Harry Potter and the Visit from Mom and Mo

Hi friends!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!! I know, I know, I haven't update the blog in a while.. but I have a good excuse!!! Last Saturday Mom and Morgan came to visit me!! They came in on Saturday morning and I returned from London that afternoon after having seen Harry Potter the night before in Londontown.

Sidenote: Harry Potter was EPIC. I think it might be my favorite movie so far. It was the closest to the book, and we all know how much I hate it when the stray from the plot. (AHEM pathetically pitiful ministry battle scene at the end of Order of the Phoenix, I'm talking to you). I also had a fabulous time with Yomna and Hira walking around the city and spending all day shopping at Topshop in Soho. The best part of the trip was easily the collective gasp in the theater as the movie started. Priceless. Here's some pics from London:

Moving on, Mom and Mo leave very early tomorrow morning. We had a fun time hanging out and I really loved showing them around. Here are a few highlights from the visit.

Monday through Wednesday I had class all day long so Mom and Mo went to Musée D'Orsay (which was inexplicably closed but where they met a very charming older British lady), shopped at Galleries Lafayette, and saw Harry Potter (for Mo it was the second time).

This is the Christmas Tree at Galleries Lafayette.

The Sunday before all of my classes I took the afternoon to show them around the Opéra Garnier. Instead of paying extra for a guided tour, I did the tour from memory. I was so excited when we found a door on the 2nd floor that was open for people to view the theater with the lights on.
Thursday I took Mom and Morgan shopping around my neighborhood. We went to Bon Marché (a large upscale Harrods-like department store) in the morning, stopped by Repetto for some shoes for Morgan in the afternoon, looked in the windows at Manoush, ate some late lunch, stopped by Aigle where Mom bought rain boots and children's riding boots, got crêpes on the side of the road, and picked up some macarons at Ladurée! It was a long day of shopping. The picture below is the three of us sitting in front of a mirror while Mom was trying on shoes at Aigle. I took the picture because I thought each of us was sitting in a way that completely reflected our personalities.

If you start on the left with mom, you'll see that she's sitting in a very proper and composed manner. Morgan is in the middle, sitting like she doesn't care what that position does to her posture at all, and then there's me on the right, just looking awkward.

After leaving Aigle and getting some macarons (to go) it started pouring, so we ran to the nearest metro and stopped near Galleries Lafayette to shop at Mango. All of the huge department stores are decorated for the holidays and it's really pretty.

Friday afternoon we took a cooking class. The company that offers the cooking classes in english is owned by a woman from Hyde Park (who used to be a banker for citi group) and her french husband. We made french onion soup, spinach souflée, and chocolate fondant. It was so much fun!! And it was delicious. Chopping onions in the beginning was a bit of a nightmare as 11 people were chopping them, but looking back it was pretty funny.

After eating we walked over to Oysho for some loungewear and then crossed to street to go into BHV for Morgan to get a hat but we ended up walking out with a lot more than that hat. I had wanted to take them to Le Marais to get falafel but we were too stuffed and tired so we called it a day and headed back to the hotel. Today we took it easy. We met Hira and Yomna at Angelinas for some famous hot chocolate. I ordered a pecan brioche to make dad happy. (Happy dad?) Somehow sleeping in and drinking hot chocolate exhausted Mo, and this is what she looked like before we ordered room service for dinner.

I bid them farewell and headed back to my dorm to get some work done and let them get to bed early before their flight tomorrow. I can't wait to see them again in Spain in a few weeks. But for now, it's working time. This week I have 3 finals, 2 of which are two hour essays, and a 100 page yet-unwritten group research paper to turn in. It's going to be a marathon.

H.