Paris was awesome, plain and simple. Elena and I had the best time there and I'm so glad that I decided to go despite the fact that when I booked it I was coming off the bad Valentine's Day trip. But Paris more than made up for it, as it was simply amazing. So much fun, such a beautiful city with way too much to see and do. Pictures from my trip are now up at my .Mac website, so check them out.

And now for all the gory details, broken down in good old day by day mode!

Thursday:
Got out of work at 4 and made it to the parking place at like 4:30. Everything went smooth there, unlike last time where I had to wait a half hour in the cold just to get the shuttle bus to the airport. Made it to the airport and the line was manageable, and unlike last time, didn't have to listen to a group of 50 year old women talk about menopause and hormones. I was able to switch to a bulkhead seat with more legroom and it had a power outlet in the seat next to me which I used to power my iPod for the entire flight. I got to my gate and had way too much time to kill, so I plugged in my laptop and stated to watch "The Matrix." I got through most of it, Neo and Trinity were about to go save Morpheus, when my boss and his family arrived. Since there was a TGI Friday's bar right by the gate, we proceeded to drink. I had three 22 oz beers in about 45 minutes and was pretty buzzed/drunk by the time we got on the plane. I had to go to the bathroom once before boarding and two more times once we were on borad, before the plane even took off. My boss was laughing at me, but hey, I drank a lot of beer. And it paid off as I slept for more than 2/3 of the flight over there. Which then brings us to...

Friday:
The plain landed a little late due to fog in London, so we had to circle a few times before landing a half hour or so late. Once the plane finally landed I grabbed my stuff and booked out of the plane, never catching my boss before I left, oh well. Almost ran through the terminal to immigration, for which there was no line, had to wait for the baggage thing to move before I got my suitcase, ran through customs, which never checks me, and grabbed a payphone to tell Elena I was making my way to the Underground so she'd know when to leave to meet me. Luckily there was a train right there, so I hopped on and let it go. I must say the whole experience this time was so much better than the horrorshow of a travel experience I had the last time, which definitely put me in a better mood and made for a much more enjoyable weekend.

So I took the tube to the train station where I was meeting Elena and where the train to Paris would depart from. When I got there Elena wasn't there yet, so I quickly searched out a payphone and called my mom to let her know I landed safely. Once I was done with that, Elena was at our meeting spot so we hugged and kissed and it was good. We then set off for the part of the train station devoted to Eurostar, who run the trains between London and Paris. We checked in and waited for the train to board. We both just sat and relaxed and talked, catching each other up on what was going on, since we hadn't talked in awhile.

Finally we were able to board the train which promptly departed and made it way to Paris. Let me tell you, those things are fast. We were riding side by side with what looked to be a major highway and the train was passing everything in sight. I think at its fastest it hits about 180 mph. Very impressive. Before we knew it, and after a short nap we were in Paris. We got off the train and made our way towards the taxi stand where we grabbed a cab and headed for the hotel. It was weird to actually realize we where in a totally different country and city, but cool. We saw the Eiffel Tower as we got closer to the hotel which was cool. (our hotel was only about a mile from it, so we saw a lot of it. It became our Big Ben, because for some reason when we're in London, we always find our way over to it and it seems to be in so many pictures).

Checked into the hotel, which was very beautiful, got a complimentary bottle of champagne which we quickly drank (it was a small bottle) and then we took a nap. The hotel was awesome, the room was really nice and the staff very helpful. My one complaint was that our bed, which was supposed to be a double bed, was actually like two twins pusehd together, so it made sleeping close to each other next to impossible as the beds would move apart and someone would fall to the floor through the gap. Just my one complaint. And the fact that the room always felt cold to Elena and there was no alarm clock. My only complaints.

So after a nap we headed out into the streets around our hotel looking for someplace to eat. After wandering for way too long we settled on your typical French cafe that had a menu in English and actually looked like it had something I would eat on it. Big mistake. The food was nasty, and at that point, we swore off the French restaurants for dinner. The dessert was good and I'm sure breakfast in any on of those places (they're a dime a dozen over there, one on every street corner and almost every couple of feet) would be awesome, but no dinner. We wandered the streets some more before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night.

Saturday:
The word of the day is walk. I don't think I've ever walked so much in my entire life, no joke. If you take a look at the following map, you'll see our path for the day.

Everything in black is what we did before stopping for food at 4 in the afternoon (we were starving), and red is after dinner. You can see we kind of double backed around Notre Dame after dinner, that was because of this awesome ice cream place on the Ile St. Louis that Elena's dad and my Frommer's guide book said was a must hit place in Paris. So basically we hit the Eiffel Tower first, walking up to the first floor, since the lines were shorter than the elevators. Then we crossed the Seine and walked along it to the Place De La Concorde, then crossed into some gardens, don't recall the name on the way to the Louvre.

Inside the Louvre we basically just hit the main attractions, like the Mona Lisa (which is really breathtaking to see it in person after seeing what it looks like your whole life, sadly no pictures of it, as they wouldn't allow it) and the Venus De Milo, along with some huge painting by David, a French painter, like the Coronation of Napolean. Didn't stay long in the museum as it was stuffy and making us feel bad, so we left and got some fresh air and headed towards Notre Dame.

Notre Dame was beautiful, but like most things, we didn't have the patience or the energy to wait on line to go into see it, so we just admired it from the outside. We took a break from walking and sat on a bench outside the entrance and Elena actually took a little power nap while leaning against me. When she woke up we decided to go get some dinner, and thankfully she had a copy of Time Out London's special Paris section that had an ad for a Mexican place not far from Notre Dame, so thats where we ate, which was really good. Then we headed back towards Notre Dame and the famed ice cream place, which had the best chocolate ice cream I've ever had. I've never tasted chocolate ice cream so rich in my life. The place is called Berthillion, I believe and is on Rue Ile St. Louis, on the Ile St. Louis. If you're ever in Paris, go there, you won't regret it.

At this point we were going to hit a museum or two on the way back to the hotel, but they were all closed, so we just walked along the river back to the hotel. Once there we took another nap and when we woke up hit a corner store to get a bottle of wine and stopped by an awesome pastry/food place to get a little sampler box of all their cookies, which were out of this world. We went back to the room, ate and drank and went to bed, exhausted and stuffed.

Sunday:
Had an amazing breakfast at the hotel of croissants and other French breakfast stuff, then headed out to catch the Metropolitain, or Metro, the French subway. Took it to Pere Lachaise cemetary, where a ton of famous people are buried, like Jim Morrison. Walked around the cemetary for awhile, looking for all the famous people we could and just marveling at the beauty of some of the monuments and graves and enjoying the peacfulness of the place.

Then we headed to the Montmartre section, which was described to me by my cousin as the bohemian and artsy section of town. We walked around Montmatre and made our way to the Basilisque De Sacre Couer, which was just beautiful. Packed though. So we walked down all the steps leading up to it and marveled at it from a distance yet again. We then headed for the Moulin Rouge and checked that out, even though it was nothing like the movie (not like I was expecting the movie version). We hopped on the metro again and took it pretty close to our hotel, but checked out the Hotel De Invalides, where Napolean was entombed. That was a site to see. So beautiful you have no idea. So much for such a small little guy. Very breathtaking.

Went back to the hotel again and took another little nap. Woke up and went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner (again, went with the safe call, a place we knew we have decent food). We walked around a little more after dinner, then headed back to the hotel, got another bottle of wine, drank some more then went to bed.

Monday:
Had to check out of the hotel, but before we did had a good breakfast at a cafe down the street and enjoyed some authentic French crepes. Took a cab to the train station, hopped on the train and sped back to London. I have to say that the train is the way to travel between those two cities. Its so quick and painless. Sure its only an hour by plane, but checking into the train and boarding was so much easier than a plane would be. And even though the train ride is a little over an hour and a half, it goes by so quickly, just like the landscape as you're speeding past it.

Got back to London and made our way back to Elena's flat. I started to fix her laptop, which was totally messed up. I didn't even look at it, I just went to work getting the replacement I brought with me up and running, which didn't take long. Got her Internet connection up and we then watched some taped episodes of Smallville I sent her for the remainder of the night.

Her roommate got home at about 8 PM, she had spent the weekend with family in Amsterdam and her and Elena proceeded to really bitch about all the things that went bad with their hige showcase. I had asked Elena how it went when I first saw her and she said good, but that she didn't want to talk about it. Now I knew why. Turns out it didn't go so well and it was mostly the schools fault. Basically they put together a bad show for the students and to top it off, scheduled it the same night that a big school in Scotland had their big agent showcase, so all the agents for London were in Scotland, so not too many got a look at them, which really sucks for her. I don't know what they're going to do about it now. Only time will tell.

I was upset that it didn't go too well, but in the back of my mind I was thinking that it could mean she'll be home when school ends instead of trying to find work. Whatever happens is fine with me as I'm going to support her no matter what. When she's ready to come home, I'll be here, I'm not going to pressure her at all.

So that was Monday.

Tuesday:
Packed and headed to the airport. Said the usual goodbyes that I hate to do and got on my plane. Saying goodbye sucks. Had a comfy seat, with a power outlet for my laptop and managed to watch "The Matrix Reloaded", "The Matrix Revolutions" and "Finding Nemo" before the plane landed.

Managed to get through immigration, baggage check and get to my car without incident and drove home in the pouring rain. Didn't get to bed until close to midnight though as I just couldn't sleep, and of course Keyser woke me up early, again.

All in all, it was a fantastic time. I'm so happy with the way it turned out even though I was nervous it wouldn't be a good trip. Now I know I was being a retard. I feel great about our relationship and I'm counting the days until I can see Elena again. When that is, I have no idea, but hopefully not too long. I'm sure the end of May, beginning of June. We'll figure it out. Now that she won't be too busy with school we can talk more often.

So thats it. That was Paris. It was amazing.