paris!

oh, where to begin? quinn is here, and angela is here, and we are having a fantastic time.
got into paris late friday night, really late, like, checked into my hotel at 1am. i flew into beauvais airport, which i learned after the fact is the airport for tourists who use discount airliners, and that, similar to treviso airport "in venice", it is over an hour away from the city. after a long, dark bus ride the city began to loom up, lights and traffic and twinkles from the seine, and then at the crest of a hill we could see it, the eiffel tower, lit up in blue and tinkling in the last throws of its on-the-hour laser show.
got to my weird, weird hotel, and was in my room long enough to throw on an outfit, and then burst out into the streets of paris. met up with frederic and two of his friends at a metro station down the road. as it was 1:30 in the morning, the subways were closed, so after deciding that we wanted to go to a club (dancing!), we had to figure out how to get there. no subways, taxis are too expensive, and paris is huge so walking is out of the question. so frederics friend vincent asked, "do you fancy cycling?", and i clapped my hands and cried "yes!!".
we rented bikes from these little bike keyosks, where you can insert your credit card and agree to a $150 fee if you dont return the bike within 24 hours, and you're off! we rode through the streets of paris, 2am, lights and cars and couples holding hands and 24 hour bakerys sending out fresh baked croissant signals into the night air. we rode over the seine, and all the boys simultaneously looked at me and pointed out onto the river and cried, "look! notre dame!". was breathtaking. after fourty five minutes or so (some of which i am thinking was sightseeing i.e. taking the long way) we reached our destination. danced and sang into the wee hours, and at 6am we went back to pascals apartment to sleep. 8 am frederic came into the living room and tapped me on the temple. "um, ele. stay calm. its 8". literally flew out the door in a fit of panic, trying desperately to create a plan for getting to the airport in a timely fashion. frederic walked me quickly to the subway, got me a ticket, rode with me to the connecting station, and sent me on my way. found quinn after a long interlude of running through the airport in my high heels and having her paged on the intercom. she was sitting slumped and worn out at a table in the airport cafe. hugged and kissed her and squeeled a bit, and we rode home, and slept till 6pm...when we woke up, refreshed and ready for france...all has been just perfect...
to be continued (when im not paying 3 euro an hour for internet)