Ahh wii wii...

Bonjour!! 
We are in Paris France! I think the last time we spoke to y'all ang and I were on the train to the London airport. Well, after an entire day of traveling and security check ins and lines we finally made it to Paris!!! We ended up just hanging out in the hotel the first night we were here, which turned out to be a great decision. We met a nice older couple in the hotel restaurant who were staying in the presidential suite. They were so kind, gave us Paris tips, their personal maps and lists of things to do. Then because they were leaving early the next morning and wouldn't have time to enjoy them, they gave us a bottle of champagne and a giant plate of fruit :) So that night we feasted on free champagne, kiwis, and a paper view movie of water for elephants.
The next day we took our hotel shuttle into the city center. I don't think we were prepared for how much more difficult it is to get around in a city when you don't speak the language. But we kept slowly trying to learn new words in French. After snacking at a cafe, we were walking around the Louve to find the entrance, and it started to pour on us! I mean like soaked through out of nowhere. We just couldn't stop laughing and tried to find shelter in a church. The French didn't think it was as funny as we did. 
We then walked to Notre Dame and gawked at the massiveness of it. 
But we didn't go inside, (don't worry, we did today). Next we got lost in the Parisian subways for about an hour and almost missed the Fat Tire bike tour we wanted to go on. Boy I'm glad we didnt miss it, because it was AWESOME! Ang and I agreed it was our favorite thing we did here. We rode around for about 4 hours with a break at a cafe in the middle. Met some great people and had an awesome guide, Matt from Austin Texas of all places.  We then ate a lame dinner at some weird restaurant. Ang ordered salmon, aaaand it was raw.. I ordered ravioli, aaand I got a total of 3 noodles. Bad choice :( 

Today we set a wake up call for 8:30, so naturally we woke up at 9:30 instead. We shuttled into the city and had a delicious breakfast of quiche and crepes. Then we eventually made our way back to Notre Dame. Wow. That place is beautiful!! It is so quiet and huge and ancient. We then decided to embarrass ourselves, so we shoved our jackets under our shirts and pretended to be hunchbacks of Notre dame (angela's brilliant idea). 
After the church we walked down to the museum D'Orsay and wandered around amongst the artwork of Van Gogh and other painters that I can't remember. Ang has a souvenir from the trip, an illegal photo taken on her Ipad of van gogh's self portrait. 

On our way back to the Eiffel tower we were looking very lost and confused with our maps out standing next to the river seine and two young Parisian students offered to help us find out where we were going. When they realized we were American and it was only our second day in Paris they wanted to take us to a classic Parisian cafe. (Disclaimer right now moms, dads, brothers and sisters, it was bright daylight, we never left the main street, and we sat outside where many people could see us..we were not being dumb we swear). What followed was a very funny, sometimes awkward, very memorable drink at a cafe. One of the guys was a bit theatrical and confessed his love to Angela, then he finished his confession with a proposal. Don't worry I got pictures of the whole thing. They claimed we would never meet a better pair of guys than the two of them, but they didn't even offer to pay for our drinks! Some gentlemen....but they were nice and funny. Glad we met them.
Then we went to a delicious dinner at a restaurant called Chez Gladine. This is a local favorite, hidden amongst the streets of Paris. It was packed with people. They sat us at the same table with a German couple on one side of us and two French women on the other side. So we got to make new friends :) Lucky they were there too, cause we had no idea what the menu said. Whatever we ordered was amazing and we both cleaned our plate. Then we went to a little Patisserie for some dessert pastries. Life is difficult ;)

Back in the hotel room now. Better get going cause we have an early day ahead of us. We are going to the Palace of Versailles in the morning!!!!!!!!!! Hooray!!!!!!

Love,
Ang and Lauren

P.s. Mom, I cant stop singing Gigi in my head. Everything is Gigi to me. "don't you marvel at the power of the mighty Eiffel tower?" "I don't understand the Parisians" "what a marvelous place Maxim's is"..we have to watch it when I get home. -L