Aileen Rabago in Paris

a good chatmate and namesake (yeah, i know she wasn't named after me, but this is my blog, so i'm not too strict on my terminologies) of mine, Aileen Rabago, came to Europe last month. she sent me a message in FB a week before to tell me that she'll be visiting Paris for a day and asked if i could tour her around. although we haven't met in person before she came here, we've already chatted several times in the past, and i've always known her as the girlfriend of Ahmed, also a very good friend. and any friend/relative/gf/bf of any good friend of mine is always a more than welcome company for me!

and even though she visited while i was having one of the toughest, toughest times i've had in my entire existence, accompanying her for one night and a day was very refreshing and it gave me a moment to forget my troubles during those times. it also gave me the "first time" opportunities to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral (i haven't been inside the cathedral before Aileen came) and watch The Crazy Horse show.

so i met up with her and her companions (she joined two men in coming to Paris) on the evening of 11th june, at a cafe in Paris 6th.

eventhough i've been in Paris for seven years now, i've never ever really taken the time to tour the city and visit its famous places (except the Eiffel Tower, that is), so i have absolutely no idea where to take them. i was actually hoping they'd have something in mind that they want me to take them to. good thing they did! hehe...

so friday night, i took them to the Eiffel Tower, which they wanted to climb at first but they changed their mind when they saw the long queue for the entrance... because really, it would take more time to stand in line than it would to climb the tower. and then we went to the Arc de Triomphe, and then to Avenue des Champs Elysées. Aileen was quite happy to take it all in. she would have been happy to take the boat ride along the Seine River for a little bit more of sight-seeing, but her two male companions were so bent on seeing The Crazy Horse. although she was quite reluctant to agree, i guess she didn't want to appear killjoy, and also, she didn't want to take off from them out of pakikisama. so off to the Crazy Horse we went. we were late for the first half... and i wasn't really sure it was worth the money to pay for a half-show (eventhough i didn't pay for my entrance). but what did i say about her two male companions? BENT. and so that's how we ended the night. to the second half of The Crazy Hose show.

early the next morning, Saturday... Ai and I met up early in the morning to visit the Louvre (minus her two male companions with whom she agreed to meet at the train station later in the day). she really, really wanted to visit the Louvre so we went there first. she was taking the 4pm-train ride back to Brussels, so i knew that the museum would eat up most of our day. and she was fine with that.

after we took her picture with The Mona Lisa, she was quite happy to get out of the museum, hehe... we still had time for a little chat and to grab some lunch before i accompanied her to the train station. too bad she only had less than 24 hours to visit Paris. we both wish she'll have another chance to go back and stay a few days longer and visit more places. 

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