“I don’t feel like going to Paris, am not curious about it, idk, would only go if someone paid for me, lol”, I said every time someone asked me if I’d been to Paris yet, since I’m in Europe and all. But there I was, on the 20th of May, getting off a bus at Porte Maillot, 8am, resembling a zombie after a sleepless night spent travelling.
Suddenly, this human jumps out of nowhere and hugs me. One of my best friends from high school, making me realise just how badly I needed, craved, to be around familiar and friendly faces.
So, I was in Paris. But not exactly because it was Paris, but more so because of the friend I wanted to see so badly. My friend left Brazil last year to go study in Germany and suddenly I was without my weekly coffee-and-pleasant conversation session, which I so dearly missed.
“You’re in Paris now, where do you wanna go?”, he asked. What a question to ask a somewhat zombie and starving Sofia. “Anywhere that has food”, duh.
We walked. Soon enough, we’d reached the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile. OMG, THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE, something I never ever thought about seeing irl!
– Do you want to take a selfie?
– Nah, I’m good, I just wanna eat. It is a beautiful thing to look at, though.
– OF COURSE, it is a majestic monument commissioned by Napoleon after his victory at Austerlitz. How dare you talk about it like that, it represents so much, *insert History related babbling here*.
Ok, so, the thing about my friend is that he’s not just a major History and Geopolitics nerd, but he’s also obsessed with France. The language, the culture, the food, the History, everything. He had a bunch of random facts about every place we went to in Paris. Oh, this person was stabbed here, this politician spent a week at that hotel, this other thing happened in 1985, the current mayor is doing that…
We crossed the Arc and started walking down le Champs-Élysées Avenue. ALL. THE. LITTLE. CAFÉS. OFFERING. YUMMY. PETITS. DÉJEUNERS. AAAAAAAAAAAAA. That’s when it hit me – OMG, I’m in Paris!!!! YUMMY FOOD AND CUTE CAFÉS AND MY FRIEND, WHAT EVEN.
I don’t even know how we picked a café to eat at, as I was so overwhelmed by all the choices, haha. All I know is that we sat down, ordered breakfast for two, ate yummy bread and yummy croissant, had fresh orange juice and decent coffee…
And we talked. For more than three hours. And the waiter didn’t do anything to try to kick us out of there!! In fact, he was so nice! I was already prepared to get le ~rude French treatment~ I’ve always heard SO MUCH about, but, nah, he was super nice, wanted to know where we were from, what we were doing in Paris, what we were studying, blahblahblah.
My friend and I spent Saturday and Sunday walking through cute Parisian streets, took the metro a gazillion times to explore other places, but what we did the most was just sit on the grass to have a picnic, talk, listen to music, take naps and read. I guess that’s the kind of stuff you can do anywhere, except we did it by the Eiffel Tower, and at the Tuileries Garden, and by the Trocadéro… etc. We also hugged a gigantic Golden Retriever that was walking around us at a park, and, boy, did I need doggo hugs ♡.
We also ventured out to La Defense, to look at them weird modern buildings:
On Saturday evening, I met a twitter friend irl, Seb (@Far0s). He’s been living in Paris for a couple of years now, so he knew where to find good food, which is always Top Priority. We ended up eating at a restaurant near the Saint-Michel station, as there are endless little streets with restaurants nearby. Thanks for taking time off your weekend to meet me and show me where to find good food in Paris, Seb 🙂
On Monday, another pleasant encounter – lunch with my favourite Literature teacher from Brazil. A few days before going to Paris, I had seen her post on Facebook that she was studying in Paris, so I messaged her and we managed to meet up. Yay. She was (is!!!) a brilliant Literature teacher, responsible for my love for several novels and the Portuguese language. Anyways.
The three of us had lunch at a restaurant near the Jardin du Luxembourg, and from there we went to Montmartre, to see the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur. We talked about our school, politics, studying, life… There is something rather marvellous about talking to someone you’ve always admired and respected after years without seeing each other. I’ll always be grateful for having the opportunity to be her student.
On Monday night, I was on my way back to The Hague.
If I were to describe my trip to Paris with one word, I would say that it was marvellous.
All the anxious thoughts that were eating me up alive were gone. All the stress giving me insane migraines was gone. Seeing people who mean home to me put my little anxious heart back to its normal pace. Nobody was rude to us????? We could sit at cafés and restaurants for hours, talking and enjoying the food, without feeling like hey is this waiter trying to kick us out? Everyone was très sympathique.
All I know is that I crave more days like the ones I had in Paris. And that I’m forever grateful for all the people I have in my life, for the amazing conversations, for all they teach me, for being there for me, for being home in this weird continent. ♡
Have you ever been to Paris? If yes, what was your favourite thing about the city? If not – do you want to go there? Lemme know by leaving a comment here or by tweeting me @tweetsbysofi.
-xoxo