I Love Paris in the Spring Time, I Love Paris in the Fall...lalalala

Paris is wonderful! sigh. I have the best host family and they are totally hooking me up. I arrived at the Bercy station and my host mom picked me up. She's a long time family friend and it was wonderful to see her. We then arrived at her home and procceded to go up to the second floor of the apart,ent building. She had hooked me up with my own apartment for the week!! I have this cute little room overlooking the cute little garden in the courtyard, and I have had the most wonderfully relxing few days since I've been here.

On Sunday: we met up with my host mom's (her name is Hsiao Ping) friend and had chinese food for lunch. I saw Ping's son Jean whom I haven't seen in 4 years (he is now 13), and another girl Laura whom I haven't seen for about 6 years. Later that day we walked around Paris (cue romantic classical) and went to the Sacred Heart Cathedral. It was beautiful. For dinner she cooked lamb, grilled red peppers and squash in this wonderful vinegrett, and sun-dried tomatos. After dinner her husband (who is French), poured us some red wine and we had cheese and bread with our wine. It was delightful!

On Monday: Hsiao Ping took me around Paris and we first went to this awsomely famous pastry and coffee place and had the best chocolate crossant and the most heavenly hot chocolate I have ever had (it's made with milk and actual dark chocolate, it's basically like drinking a chocolate bar... even now I still have stars in my eyes just thinking about it). We then went to the garden behind the Louve, the Paris Opera House, and Notre Dame. I loooove Notre Dame, the architecture is simply amazing. When I went in a mass had just started, and there was this young woman singing in Latin, it was awsome. We had lunch in a quite famous coffee shop in Paris (supposedly Victor Hugo and all the big literary geniuses have all met there to share their big ideas). We had salad with smoked salmon and pate, it was delicious. For dinner we had baked fish, mixed salad, and the ceremonial cheese and wine.

On Tuesday: today I went on a tour to see Monet's home in Ginevy and the Versaille palace. For dinner we had this traditional French appetizer made with either ham, pork, or rabbit. I must say, as cute as they are, rabbits are actually pretty good... it tastes kinda like chicken. For the main course we had vegetable pie (it was delicious! with a hint of curry), shrimp, sun dried tomatos, cheese, bread, wine, and fruit salad.

I have not had this much of great food in a month. Hsiao Ping is simply an amazing chef and everything she does is fresh and delicious. I am so lucky... I can't even tell you...

Adventures on Night Train to Paris
After laboriously carrying two monster size suitcases onto the match-box-like train compartment, I naively marveled at the good fortune of having the entire compartment all by myself. At around 10 an Italian family of 8 came to my compartment. Confused, (how can we all fit on 2 bunk beds?), the two Italian women and I played charades for a good part of the night until I found out that the back of our seats actually folds up to form another "bed". So there were actually 6 "beds" in the tiny compartment, 3 stacked on each side. At four in the morning I got woken up by the thunderous snoring emitting by the woman sleeping a foot away from me, and at 7 the train attendant returned my ticket back to me but lost my passport. I chased the little mousy man down informing him of the situation, by which he indignantly replied by saying that it must be in my purse. He then proceeded to walk up and down the aisle looking for my passport, passing by me 5 times, each time asking me if the documents are in my purse (no dimwit, unless you placed it there while I was asleep, I think I'm still a few years away from dementia). A Japanese woman eventually returned my passport, they had given mine to her (because all us Asians look alike, despite the fact that she's an Italian citizen). The attendant then came to me again, in which I told him that my passport has been found. He (knowing little English) got very upset and thought that I had it in my purse all along. Another charade ensued for me to inform him of his incompetence. The precision of Italian train administration stuns me. All in all though, the two Italian ladies that stayed with me were the nicest people. In the morning we busted out the dictionary and had an interesting conversation, (very interesting considering that I know no Italian and they knew no English) by which they told me that I was pretty, and that I was the tallest Asian girl they've seen. They were patient and lovely. I hope to run into them in Paris sometime...

Just got done with finals.

I am parting with Florence today for Paris. Some parting thoughts on what not to do in Italy:

WHAT NOT TO DO:

1. do NOT ask for a to-go box at dinner. I did that the second night that I was here and got yelled at by the waitress...No, I'm not exaggerating, she yelled "NON!", gave me a dirty look, and walked away.

2. do NOT ask train station attendant long questions, go to the tourist or information office for information. Me and my roomates (3 other girls) were trying to figure out how the train system works while buying our tickets to Rome. The train attendant got so annoyed that he yelled out loudly "JUST GET ON THE TRAIN! JUST GET ON THE TRAIN!", while the people in line got annoyed at us too and threw their hands up yelling at us in Italian... that was nice.

3. do NOT go in to stores during Siesta. An old lady lowered the heavy metal gate onto my head when I tried to walk into her her store. The gate full on hit me and while I was standing there stunned and in pain she shouted "CHIUSO" and started to lower the gate on me again. I ran.

4. ALWAYS count your change. I got short changed twice. Once at the grocery store the cashier short changed me 20 euros, and once at the Roma train station where the baggage claim attendant shortchanged me 10 euros. I actually caught it the second time and stood there waiting to tell him about it, giving him the benefit of the doubt (maybe he just miscalculated). He looked at me and told me to wait, and says, "ok, ok, I know, 10 Euros". Bastard.

I found myself really missing America the last week or so. Actually, we all do. I miss customer service, I miss Rubios, and I miss people smiling at you to say hello when walking down the street. Did I mention that I REALLY want a burrito?

Must apologize for the lack of bloggage of late. Am stuck studying for finals. Yes...the idea of "studying" for finals in Florence IS evil... will update on my day of liberation (in about 3 days or so). Stay tuned...

Roman Holiday

Rome is one of those movies where all the good scenes are advertised on TV. While walking through Florence, Sienna, Tuscan Hill Towns and Venice is uplifting and inspiring all in itself, Rome is downtown Los Angeles with a coliseum on the side of busy streets and other famous sights scattered sparingly around the city. The city itself is polluted and heavily graffitied. I half expected strolling like Audrey through romantic streets on my own Roman Holiday, but alas non! Rome is definitely worth going to, but I won't recommend staying more than 2 days. I stayed there from Saturday afternoon to Monday afternoon, and it was entirely too long.

The sights of Rome are beautiful. The cherubs in St. Peters (Vatican) were the fattest babies I have ever seen, standing almost as tall as me holding a plate of holy water. Every statute and monument in Rome is overwhelmingly larger than life, at times grandiose. The Trevi Foutain, while pretty, lacks the intricacies you see on works by the hands of Michelangelo. Many of the statutes in Rome are big, but less refined than those housed in Florence Museums. The coliseum was actually smaller than what I imagined to be. The ruins are confusing if you don't know what you're looking at, but fascinating if you know the history behind it (I never did find the "mouth of truth" however). Capitol Hill was gorgeous, framed by 4 gynormous statutes and one in the middle. Venezia Square looked like Ceaser's Palace in Vegas, and the Pantheon was absolutely stunning. Spanish steps were just "eh" but I hear it's beautiful at night. St. Peters in the Vatican is HUGE, with beautifully designed dome by Michelangelo and an awesome view on the "cupola" (the view from the very top of the dome). After claiming 320 steps just to get to the bottom of the dome and through countless twists and turns inside the dome to the very top, I realized that I am a bit scared of heights (not the best time to find that out). The Sistine was a dream, and the School of Athens was absolutely awesome. The public bathroom near St. Peters was the cleanest public bathroom I have ever seen, complete with an attendant sitting in the bathroom telling you were to go. Traffic rules are actually obeyed near St. Peters, as I found that out when Swiss guards dressed in purple told me to stay on the sidewalk.

All in all, it was a good Roman Holiday. It's definitely worth it to go, although it is not a city that I'm eager to go back to...

disclaimer:

have limited time in internet cafe
will have spelling mistakes on blog
will have grammatical mistakes on blog
will correct them when I get back
please be patient with the less pristine prose

Got stalked at the grocery store today. I found myself saying "Boun Giorno" back to the same guy 4 times in different sections of the store. After the fourth hello he crept up to me and told me that I was "Bella" and proceeded to ask me the length of my stay in Florence. Without much thought I shouted "3 days!" before looking down into my basket of: a loaf of bread, ravioli, gnocci, pasta sauce, 2 bags of olive oil chips, and a 12 pack of toilet paper (doh!) I smiled hoping he'd be so captivated as to overlook the basket of food enough to feed a small country. "awww that's too bad" he says, with his arms flailing towards me like a very menacing octopus. "next time you come back" he says, indicating that we would "hang out". Riiiight, that's the first thing I'm gonna do next time I visit Italy. Moral? Stalking=creepy, no matter how much you flatter him\her later on, it just makes you creepier...