Day Twelve: Paris

We woke up fairly early in preparation for a morning of haggling and spending precious euros. We took a long metro trip to the Puces de Vances, which is the flea market near the Porte de Vances. We saw an array of items, from old cameras to antique books to wooden pipes to beautiful suitcases to quaint birdcages. Probably half the items were junk that the vendors picked up out of the trashes, but there were treasures hidden amongst them. I managed to get a poetry book from the nineteenth century for seven euros! The others also picked up some knick knacks. I don't know how many of them were presents for friends, so I won't reveal what they are on this blog!

Upon returning to the apartment, I took an extensive nap. The others could have been up to all sorts of shenanigans and I would have had no idea. You can ask them about that.

We then decided that we would go see Paris at night. We weren't sure what Parisians did for fun other than walking, shopping, and eating small portions, but perhaps we would discover this under the cloak of nighttime.

So, of course, we did the most touristy thing available and boarded a boat on the Seine River for a sightseeing cruise. There was a large group of Chinese tourists with us, and we battled for spots on the top of the boat. The sun had set, and lights were beginning to turn on all over Paris.

In front of us sat a group of teenagers speaking a language unknown to us. Even though we knew that they could probably understand us, it didn't stop us from loudly talking about them and making fools of ourselves. To be fair, though, they started talking about us first. Here are excerpts of some of our conversations:

Nick: " Dey gay?"
*guys move apart
Nick and I: " Nah, dey no gay"

*girl flirts with multiple guys
Nick: Find the boyfriend!

*girl continues to flirt with multiple guys
Clarissa: "Polygamy!"

Clarissa: "Quick, let's all speak in different languages. Maybe we can confuse them!"

^This is a picture that Nick took. He made sure to wait until they turned around and was really obvious in doing so.


Eventually, Nick's friendly smile broke the ice, and he asked them whether or not they spoke English. One of the guys said they did in a tone that basically screamed "of course, you twats." It turns out that they are from Slovakia!

We then started talking with them a little bit. They all made fun of our expensive smartphones as in Slovakia, according to these trustworthy teenagers, there is not even internet. In fact, they just discovered wood and fire! Good for them!

One guy asked to take a picture with me. It was a little bit flattering!

We ended up talking more to the Slovakians than looking at the landscape, but it was really pretty regardless!

ALSO, WE FOUND THE PARISIANS. REPEAT. WE FOUND THE PARISIANS.

They sit on the edge of the river and drink and eat. We were very excited to find them!

The boat docked after an hour long cruise of laughing with our new Slovakian comrades. We then got a wee bit lost on our way to the metro, but managed to find it with a little help from a French jogger.

Upon coming to our station, we ducked into the first crepe place we saw and got for ourselves a little midnight snack. We came back to our apartment tired, but accomplished.