It’s waiting time again. Together with a fully packed Gare du Nord, we’re looking at the boards to see where our trains are departing from.

I waved goodbye to Nella and Mila yesterday, they left a day earlier than I. I picked them up from this same train station just a few days ago, Thursday evening. We joked beforehand about me being the tour guide, since I sort of know now where to go. But what is a tour guide without a little flag? They assumed I wouldn’t get one, but as they were walking towards me, I sure was waving a French flag at them. We got to their hotel, which is close to where I stay, and then off to dinner. We got a tip from their cousin, to go to Mama Kossa, this West African restaurant in Montmartre, and it did not disappoint! Amazing food, wonderful atmosphere, and just so happy to have my friends here with me. Afterwards we went for a late night walk, showing them the Sacre Coeur, and made some “new friends” with these random guys, who didn’t speak English, and we don’t speak French, so it was the perfect combo.

After a night’s sleep, we met up at the little patisserie next to my place for some breakfast. We had tickets for Musée d’Orsay today, and we were clearly not the only ones. The lines were fortunately not even close to what they were the first time I was here, so we were inside in no time. We strolled around, sometimes more fascinated by the people then the art, but we had a good time. We needed some lunch and headed to the Tuileries, sitting down at one of the cafeteria’s in the park. It wasn’t the greatest experience, they were understaffed and the price/quality wasn’t that great. But with stuffed stomachs, we started the first half of our walking tour. We had some ice cream on the Champs Élysées, looked at some more art at Petit Palais and wondered at the Arc the Triomphe. We parted ways for the evening, since the twins had tickets to see Beyoncé in concert at the stadium. It wasn’t that far away from our places, and when the wind was in the right direction, I could actually sort of enjoy the concert as well.

They told me all about the next morning during breakfast, and it sounded like they had the best time. I had a little surprise for them this afternoon, because at had been there birthday a couple of weeks ago, so they needed their present. But first, we went to Musée Rodin, to look at his amazing sculptures and paintings and had a small lunchbreak in his garden. Then it was present time! I had booked us a workshop of creating your own perfume and learning about the process of making them. It was a really fun way to see a more alternative side of Paris. We walked some more in the area of the Notre Dame and then headed back to Montmartre for an easy sushi dinner and a well deserved sleep.

And we needed that rest, because we had Versailles on our schedule the next day! We got some breakfast at a local bakery and took the bus to our meeting point, where a big touring bus would be waiting for us. The lady who would drop us off at the palace had some useful information, our tickets, and the big and important announcement of our meeting point at the palace for the trip back to Paris. I don’t how many times she had said the meeting time, but she said it on the bus multiple times, and then at the palace as well. 10 minutes to 6. 5:50. Or for us Europeans, 17:50. No minute later. I found it a bit over the top, we’re not in high school anymore, aren’t we? But whatever, she must know why she would tell us over and over again. In the palace it self, I didn’t enjoy it that much, to be honest. We went from queu to queu, in this massive crowd of people, walking around so slowly, I just don’t have the patience for it. The last time I was in the palace, it was even worse, so I guess we were lucky, but still. It did help that we had the audio tour, so I got some information this time. We headed back outside, to stroll through the beautiful gardens. After a quick snack, we sat down under some trees, just to relax a little before heading back to the bus. We knew of the time, obviously, but our lovely Mila was so busy completing her daily DuoLingo streak, we were suddenly in a rush to get back on time. Walking with a brisk stride, we were exiting the gardens, when we realised we were officially late. But, to our defence, it was literally only 5 or 6 minutes, but our bus drove off in front of us. We tried to make eye contact with the driver, but he was so busy making it out of the parking lot, he didn’t notice us. Flabbergasted and also laughing our asses of for this stupid mistake, another guy from the company we got our tickets from, did notice us and told us we could take his bus back to Paris. He said the office had tried to call us, but couldn’t reach us. Which was not true, because neither of us had a missed call. But no worries, we claimed a spot on the next bus, and the lady bus driver smilingly shook her head. Must happen more often, right? So when we got back, we got some dinner where they lighted our steaks on fire. Pretty cool. We didn’t have that much time, we had a boat to catch! It took us along the Seine, showing the highlights of the city. We got back just in time to see the Eiffel tower light up and sparkle in the dark. Pretty exhausted, we just went back home after this long and intense day.

I didn’t have the best night of sleep, because our waiter at the restaurant for dinner (unknowingly) lied to us when he said there weren’t any eggs in the cheesecake we ordered for desert. My stomach can tell you, there were, for it was quite upset with me. So without that much energy, we just had a more of an easy day, but still a packed early afternoon! We started at Hôtel des Invalides, to see Napoleons last resting place. We then headed to Sainte-Chapelle, because this is too pretty to skip, and a little walk to the Louvre. On our way, we stopped for some souvenirs and a small lunch, but afterwards I was out of energy and my stomach told me to go home. Nella and Mila did their own walking tour, with the accompanying photoshoots. We met up the next morning, for a goodbye breakfast, and waved them off at the busstop. I did some last minute souvenir shopping, and went back home to stuff all of it in my already full suitcase. But, it fits!

So now I’m enjoying the French countryside views again, chatting with the guy sitting next to me on the train, an older French glass artist, who is actually now watching one of my favourite tv-shows. Almost home, what would be next?