Rosetta: You're in Paris

Okay, so picture this:

You’ve been in Paris a week with one of your best friends, Shell. You have just one week left before you part ways and begin living alone in a foreign country teaching English.

And now imagine that:

A friend, Meg, from school who is doing the same program as you has just arrived in Paris and you’ve decided to meet up for the day and have some Paris fun. Neither of you have gotten phone that will work in France yet (although it is on both of your To-Do lists) so to set up a meeting place you Facebook chat. You and Shell had planned an early morning start to visit the castle of Versailles but instead of getting out of the house early that morning you’d taken it slow and really gotten ready. This conveniently gives you time to get Meg in on the plans and you set a time and place to meet: the transfer platform to the RER  C (a French commuter rail), leaving in about 10 minutes. You worry a little bit because if either of you ends up having any difficulties you will have no way of communicating them.

After arriving at the transfer:

You make your way to the designated area. You hesitate a minute wondering if you should go through the turnstile or meet her on this side of it. However, you have a Navigo Pass, this means you can go through that turnstile as many times as you want in a week for one set price, so you decide there is no harm in checking to see if she is already through, you can always come back through if she isn’t there yet.
What happens next:

Shell spots Meg coming towards you. She looks almost exactly as you remember her except she’s gotten new glasses and traded the pink strip in her hair for blond highlights. As a greeting, and small joke, you bisous each other. To bisous is the French custom of kissing on both cheeks in greeting as well as in parting and you’ve not had a chance to bisous anyone since your arrival.

On the train:

It’s a two-story bus, which you like because it feels fun and reminds you a bit of Harry Potter. The seats are comfortable and the three of you get seats facing each other with very few people nearby. The train ride is longer than you would have expected, after all Versailles is in Paris. But you don’t mind. You spend the whole ride catching up and joking. You’ve spent the last week with just Shell and as much fun as you have with her the added energy of a third person encourages a great new energy.

Now you’ve arrived:

Your stop is the last stop this train makes and it has the name Versailles in the name of the stop. You’ve been to Versailles but a long time ago and your memory of it is clouded at best. Meg however, seems to know this town pretty well and as you walk to two blocks to the castle you plan other sight seeing activities in Paris for which she can be your guide. As you walk up to the castle you notice that there is practically no line to get in, and even though you are not planning on paying the entrance fee to see the inside of the castle (and therefore would not need to stand in line) you all agree the end of September is a goodtime to visit the gardens here. You are expecting to have to pay something to get into the gardens but you are pleasantly surprised to find that the entrance is wide open and unguarded inviting you in without need of any kind of ticket.

In the gardens:

The gardens are known for their geometry and are humongous. Every where you look you see well manicured (and symmetrical) bushes, trees groves, and ponds with fountains that Meg informs you where stealthily turned on and off in King Louis XIV’s day to trick him into thinking they were all on at all times. As you can imagine his staff therefore had to keep track of where in the gardens he was at all times so they would know which fountains had to be on and which could be safely turned off.

After lunch, coffee, a lovely stroll, and a good long sit on a bench looking out over a pond in which people were romantically boating about:

It’s getting dark and you all agree you should head back and catch the train home. On the train it comes out that you are all ready for a good Parisian sit-down dinner. Your transfer stop from the RER to the Metro that would get you home happens to be at the very same stop you would take to get to the Notre Dame (which you and Shell have already visited once) and the Latin Quarter which is where you decide to find a restaurant for dinner.

The Latin Quarter:

You explore a fun criss-cross of alleyways packed full of people and restaurants as you search for a good price and a welcoming atmosphere. There are plenty of people standing outside of the restaurants heckling passersby trying to get them to come into their restaurant but you pointedly decide not to go into any of the restaurants the pressure you on your way by. You passed a likely candidate at the beginning of the alley you’re in and you all decide to turn back when your attention is caught by an older man sitting on the side of the alley setting up matches in a pretty symmetrical design, most of them lying down but the one at the center of each flower-like circle is standing on end. The man is old and gaunt but he has a very expressive face and very enthralling movement. You stop to watch, hoping excitedly that he lights a match and sets the rest off in a domino effect.  However, as soon as he has your attention he stops playing with matches and pulls out a handful of razor blades which he proceeds to place theatrically on his tongue and store in his cheek. You watch as a crowd gathers and he stores over 20 razor blades, a lit cigarette, and three lit matches in his mouth.

At dinner:

You make it back the restaurant and it was a good choice. The food is yummy and not too expensive and the service is more than acceptable. You enjoy a bowl of French Onion Soup as an Entrée (this is what the French call appetizers since it is the entry to your meal). After that you have a main dish of steak and fries, which is delicious and ample enough to serve two, which is convenient because you are splitting with Shell (another point in the restaurant’s favor that they let you split a meal). Dessert you had some discussion over but ended up going with the fruit cup over the other more sweet desserts. It was a good choice. You are already pretty full from dinner and the fruit is sweet and crunchy and satisfying (plus Meg lets you finish her chocolate cake so you get the best of both worlds).

The trip home:

Easy. You’ve been doing this metro ride all week. You share a pair of headphones with Shell and bop along to her music playing the air drums and guitar and even trombone when appropriate.