cou-cou!

“Un ananas s’il vous plaît”.

Il a commencé comme ça!

Last weekend - Paris (a treat gift from the parents of my crazy Parisian friend, Lou Lou). Lou of course had no idea about our cheeky plan to surprise her with my visit ! I travelled to Paris by TGV - taking exactly 3 hours and 10 minutes from Grenoble. On arrival, I took the metro direct to Lou's work where I had arranged to surprise her. I was close to reaching her work when I suddenly realized I was empty handed! I could not possibly surprise her without jumping from behind something, so I desperately searched for a florist hoping to find a large colourful bunch of flowers. I found no florist. Isn't it always the way? When you are looking for something you can never bloody find it. Instead I crossed the path of a little man outside the metro station selling a selection of no more then four fruits on a petite, rustic table. He looked so hopeful as I stared at his pineapple for a very long time. I pictured my appearance for a moment – me holding the pineapple in replacement of the flowers. I liked this idea and so I bought the pineapple and thought it would be way cooler anyway to be sprung from a pineapple then a bunch of inedible flowers. The little man was overly thankful - so thankful that it made me think he found the pineapple! You can imagine how the surprise unfolded. A knock, an answer, a pineapple, some hideous sunglasses I found in my bag, a thousand laughs and very few words. We headed straight for the café below Lou's work and in total excitement we shared our many stories, ideas and plans over a delicious cold beer.

The initial feeling of excitement didn’t fade all weekend. It felt unreal to be visiting such a beautiful city for the weekend and being welcomed by Lou’s beautiful family made me feel so far from feeling like a tourist! A dinner party for Bruno (Lou’s father) was planned for Friday night. The fact that Bruno is the father of three daughters means that the company of women always tends to outweigh that of men. You could tell Bruno doesn’t complain about this, particularly when it comes to present opening on his birthday. He received fragile, sentimental gifts such as pots of flowers, soaps, books, his very own teapot for one and a weekend away of pampering. He was in heaven! We ate delicious food prepared by Aude (Lou’s mum), drank beaucoup de vin rouge and I don’t think I paused from smiling all night.

Samedi et dimanche événements:

Jumping from fabric market to fabric market under Sacre Coeur, Montmartre.

Strong morning coffees and surprise mouthfuls of freshly cut pineapple.

A picnic in Luxembourg gardens featuring a lot of exciting people watching.

Cutting each other’s hair in Lou’s apartment with domestic scissors she had found that struggled to cut sticky tape.

Passionate singing into baguettes along to old French classic songs I mumbled the words to.

A walking English-to-French vocabulary list following me.

Walking the streets, following our noses into teashops, boulangeries, soap boutiques and antique shops.

A long description of each building, street and shop from my personal tour guide and know-it-all - Lou Lou.

Running in the rain, laughing from bar to bar along St Germain des Pres.

Afternoon cups of teas on Lou’s friends house boat that happens to be situated on the Seine in front of the Eiffel Tower (I don’t think I could close my jaw the entire time).

Cheese platters and fruit salads in Le Marais.

I couldn’t have imagined a more inspirational weekend away. It felt great to be around familiar faces in a busy city and it gave me a stronger sense of direction. Being in Paris again also made me a lot more excited for my return in a few weeks to meet my brother and his girlfriend and for my move there mid year, but for a bit longer than a weekend. Time flies by so I have to make the most of where I am and right now, I haven’t quite finished yet with the mountains!