AurelleA: 20!

So yesterday was my birthday, and it was a pretty amazing day. No complaints.

Went to yoga in the AM (best present for yourself!). Then I met Anne at a cafe near school, Aero, that I have been wanting to try. It's got tons of outdoor tables and is always super busy. Wine was necessary, of course.

In my break in between classes, we went back for crepes. The waiter gave us funny looks, but whatever. They had hot chocolate sauce and Berthillon (the best in Paris) ice cream.

Then it was back to class from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. I didn't mind it so much, because it didn't require much thiking, but I was so anxious to leave! We got out at 8:40, and those last 10 minutes were miserable. I was trying to rush home to get ready and be out of the house in an hour, and I have a 40 min commute home!

The plan was to go to Ice Bar, at Hotel Kube. I thought we needed a reservation, so I was kind of anxious that we were going to miss our 10:30 one, but it turns out that it's only really necessary for busy nights. Because it was a Wednesday, it didn't really matter. The hotel is in kind of a sketch area in the 18th--there are a lot of people out in the street, but they are all CREEPERS and making lewd comments. The hotel was very hidden, but once inside, it was like super swanky modern Euro design. The hotel is known for it's design apparently. Everything was very decorated, including the bathrooms and elevators! Fur and animal print everywhere.

We bought tickets to go into the Ice Bar part at 11pm (38 euros, blah. But included 4 drinks!). It was scheduled in half hour increments, so we had like 20 minutes to kill. Obviously we took a bunch of pictures in the bar area. The Ice Bar was upstairs at the hotel bar, so there was a whole regular bar downstairs and upstairs.

[Ali took more pictures too, I promise I'll steal hers and put them up ASAP].

To go into the Ice bar, you have to put on a parka and gloves. I almost wore no tights and open toed sandals--so glad I didn't make that mistake, because it was 5 degrees Fahrenheit in there. We were the only ones in there (except for the bartender) because it was a Wednesday night, but that made it more fun. We could dance to the techno and take ridic pics without being embarrassed.

He made us four cocktails, served in cones of ice, all with Grey Goose (the sponsor).

1. Lemon vodka with basil and orange

2. Cosmo with cinnamon

3.Strawberry with Speculos (that magical Teddy Graham tasting flavor they have everywhere here. I bought a bar of Speculos butter, like Nutella....mmmm)

4. A marshmallow with a shot of vodka

The bar was set up like a "house". It had a bathtub with toiletries frozen in ice, a living room with a tv, a bar, and a bedroom with sleeping bags. But everything was made of ice obviously--walls, counters, etc.