La République Française

After spending two days in Austria, I boarded the night train (long story, was supposed to fly, but alas...) from Vienna to Paris to visit Bethany. She prepared a nice beef stroganoff meal for me Saturday, and then we joined up with her friend and co-worker and went out of town to Vaux le Vicomte, a sweet chateau decorated with candlelight. Seriously, this place was uber romantic, with all the candles and gardens. Aftar touring the chateau, we sat and enjoyed a serenade of classical/opera music and took in the stars. Not bad for a first date: she paid for the chateau, and I paid for the McDonald's. On Sunday, I went to the french church with Bethany and other members of her team (don't worry, they translated for me!). Bethany made her specialty enchiladas for lunch (they were scrumptious, really). In the afternoon, we hit up this neat park with a fountain and waterfall, and then spent the evening searching the internet for return travel options. Monday was my first real day in Paris proper. We started with the view from Galleries Lafayette, then explored Chatelet (and its crazy maze of metro connections!) and enjoyed warm sandwiches by the fountain. Afterwards it was over to Trocadero for some Eiffel Tower viewing, and we found a nice grassy area to continue our conversation from the park the day before. To cap the night off, we enjoyed grec food at Pont Neuf (an island in the Seine). We wandered back through the latin quarter and had a relaxed cup of coffee before calling it a night. For my last full day in France, a family had us over for lunch, and then I spent the afternoon with a friend while Bethany taught. We met back in Paris at Pont des Artes, her favorite bridge over the river, for a fun picnic of cheese and fruits and a baugette. While strolling around, we ran across this guy playing accordion music on another bridge over the Seine (yes, again, really romantic stuff!). A funny highlight: I almost ran into a self-cleaning pod toilet (Bethany saved me from intense embarrassment). After a sleepless night of talking and processing, I departed from Gare de l'Est on the night train back to Austria. This summary doesn't give many of the more salient details; for those you'll have to call me ;) Nevertheless, the trip to 'see about a girl' was successful!


Le Tour Eiffel


Bethany and the Opera House, view from Galleries Lafayette


Us in front of the opera house


Musée de Louvre


Tower view from Trocadero


Pont Des Artes


Vaux de Vilcomte


Vaux de Vilcomte


Vaux de Vilcomte


Fountain at Chatelet
Mmmm. Enchiladas