WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY: Seven Arts is a cute little bar in Paquis, mostly serving Canadians, Americans, Brits, and other English speaking patrons! Last Wednesday Norina, Auriele, and I went to a delicious Indian restaurant for dinner and then to Seven Arts. On Wednesday nights they have live music and it is really great and a fun atmosphere! Thursday night my colleague told me about a special event that was happening that evening. All of the art galleries in Old town were having and open house event. Every gallery was open until 9pm and welcoming visitors with hor d’euves and wine. The other interns were tired or didn’t really feel like going so I headed off on my own. I know my art history major friends would have been proud! It was really fun and nice! Of course, I would have rather gone with some friends but I had a great time on my own! I headed home and packed up by bags for Paris!!!
FRIDAY/SATURDAY: A little bit of a rocky start would be a calm way to put the first hour of Paris. The Paris train station is HUGE and Confusing, at least for us Blooms! I could not find my parents. They said meet at the Upper Crust restaurant, no. 36 on the map. There are 2 Upper Crusts restaurants, both labeled no. 36 on the map. Then we decided to meet at relay, and there are about a million Relay stores in the airport…anyway, after a very stressful hour we were reunited at last! From the train station we headed to our cute hotel and walked around the Latin Quarter and had a delicious dinner in a little French bistro in a fun area! The Latin Quarter is full of life and vibrancies and diversity! Saturday was a very busy fun-filled day. My parents recently adopted the motto, No place is too far to walk, so we walked. EVERYWHERE! The day started by a delicious cafe au lait and croissant followed by a walk up the Eiffel tower…no elevator for us! We certainly worked off that croissant! The view from the top was beautiful!!! Geneva looks like such a tiny city compared to Paris, because it is! After the Eiffel Tower we had a great lunch and then headed to Marsais. Marsais is a predominantly Jewish and Gay district. It has lots of funky shops and really cool vintage stores. We also got a DELICIOUS crepe of banana and nutella…YUM! We walked around for a little then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We met Kierstin, Poppy, and Mary at Bastille and went to a cool bar for drinks. It was so much fun, as it always is with my GFS buddies!!! After drinks my parents took us out for dinner, it was Halloween and the Parisians were definitely getting into the spirit…we even had delicious lime green cocktails called l’alien. Gelato was our next stop; then we left the rents and went to Pop’s dorm. We quickly make shifted some costumes and headed to Champ Elysses where there was a house party. After that it was time to head home. I was really sad to leave my GFS buddies but happy to know I have such awesome friendships! (Cheesy, I know...but it is true!)
SUNDAY: Sunday morning we got up at the crack of dawn and took the TGV to Geneva. For the first time it felt like I was really coming home! I was so excited to show off « my » city to my parents. We dropped their stuff of at the hotel and walked to Lac Leman. We walked through Paquis, took a boat ride to the Jet d’eau, ate roasted chestnuts in Old Town, climbed the stairs at San Pierre, had Prosecco in the Gardens at the reformation wall, shopped in the flea market in Plainpalleis, and walked through Carouge! Us Blooms know how to fit a lot in one day!! We had awesome fondue in Paquis and then the rents took me home so I could show them my humble abodes. My room was so messy I thought my mom was going to have a heart attack. The first thing she said was "Your room never looked this bad last year", and I said yes, because if it did I think Arlyn would have either killed me or had a heart attack. I am so happy to have my mom and dad with me in Geneva. It feels like my two worlds are coming together and I could not be happier, but it doesn’t feel complete without Eric!
Sending lots of HUGS from the land of Cheese and Chocolate!!
xoxo,
Samantha (and Rachel and Steven)
sounds like so much fun!! love and missss you. and thank you for never trashing our room last year.
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