Paris: Part Un

I have been planning to go to Paris since the first week of school and on Wednesday, March 4 at 1 in the afternoon, I left the University of Nottingham for a holiday in the City of Love. I went with my friend Mary Beth; it's better to travel in pairs.
We flew from East Midlands Airport to Charles de Gaul Aeroport in the north of Paris, arriving at 7:30 at night.
A lady named Sandrine Frovnal picked us up. She is a part of a network called Couchsurfers who host people traveling in their home cities. Sandrine lives in the south part of Paris called La Kremlin-Bicetre. It was great that she picked us up with her car so that we didn't have to figure out the metro at night.
It was also wonderful because she gave us a tour of Paris by night!
I saw Moulin Rouge all lit up, as well as the area where Amelie was filmed. We drove by the Grand Opera, up the Champs Elysee and around the Arc de Triomphe, through the Louvre and across the Pont Neuf.
Sandrine said she had a surprise for us and after counting down from ten, we turned into a side alley and there was...the Eiffel Tower! It was all lit up and in five minutes started twinkling everywhere. It was a gorgeous sight.
Sandrine gave us couches to sleep on in her apartment. Despite the overwhelming smell of smoke (everyone in Paris smokes cigarettes)and the thin blanket that did nothing against the cold, I was grateful for a comfortable, free place to sleep.