I spent Christmas Eve with Rems and his family, where I prepared a delicious roasted chicken dinner with mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and hot chocolate sauce served with an assortment of fruits for dessert. Het was zooooo lekker! The next night, his brother prepared a smoked salmon salad, baked fish, and vegetables which ik ook het lekker gevondt (I have no idea if that's grammatically correct but whatever). The day after that, I continued my lekker-eating streak by dining at Jaime's host family's house where I inhaled duck, french fries, some divine alcoholic cauliflower concoction and homemade tiramisu. Rems stayed over and the next morning we started on our adventure to Paris!!!!!
We drove there Saturday morning with no traffic and beautiful sunny weather. I managed to stay awake for at least 3 of the hours (it took us about 5) and was pleasantly surprised that our hotel in Irvy Sur Seine wasn't a rat-hole. The city is about 10 minutes south of Paris by car, 5 by RER. We were literally down the street from the train station
*****Sidenote: our 2nd day there, we didn't know where we were going so Rem's suggested we use the TomTom (navigation system) to find our way. It seemed like a good idea. When we went outside, I looked down the street and said I thought I could see the station. Being a man, Remco insisted I was wrong and that we should follow the TomTom. Needless to say, we walked for about 25 minutes, making U-turns and passing things that looked familiar to us from walking around the city the day before since the stupid thing was giving us car directions!!! In the end, I'd been correct; the station was literally 5 minutes down the street. MEN.*****
Anyihaveagoodsenseofdirection, we saw quite a lot. There was so much to see and you couldn't take an ugly picture. Here are some from various places like the Arc, Grand Palais, the Eiffel, the scenery, and a buncha other places I forget the names of and ME:
I had a fantastic time with Rems, who was a great travel partner. We got to do things at a leisurely pace and he also appreciated the beauty of Paris. I would've liked to party more and I know it would've been a different experience with someone more outgoing or with the girls. We would both like to go again, but at a warmer time of year. Paris is really huge and I'm sure it'd be even more beautiful and enjoyable if we didn't have to be all bundled up.
My sister officially gets here in 21 days and we're both so excited! We're going to celebrate our birthdays (technically just hers because we'll be back in Holland for mine) in Barcelona! I haven't seen her in too long and knowing that she's coming is the main reason I haven't felt as homesick. I know we're going to have a blast and I can't wait to see her!! I'm going to tackle the shit outta her at the airport and be depressed for a month after she leaves.
