Oh Fwed

Last I left off, we were dining on sushi after a whirlwind day in Versailles.  It was nearly 9 pm at this point and the sun still hadn’t even set…which meant we still had time in the day to fit in more sight seeing.

Next up, the Arc de Triomphe!

Cue the Eiffel Tower montage…

Once again our museum passes were super useful as we slipped right into the front of the line without waiting even a second.  I wasn’t exactly eager to get to the stairs (my poor feet were heavily bandaged at this point – yes, I carry band-aids in my purse at all times).  However, Alene was even less thrilled at the stairs before us.  Oh, did I fail to mention our post-sushi-pit-stop?

Yeah.  After pounding beer and sushi, we all had to pee, but Cote didn’t have a bathroom (weird, but whatever).  So we popped up the street to a fabulous Lebanese restaurant called Noura.  They have a few locations in Paris (in addition to a take-away/catering company).

How unfortunate that we only happened to stumble upon this place after we had just eaten dinner.  Had we had more time, we would DEFINITELY have returned to eat lunch or dinner at this place.  There was a proper restaurant on one side of the street and a take-away just across la rue.

It was packed with hummus and falafel and so many other vegan dishes I could hardly contain myself.

Holy vat of hummus.

For any vegans going to Paris, be SURE to eat here.  [They also have four locations in London, too]

While I was taking it all in (devouring the food with my eyes), Laura and Ashley were begging the employees to let us use the bathroom.  Because we spoke zero French, this seemed a tricky task, but we had the advantage of liquid courage (read: copious amounts of beer) on our side.  I’m not entirely sure we actually got permission, but Alene and Ethel distracted them while we raided the employee restroom.

How did they distract?  By asking what every. single. treat was in the dessert case.  And then trying a few out.

Pretty soon we had cleared the place out, save one employee.  Poor guy.  But in no time at all Fwed was our new bestie.

*We are still unsure about the pronunciation of his name.  He may have been named Fred but simply had a lisp.  Unfortunate if that really is the case.  Either way, we referred to him as Fwed for the rest of the trip…and it’s actually pretty astounding how many times his name came up from then on.  Oh Fwed.  We tried to set up a date between him and Laura.  She wasn’t that into it (surprise, surprise).  Of course it didn’t help that we were repeatedly mocking her and purring “oh Fwed” over and over again.  If you thought baby talk was the least sexy thing ever, add a lisp to the mix and it’s officially the very very worst.  Blech.

So, back to the bathroom hijack.  While Laura, Ashley and I drained our bladders of beer, Alene and Ethel drained their wallets and managed to wolf down their weight in pastries.  Well done ladies!

What they later realized, though, was this was not so great pre-workout fuel.  French delicacies are a far cry from Clif bars, that’s for sure.  And as we began the ascent to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, it was immediately apparent.

Look how yummy!

Fwed told me halfway through my pastry photo shoot that it was actually against their policy to allow photography in the shop…it was a feeble attempt to stop me though.  His English wasn’t very good and he kinda trailed off (no, stop, don’t…whatever), so I feigned ignorance (not hard) and kept on snapping pics.  I think I even saw him wink.  I also promised him I’d delete them.  I’m pretty sure his boss doesn’t read my blog, so I don’t think posting them will get him fired.

So pretty.

Also pretty, was this Iron Lady.

At the top we took photos, upon photos, upon photos…

The glittery Eiffel Tower was breathtaking.  I wish my pictures did it justice.  Such a beautiful landmark.

Eek!  And you thought such beauty couldn’t be ruined by anything.  Well there goes that theory.  Sisterly love at it’s weirdest.  This is probably one of the most awkward photos from the trip (although I know everyone else unanimously agrees on another pic – see the end of the post).

We did a few laps, ignoring the lightning bolts in the distance.  [Ok, not really, I was totally trying to take photos of them]  Eventually, we decided we should hit it before the clouds started to dump on us.

On the way down, Ethel noticed her camera case was missing, but it wasn’t confirmed until we reached the bottom.  Timing fail.  Ethel said it was no big deal and we could just forget about it and go home, but I knew she really wanted to go back up and look for it.  She wasn’t very convincing (plus we have had the same matching camera socks for almost 6 years, so it would be sad to lose that special bond).

So back up we went!  Exercise sesh numero dos in under an hour?  Dang.  I thought Paris was the fitness free portion of the trip.  Laura and Ashley stayed put on the bottom, while Alene, Ethel and I hoofed it back up the stairs.  After the sock was recovered, we went back to the hotel and crashed.  It was crucial to get a decent night’s sleep because our next day in Paris was scheduled to be another full one.

No idea.