Bon anniversaire à Mike!

Before I start blogging about my life, I just want to say happy birthday to Mike!  It’s his 21st, and he’s off celebrating with his friends in London!

Alright, so!  Today was a pretty eventful day!  The boys went to a few museums, Kelly and Alissa went to explore Rue Mouffetard and the Marais, and Nadia met up with her friend from home.  I decided to stay in and get a head start on my French paper, of which I was able to finish my rough draft.  I did a bit of research for my exposé, and then I realized how late it had gotten, and started to get ready for the wine tasting!

Kelsey and Chrissy had taken this class about a month ago, and have been raving about it ever since.  Melanie and I were originally signed up, and then since we had to reschedule (due to my illnesses and travels), Nadia and her friend Alix decided they would join us.  We all met up at this place, called O Château, and descended the staircase into an ancient wine cellar.  Our instructor, Sebastian, was fantastic and a wine maker, so he really knew his stuff.  The actual class provided 6 different types of French wines, including a champagne.  It also came with delicious (free) bread.  The champagne was excellent, and did you know that actual champagne is produced only in France and California?  I found that little factoid quite interesting.  My favorite wine was a lollipop wine from the Fronton region of France; it was sweet, and tasted absolutely delicious.  I want to invest in another bottle, but somehow can’t imagine a 5 euro bottle from Monoprix tasting as good as the 19 euro bottle at O Château…

Anyway, we were strongly encouraged not to spit out the wine, and who were we to resist?!  After two and a half hours of drinking – err, tasting – we definitely had within us a warm, happy feeling.  We made our way back to the Latin Quarter, and found a cute little restaurant called Le Marathon to eat in.  It was pretty crowded, most likely because it was offering a good deal: 3-course meal for 10 euros, which for Paris, is a steal.  I got some more French onion soup (can’t get enough!), escalope of veal in some kind of creamy mushroom sauce, and finished off with another apple tarte.  The food was much better than last night’s, but unfortunately the waiter was kind of a jerk, so it put a damper on things.  I’m not used to this by now because…why?

After dinner, the entire group met up back at my apartment, and we decided to go out to the Moose, my favorite little Canadian pub.  We had a few drinks, and called it a night.

After all, Paris, my friends, is one very exhausting city.