Midnight in Paris, France Day 1 : October 2012

I think Paris is so overrated. Although there’s no denying that it is lovely and beautiful that you can just simply fall in love with it. So after my successful trip to Valenciennes (with side trips to Lille, Bergues and the bordering Belgian towns of Quievrain and Mons), I rode a two hour TGV ride going down 300 km to visit my friend Flo in Paris.

I got off at Gare du Nord - the train station that caters to trains coming from the north. I was welcomed by my friend, Flo, who was waiting for me on the quai (platform). His apartment is just about fifteen minutes away from the train station so we went home walking through the streets of the 18th arrondissement.

30 minutes after catching my breath and catching up with the latest on Flo’s life (and his roommate’s too!), we rode the two metros going to Trocadero. He didn’t actually tell me where we were going. I know he likes strolling around Paris at midnight so I thought that was what we were going to do. Then I realized, why are we getting off at Trocadero? IT CAN’T BE ! :O But he just kept asking me: "T’es prête?" (Are you ready?)

We finally got off at Trocadero, climbed out of the metro station, turned left, paused, Flo asked me again for the last time ‘t’es prête?’ and there it was, La Tour Eiffel… at night. I was speechless ! I couldn’t believe I was standing a few meters from it. From Trocadero, it looked so small, but as we crossed the Seine River, it got bigger and bigger ! It was unbelievable. I can’t believe it’s just in front of me. And how lucky that we got there around midnight just in time for the hourly flickering and dancing of the lights !

Behind the tower was an exposition (exhibit) of bears representing each country. I’m standing right next to that of the Philippines and Flo’s so adorable posing right next to that of Norway. Flo is French (well French-Italian by blood but anyway) but he took some year off to study in Norway as an Erasmus exchange student (like me!) a year ago, so that explains…

My four days in Nord-Pas-de-Calais were overwhelming and it continues to be until my Paris trip. All these together… meeting my boyfriend in real life for the first time, seeing my good friend Flo in person for the first time, the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France, Europe… Dreams do come true. All in God’s perfect time ♡