A bientôt Paris

I have obviously been putting off this update for a long time.  If it's any consolation, this wasn't my intention.  I thought that I would have some free time during our "Jewels of France" tour to update on all the beautiful places we'd visited and all the fun times we had.  I knew that this hope was crushed on our first official "tour meeting".  In the bottom of the Hotel Forrest Hill-La Villette our tour guide Simeon explained that the Jewels of France was not a holiday, but a tour.  I thought that this was just a cautionary statement.  Wrong.  We had very little free time and if it was your final week in L'Hexagon what would you do: Go to your room and blog?  or Hang out at the hotel bar with your mom and sister?  Duh.

With all that being said, if you'd really like to hear about Tammy, Katie, and Kristie's whirlwind tour of France then you'll have to ask in person.  We do ask that you have a few hours of spare time and are proficient in rapid banter of three overly excited women.  I don't think that's too unreasonable.  It is my only disclaimer, however, because of our "reunion" dinner with Dad.  His eyes started to glaze over with the intake of too much information all at once.  I kind of felt sorry for him.  He had no idea what he was getting into when he asked, "How was your trip?".  I do find that the 'live show' is considerably more enjoyable than all of our tales written down.  It would be like have three renditions of every picture taken in France, which we have.  Now that is additional three hours on top of our scheduled show.  Don't say I didn't warn you....

So, in my ten days back in the United States I have been re-acclimating myself to the rich American culture.  No, I haven't experienced any reverse culture shock, even though it has taken me time to not say "pardon" when running in to someone or "merci beaucoup" when ordering food.  Ordering food has actually been quite enjoyable.  I can read the menu and know what I'm getting myself into when I order at a restaurant, which is an act that I would never have considered so fulfilling.  I'm enjoying lazy mornings with cups upon cups of coffee with over processed, nondairy creamer.  Yumo.  I now have working, reliable Internet and plenty of hassle-free outlets to plug any and every kind of American appliance into.  I have finally been reunited with my iPhone, which is both wonderful and an unexpected burden at the same time.  I'll admit, it was very liberating to get lost by myself and not have to worry about letting people know where I was or consult my GPS for an easy route home...  I'm enjoying being able to lay on the couch for hours in the evening, fighting for Pepper Ann's attention while watching wedding and home improvement shows.  Even more than that, I love being able to watch the news in the morning and evening.  I find it ironic that I now know more about DSK and the Tour de France now than I did while I was over in France.  And, of course, it is so nice to be reunited with friends and family and to be able to sit on the porch for hours and just talk (in English!).

Unfortunately, the list of things I miss about France is quite larger.
I miss THE FOOD.  While I love my mother's cooking, there is just something about the fresh, GMO free food that I love about le France.  I mainly miss the bread.  The warm fresh baguettes from L'Imperial (my favorite neighborhood boulangerie) and the flakey croissants I would eat for breakfast with a hearty Nutella spread just cannot be recreated here in the US of A.  And it isn't just the food itself but the whole eating culture.  I would love to order a pichet de vin with every meal, but the only option is a similarly priced glass of *ugh* Italian wine.
Amongst the other things I miss are:

• Windows without screens.  
• The accessibility of the Metro
• Clubs/bars that you can stay at until the Metro opens at 5:30 AM
• Taking the Night Bus when you couldn't wait for the Metro
• The hushed tones that everyone speaks in
• "People watching" over lunch at a cafe
• Spending afternoons with ice cream and watching the children and ducklings play in the Parc de Montsouris
• The two old women who would sit at their ground floor window in the building next to mine and "people watch" each time I went to l'Imperial for my evening baguette/Monoprix run
• Cigarette smoke
• Shopping on Rue de Rennes in Montparnasse 
• Petite cafés 
• The two-toned sirens of ambulances
• My dirty hole-in-the-wall of an apartment
• The loud Arabic-speaking workers who woke me up every morning at 7 (even if I did hate them at the time....)
• The church bells that would ring every evening at 6:30 from the next street over
• The cute courtyard below that made taking out the garbage much more enjoyable and scenic
• Our orange kitchen where half the appliances were broken
• Rive Gauche 
• Especially the 14th arrondissement 
• Diabolo Menthes 
• Spending an afternoon walking around a cemetery 
• The fashion and lusting after everyone's clothes, shoes, accessories 
• Being able to give tourists directions
• The funny small Euro bills and coins (but not the exchange rate)
• The music
• About 10,000 other things that I realize on a daily basis.

Well then.

Now that I've gone and depressed myself I am going to finally say goodbye to Paris and pray that I don't forget all of my French before class starts in a month.  

A bientôt Paris parce que au revoir est trop long.