The return home

Who could ever stand in front of the Eiffel Tower and not take a twirl?

Well, I made it. Through four countries, seven cities, a bajillion and a half trains, a handful of buses and two airplanes. It was an incredible 15 days and I cannot believe that I am so lucky that I could do it all and go visit such incredible places! I have no idea how to express everything to you all...I would be writing blog after blog for days. I am definitely going to post the high lights here, and I suppose you could all read my journal at one point...or just have a loooooong dinner!

The most surprising thing of the trip? I LOVED FRANCE.
If someone told me a month ago that I would love France, I probably would have laughed. I have never had a desire to go visit, except to see Versailles and the Louvre. So I figured, well my friend wants to go to Paris, I guess that's okay. One of my best friends is studying in Aix-en-Provence, I guess that's okay, because she's there. I'll just get through it.
What a ridiculous thought that was. Probably on par with people who think the world is still flat or something.
Paris was gorgeous. I could have stared at the apartments all day. The entire city was white and can I describe architecture as just ...clean? Because it was beautiful. My favorite place we visited was the Paris National Opera House. That was incredible...I thought the Grand Foyer put the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles to shame and I could imagine the phantom and crinoline at every step. I had to imagine because (as I realized) I am sadddly behind on my French literature. I couldn't even drag Kym or Amanda to Victor Hugo's house in good conscience because I have not read his books. Summer reads, stat.
I wish I had more time at the museums, the Louvre is free for under 26s on Friday nights and the Musee d'Orsay is on Thursday, but we didn't get to spend a lot of time there because we had to meet our hostess, Amanda, for some vin on the town. Winged Victory was beyond words, for me. I was getting so annoyed with everyone looking at Mona (the Mona Lisa!) because tourists literally SHOVED their way to the front and then looked at her through their camera lens, maybe tried to get in a picture that had their head in the bottom, and left. And it was packed. It was a little heartbreaking, really.
For Easter, Kym and I travelled to stay with one of my best friends Liz in Aix-en-Provence. I think that was one of my favorite cities--it was all dusty yellow stone streets and medieval allies. Her host parents were Bruno e Veronique, lived in a tiny apartment but many stories high, in town, raised guide dogs and did all sorts of cool stuff. They cooked us dinner on Easter (we brought dessert) and the menu was sea urchin, oysters, lamb, sweet potato, regular potatoes with cheese, salad with beets, mushrooms and apples and bread (pan). It was awesome. They made us try roquefort cheese (GROSS, sorry blue fans) and Bruno is a recovering alcoholic, so no wine at dinner. Instead he drinks a menthe syrup water combo that tastes like listerine (I don't know where this culinary courage came from within me). Then after dinner we played the card game bullshit for almost two hours with them and Bruno's son and his girlfriend, who also came to dinner. It was one of the best days I've ever had---and I'm forgetting the morning! We went to mass at the cathedral, had a two and a half Easter lunch complete with the rose wine of the region and crepe.
In Aix, Liz randomly decided to come to Nice with us for the night. We stayed at Chez Brigitte, which is actually Brigitte's home! Like her legit house, and she rents rooms. Wild. The tub was pink and deep with a handheld shower spray, I kept thinking I was Melanie Griffith in Shining Through, ready for Michael Douglas in a WWII uniform to carry me off at any moment (don't forget he literally carries her off because she steals valuable info from the Germans and gets shot up, thats true love). Nice was beautiful by the sea, with palm trees and tangerine buildings everywhere. Vieux Nice, the area with the alleys and markets was pretty...the rest of the city was kind of just city. Since Liz had nothing with her, we decided wouldn't it be fun to shop for some clothes and then go out and have a bangarang night???
Of course.
It was excellent.

From Nice we met our friend Maureen and traveled to Italy...and today at Dunnes stores there was a sale on Pepperidge Farm Cookies, 2 for 4 euro so I need a computer break to go eat some. More later! I'll upload pictures to snapfish soon. For now...the Eiffel Tower is a tease!

Art highlights in Paris
The Lacemaker: Vermeer
Arrangement in Grey and Black: Whistler
The Mona Lisa: da Vinci
Winged Victory
Starry Night, Arles: Van Gogh
Blue Water Lilies: Monet
Marie Antoinette: Vigée-Le Brun (I think)