25 December

Ah, Christmas morning. Both Alison and Shri planned on getting an early start and I heard them get ready in the morning. The three of us decided to sleep in late because it was Christmas and we didn’t have much planned for the day. We woke up too late for breakfast and after showering and dressing, we left for the city center. DO NOT STAY AT THE ALOHA HOSTEL!!! I said before that I was glad I didn’t shower for two reasons. One was that we probably would have missed our train if I did because we caught it just in time. The second was that they were SIMPLY DISGUSTING. I’m not sure if that shower had been cleaned for the past several weeks. I was all too glad that I brought my shower shoes with me. I was a little annoyed that neither of the other two had knowing full well that we’d be staying in hostels at some point during our stay. I shuddered the whole time I was in the shower and swore never to go back in there again. We left late and grabbed some breakfast at a McDonald’s on the Champs-Elysees. The street is beautiful and we definitely enjoyed walking down it. From there we went to the Sacre-Couer on top of the highest point in Paris. The view was simply stunning from there. I bought my shot glass in the souvenir store at the church which was selling them for much less than other places I had seen. From there we walked to an old palace and Cleopatra’s Needle. We were supposed to meet Eddy, another one of Saket’s French friends, for coffee at 5 and so we went from the palace to the church we were meeting him at around 4:30. We killed some time in the church and walking down the tiny set of shops along the street. We saw a man carving beautiful shapes out of vegetables and I took pictures of some of his handiwork. While we were watching the cars outside the church, Saket saw a model and commented that Eddy drove one just like that. From Saket’s description of him, I had this feeling that of all of his friends, Eddy would be the one to show up in a car. Sure enough, not two minutes after thinking that and just moments after Saket’s comment, we hear a honk and a guy saying, “Hey Saket! [with an emphasis on the second syllable of his name] I’m just going to park!” and waving his hand at us. Eddy had arrived just as I surmised. A few minutes later he joined us and greeted Sachi and I with the whole fake kissing on both cheeks that is very French. We were cold and ready for some drinks and so he led us to a nearby café. The area, he explained, was frequented by students and artists, and even some famous celebrities. Sure enough, one of Eddy’s favorite film actors walked into the café soon after us and was seated behind us. I could see him clearly and wanted to take pictures of him, but I was afraid he wouldn’t like that and the couple next to him kept on getting in my way anyway. The waitstaff proceeded to ignore us completely and it took a long time for Saket and Eddy to get the waiter’s attention. Saket ordered coffee while the rest of us ordered hot chocolate. After another long wait, the waiter returned with the opposite order. Eddy, a little upset at the service at this point, then called the guy back and explained the error in the delivery. After yet another long wait we finally got our drinks. Too bad the chocolate wasn’t good enough to warrant the long delay! The conversation was quite nice though and it was fun talking to Eddy. He had to leave us shortly after our snack but graciously directed us to some nice dinner places and the best bakery in Paris before he left. The bakery was simply amazing and while Saket was busy ordering our breakfast and some tasty macaroon snacks, I was ogling the chocolates on display. I saw a single box of chocolates worth over 100 Euros! That’s over $120!! The treats looked simply amazing and I’m sure the staff was wondering if I’d gone mad. After Eddy left we went in search of dinner and chose yet another pizza/pasta place (ugh!). We admired the Champs-Elysees again at night as well as the Arc de Triomphe and used up the remaining memory and battery of the camera on them. Once those were spent we went back to the hostel.

Shri was not back yet and so we had the room to ourselves. Since it was Christmas we decided to cheat on the presents our parents had bought for us and started by opening just one, Sachi’s. We had made a wager earlier that they were not iPods with me saying no and Sachi saying yes. In the next few minutes, I proceeded to steadily lose my 15 Euros. Hers was a 1GB Shuffle. I opened mine next and found a shiny 30 GB black photo Pod. It was beautiful! Saket shortly followed and found a 2 GB black nano!! How ironic that he got the nano since he specifically told Dad how against the iPods he was and especially against the nano. It’s not that he thinks they are bad devices, just overrated and too popular and he wouldn’t be caught dead owning one. Sachi also had made it clear that she didn’t need a Pod since she has a working MP3 player. In fact, we all do. My computer went on the fritz during the last week of classes and is still kind of shaky. I decided to keep mine so that I could back up all my important files. While those two debated on which ones they would keep, I made up my mind to keep mine. Thanks mom and dad!! Though this trip was seriously present enough, I still really appreciate the gesture. I promise to take care of it and get your money’s worth out of it. We had yet another early train for Geneva the next morning so after packing up our essentials, we hit the sack.