Julia and I were left alone for this whole day. Our friend is fluent in French, as well as English, so she was an asset for getting around Paris. We thought we'd be fine for the one day she wasn't with us. Wrong.

We started our day with eggs, bacon, and mamosas. Then, the two of us headed up to the terrace to check out the view. It was AMAZING. You could see all of Paris, from Sacre Coeur to the Eiffel tower, and everything in between. I've never seen a better view of anything before in my life. Paris is so visually beautiful.

After soaking up the view we made our way down St-Michel to the Boulevard St-Germain, where we ran into someone we met the night before. He told us the fastest route to the Notre Dame and we were on our way, but not before Julia bought a bottle of wine. We walked around inside and outside of the cathedral and saw some girl being attacked by pigeons. The gargoyles were my favorite part because they seem to be staring straight at you.

We wandered the area surrounding the cathedral and happened upon a random chruch. We decided to go inside and check my map to figure out how to get to the Louvre. We sat down and I took out the map while Julia downed some of her wine. About 30 seconds later, a mass started and almost immediately, the people around us started crying. Everyone stood up and sang a hymn too. It wasn't a funeral though, people were just crying. It was realy weird and surreal but kind of interesting to experience also. After it calmed down we made a b-line for the door and toward the Louvre.

We took Rue Rivoli most of the way. The Louvre was pretty cool. It's gigantic and seeing half of it can't even be done in a full day. We got in for free because they had a special Friday night deal for students. The Mona Lisa was a lot smaller than I had expected and it took us 20 minutes to walk to it because the place is really that big. A lot of other statues, paintings, and rooms were more intersting. We went to see the Arc de Triomphe du Carousel after we left. It is a small arch right on the edge of the Tuileries Gardens. And by small I mean, relatively large, but small-er than the Arc de Triomphe

We got lost on the way home, mostly b/c my friend drank almost two entire bottles of wine and then tried to make up her own directions. It took us over 3 hours to get back to something familiar. We decided it was time to go out to eat and we chose a restaurant on St-Michel by the Pantheon, where we finished the bottle of wine and decided we were going to stay in for the night. After dinner, we decided to walk around St-Germain a little before going back. We bought some paninis because we're typical Americans and were still hungry. This panini stand is where, without saying too much, we found "incentive" for going out. I'll leave it at that.

We went back to our hostel for a little while and then we hit the town. We met random guys on the sidewalk and they invited us to come with them to The Long Hop (the place we had been the night b4). When we got there the bouncers told us it was filled to capacity. The 3 guys ask us if we want to come with them to another club a few blocks away. We were down to party so we said we'd go with them. They walked up to a car, unlocked it, and got in. "Are you girls coming with us?" We knew it was a bad idea to get in a car with these strangers. This is something your parents warn you about. It was bad news and we knew it but Julia left the decision up to me. So... we went with them. I figured, it'd be a story to tell, if we survived.

A few blocks turned into a few miles. I couldn't even remember the directions if I tried. If they left us there, we would never be able to make it back. We can't even get back from the Louvre. It was way out past the Bastille area and we were staying by the Luxembourg Jardins. It ended up being okay though. We got there around 2am and they paid for us to get in, bought our drinks (while we stood with them), and taught us how to salsa dance. It was a really good time. They gave us a ride back to our hostel at around 4am but they got lost and we told them we could find our way from where we were. They dropped us off and bid us farewell.

When we got out we swore we could find the hostel. We couldn't find Boulevard St-Michel so we decided to ask this group of guys ahead of us on the otherwise empty street. I asked them where it was in French and they just stared at me. Maybe I didn't say it correctly? They were still staring and then... "You're bloody drunk!" One guy yelled and they all gave us high fives. They were visiting from London and they told us to follow them to a good disco.

So, we're following five of these drunk, British guys, to some disco. But first, we go to an old-fashioned pub filled with people my parents' age. Some really drunk, disgruntled man told me he didn't like the sugar skulls on my shirt and said I should put my jacket on. Our new found pals yelled at him and caused a scene so we decided it was best to go to the other bar. It was a fancy-ish basement bar and had 3 different sections. The back section was a dance party so we were there for a while. We met some new people and were propostioned by two French guys. They were so straight-forward it made things weird, but we ended up making out with them. Later, Julia was dancing with some guy, while I got to know a Sorbonne professor(wink). He was really nice but an awful kisser and he kept talking about some sort of blue credit card. I never really figured out what he meant. We left the bar when it started to die down. Julia had somehow found a cab right out front. She claims it was just sitting outside waiting for us. We got in and he drove us right to our door (surprisingly). I took out my wallet to pay him when we got out and Julia stopped me. "What're you doing?"

"Paying him?" I answered back.

"This isn't a cab." She had asked a random guy to drive us home and didn't tell me. It worked out well, but I mean, come on! That's a sure-fire way to get murdered. BUT, it was free, and we did get home safe and sound. All-in-all, it was a very interesting night. One of the best in my life.