We saw TONS of animals, from jaguars to camels to orangutans to red pandas! We have tried to see red pandas at all the zoos we've been to, but they have always been hiding or asleep. This time, they were wide awake and in plain sight! I'm sure some of the parents were surprised to see two twenty-somethings so excited about red pandas! Of course, our trip also included a Pierre Hermé pain-au-chocolat break in the Jardin des Plantes labyrinth!
After the zoo, we went to Ile St. Louis to get Berthillon ice cream. We had chocolate, caramel, currant, and fraises de bois, it was SO delicious!
Our next stop: Pont des Arts. Like some other famous bridges around Europe, there is a really sweet (or cheesy) tradition for couples to carve their names or initials on a lock and lock it on to the bridge, then throw the key into the Seine. Of course, JP and I could not resist a moment of mushiness! We counted posts and found the middle of the bridge, and took tons of pictures so that we can find it again later.
After locking the lock and tossing the key, we headed to the Pantheon to go to Han Lim, a Korean restaurant. It was absolutely delicious, though not quite as good as Shanghai Mong in Koreatown in NY, or JP's mom's Korean BBQ! We finished the night by opening the bottle of Champagne that my mom brought me for my 21st birthday. It's such a cool bottle, with pictures of Paris monuments on it. It was great to get to celebrate our "birthdays" together in Paris!
Saturday, we wandered around Paris and enjoyed the sunlight. We rented Velib's, which are bikes stationed around Paris that you can rent using your Metro pass. There are hundreds of stations all over Paris, so you can pick up bikes and drop them off wherever you want. We rode all over the city, and made our way to our final major destination for the trip: the Museum of Magic! We saw a magic show, learned about famous French magicians, and saw all sorts of magic artifacts!
We kept riding around, and then went to the market to get bread, cheese, and salami. We rode bikes from my neighborhood to the neighborhood where we were staying, all the way across Paris! We stopped at Bastille to see the breakdancers (and find out if JP knew any of them!). He recognized a few, and knew people that they dance with, but didn't know any of them personally.
Sunday morning, before JP's flight home, we met Nikki, her boyfriend Mike, and her friend Alli for brunch in the Marais. We stopped into Pylones (and proceeded to leave after getting in trouble for taking pictures!), then checked out of our apartment and got on the train to go to the airport. It was sad saying goodbye to JP after such a great week, but nice to know that I would be seeing him again much sooner than the last time we said goodbye!
And there you have it, my Spring Break!
Gros Bisous,
Jaimie
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