful and there were cute sheep that you could pet. We walked through the forest and listened to Queen songs. The sun was shining and a meadow filled with daisies invited us to linger. There, we just chilled, listened to my super cool French playlist (it has a whole 5 likes on Spotify), and talked about everything and nothing. Throughout my time in Paris, I kept reading passages from a book to Jana. We even made it to page 126, so you might think that the book is particularly worth reading. But the opposite is true, the book is a guide and called "Generation Unfit for Relationships" by Michael Nast. Or Michael Nasty, as we renamed him. Since we both will eventually become professional book critics, we sometimes practice it and it's quite funny. The book is simply poorly written and sometimes quite sexist and illogical in its arguments. But, it doesn't matter, we had fun with it. After that, we visited the small castle in the park and admired the art exhibition there. We headed back to Paris city because we were quite tired. But somehow, I managed to convince Jana to go out again because I really wanted to eat crepes. She knows where to find the cheapest and best ones. Especially the crepes with sugar are delicious because they always include a small piece of butter. We sat down on a square with our crepes and listened to a saxophone player. Since we were very close to the filming locations of "Emily in Paris", we had to admire them as well. We visited Emily's apartment and Gabriel's restaurant, but unfortunately, neither were there. To end a perfect evening, we went to the bar "The Wall" and at home, we watched "He's Just Not That Into You". A really nice rom-com, which may not fully do justice to the city of love, but is very well made.

On Sunday, it was Easter and the Easter Bunny visited us. Like magic, lots of delicious chocolate eggs appeared and we had chocolate waffles for breakfast. Our destination of the day was Sacre Coeur and the surrounding neighborhood. The overpriced ice cream we treated ourselves to was at least tasty. Montmartre looks a bit like Barcelona if you squint your eyes. Jana always indignantly responds to that by saying that if anything, Barcelona looks like Paris. After all the climbing stairs and running around, we were tired and hungry. We went to Jana's favorite restaurant where I had a delicious risotto. The waiter who served us looked unbelievably good and we were convinced that he ultimately wanted to marry both of us because he took our order twice. Jana also played a prank on me because I don't speak French. She told me he had asked for our phone numbers, which was, of course, a lie. Well, never mind. Spring feelings are also in the air in Paris, the cherry blossoms were blooming beautifully and we admired them on the way back home. The good weather added to the experience and it actually felt as warm as it does in Spain. In the evening, I read to Jana again, as a way to repay her for graciously sleeping on the floor for me.

Easter Monday was already my last full day in Paris. I was a bit sad. You look forward to something for so long and poof, it's already over. The weather wasn't the best, but it was perfect for a walk around the Louvre. I'll have to visit Mona Lisa another time, but that was not a big deal. First, Jana and I got ourselves the coolest T-shirts ever with the inscription: I 💗 Paris. Even Jana, as a seasoned anti-tourist, couldn't resist the tourist shops. She wasn't immune to the kitsch either and bought a few things herself. Somehow, we ended up at an American candy store where gummy bears cost €4.9 but looked very fancy and were quite tasty. We stocked up there as well. But the shopping tour wasn't over yet because we also went to the Champs-Élysées. There were a lot of luxury brands, but also other stores like the Disney Store. It was complete sensory overload. I bought a Van Gogh card game in a department store and it is really beautiful, but also overpriced. Every time we entered or exited a store, the alarm beeped, somehow we were cursed. So, we were searched multiple times, even though they didn't find anything, of course. To recover from the shock, we went to McDonald's for some greasy fries and watched a desperate person dressed as a bunny trying to get people to take photos with him from our window seat. The Arc de Triomphe was not far away, so I persuaded Jana to go up there again. It was even free for us (thanks to the EU). It was pouring rain and windy by then, but Paris has its own charm in the rain and I enjoyed seeing the rain again because in Spain, it's almost always sunny. Jana's city tour was, of course, a 10 out of 10, she put a lot of effort into it. We even took metro line number 6, which passes the Eiffel Tower so I could admire it as we went by. In the evening, we had a perfect girls' night with a movie, reading, chatting, and laughing. It almost felt like being at home in Germany before both of us moved to a different country. It was a really nice feeling. The trip was even better than my first trip to Paris, especially because of the intense time we had together. It was like a therapy session and my thoughts, which were always spinning in circles, became completely still, at least for a moment 😉. That's why I shed a few tears when we said goodbye early on Tuesday morning and I was particularly motivated to finish this blog post because this trip was so special to me. Now, I don't want to get too cheesy, but don't blame me, after all, I was in the City of Love 😉.