"i think morty's gonna like ya, brooke"

so. my dear friend karen was here to visit over her reading week. she arrived to amazing weather. i'm not sure where it came from, but here in paris we were experiencing what was seemingly endless sunshine. it lasted for at least two weeks. of course today, it's raining like a bitch outside, but we had a nice run. good for karen anyway.

so she arrived friday in the morning. i was at work, so missy was kind enough to meet her on the metro platform. i arrived home a couple of hours later and after rousing a groggy, slow-moving karen, we did a bit of the tourist thing. we saw notre dame as it's close and walkable. that night, being the nice host i am, i dragged my sleep-deprived friend out to one of our haunts here, the gent. she managed to stay awake and make several friends at the bar. it was here she created the now beloved 'morty', her italian cousin from new york. he stuck around throughout the entire trip. just to reiterate, morty is not a real person.

saturday we made our way up to montmartre with kevin and his friend alessandra, who was visiting for the weekend. we got to see moulin rouge as well. that night we stayed in and also did some drinking. we managed to thoroughly destroy ourselves that night and most of the next day. we did manage to find it in ourselves to lay in front of the eiffel tower for a couple of hours and wander around the champs elysee as well. antonin was kind enough to invite us all for dinner at his place and we got to check out his new room. it was quite nice.

monday, i had to work in the afternoon, so karen went to the louvre. she seemed quite content when she came home, so i was quite pleased. she was supposed to go skiing these two days, but it didn't work out. i think she made up for it quite nicely.

i had to work all day tuesday, so i suggested to karen that she take a trip out to the chateau versailles for the day. to say she had a good time would be to grossly underestimate her feelings about the trip. she told me it's a 'must see' but that i should wait for spring to 'see the gardens'.

i was off from work wednesday and thursday, so karen had my full attention. kevin was kind enough to guide us in a tour around Pere Lachaise cemetery. he really is the unofficial tour guide. he's been there a lot for various reasons/visitors. after we had gelato, which was magnificent. we also went out for dinner for a pre-valentine's day meal.

thursday we did some serious shopping. karen bought some presents for her parents and herself. we actually spent most of the day shopping, which i found surprising. karen also treated me to lunch. she was quite the enjoyable guest. we also ended up at the louvre somehow, so we wandered around there for a little bit outside.

friday it was back to work for me (well i had to go to school. some teachers were on strike, so they closed the school for students. unfortunately the staff who weren't on strike still had to go. so i sat around and played sudoku.) Karen went to the eiffel tower to go up it. unfortunately for her, it was the shittiest day of her visit (shittiest meaning no sun and some fog), but it wasn't bad. we went out again that night. we tried to do it proper parisian style, aka going out at 12 and catching the first metro back at 530 am. needless to say, i was feeling quite tired by the end of it. i was up at 7 friday morning, so it was a solid 24 hours for me. we went up in the north of paris though, to go out (around moulin rouge) which was new for me, so that was good. and it was a fun night.

eventually on saturday, after we got up, karen and I went to montparnesse tower, which gives you a great view of the city, including the eiffel tower. it was sunny as well, so we were able to take some nice pictures. we went to my friends that night to watch a film. it was papillon. it was a solid two and half hours and i think all of us were overtired, so the length was a bit painful, but it was a good film.

sunday was sadly karen's last day in paris. we went to luxembourg gardens and met up with missy for a coffee later in the afternoon. she left early monday morning.

so that was my past week in a nutshell. i think karen had a good time. i will post pictures at some point. most likely it will be after i get back from my trip, so i'll put up a bunch then. i have to go to school now and then a concert afterwards. i have one more day of work and then i leave on saturday!

talk soon

xo