Parents and Paris

Yes this is out of order. Yes this is incredibly late and delayed. But it is finally here. 

So quite a few weeks ago now my parents came to visit! They arrived on a wednesday and were set to fly out the following monday! Well I was ready and waiting for them at the Train station in Caen, and when they walked  around the corner guess who they brought along to surprise me! Matthew!! Yayy big brother. I was so excited because of course I wanted him to come (Will too :( ...) but they did a good job hiding it from me so I never figured it out. They had just flown an overnight flight and were looking a bit on the exhausted side, so we dropped their bags off at my dorm room and headed to get lunch and espresso! Now even though I have been here for nearly 4 months, I hardly ever eat at restaurants in Caen, so finding a sit down place was going to be an adventure for them AND me hah. But we managed to to wander a bit and find this nice cafe. We went upstairs to the cozy salon area and got a delicious lunch and some waker uper espresso drinks to give the boys a boost for the day.

After that? I became the tour guide! I showed them the famous sites of Caen, the Chateau, some churches, and soon after that, it was bed time for them haha. It took us a while to find their super cute bed and breakfast, and when we did, their bodies began to shut down haha. So I left them to sleep for the night!

The next morning (Thursday) I met them at their bed and breakfast and we headed from their to the WW2 Memorial Museum in Caen, it is famous and very big/nice/informative, so we spent the afternoon soaking in as much WW2 information as we could. I was completely saturated with information by the time we were ready to go. The majority of things, sadly, were closed in Caen because it was a holiday, so we decided to split up (so I could go get my bags) and meet at the Train station to go ahead and head to Paris to begin our weekend there!

So off we went. To Paris! We got their, and walked about 30 minutes to our wonderful Hilton hotel! Hehe, we had 'fre' sugary sweets awaiting us, which we gobbled down. And then we watched the BBC news. This is not that significant, except for the fact that it was the first time I've seen the news, or tv for that matter since i'd been here, and so it was nice to update myself on world news hah, although it has been nice being away from all the craziness of news in the States. 

Then we wandered out to find some dinner. And what did we have? Chinese! Haha, the chinese food in Paris is actually delicious and so we had a nice relaxing dinner together just catching up, enjoying food, and planning what to do the next few days. 

The next morning we headed to Versailles Palace. It was monstrous and we took plenty of pictures! It was awesome because we aren't in the touristy season anymore and so, although there were still people there, it was relatively empty! So we went from room to room in the magnificent palace, admiring the artwork and decorations from the era. After, we explored some smaller properties in the garden area. Matthew and Dad had decided they were done looking around outside, so my mom and I explored the garden area a bit more and found the most beautiful old fashioned farm houses! The queen had built these areas to escape from the nobility and state affairs of the time, and they were just wonderful! 

That night, my mom, dad, and I dressed up (kind of haha) and went to eat at a nice french restaurant! We were the only ones there..awkward, but the food was delicious and the patron was extremely nice! mmmm. 

Saturday we went to the Louvre and wandered around for hours.Because of different art preferences, Matthew and I went one way and the parents went the other way, however by chance we ran into each other and finished off a part of the museum together! That was the 3rd time I've visited the Louvre since being here in France, and well, i am louvred out. After that we were exhausted so we headed back to the hotel room and after resting up, Matthew, Dad, and I went to the Eiffel Tower and to dinner. On the way I introduced them to a crepe, mmm, never fails to disappoint. We could not get to the top of the Eiffel tower because the wind was too strong (scary..), so we settled (hah) for the second level! After we grabbed some delicious Italian food! 

Now sidenote, there was a minibar in our hotel room, where one kitkat bar costs around 7 euro! That is almost 10 dollars. So as my dad, Matthew, and I were waiting at the tram station to go back that night, we decided that it would be funny to buy a kitkat bar at the station, and then Matthew would pretend he got it out of the minibar to eat and freak my mom out. Hahaha. It worked perfectly. We got back to the room, and after waiting around 10 minutes, Matthew casually walked to the minibar fridge and 'took out' the kitkat, commenting to my mom that he was hungry and really wanted some chocolate. Of course my mom was like "Matthew no! Those are so ridiculously expensive." But Matthew replied that it didn't matter, it would be fine. So he started eating it to the horror or my mom who adamantly refused to eat a piece of it haha. My dad and I both shared in the deliciousness of it, as a stifled my laughter with a pillow the whole time hahaha. She was visibly angry, so we broke the joke to her where she laughed and then finished the kitkat bar off haha. It was perfect. 

Sunday, we went to the Catacombs (I finally got there!) and although we had to wait an hour to get in, the creepy open tomb of bones underground was quite interesting. After that we went to "Les Deux Magots" where many famous thinkers, writers, and Artists in history have produced works of art. And after, "Le Cafe Procope" which was the first Cafe in Paris and where Voltaire drank 30 cups of coffee a day. We just popped in there for a minute because they were too crowded to sit people just wanting a small coffee. Moving along we stopped in a used bookstore, then went to Notre Dame! There was almost no line to get inside (compared to the last time I tried and it was packed) so we looked at the inside of this MASSIVE church for a bit before heading back, exhausted to the hotel! 

Now this was already our last night in Paris, we could not stay in for the night! But Matthew was tired, so the parents and I wandered to find food. Much was closed because it was a Sunday, but we found another delicious Chinese place (I think I liked it better than the first because they had clear glass floors with fish below!) where we dined for the evening. 

I had a blast exploring Paris (being the guide and translator) with my family (minus Will) and it felt so nice to spend time with familiar faces from the big ol' state of Texas. It was sad to part from them the next morning but I am going to see them in a few weeks so it is all excitement! Yayyyy parents' weekend :)