the girl from ipanema

This is going to be v., v. brief -- you're not going to get the orgy of historical recapping that I treated/tortured you with yesterday. This is because I v. stupidly stayed up until 1:30am reading a book, and I have to get up at six to make my way to the airport for my flight to Dublin.

So I spent the entire weekend sick in Paris, which I must admit, despite my best efforts to the contrary, kind of put a damper on things. I still have a hacking cough, but I'm at least getting the hideous, scary, choking fits less often, so I suppose that's progress? All in all, though, my energy level wasn't its highest. I couldn't sleep last night for quite some time due to the cough, and so I ended up letting myself sleep until almost eleven this morning. So much for getting to Versailles early -- instead, I took my time getting ready, stopped at a cafe on the way to the train to eat a delicious bowl of cheese-covered french onion soup (can you tell how much I like the stuff, since it was my third bowl in three days?), and so didn't get to Versailles until almost three p.m.

I toured the palace for about three hours; my mother will be sad to know this, but I ended up not going through the gardens, since I was utterly out of energy at that point. I will post many pictures in a later post, but the palace was well worth it despite the ridiculous crowds. Luckily, I had bought a two-day museum pass yesterday, and while I didn't get the full monetary value out of it (I would have come close had I remembered that I could use it at St-Denis yesterday instead of paying admission there too -- blame my cough-induced mental fogginess), I more than got my money's worth by skipping the horrendous, hour-long ticket line and being able to walk right in the front door at Versailles.

Anyway, more on Versailles in another post. I came back to Paris, took a brief break in my hotel room, and around eight p.m. went out in search of sustenance. Unbeknownst to me, the Champs-Elysees was turned into a big pedestrian thoroughfare today, celebrating something to do with nature, and so all the cars were gone, and thousands of people were thronging over a street that had been covered in cedar chips. This made it difficult to find a cafe with open seating, but I finally succeeded, finding a place where I could have a restorative steak, a glass of wine, and a creme brulee while reading a book. The book turned out to be compelling enough that I kept reading when I got back to the hotel, and I failed to put it down, and now tomorrow will be brutal. But at least by this time tomorrow I will be back in a familiar city; I haven't been in Dublin in three years (shocking), but I liked living there and am looking forward to going back.

And now, I'm off to bed. I realized rather belatedly that this is Sunday and I should have called my parents, but they're probably at graduation now anyway, so I'll have to call them tomorrow. Goodnight!