So, after coming home and working with Brice for an hour or two on English, I headed out to meet up with her. I got lost (of course I did), but a nice man at a Tabac pointed me in the right direction and thankfully I was less than 5 minutes away.
Arriving at the bar, it was packed! I had on my St. Patty's Day socks (thanks mom) and my green, so I quickly gained a welcome into the bar. Irish music was playing, pints were flowing, and I located Kristen at the bar. Her friends were great, but had enough of the crowds, so after one of them got me a Guinness, we took to the streets to drink it.
Though I know it is legal to drink in the streets/public here, it always amazes me, since it is forbidden in the U.S. and can come with some unpleasant consequences. But, we joined the huge crowds outside and honestly, it was great!
Talking with the group, I realized they hadn't eaten dinner and had been out drinking for hours, so before hitting up the next pub, I made them stop to eat. While making our way to the next pub, we munched on some brown bread that Kristen's friend Helen had in her bag and drank some cheap wine from Monoprix (apparently it comes in glasses that are individually sealed to drink on the go). Before entering the next bar, we got some great pizza (lousy service - the guy actually wanted to charge us to cut the pizza!?!) that we ate on the street.
And then, chaos ensued. The next bar was a madhouse. You couldn't breathe, people were jumping up and down like crazies, everyone was out of control. Sorry to say, this was not the place for us - or any self-respecting human being over the age of about 22 - on Saint Patrick's Day. Since they'd been out all day, Helen and her boyfriend Aidan decided to call it a night. Kristen was trying to rally, but she'd worked a 24 hour shift at work, taken an hour-long nap, and then had been out all day too. So, as much as I was enjoying their company, I decided to join Amanda and Ebba at another bar and we all parted ways.
Thankfully, Aidan was able to GPS the location of the bar/club where Amanda and Ebba were so that I could find it because they couldn't give me directions from the Metro stop. And, I say thankfully because it wasn't on the main strip...I had to take a few turns to get there and it was almost midnight, but I made it!
Ebba and Amanda are younger than me and I felt a little old to be at the club we went to, but I sucked it up and ordered a beer (and a shot!). We chatted, danced, and had lots of fun.
And then, 3:30 am hit and I was exhausted. I don't know what happened, but I had enough. Amanda was tired too, but we had a ways to go before the first metro came (and I was not paying for a cab on my own - Amanda lives on the opposite side of Paris from me) - my train was at 5:18 am and hers was around 6:30. Ebba had found another friend and decided to stay at the bar until closing around 5, so Amanda and I hit the streets in search for food.
And, we found a Subway that was open! I haven't had Subway since coming to France, but it was all the goodness I remembered and it hit the spot! We then walked to my metro stop and Amanda waited with me until my train came. Arriving in Neuilly-Plaisance, it looked like the first bus wasn't coming any time soon, so I took off on foot - about 3/4 of the way there, I heard the bus, so hopped on. I got home around 6:20, called Amanda to make sure she didn't fall asleep and miss her train, and promptly went to bed until 1 pm, when I had to get up for a tour of the Pere Lachaise Cemetery with Brice on Sunday.
30 is not old...but man, on Sunday at 5:00 am my body and mind certainly felt too old to still be awake and out dancing the night away. Maybe if I had just managed to take a nap on Saturday afternoon it would have been fine...
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