Turks of Obieland Reunite in Paris

I know it's hard to believe, but yes, we actually did a reunion after almost a year, planned hastily and randomly, as is the Turkish custom. :P We should really be featured as a testimonial for facebook or something because this whole thing originated through a harmless wall post by Asli and then we found ourselves in Paris in a week and a half's time. Unfortunately, that meant that not the whole gang could be there. Frankly, we missed many of the Turkish gang from Oberlin when Asli, Zeynep and I were in Paris eating our duck confit in honey sauce and drinking beaujolais wine. ;) No, we really did! It would have been an all-out party then! Before I get into the details, here's where you can find the pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ysolmaz/ObieReunionParisSep2007

Day 1:
- Opening my hotel door to greet Asli in French "Bon soir mon cherie!!"
- Drinking Asli's bordeaux while catching up at the hotel
- Meeting Zeynep and Evrim right in front of the jazz club where Evrim was about to sing that night, the Sunside Sunset Club
- Having our only bad dinner in Paris with Asli, but the conversation was titillating. :)
- Sneaking into the jazz club without paying the 22 Euro cover fee thanks to Zeynep. We were about an hour and a half late which might have helped as well...
- Spending some time at the bar with a colleague of mine from work who had decided to come to the concert
- Hanging out at the jazz bar until about 2 am, talking with Evrim and the rest in between the times she was singing
- Not finding a freakin' cab in Paris at night to get back to the hotel!!! Seriously, what the hell was that about? We wasted an hour trying to find a cab, but the only cars on the streets were full cabs. We ended up taking a night bus to the hotel instead... fabulous? NO! The only thing that made it worthwhile was Asli's comment: "Now I understand what Carrie Bradshaw had to go through in NYC!" Hhahaha

Day 2:
- Meeting Zeynep for some cafe au lait and pain au chocolat at the Latin Quarter. Basking in the lovely morning sun while chatting it up.
- Walking north towards Ile de la Cite where we visited Notre Dame
- Onto the Louvre, the Champs Elysees and the Louis Vuitton store
- Walking at Le Marais part of Paris, shopping at boutiques, people watching, which became my favorite way of spending time in Paris since everyone's so damn good-looking
- Having an absolutely fantastic dinner near the modern Opera building at Bastille.
- Heading back to the jazz club to hang out with the jazz cats one more time!

Day 3:
- Having breakfast (cafe, orange juice and pain au chocolat accompanied by a nutella crepe!) just south of Notre Dame
- Walking through Paris, le Marais towards Etienne Marcel to check out the Paul & Joe store. Huy, I'm not that impressed... I liked the store Et Vous more!
- Stumbling upon the cutest streets and the most local of cafes, restaurants
- Making our way to Montmarte for a second-hand market, meeting cute sellers at the market, who were so cute we actually bought stuff! ;)
- Visiting Sacre Coeur and listening to the guitar players at the foot steps
- Being awed by the panorama of Paris...
- Having a long dinner at Restaurant Montorgueil - highly recommended! Get the pork and some creme brulee to finish things off. I'm not even mentioning the red wine since it's a given.

Then it was back to London on the Eurostar. I can't wait to do another reunion where more of us can join! It was fun, nostalgic and energizing at the same time. I felt like Asli, Zeynep and I never stopped hanging out; when we came together in Paris, it was as if we had been together since the day we all left Oberlin. So reassuring!

Asli, Zeyrek- Allah razi olsun! Muthis zaman gecirdim; umarim sizler de ayni benim gibi eglenmisinizdir.