This doesn’t happen on the tube

Saturday, August 27th o Woke up around 10:30 AM, missing breakfast in the hostel. o Worst hostel by far. The showers were jank, and you had to press the button continuously to maintain pressure. Ironic because it was one of the more expensive hostels of our journey. o Facebooked Mélina and told her we were planning on going to the Paris flea market (St. Oeun), so we could meet up there at 12. o Breakfast outside of the hostel…so much better. Stopped at a Patisserie right down the street from us and I got a two croissants and a coffee (gluttony is real). o Headed towards the Flea market and sought out a phone store to call Mélina. She said she could meet up with us around 2, and we agreed on McDonald’s as the meeting place. o Then…we went shopping!!! Shoes for 5 Euro. Finally got my cape. And a chunky knit scarf. Total great buys. The cape is felt and made in Italy (win). The shoes…china (let’s be real). The scarf – Senegal! African cotton holler at me. o Went back and bummed around McDonald’s…so depressing that American influence is as such. Found Mélina and it was a beautiful reunion. She took us to the café/bar next door, where three of her friends were sitting at a table. Marine, Laura, and Ronan. We chatted with them, and they asked us what we wanted to see in Paris. o Notre Dame o Eiffel Tower o Moulin Rouge o Lunch place…epic journey. Found a sweet bakery/salad shop, and the food was delicious. Got a salmon sandwich and malvika got a ham and goat cheese one, so we split the two. o Mélina and her friends were so sweet and accommodating. So much so we felt awkward. Invited us to a party later that we were fully intending on attending until we were harassed by a group of gypsy children on the metro, and it killed our party mood. o I digress. o Headed to Notre Dame after lunch. Breathtaking. I love Paris. The architecture, the landscape (the Seine), the weather, the people, the food, the music…all so romantic. A type of beauty that doesn’t exist in another city. o Went into Notre Dame. Solemnity with being Catholic…lit candles for my grandparents o Lost our tour guides…awkward. Ended up needing to use the bathroom and did so at a creperie, where we ate our first Parisian crepes. No words. Mine was with apricot jam…she made the crepe in front of me with butter and a fancy batter dispenser. Pure heaven. At this point, I was sporting my cape. o Found Ronan because of the plaid he was wearing, and as we were all reuninting, it began to rain again. Ran to the metro and our French friends gave us directions to Trocadero, where we would be able to have a beautiful view of the Eiffel tower. We did so, and damn….was it beautiful. We took at least 200 pictures and then proceeded to people watch as per usual. A couple was taking wedding pictures and because of the rain, the place was emptier that it normally is (not to say it wasn’t still crowded), and the weather had cleared up for us momentarily. o Got stranded on the metros for 1.5 hours because the line we needed kept halting for some strange reason o We were supposed to meet up with Melina and friends at 10:30, but we weren’t headed back to the hostel til 9 30 to freshen up, and this was when the gypsies came onto us o Seemed so young o Targeted us because we were sitting o I kind of blended in because I was wearing my cape, until I made the mistake of saying something in English o Rude A British guy was like "This doesn't happen on the tube." And got up and left. HAHA o Ended up walking to the other side of the train o Physically disturbed…was on the verge of tears o The gypsies drank molly and laura’s water bottle o To be fair, I do not hate on gypsies. I respect that as a whole, they are a displaced community and there is a lot of prejudice that exists against them. But by the same token, these kids were total hooligans and just completely uncalled for. o Went back to the hostel, recovered from fiasco o Hungry….everything was closed o Found a Lebanese place. Wanted Canard l’orange (Duck), so that was my only requirement. It was on the menu, but they were out (of course they were), so I ordered lamb. It was delicious, but way too expensive, and way too much food. Once again, I am consuming an obscene amount in this city. o Went back to the hostel, showered (I am so not a morning person), and went to sleep.