la fête de la saint benjamin

today was a really great day...it's unfortunate that i did not have my camera with me, so there is no documentation of it.

but i spent the day with my friend, mike. we went to the Musée Carnavalet...which is about the history of Paris. i really enjoyed it. it was very interesting. we did so much other stuff throughout the day...sat at a cafe for a while, met some of his friends at a bar for drinks, had some pizza for dinner and watched a movie...it was a great time. quite an eventful day. i don't think i will ever forget it. it was extremely memorable.

i know this is all very vague...but i think it's best that way. my memory is very good, so i will easily be able to recall this later on just from reading the simple recounting of this day. it will always be one of my favorites.

- affected

visitors

i feel like maybe, for once, i should write less and just let the photos speak for themselves.
but yeah, tom has some friends in town visiting from their study-abroad programs in Spain...so we just walked around a lot and stuff today. enjoy some photos.

above Les Halles

old men playing a game together

bubble-makers!

Jardin Tuilieries

under the l'Arc de Triomphe

tommy

mitchell, cody, and rudy

hunter, fiona, lexie

extra pita grecque = magical

- having fun

party!

monday was...monday. school and such occurred, nothing exciting...but that night, we had a going-away party at our building for a group of Germans who were leaving after having lived there for quite a while. it was a themed party, and we dressed up as characters from movies. there was a ton of awesome food, and then afterwards there was a dance-party. strangely enough, i actually DJ-ed for most of this dance-party! i really enjoyed it. :) it was a blast of a night.

michael, getting ready

we were greasers

hippies

looking snazzy

claire and i

punch!

spice girls

heaven.

dessert! i made the chocolate brownie/cake thing!

lol, these two run our building, patricia and etienne

i love this photo! so much is going on, haha

the germans! :'(

- regretting using so much hair gel

they let egyptians in here?!

so...since tom's friend, debbie, is studying abroad in Aix-en-Provence (in the south of France), she is technically "from out of town." therefore, we took her to see places around the city. one of the places was the Père Lachaise cemetery. i enjoyed it, since i had never been there yet either! it was very beautiful...other than the continuous, misty rain that never let up throughout the day. but here are a bunch of photos from it.

in the metro station

i don't know if these plants were real...

a beautiful cemetery cat!

i thought all the rachel's i know would probably like this

one of the many Jewish graves

salt?...i have no idea

with Jim Morrison

tom jumped a fence and snuck into a family's tomb

a map of the cemetery

Oscar Wilde's grave

kissing Oscar Wilde

with Edith Piaf

then, we got some lunch with a Spanish restaurant...and then went across town to get her bags from her hotel. lastly, we took her to the Gare de Lyon station, so she could return to Aix. it was definitely a fun day running around town, and i hope she enjoyed Paris.

some deliciousness that debbie gave us

we look like we're in the 1920's or something!

these things are everywhere...

yum, gambas

haha, how cute.

this picture cracks me up!

inside Gare de Lyon...so awesome!

the train

that night, i went to Hillsong Paris Church. the usual pastor wasn't there, because his wife just had a baby. so, someone else was speaking...and talking about Palm Sunday. it was interesting stuff. afterwards, i just went home and spent the rest of the night quietly.

- exhausted