Coming Home takes about 30hrs

Saturday, August 7

So Krystle and I took the metro and RER to Charles de Gaulle Airport. We had breakfast with Brian and I got some chocolates for the family before we left.

I'll miss the dairy here

pizza and quish from the bakery around the corner

the last time I'll walk through these gates.

found 2 space invaders next to each other as we left

my travel buddy. we were sweating like no other.

Krystle's flight was at 8:30pm and mine was at 2:30pm. We tried to change the flight for her, but it was a packed flight, so no go. We just chatted in the check-in area until I had to leave to keep her company.

When I got to London-Heathrow, I had about an hour to kill, so I decided I was going to try Gordon Ramsay's Restaurant: Plane Food. Don't know when I'll get the chance again. To view the review, I've made a post on Yelp.

interesting way to use grapefruit as the citrus and salmon so it's not entirely "raw"

the fish was cooked beautifully. crispy on the outside. just a tad too salty for me though.

The service was really great as I had 4 different people catering to me. However, I had Euros, Pounds, and Dollars to pay for the bill so it took a little time. When I left, they were doing a final call for my flight. Bah! I ran up the escalators, through the trams, etc. I heard final call a second time. I didn't want them to leave without me. I get to the gate.... and there's a long line of people waiting to get check on....oh well... my fault really.
Our flight took off 30 min afterward because there was a lot of air traffic so we were waiting. 1 hour later, the captain says there's something wrong with their fuel indicators so we had to turn around because it's not safe in Canada to land so. Before that they had to dump i think 50 tons of fuel into the ocean to have a safe landing.

how eco-unfriendly this is...

we got a shuttle sent to us...

i was looking forward to sliding out, but whatever...

We had to check into customs and the whole business of legally entering London. Our flight was cancelled and rescheduled to the next day at 10am. We got a complimentary night stay in the Hilton Airport Hotel with dinner and breakfast. Food was not bad; it did put me in a better mood.

my room...so lonely..

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Sunday, August 8


$10 refreshment voucher that I spent on gin and tonic and crisps(potato chips). Had no idea I could get real food with it.

in flight, they gave us a whole lot of drinks at once so I had my own little bar =) no mixers though

Back in the US at 5:30pm, I went through customs no problem. I was so happy to be back. There was a drug/meat/fruit dog sniffer that went around luggage claim. It was so adorable!
I found my parents and we went to In-n-Out for a snack.

just good...

Last day in Paris

Friday, August 6

For the last day in Paris, I wanted to make sure that I visited Chinatown. Jennifer was kind enough to show me around. Before that though, I had to get some macaroons for my family back home. The group met up and we went to Laduree. I also wanted to try Pierre Herme because my French teacher recommended it to me.

one yelp user described these as precious jewels they delicately pack into boxes.

Jasmine, Wasabi, Pistachio-Apricot, Berries: all very creamy and yummy

Afterward, we went to chinatown using the metro line 14. It's the newest and doesn't need a conductor to operate. It's very clean and the air flow in the stations feel like a natural air-conditioning. We walked around and I can really say that "chinatown" just means a lot of asians live in the area and there's a bunch of asian stores. The architecture and environment indicates nothing special about the area. It does differentiate itself from the rest of Paris with it's high sky scrapers.

Banh Beo

Bo Luc Lac

Pho

found a condom dispenser on the street

coconut straw hole pick

just like home, too bad I don't have anything to open it up

this hair salon was definitely popping

After I got back, we went out for dinner at 7pm. We walked to the Quartier Latin to get dinner.

the walk there was nice, I caught a rainbow on the way.

saw this weird land pirate and his gadgets on the bridge

French onion soup: was okay...

mussels were good

i found a little crab

Rib eye, fries, salad. The steak had a lot of fat, unfortunately.

creme caramel: we thought it was creme brulee: still good

School's Out!

Thursday, August 5

Last official day of Class! Had a class "party" with food that students brought. We watched Amélie: loved it! Also had an essay final for my Culture course. Done! Finally!

my french prof. calls me Ratatouille Man =)

French Classmates

Culture Prof. Originally from New York

After class, we went to the wine bar that sold wine at 2€ a glass during happy hour. The place was very nice. Too bad I didn't know about it sooner.

very minimal in decor, but has character.

vin rouge pour moi

outdoors =D

Later, we left to meet up with people at an Irish pub near the dorms to Karaoke. We got a crepe before hand, and it was the best I've had. Talked to the guy for awhile and he was willing to get his assistant to go to the market to buy some strawberries because Christine was talking about it so much. So nice. He even mentioned that the crepes by the Bastille weren't so great. Here... Way better. True dat!

All the crepe guys in Paris seem to be just awesome!

best crepe ever! loved how he crisped the cheese on the ends.

Well... after that, we pre-partied indoors to save money. When we went to the pub, though... it was empty. So we figured we'd look around to see if they were in any other bars. Long story short, I got separated from the group. We ended up running into each other again at McDonald's shouting and cussing each other out about how we were trying to find each other. This followed a sigh... and killed our buzz so we went home. haha... what a way to end the night...

An Open Wednesday to Have Fun

Wednesday, August 4

Today, I only had French class until noon so I had no idea what to do with the rest of the day.
Lunch was a good start.

bo bun, wasn't that bad for take-out food.

chicken curry samosa was moist and delicious. porc nems(pork roll) was okay.

After lunch, I didn't know what to do so I followed Ishmael to two museums.

Monet's Waterlilies: much larger than I thought

awesome bridge to the Musee d'Orsay

found these locks symbolizing relationships' love... neat!

self-portrait of Van Gogh

the musee d'orsay was huge!

model replica of the Opera House

beautiful painting... it popped out for me

Great museum! But I was exhausted afterward. Phil wanted to go to this soul food place(percey's place) that he found online. Unfortunately, it was out of business since he last went there and the website hadn't been updated since 2006. We ended up going to the Quartier Latin and got some cheap food. Only 16€. Food tasted alright. Got what I paid for.

Escargot: sauce tastes like pesto. not bad.

Lapin a la moutard(Rabbit with mustard sauce)

chocolate mousse dessert. yum!