Busy Day

Okay, I'll admit it...I slept in this morning.  I seriously had every intention of getting up and out the door pretty early but when 7am rolled around, I rolled over, buried my head and went back to sleep.  After just a few more shut-eyes I did manage to make it out of my room in time to catch the breakfast that my hotel offers; orange juice, petite baguettes, croissants, oh so yummy coffee and the delightful company of a new friend, Mark.

I actually "met" him briefly the morning that I arrived as we shared a quick laugh over the hotel elevator buttons.  Anyway, Mark stumbled into breakfast shortly after me and noticing that he too was traveling alone I couldn't help but ask what brought him to Paris.  His response, "A mid-life crisis."  Haha, instant friends!  Mark is an interesting character; he's in his 50's, originally from Canada and has been living in our hotel for three months.  He spends his mornings writing and his afternoons visiting museums and catching old Bogart movies at the cinema.  About two hours after arriving for breakfast we had discussed politics, religion, health care, philosophy, art, literature and traveling....it was fun and I'm sure I'll be talking with him again.

Now that my morning had really disappeared I figured I needed to hightail it to the shower and out into the city. Remember how I mentioned that the metro system was easy? Well it is for the most part, though highly complex, as long as you take the right line which apparently I didn't and ended up getting pretty lost.  No worries though, I eventually found my way and saw a bunch of neat little things along the way.  A few pictures below of my lost finds...

Once directionally found again it was off to lunch at another little cafe where yes, I actually ate food, to be more specific, crepes with mozzarella and potatoes.  Of course the food was great (!), the atmosphere was cozy and the people were very friendly. (The owner even allowed me to use his password protected WiFi so I could Skype.)  After lunch it was time for my wine tasting.

Now typically I wouldn't make it a habit to follow a stranger down into a cellar but this was so worth it.  We spent just over an hour and a half learning about the different wine regions in France, what exactly all that crap is on the label, and of course  how to "taste".  It was fun and naturally I made friends with the people there and was pleasantly surprised to see another girl traveling alone, Jonna.  Even better, Jonna's from DC.  Immediately we hit it off and made plans to get together later in the night.

Okay, quick run back to the hotel to check to see if my luggage had arrived....nope! What the hell!  Quick Skype session with Luke, sprint down to a local boutique to buy something just in case my luggage isn't here in the morning, and then back out to navigate the Metro yet again.  Final destination....Tour Montparnasse to meet Jonna for a picnic on the rooftop of a skyscraper overlooking the city. In one word....beautiful!

With night and exhaustion setting in I decided to call it a night but rather than try my luck again with the Metro I decided just to walk.  Despite my newly acquired map of my city I still ended up getting a little lost but it was yet again interesting to see what I could see.  No worries, I made it home and actually ended up thinking I was way more lost than I truly was :)

What's on the agenda for tomorrow?  The long desired cooking class!!! I have to meet the chef at the local market in Montmartre at 930 so lets hope I don't oversleep or get lost.  After the class (which goes until about 3) I'm planning on seeing the Sacre Coeur, Picasso's Museum and then maybe Notre Dame....we'll see!

Goodnight!