castle on a cloud

Mont St. Michel was magical. Throughout the day we referenced Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter at least 50 times. And there was quicksand! And gallettes! And dancing a frolicking through fields! Needless to say, it was the best weekend. More to come later.

friday in polaroids

Versailles highlights:
-Playing would you rather on the train
-Getting stuck in the middle of the pond/lake and getting advice yelled to us in Spanish from the boat nearest to us. 5 girls on a boat. Laughed so hard I was crying.
-La Ferme de Marie Antoinette. Hands down the most beautiful place I have been in Paris. So charming! We all wanted to move in.
-Ice Cream cone by the water, watching all the rowers.

But the real highlight of the day was going to Maddi and Kayla's cute apartment and sitting in the hallway eating dinner, and then talking for hours/watching scenes from The Notebook. Somehow, it never gets old.

hier et autres jours

Here are a few scenes from Paris as of late. My friend John put together a little video of our day yesterday (that includes a metro poster heist initiated by our prof, baguette eating and a sparkling eiffel tower) and I just love it! If you feel so inclined you can watch it here. We also saw the movie Tree Of Life yesterday. Bizarre/beautiful/i am confused.

french open

the ball boys were just the cutest! took their job VERY seriously.

Today we went to the preliminary qualifying tennis matches for the French Open. It was one of my favorite afternoons yet. And we were inspired. So we are hitting up DI for rackets when we get home and going to Kiwanis park to play tennis each week. Or try to play. We were especially fond of this Canadian player.

le weekend

Sometimes Paris can be overwhelming. And the metros get stuck and it smells bad and you can't find a public bathroom. But most of the time Paris is a magical city. And this weekend was one of those weekends that reminded me that.

Thursday
We met up at our professors apartment to prepare for our picnic. We needed to buy food for 26 people so we divided up into different groups: cheese group, baguette group, fruit group, ham group and drinks/salad/treats group. I quickly put myself in the treats group (i have discovered that choosing and buying pastries is almost as fun as eating them) with Monsieur Olivier, John, and Claire. We headed across the street and picked up some juice and carrot salad, potato salad, and couscous salad. Then we followed the knowledgeable Olivier to 3 of his favorite pastry shops. We bought 10 pastries at each place, debating between the millefeuile or the opera. Or the citron tarte. Or the millefeuile with raspberries in it. Or the dark truffle chocolate mini cake thing. Or the macaron that combines pistaccio AND caramel. So many choices! Eventually we made it out of there with our choices and met everyone back at the apartment. Then we headed over to the Eiffel Tower which is about a five minute walk from his house. We set up picnic blankets and layed out the goods. We finished up our perfect meal and then lay on the grass discussing things like, if you had to listen to only one song for the rest of your life what would it be? And then listening to that song and singing along. We finished up the picnic with an attempt to recreate the Eiffel Tower in human pyramid form. Unsuccessful. But fun.

After the picnic we headed to the Champs Élysees to go see Minuit à Paris. The theater was beautiful and the movie was cute. Then we weaved our way through the streets and headed back to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle at 10. So we headed to a bridge over the Seine and sat on the railing and watched it, while police chased down those people who sell the little Eiffel Tower figurines. I love Paris.


Friday
We went to the catacombs. Claustrophic and kind of freaky but really awesome. And we got in free with our art cards. Those art cards are magic! Then we searched for anywhere that had a salad under 13 Euros (no luck. Being here really makes me appreciate Paradise Bakery, Chipotle, Café Rio etc etc etc.) and ended up at a McDo and got a salad there. Then we went on a walk and discovered a very cool old church. We decided to head in early and we watched Chocolat which was parfait!


Saturday
We slept in and then took the RER over to Croissy and went for a run by the Seine. It is such a beautiful trail, and my roommates were kind enough to come and walk so that I didn't have to run by myself. We headed into the city around 2, and went to the Musée D'Orsay. Definitely my favorite museum so far! Yesterday was an event that they do where most of the museums are free to the public. So after grabbing dinner we went to the Petit Palais and saw exhibits while there was a little orchestra playing and a singer. Such a lovely evening and great end to a great weekend.

marchés aux puces

On Monday we went to the flea markets. I had really high expectations of all the cool things I would find but honestly, didn't find much. If I had money/a house to decorate though...oh boy. There were a lot of amazing pieces of furniture and paintings and frames. All too big to fit in my suitcase. But it was a fun excursion all the same.

highs and lows

high: Exploring the Marais with Holly and finding Place de Vosges, Crepes de Suzette, a secret garden and many other lovely spots.
low: getting on the metro during rush hour on our way home and being stuck in between La Défense and de Gaulle Étiole for 20 MINUTES. In a dark tunnel. 85 degrees. Jam packed like sardines. Couldn't breathe. Most claustrophobic moment of my life.

high: Beautiful french man (Luc? Gaspard? My roommates and I heard 2 different things, although how we differentiated that much is beyond me...) godson of my host mom walking in for dinner and greeting us with the traditional bisous.
low: suddenly being incapacitated in my ability to speak/understand french as soon as he walked in the room. I think the most I got out was, "Quoi?", while he sat there all sophisticated, drinking his glass of wine. Impressive, n'est-ce pas?

high: Dinner on the patio with Nannick, Claire and Holly. Great conversation a such good food!
low: slicing with finger open while (apparently rigorously) cutting the baguette.

high: discovering the best chocolate in the world at the corner store right by my school.
low: discovering the best chocolate in the world at the corner store right by my school and being tempted to go every single day.

centre pompidou

The institute building where we meet for class is right across the street from the Pompidou modern art museum. We went for the first time today (free with our student art cards!) and sang the Weepies song while we looked at paintings by Chagall. Very cool museum, and amazing views of Paris.

they're quiet, but pushy: adventures in Chartres

déjeuner

Malcolm, the tour guide!

Yesterday we woke up with the sun, and took a train to Chartres for the day. It was a beautiful train ride with lots of green fields speckled with yellow flowers. We arrived in Chartres and had an hour or so we wandered up and down the quaint little streets and alleys, while people emerged on their way to work and school.

The tour of the cathedral was UNREAL. It is seriously unfathomable to me that something that huge and intricate was made by human hands. Our tour guide was this old British gentleman who has lived in and studied Chartres for over 50 years. As our director puts it, "he is the king of Chartres." Throughout the tour he showed us excerpts from his book, along with helpful facts like "watch out for the Japanese tourists in here--they're quiet, but pushy". We were stifling laughter throughout, but it was so great. He was so knowledgeable (even if he does seem to have a bizarre dislike for the Japanese tourists who, by the way, were as kind as can be:)) and it was so fun learning about the cathedral.

After the tour a group of us ate outside at this adorable café and had a delicious meal. I had this amaazing thin crust vegetarian pizza. And I also knocked a glass off the table and it shattered across the cobblestone. Yep. Classic me moment. My family will be happy to know that Paris has not refined or changed my tendencies to spill things or knock things over on the table.

Chartres is definitely one of my favorite places we have been. It is a nice quiet break from the constant movement and noise of Paris. It has an energy of its own, and I absolutely loved it.

good to remember

"Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don't want it. What appears bad manners, an ill temper or cynicism is always a sign of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone."
::: miller williams

Walking in front of me on my way to the Metro tonight.

Donne moi ta main pendant nous traversons la rue.
Non!
Donne moi ta main...
D'accord.

un autre jour

Our Paris Walks class consisted of chocolate tasting today. Prof. Olivier said its our alternative to wine tasting in Paris :) We each unwrapped our little morsel while he read out the earthy tones we were supposed to be tasting. It was incredible--banana, citrus, salted caramel, licorice, volcanic ash (!)--and different and delicious. Then we had our photo class and took the train to Jardin du Luxembourg. I loved how many different pieces of Paris you can see in this parc. People jogging, eating, playing chess, playing boules, soccer, reading--you name it, they had it. (not of course, at the same time. Although that would be pretty impressive.) Then dinner in the garden avec Nannick. The conversation was fun tonight. She pulled out her mothers dictionary. Her mom was born in the 1800's and the dictionary is about that old. So very cool.

Photos du jour:
1. Where I ate lunch today. I can't get over that you can walk down the street and stumble across places comme ça. And then sit there and eat a curry baguette sandwich. After lunch I did my homework and then wandered through the quartier. I found an amazing store that I am so excited to show my mom and sisters.
2. Les Flaneurs. Rainy walk.
3&4. Lunch by the Seine where we saw a frenchman strip down to his underwear and wade into the Seine. You know, just the usual.
5. L'arc de Triomphe

i wish this post was about me meeting jude law in paris, but alas. sorry to get your hopes up.

Today we walked around around paris in the rain, stopping in at random stores to shop. I avoided (nearly) buying way too much at H&M and Zara and only left with one thing. Success! A lot of museums were closed today because it is a holiday, which was a bummer but I figure there is plenty of time for that! Then we wandered across bridges over the Seine and through different neighborhoods. After a stop at a Pâtisserie and a very confusing Chatelet metro station (that place is a mad house i tell you!), we made it back to Le Vésinet.

Claire, Holly and I made salad and roasted tomatoes with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and ate an entire baguette for dinner and sat at the table talking and laughing for an hour or two. It was absolument parfait! Then we watched The Holiday. Jude Law with adorable little British children? Oui. And now it is one a.m. and I have my first day of class tomorrow. Bonnuit!

dimanche

This morning we ate our breakfast, walked across the street and around the corner, hopped on the RER and headed for church in Paris. Church was absolutely great and I really enjoyed the testimonies/what I could understand. There is always something so comforting about going to church somewhere in a foreign country. It is so familiar. After church we walked through paris for hours, just taking everything in. We were so excited to go to the Louvre (it is free on the first sunday of every month) but guess what? Today is a national holiday! Donc, it was closed. So we wandered and wandered and I ate my first crepe--noix de coco avec sucre--and washed it down with some Orangina. Yum. C'est tout for today!