Kristin does Paris (Vol. 4)

After some waiting, the two other assistants arrived at the hotel as well, and about the same time that the last assistant got here, we were able to check in. We got all set up, rested a bit, and then took off in search of food and Sacre Coeur. We found both, and the view from Sacre Coeur was amazing! It was definitely worth the uphill hike. After that, we pretty much crashed and then got up to head to the assistant meet up today. We left a little early, so we had time to go see Sainte Chapelle, another cathedral that I had never seen. The façade inside wasn’t really my taste (too much gold) but the stained glass windows were fantastic. Before long, it was time to head to Notre Dame to find the other assistants. It was pretty funny because one guy found us right when we got there, but we didn’t see anyone else, even though lots of people had said they were coming. I went up to one guy and asked if he was waiting for someone, and he said no. Then he conceded, very nicely, "Well, actually, I am waiting for someone, but not you." As I started to walk away, he added "If you’re for a group, there’s a bunch of Anglophones over there. They’re language assistants." I told him that’s exactly who I was looking for, thank you (this whole conversation was taking place in French, by the way) and then saw this massive group of people a few feet away. There must have been at least 20 of us. I met tons of people who were going to be all over France, and we ate and then walked through the Jardins de Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens). It was really nice, and once again someplace I had never been. Afterward, we went back to Notre Dame and rested awhile at a café, then went back to our hotel, rested a bit, and met up with some assistants that night. Although very disorganized, we managed to make it to a pub on the Left Bank, and I had some rosé (I think it's blush in English?) that actually wasn’t so bad, considering that I normally don’t like wine. Then we went back to our hotel, where we talked to our roommate a bit, a guy who is from New York but now lives in Atlanta and is traveling Europe for three months in between engineering jobs. Tomorrow morning I'm taking a taxi to the train station to meet Jen, an assistant originally from Michigan who now lives is Chicago and is in the same region as me, in the bigger town of Caen about 45 minutes from me. We were taking the train to Normandie together. She’s very sweet, and we get along really well. She said I can stay with her anytime, so I expect that I’ll be visiting Caen quite a bit, since there’s more to do there and I have a place to stay. Anyhow; that’s enough typing for now, more later!