Crepes n Christ... A fall frenzy in Paris.
Where is there to begin with my love for my "Fall Frenzy in Paris."
Okay, here it is- Over summer there was this crazy moment where almost half of the women's staff realized they were all studying abroad this year and we said.. "How crazy would it be if we all met up in Europe?"
We were met with a lot of "It'll never happen..."'s and "You won't"s.
I stayed up way too late, and got up far too early for my train, then tram then flight, then RER, then Metro into Paris where Mollie is staying, but I did it and it was scary and French and I did it.
I was a little nervous at first... after all, we had been apart as long as we had known each other. But as soon as everyone was reunited it was too amazing, we were just so happy to be together, and we had that some Christ-like Community that we had on the mountain.
Half of us cooked a chicken dinner together in a flat in Paris, and the other half (me and Lizzie) stood on the balcony and looked in, singing and talking. We had a bottle of wine, and broke bread together. It was bubbling with excitement and peaceful all at the same time. I know it doesn't make any sense.
 After that we headed into Bastille- YES THE BASTILLE. And we went into an "American Parisian Club," we had a drink, danced a bit, and then moved onto the next one, before deciding we just wanted to be together and headed home. Except we got distracted and bought Crepes at 1 AM instead. I ordered (in French) a Nutella, coconut, and almond crepe. IT WAS PERFECT.
We took the Metro home, and all snuggled up in Mollies flat. We talked until ridiculous hour of the night.. which inevitably ended in a late start the next morning.
I woke up to Sam jumping up and down dancing to Mandisa's "Good Morning." I don't think there is a better way to wake up, really is there?
We went out and grabbed coffee at a café, and croissants from a boulangerie. I still don't think it had sunk in what we were doing...
After our morningish breakfast, we walked up through old Paris (I think) up to La Basilique du Sacré Cœur de Montmartre. We watched this incredible man juggle and spin a football on the edge of the wall. But then we went into the wonderful church. We walked around in awe, then we went into the sanctuary area, sat and prayed silently, then together. Apparently the French aren't as much of a fan of group prayer, they wanted us silent and tried to move us on. We were too giddy and happy to care and just walked down the steps, and headed straight for the next monument.
We stopped off at the Arc de Triomphe then we headed through town. My anticipation got higher and higher as we got closer to the Eiffel Tower. Everyone joked that I took too many photos of the Tower, but everywhere I turned there was an amazing view!
When we got to the tower we shot the final part of our Hey Brother video. A very kind french couple shot the video. And then we had some fun of our own dancing to "Really Don't Care." There were lots of Parisian's with camera phone and pointing and laughing.Â
After all that dancing we were starving, but we still wanted to hit some sights so we headed towards Notre Dame and sat in a small restaurant was beautiful called the Jardin du Notre Dame. We looked out on Notre Dame and it was perfectly beautiful. When we were done it was just before sunset and we went into Notre Dame. Mass was going on inside. It smelled like incense and the everyone was singing hymns in French. Â
Other than being shushed by french men (our second french church offense) it was a beautiful experience.
When we came out it was just after the sun had gone down and Paris was alight. It was incredible. We walked across some little bridge over to one of the islands in Paris. We ordered gelato from a small shop. It was delicious. I had grapefruit and rose water, with raspberry. We strolled along the river eating our gelato, until we got the the Locks of Love Bridge, where we took some group picutres.
The bridge was incredibly beautiful in concept. From far away you could make out the masses of locks, lit up, over the reflection of it on the river. When we got closer, it was almost chaos. There were so many locks. And they even get cut off weekly! The individual locks were beautiful and had their own little dates, and stories (Some "Will you marry me?"'s some "Our love started here" and lots of different names and countries). Beautiful chaos.
It was getting a little chillier, and we were running a little low on energy so we headed back to Mollie's apartment for a thirty minute change of shoes and grab a jacket and a bottle of wine, before we headed back to the Eiffel Tower for some small groupy talk, catching up about what we have been up to while we have been abroad, and our post camp feelings. We sat a drank wine, prayed and shooed away men selling more wine and cigarettes. We also watched the Tower sparkle twice!
After that we headed home to Mollie's and we all passed out.
The next morning we all got up and went to Hillsong Church Paris. They opened with Alive in French, followed by Oceans in English. I cried in joy and worship through both. The speaker was British, was funny, and insightful, and he gave us a lot to think about. It was nice to be with my church, experiencing a new church.
Some of us split after that, heading home, heading to meet other people, but me, Megan, Mollie, and Sierra all ate lunch nearby. We headed back to Mollie's to regroup and Sierra left. Mollie had homework to do, Megan was meeting a friend, and I headed off to the Louvre.Â
Now, my phone died so I have very little pictures of my stroll the museum, but I have to say just walking through the architecture of the surrounding palaces and the art throughout the Tuileries as the sun was setting was the best part. Everything was golden, ablaze in the setting sun. The carvings in the buildings seem more defined, and everyone is bustling around you. I got a little lost, got on the Metro again and headed back to Mollie's.Â
When Megan and Mollie both got back I cooked some dinner, we drank some wine, ate cookie butter and just talked for hours.Â
The next day Megan and I woke up, ate some crepes in a little park, and then headed our separate ways back to the same place. She was taking the train back to London.. whereas I was flying!
After a little chaos in both airports I made it to my aunt and uncles house where I went and picked up a take away with my cousins, enjoyed some chilling out on the couch went to sleep. The next day would begin part two of the Mid Semester adventure!
