One Night in Paris!

      Sarah and moi went to Paris this weekend!
      I arrived Friday on the train. I originally bought tickets online but needed to arrange to get back to Bonneville in time for my Monday classes, so I went to the train station. The woman at the SNCF booth completely changed my tickets and saved me a huge amount of both time and money - traveler's tip: sometimes in person purchases are better! I forwarded this to Rick Steves and am hoping my simple point gets international recognition!
      I spent the evening with Christelle, my former hostess of "Would you please speak tomorrow?" fame. We had a lovely evening catching up with her and her parents. She made amazing chocolate treats for dessert - one was chocolate cornflake clusters and the other was a Nutella cake! I had brought back American measuring cups and a baking book for her in hopes such delicious treats!
      Sarah popped over from London on Saturday morning. We checked into the ritzy Saint James & Albany Hotel-Spa (thank you Groupon!). Saturday started off as a shopping spree. We hit Haussmann and meandered/bought our way through the floors of Galerie Lafayette. I always forget how amazing the ceiling is - look! I was tres good and only bought one practical and gorgeous dress! We went to Fnac (like Best Buy) afterwards to pick up our Louvre tickets. You can buy Louvre tickets (and loads of other attraction tickets) in advance through their website and then go to any Carrefour (like Safeway but deluxe) or Fnac to pick them up. Paris wasn't too crowded this weekend, but in general, the Louvre lines are daunting and this was a great idea.
       We went to Fellini for a massive Italian dinner, complete with Chianti to toast - can't wait to try it in Italy!
        On Sunday morning, we Mona Lisa'd. The Louvre is simply incredible. I wish we'd had the whole day (or week!) to browse...you still wouldn't get to see everything and to imagine that it's just one museum! Next time, seeing the history of the Louvre is on my list. There's an exhibit at the bottom explaining its history and I've always meant to go and forgotten!
        We had homemade crepes (savory and sweet!) with Christelle and her husband for lunch and then lugged ourselves over to the Eiffel Tower. As if it weren't magnificent enough on its own, in the snow, it's spectacular. At night, the lights are on and glistening in the snow.
        We hit the Marais next and shopped the boutiques and had L'as du Fallafel again, per my very strong recommendation. Then it was training home for me and plane-ing home for Sarah! The train was delayed because of the snow and I met a lovely couple from Nice who gave me nice Nice tips! I took the night train, which is similar to an Amtrak sleeper car - you get a little "couchette" to sleep in, complete with a sleeping bag. Perfect Parisian promen-day! (That doesn't work, does it!?)