Here goes with the long-awaited post about the weekend that Middkids invaded Paris. Poor Kyle got snowed into Boston, so Alex Hall arrived first. I was extremely nervous that we wouldn't find each other, as I had class all afternoon and simply gave him a train line, a metro stop name, and a time to meet me. Luckily he's a smart kid and arrival one happened perfectly. We started off our visit my going back to my house and taking naps, since he was jet-lagged and i knew I wouldn't sleep much for the rest of the weekend. I ran to the grocery store and bakery at ten of eight (all grocery stores close at eight) and grabbed a baguette and some cheese and white wine and we sat on my balcony and ate bread and cheese and pretended to be Parisian. Becca was next to arrive, and Dan picked her up at the train station while Alex and I headed to the outskirts of Paris to find Adam and Kevin at the bus station where the airport shuttle was dropping them off. They arrived in a deserted bus station at 11:45, and it took Alex and I 'til midnight to find the station (i.e. parking lot) and we wandered around it shouting their names, and by another miracle, we found Kevin sitting alone (Adam had left in search of a bathroom). Everyone reunited at a metro stop and we headed to Aloha hostel, their home for the next few days. We sat in the hostel talking until 3:30. It was a 25-30 minute walk from my house, so the boys walked Becca and I home. When they returned to Aloha it was still hopping and apparently they didn't sleep all night. Kevin, Alex, and Adam were slightly grossed out by the filthy bathroom and the dirty 3 people they shared a room with. Friday night the room was only 6 Middkids and that worked out much better.
Friday morning I awoke to my cell phone vibrating (actually Becca did) an hour before we were supposed to meet the boys. They were standing outside my appartment waiting for us. We dressed quickly and descended, then took off walking towards the Seine with no plan in mind. We wound up at the Grand Palais and started walking towards the Louvre. As we were walking, we randomly ran into Chelsea Minton and Mike Stefanik, two Middkids (also Febs). They are studying in Greece/London and decided to meet in Paris for the weekend. After running into them, we calculated that nearly 10% of their Feb class ('08.5) was in Paris that weekend. Mike and Chelsea told us the Louvre was free that afternoon b/c the workers were on strike, so we headed down to go in, but then Becky and Amanda called to tell us they had arrived and we waited for them by the Pyramids. We had another Midd reunion outside the Louvre, and headed to Aloha to drop their stuff off. On the way to the hostel, everyone realized they were hungry, and we stopped at Monoprix to get some toiletries, towels, a jar of Nutella, and 1.5 baguettes to go with it. We had the jar of Nutella open and half a baguette gone by the time we got to the end of the street, and by the time we sat down on the benches across the street, one baguette was gone. Becky and Adam went off in search of a bakery, and returned with another baguette, two croissants, and two pain au chocolats. We proceeded to devour those, and the boys decided they needed one more baguette, which they bought and gulped down. 3.5 baguettes, 2 croissants, and 2 pain au chocolats, and 2/3 of a jar of Nutella. It's an exaggeration to say we spent most of this weekend enjoying Parisian cuisine. We went to Saint Michel for dinner, and met up with Becky's friend Evan (from Russia) and two of his friends, and the pack of 11 went to a cute Thai restaurant for a picture. Right before dessert Becky and I left to pick up Dan at the train station, and by miracle #3, we found him (I hadn't realized that Gare du Nord is enormous and the odds of us "just finding him" near the tracks weren't good). Luckily it was late and deserted in the train station and we got another Middkid. We laid low the rest of the night, returning to the hostel and babbling until the wee hours of the morning again.
Saturday morning Kyle finally arrived, exhausted and sweaty and having been snowed in Boston for 2 extra nights. After retrieving the last member of the Midd pack, we hit up a sandwich shop for lunch and at on the steps of a church. We then proceeded to Montmartre and gawked at the amazing view of Paris. 
We got a fellow tourist to take a group shot of us at the church. After hiking up to the top, we headed back down and went to the sex district, to see the Moulin Rouge of course. We saw the landmark, decided not to pay 70 euros to see the show and wished one of us had the movie with us. There were several renditions of "Come What May" and "Elephant Love Medley". Saturday night we decided on classic French food and headed to a really cute street in the Latin quarter where everyone ordered raclettes and amused themselves by melting cheese. Jess and her friend from home met up with us for dinner, and afterwards we took the group to our favorite bar nearby. By the time we finished there everyone was exhausted and headed back to their homes/hostels to sleep. And Sunday we slept in.We didn't meet until noon on Sunday, as everyone was completely exhausted by that time. We met at my appartment and headed along the Seine to the outdoor market at Place de la Bastille. We amused ourselves greatly at the market, and bought lichis, clementines, pastries, churros, crepes, strawberries, and probably other random things that look so much more appealing when they are outside and someone is begging you to buy them. 
We continued along the main street of Paris (Rue de Rivoli) and walked through the Marais, Place des Vosges, two pretty churches, Hotel de Ville until we finally decided to go to the Louvre. Unfortunately we didn't make it there until nearly 4:30, and it closes at 5:30. Luckily most of our friends have been there before, so it wasn't tragic that we missed that landmark. We had split into two groups at that point, and my group, since we couldn't go to the Louvre, went with our late-afternoon routine/fallback of finding a bakery and eating pastries. Which were yummy, as always in Paris. When the two groups reunited near sunset, we decided to head to the Eiffel Tower. We walked there from the Louvre, which was long but beautiful. We arrived at the tower at 6:45, just in time to watch it scintillate from the bottom at 7. Then we got in line. And watched it light up at 8. By the 9 o'clock shimmering we were halfway up the tower, waiting in line to get to the top. We finally made it, and despite the long long line and the freezing cold, it was worth it from the top.
That's us at the top in the picture to the right. We made it down just before the 10 p.m. shimmering, and hopped on an RER back to Saint Michel, where we knew that even late on Sunday restaurants would be open. Everyone was starving at this point, and ready to eat anywhere (and turning to me, their fearless leader, to guide them to food). We walked down a two streets and one of the men standing outside offered us a free aperitif, which we gladly accepted and chose his Greek/French restaurant. We really wanted to get escargot, to complete the French culinary experience, but they were out. The meal was still good, though at that point we probably would have scarfed down anything. We returned to the hostel and hung out in their room for a while, until Dan and Becky fell asleep and we decided maybe we should all sleep.
We continued along the main street of Paris (Rue de Rivoli) and walked through the Marais, Place des Vosges, two pretty churches, Hotel de Ville until we finally decided to go to the Louvre. Unfortunately we didn't make it there until nearly 4:30, and it closes at 5:30. Luckily most of our friends have been there before, so it wasn't tragic that we missed that landmark. We had split into two groups at that point, and my group, since we couldn't go to the Louvre, went with our late-afternoon routine/fallback of finding a bakery and eating pastries. Which were yummy, as always in Paris. When the two groups reunited near sunset, we decided to head to the Eiffel Tower. We walked there from the Louvre, which was long but beautiful. We arrived at the tower at 6:45, just in time to watch it scintillate from the bottom at 7. Then we got in line. And watched it light up at 8. By the 9 o'clock shimmering we were halfway up the tower, waiting in line to get to the top. We finally made it, and despite the long long line and the freezing cold, it was worth it from the top.
That's us at the top in the picture to the right. We made it down just before the 10 p.m. shimmering, and hopped on an RER back to Saint Michel, where we knew that even late on Sunday restaurants would be open. Everyone was starving at this point, and ready to eat anywhere (and turning to me, their fearless leader, to guide them to food). We walked down a two streets and one of the men standing outside offered us a free aperitif, which we gladly accepted and chose his Greek/French restaurant. We really wanted to get escargot, to complete the French culinary experience, but they were out. The meal was still good, though at that point we probably would have scarfed down anything. We returned to the hostel and hung out in their room for a while, until Dan and Becky fell asleep and we decided maybe we should all sleep. Monday morning Dan left at dawn, Becky took an early train, and Kyle and Alex headed to the airport. We ate lunch together before I gave Kevin directions to the Louvre and sent Adam and Becca to amuse themselves in Paris while I went to class. during class I received several phone calls, and when I finally checked my messages, they were from Alex Hall, telling me he got bumped from his flight and would be sitting outside my appt. until waiting 'til I got home. Adam, Becca, Kevin, and I met up and returned to chez moi to find Alex awaiting us. We ate dinner together, brought Kevin and Adam back to the bus station, and Becca and Alex and I alternatively sat and wandered around randomly, comtemplating alternatively our exhaustion, how fun the weekend was, and what we would eat next.
Tuesday morning we met for breakfast, ate our last pain au chocolats together, and I put them on the RER as I headed to Paris III for my translation midterm. This post does no justice to the amazingness and the hilarity of this weekend, but I tried. Imagine me walking through Paris with 8-12 Middkids trailing behind me. Amazing.
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