Paris

Two weekends ago, Sasha and I went on a casual weekend trip to Paris. We got there on Friday night and the place we were staying was near the Arc de Triomphe.

It was okay I guess. The next day was full of activity. In the morning, Sasha and I went to go see one of her family friends who is an artist who lives in the Montmartre district in Paris. We went to the gallery that shows his work. One day he decided he wanted to be an artists and America wasn't really cutting it for him so he moved to Paris not knowing any French and now is a very successful artist. Isn't that so cool? After that we went to a Tibetan restaurant for lunch which was really good. Basically like putting Chinese and Indian food together so I mean obviously it was good. 

We did a bit of thrift shopping and then decided to go to Sacre Coeur, which is technically a church but we didn't go in the church and instead just walked around the area. There was this awesome band from England playing music. They even played Wagon Wheel.  

Once it started getting late, we decided to go to the Eiffel Tower at night. We decided wine and cheese were necessary. 

Once the wine and cheese were finished, we decided to walk up it! I highly recommend this because it is way cheaper than taking the elevator and also the line is incredibly shorter. When we were waiting in line, a mother asked me and Sasha to watch her kids and they were an absolute delight. The littlest one, of only six years, was probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. 

LOOK AT THIS VIEW. 

The next day we did a lot of walking around. First, we went to the MOMA in Paris because it was free. I wanted to go to the Centre Pompidou but it was 14 euros and I mean that is just so much food I just couldn't. Afterwards, we mainly just walked around the Seine and on the bridges and such. 

That night, we went to the Jim Haynes dinner. Basically, everyone is invited to dinner, you just have to email him far enough in advance. It was fantastic! The meal, chicken curry, lentils, rice, green beans, tzatziki sauce and, of course, wine, was amazing and there were so many interesting people to talk to. I even met someone who had just graduated from UNC. I highly recommend this to anyone going to Paris because it honestly was great. 

We went home on Monday. They plan was to get back at 5 in the afternoon but our flight got delayed for five hours so we didn't get home until around 11:30. It is one thing to stay five hours at Charles De Gaulle but five hours at Paris Beauvais is a whole other story. Thanks RyanAir. 

HARRY POTTER CASTLE

Two weekends ago, I had the joyous experience of visiting the castle where the first two Harry Potter films were made otherwise known as Alnwick Castle because it is near the town of Alnwick in England.

Although it doesn't look like it right in that picture, do you remember the scene where Madam Houch was teaching a young Harry Potter and his fellow first years how to ride a broomstick. Or possibly the scene where Oliver Wood is teaching Harry how to play Quidditch? Let me refresh your memory. 

Notice the castles in the background. Now look at this picture:

IT IS THE SAME ARCHITECTURE. So, for any of you Harry Potter fans reading this, isn't that COOL? Honestly, this was my main reason for attending but the castle was also really cool. It is still inhabited by the royal family from Northumberland in northeast England so people actually live here. 

The castle also had this cool treehouse thing which had a swinging bridge and was just generally very pretty. All in all the castle was cool but I couldn't help wondering how much it would be oh-so-annoying to live in this castle and have hundreds of tourists roaming around your home all the time.