Monday, October 19, 2009

Two days, four castles!

Hello lovely readers! I just returned from a delightful weekend in the Loire Valley, a region known as the "Valley of the Kings" because of its abundance of chateaus! My program organized a two-day trip based in the city of Amboise that turned out to be an exhausting but very fun outing. We had to meet at the train station at 7am, which meant that I had to wake up at 5am. Really fun. After a 2-hour train ride during which all 17 girls were completely passed out with iPods in ears, we arrived in Amboise. The town was very small and very touristy, obviously based around its two famous castles. After refueling at a neighborhood cafe with a cafe creme and waffle with whipped cream (the French gaufre is a lot lighter than a Belgian waffle we eat at home, and a common snack), a few friends and I toured the Chateau Clos-Luce, unremarkable except for the fact that Leonardo da Vinci spent the last 3 years of his life there! The chateau is full of models of his inventions and the extensive grounds have a trail that leads to large models like his helicopter apparatus, as well as a play structure we took full advantage of :) We took refuge from the chilly fog in a cafe and I had the BEST soup I've ever eaten! It was just called "vegetable soup" but it was absolutely delicious and with crusty bread made the most amazing winter lunch. The four of us split an incredible caramel and creme brulee ice cream sundae and called the meal a success! After lunch, the group met up to tour the Chateau d'Amboise. Unfortunately, the majority of the original castle was destroyed by wars and neglect, so only the king's quarters and the chapel remain. There was a roaring fire stoked in the giant fireplace inside the cold stone building, so it was a great place to stand and listen to the tour guide :) After using our free time to nap, we had dinner as a group and then returned to our beds to rest up for the next day of touring! Breakfast at the hotel and then onto a charter bus to the Chateau de Villandry. The chateau was impressive, but the gardens were absolutely amazing. We wandered around admiring the incredible geometric patterns and colors that are obviously painstakingly cared for, and to our surprise the fog lifted and we could even take off our coats!

Finally fall!
Another fantastic lunch (and coffee) and we were off to visit Chateau d'Usse. It was the inspiration for the author of The Sleeping Beauty, so we were all very excited to see it in person! The outside was absolutely beautiful, the image of a fairy tale castle. However, the tower and the chateau were very classily decorated with mannequins wearing costumes representing the progression of the story, from the evil fairy standing over baby Aurora to the prince kissing her in the top room of the tower. It was SO tacky and everyone walked out shaking their heads at the ridiculous scenes we had just witnessed. So sad :( We caught the train back and arrived home around 9pm - quite a full weekend! Tenny and I were especially joyful to realize that our landlady had taken pity on us and turned on the heat for the building! Hurrah! Today I spent a great morning walking rue St. Michel in search of the perfect pair of tall gray boots and good French conversation. I stopped in our neighborhood boulangerie (we just call it "ours" now) and had a great chat with the friendliest French (or any nationality) person I've ever met about my weekend - he agreed with me about the creepy mannequins at Chateau d'Usse :P After picking up my regular loaf of whole-grain bread, I stopped in every one of the numerous shoe stores in search of my prize, practicing my shoe vocabulary along the way. I am apparently a borderline freak of nature because of my feet; French shoes do not come in any sizes bigger than a 41, which is my size. When I tried on 40s and said they were too small, the sales lady looked absolutely incredulous! I finally found a pair at the last store on the street and had a long conversation with the sales girl about choosing them (and justifying the price...). It was a lot of fun and I will definitely try to have "unnecessary" friendly conversations at every available opportunity! Also, please enjoy these photos from Eglise (church) St. Severin, Notre Dame, St. Germain-des-pres and St. Sulpice. I had a fabulous 3+ hour walk by myself last Friday when I took a self-planned tour of the larger historic churches in the area and ended with a yummy salted caramel and chocolate mousse tart from a famous (translation: expensive) Japanese patisserie that's consistently voted one of the best in the city. A delicious end to a very nice day with myself :)
NOTRE DAME - biggest, most famous and my absolute favorite church in Paris
ST. SEVERIN - my favorite "undiscovered" church
I loved the description behind this pillar - apparently it's supposed to show the Tree of Life, emphasizing the life-giving and redemptive aspect of the crucifix, not Jesus' death on it

Friday, October 16, 2009

Say "fromage!"

This week was probably the most normal of any so far, I really have a routine now and it's nice to have a sense of what I have time to do each day. Monday mornings I lounge and do homework before meeting friends for coffee and class at 2:30, Tuesdays I'm in class all day and come home to crash, Wednesdays I have completely free for grocery shopping, sightseeing, etc., Thursdays I have class in the morning and come home to nap and go out walking/sightseeing later. I don't have many Fridays left in town (because I leave for most of my trips on Thursday afternoons) so today I slept in late and plan on visiting a few churches in the area (St. Sulpice, Eglise St. Germain-des-pres and Notre Dame). But Wednesday I had a great time at Salon du Chocolat with Tenny and Jen! Basically, the Salon travels internationally and appears in major cities like New York, Tokyo and Paris for about a week. Local vendors appear with their wares and for a 12-euro entry fee, you can go and sample pretty much everything there (and of course buy bigger portions too)! I think my sugar tolerance is going down, because it was only about an hour into the event that I started feeling a little overloaded... Ironically, the best chocolate we sampled was from the first two booths we visited - a fair-trade brand called "Alter Eco" and a Kraft brand called "Cote d'Or." I'm a little embarassed about the latter, but it was seriously better than the super expensive brands! Good news for my wallet :) As we progressed into the convention center, we encountered stranger and stranger flavors. We tried chocolate made with flowers, and if you've ever wondered what potpourri tastes like, it's not good. Another notable one was "olive oil chocolate," a small piece of which made the three of us run to wash out our mouths. Truly disgusting. Towards the end, I was turning down samples (I know, right?) because they looked so weird! It was quite an education, though, in the way that chocolate can very SO much in taste, even if they're all labeled 72% dark, for instance.

Potpourri chocolate. Gross. Pretty, but gross.
Pick your percentage! Yes, made of chocolate!
Last night, Tenny, Jen and I met up for dinner with Taylor, her sister Haley and their friend Travis who is visiting for a week. Jen had been wanting to try fondue, and so of course I googled "best fondue in Paris." A few blogs mentioned La Grolle de Montmartre, a traditional Savoyarde restaurant in Montmartre. Savoie is the region of France in the Alps, so literally every dish is a combination of potatoes, cheese and preserved meat. Gotta stay warm, right? It took about 40 minutes of metro travel and walking to get to the restaurant, but luckily it turned out to be totally worth it! The dining room was tiny, with mostly long tables so you eat next to the other customers. Stone walled interior, skis hanging on the walls, kind of dark and super kitschy - perfect! It was obviously run by a husband/wife team and one cook in the back, so of course it was perfectly logical that the couple's two small dogs would be free to roam the dining room and pop their heads up in your lap! The wife was obviously in charge of the joint, and her husband Gerard (tall, lanky, gray-haired man in his late 60s probably) just kind of wandered and talked to people. We were trying to save money (total bill ended up being 15 euros/person!), so we all ordered something (some just salads) and planned to share. Good thing! Two orders of fondue satisfied the six of us along with a couple chicken breasts in white wine sauce, a steak, and a salad. I ordered the salade savoyarde, whose "croutons, ham and cheese" turned out to be three slices of thick crusty bread with ham and cheese melted on top placed on top of a bed of lettuce. Think a salad topped with a croque monsieur minus the bechamel. YUM. The fondue was amazing too, the perfect mix of cheeses and white wine. Everything came with a side of grilled potato chunks. Not to be thwarted by a cheese coma, I convinced everyone to order one dessert to share. After consulting our host, I chose "matafan," advertised as a Savoyarde specialty. Basically it was a wedge of a dense, pudding-like cake made with apples, drizzled with caramel sauce and topped with ice cream. YUM. My comrades, previously moaning about their full stomachs, had to join me in tackling it :) At about 10pm when we were planning to leave, a transvestite guitar player (obviously a friend of the family's) came in and Gerard told us we had to stay and listen. After a rousing rendition of "Aux Champs-Elysees" that had the whole place clapping and singing along, we took a round of pictures with Gerard and Fifi (one of the dogs who he proudly informed us had just had "six babies!" pointing to her stomach). Needless to say, the evening was perfectly summed up by what Gerard told me to translate for everyone (and I didn't even catch the whole thing...): they hope that we see this as a home and that they will always be happy to see us come back! Warm fuzzies :) Please note that all photos have been edited to be able to see what's in them - the restaurant was very dark and lit by red lanterns :)
Would you like some salad with your cheese and bread?
I love cheese!
Sisters :) Haley and Taylor
I'm off on an overnight excursion to Amboise (in the Loire Valley) tomorrow at 7am! We're touring three chateaus in two days, so I'm sure there will be great pictures and stories to follow. Also, I'll have great photos of Gerard and Fifi when I return!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Coup de cheveux francais!

Today I took a GIANT leap of faith and decided to get my hair cut! It was definitely necessary (those of you with short hair can attest to the 8-week point where you just start freaking out) but of course there's always apprehension even when your hairstylist speaks your language :) I found a shiny, nice looking place literally around the corner from school yesterday, and they offer a student discount - 36 euro for a wash, cut and dry (shampooing, coupe, brushing as they call it) which is great compared to other prices I've seen but definitely took it out of the realm of the "cheap haircut." Because I get a whopping 2 hours for lunch (which in France is not just a privilege, but a dearly held "right" of the entire population), I went to the coiffeurie (hair salon) which was empty besides the two male stylists and sat down with a coiffeur (hair stylist). He was a young man with cornrows so I was a little nervous, but he looked very confident and was friendly so I decided to just go for it. I showed him photos of Victoria Beckham - who I don't really like but I love her hair - and tried my best to explain what I wanted. I did better than I expected, but I still realized that there were noticeable gaps in my vocabulary relating to hair cutting and styling... Anyway long story short, the haircut went great - and fast! only 45 minutes to get out the door - and I got to pamper myself a little :) Also learned how to say lisser (to straighten with a flat iron), fixer (to hairspray) and a few other useful tidbits. Yay for me! I even managed to have what I'm sure sounded to him like a pitifiul conversation, but it's always fun/embarassing to try! Pictures to come soon :)

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Parisian weekend adventures

Between periods of vegetation on my bed watching Project Runway, I had a very interesting and entertaining weekend! On Friday I slept in and then met Maddie and Connie for tea and snacks at the Cafe de la Mosquee de Paris. There is a large Muslim population in Paris, and they have built a strong community based in and around the Mosque and Institut Muselman (Muslim Institute) located about a 10-minute walk from my apartment. We wanted to explore a little inside the compound but arrived during prayer time and therefore couldn't go inside. It was very intimidating being caught in the stream of devout Muslim men and women going into the gate, and I'm not sure that I'd feel comfortable going in even during an appropriate time. I felt very white and very Christian! But we found the cafe entrance around the corner in the compound and had a delightful afternoon snack. You walk in and are greeted by a dining room where you can sit and order all kinds of couscous and tagine dishes or a beautifully tiled courtyard where you can order drinks and munch on Middle Eastern pastries that you choose from a case at the entrance. We decided to pick three different pastries and share so we could taste all of them (the only recognizable one was baklava!) and settled down with steaming glasses of mint tea. It was a perfect oasis of calm and the pastries and tea were delicious! One of the cakes literally had honey oozing out of it - it was cool to see how their pastries were honey and nut based (lots of pistachio and hazelnut) instead of full of butter :)

The outside of the mosque compound
Tea with friends!
Friday night Connie, Maddie, Tenny, Jen and I decided to venture out to a bar called Polly Maggoo's a few blocks away from our apartment. The bars nearby were all hopping with people but we didn't see any with a dance floor :( We settled at a table and looked with dismay at the drink menu before deciding to suck it up and splurge on drinks. Between glasses of champagne, kir royal, Tequila Sunrise, Blue Lagoon and my Sex on the Beach, we had quite a rainbow of drinks! But we had to leave at about 12:30 because the metro stops at 1am! Sadness. It was also pouring rain so that was fun. I've learned to ALWAYS carry an umbrella with me because apparently Paris gets random downpours all the time. Super!
YUM :)
Saturday afternoon, Maddie, Connie and I went with a few other people from the dorms to the Fete des Vendages de Montmartre (Montmartre's annual Harvest Festival). It's a half hour metro ride to Montmartre and then a good walk up the hill through the town to the Sacre Coeur, the giant white cathedral the city is famous for. There were a lot of stairs to climb at a very steep angle, so we were a little weak in the knees by the time we made the summit. But it was so worth the trek, because we were greeted with streets lined with white tents offering the wonderful tastes and smells of all sorts of French food (most of it locally produced)! We started off with a glass of champagne (5 euros for the drink and a souvenir glass from the vineyard was the best deal I've found in Paris so far!) and strolled through the crowds. There was a cooking demonstration and free wine tasting in one area, and then the rest of the festival was composed of vendors who often gave out free samples. We tried samples of sausages, cakes, honey, jam and tapenades and bought a slice of gateau breton (a dense, almost cornbread-like textured traditional cake from Brittany that was DELICIOUS) and plates of escargots and huitres (oysters). No, I did not eat any of the snails or oysters, but I looked on and took pictures - probably with an unconscious grimace on my face - as my friends just "let it slide down their throats..." All in all it was a great day of eating, drinking, getting to know some new friends and discovering the city of Montmartre which is really cute and definitely warrants a trip back.
Maddie meets an oyster Sacre Coeur
The view from Sacre Coeur
Saturday night Tenny and I met Taylor and her friend Travis who's visiting from the US for wine and cookies under the Eiffel Tower. The tower was lit up in red and white and we couldn't figure out what was going on when we encountered hordes of Turkish people waving Turkish flags underneath. It turns out that the French government started a program where every year it highlights a different country with cultural programs, etc. throughout France. This year is Turkey, and the tower was lit up for the visit of the Turkish president that day! This morning, Jen and I went to the Marche aux Puces de Porte de Vanves (literally "market of fleas"). It was a gray and chilly morning but it was fun to walk along the street and see all the undiscovered treasures. And junk. The prices seemed a tad high for the product - I was told by a vendor that a picture frame cost 200 euros - but it was a nice way to get out without spending money. When I got home, Tenny and I decided to make an expedition to the laundromat down the street. It was the first time I'd ever used a laundromat and we'd heard horror stories about people stealing laundry from running machines or moving people's stuff before it's done, so we took turns guarding our clothes while they washed and dried. It was successful (though we're now 8 euros lighter), and it's about time we had clean clothes! In other news, our upstairs neighbors have decided to renovate their apartment. This means drilling and hammering at all hours of the day (and even past midnight) that we hear as loudly as if they were doing it in our bedroom. Yay! Miss and love you all! Bises xoxo

Thursday, October 8, 2009

I love my jazz club!

Tonight was one of the most fun nights I've had here, and it was literally right downstairs! At 9pm Tenny and I walked downstairs to the cafe - which took all of 30 seconds - grabbed a glass of wine and nestled ourselves at a small table in a prime location to see the stage. I had a glass of "vin rouge" because it was 1 euro cheaper than red wines with an actual name. What the heck, it does the trick right? Anyway, we were in for a fantastic surprise because we thought we were going to see a jazz quartet doing a lot of oldies but instead were greeted with a group of about 10 twentysomething French men and women who did covers of famous American songs - in French! They said they were called the "Tis tics" but I can't find them on Google... Anyway, the emcee started out each song by reading the lyrics of an English song translated directly into French. The audience then had to yell out the name of the song as soon as we could figure it out. When we had guessed it, a combination of the singers and musicians would come out and sing a hilarious version of it (sometimes a different tempo and feel, always with ridiculous choreography). We're talking Hotel California, Wannabe (by the Spice Girls), It's Raining Men (Il pleut les hommes!), Billy Jean, Hello (Bonjour!), Mr. Sandman, and a couple of others. I had a smile on my face the whole set, and that's not just because of the wine :) Oh, and one of the guys was really really hot. Really.

Settling into the routine

Another week of classes has come and gone (I don't count Fridays because I don't have class!), and I'm feeling a strange mix of emotions - like I've lived here forever/just got here and have no idea what's going on/realized that I only have 3 more weekends in Paris/realized that I'm about one-sixth done with my time here. The fact that I'm going to be gone for so many weekends I think will speed up the passage of time a lot, especially because I leave for most of the trips on a Thursday or Friday. Upcoming this month are a trip to Amboise and the Loire Valley with my program next weekend, then a free weekend, then JULIA MILLER comes to visit the last weekend in October. I die a little from excitement when I think about that last one :) I'm really enjoying my classes, minus the fact that I have to wake up at 7am on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 9am language class (that lasts 3 HOURS). Mondays and Tuesdays I've been going to Cafe Ducet to get a mocha from the one man in this city who seems to understand what they are; I need the caffeine badly before my 4-hour afternoon classes! Tuesdays especially - I have class from 9-12 AND 2-6 so I'm dragging even with an espresso... He recognizes me now and last time I went we chatted a little about what I was doing here and where I'm from ("Near San Francisco? I have a friend who lives there!"). I very much look forward to sitting at the bar with a friend sipping coffee for an hour, because no one gives you dirty looks or impatiently brings you your check. After an hour, you have to ask to pay! I need to find out his name or something so I can legitimately say that I know him - and I'm going to get him a box of chocolates when I leave because he's the only reason I'm going to pass my classes! My fashion class is absolutely hilarious - the teacher, first of all, is a very flamboyant and skinny Frenchman who wears very tight and fashionable clothes and spends a lot of time on his hair. But he is so friendly and funny and obviously very passionate and knowledgeable not only about clothing but about the history and art behind what he's lecturing about. The girls in my class, however, have yet to show such brain power... the other day we were learning about the origin of women's underwear (late 1500s, courtesy of Catherine diMedici) and had been anchored firmly in the Renaissance for the past 3 hours of lecture, and one of my classmates raised her hand and asked, "Wait, so, when did French women start wearing lingerie? Like, La Perla? Because France is so famous for it and all?" Wait. Really? The teacher looked very confused for a while and then managed to answer, "Uh, well, that was in the 1950s after World War II..." Apparently there is a common misconception that Marie Antoinette was wearing lacy bras and panties underneath her iron and leather paniers... now we know. Sunday night we went out to Parisian sushi, which was a lot of fun. The crazy fancy roll thing must be very American, because most "cuisine japonais" restaurants just have sashimi, simple maki rolls with just tuna, salmon, or cucumber, and yakitori (grilled meat skewers). We tried a little bit of everything, and it was quite delicious! It was a very nice change from bread and cheese, and I'll definitely be going back :) Last night I went to go shopping and then see The Informant at a movie theater, which was also a very cool experience. We had won the tickets in a contest with our program, so we saved 7 euro on admission :) The movie was VO - "version originale" - which means it was not dubbed but just had French subtitles. I basically ignored the bottom foot of the screen and it was just like being at home! It was fun sometimes to compare the English and French though, because a lot was lost in translation, or maybe French speech doesn't follow exactly the same patterns usually and it would have been awkward to translate word for word. Anyway, the movie was great and I highly recommend it. And I love Matt Damon, even with an extra 30 pounds... Afterwards we went to get dinner crepes from a place our friends rave about. Mine had sliced ham, olives, grilled mushrooms and lettuce and it felt rather nutritious and was definitely delicious! And only 4.50 euros :) P.S. please ignore my hair and shiny-ness, we'd gotten caught in a surprise thunderstorm... Today I barely made it through class and stumbled home to sleep for a bit. But although it would be easy to have spent the rest of the day in bed, I feel like napping in Paris is a sin because there's so much that I should be doing! I dragged myself downstairs and woke up on the pleasant 5-minute walk to Luxembourg Gardens. After strolling around the grounds and the outside of the Palais de Luxembourg (a government building judging by the police guard at every gate) a bit, I made my way to the Musee de Luxembourg. I had seen huge posters advertising a Tiffany glass exhibit there (the first exclusively Tiffany exhibition in Europe?) and wanted to feel somewhat intellectual and independent, so I bought a ticket. I asked for a student ticket, which technically they don't give to non-EU citizens, but the lady gave it to me with a scowl. Yesss saved 2 euros!

Fun water features of the Jardin de Luxembourg
The Palais du Luxembourg
The exhibit was fairly small but absolutely beautiful. Louis Comfort Tiffany's company operated in the early 1900s and made all kinds of glass from stained glass windows to lamps to vases and everything in between. He was influenced a lot by nature and by the Orient, so the colors and shapes are what make his work so special (the techniques were pretty typical of the time period). I'm very very drawn to color, and so was not disappointed with the collection! I felt rather accomplished reading all the informative plaques and information about the history of the company in French and understanding about 90% of it! It's also the first time I've gone to a museum by myself so I felt very artsy and sophisticated. The only downside was that we couldn't take pictures!! I was really disappointed because A. it would have made me feel like the money was more worth it and B. I wanted to put up pictures so everyone else could see it! Guess you'll have to buy a ticket... After the museum I picked up some groceries (which is still a fun experience for me because literally everything in the store is somehow different from what we have) and dropped by the friendly neighborhood boulangerie. Apparently most boulangeries get bread dough delivered from distributers nowadays and so don't really have a hand in the creation of the bread. However, when a sign says "artisan boulangerie" it means they make it on the premises. This artisan is literally 3 doors down from me and has amazing stuff for slightly more expensive than the others. He's a youngish chubby guy with a head of crazy dark curls who greets you with a "bonjour mademoiselle!" ten times more enthusiastic and genuine than I hear elsewhere. He often makes things with a twist, including pear-filled mini pastries which I sampled and loved. Expensive habit though, so I'll have to stick to the necessary whole wheat loaf ("pain complet") for sandwiches if I want to keep visiting! I actually have a little bit of homework (shocking!) for the weekend so I'm going to work on that a little and catch up on TV shows before heading to the cafe for a glass of wine and jazz! Love to you all <3

Sunday, October 4, 2009

La nuit blanche = major letdown

Well last night was a bust. Jen, Tenny and I ventured out at about 10pm and were greeted by hordes of Parisians and tourists in the streets. Some foolish people tried to drive around the city and ended up in perpetual gridlock because people stopped obeying traffic signals! What we didn't realize was that the exhibits were actually inside Notre Dame and other buildings, and even the flow of people into Luxembourg Gardens was being controlled through only one of the numerous entrances. The result was lines of hundreds of people in front of each entrance, and there was no hope of getting in if you didn't want to wait for at least an hour. What the heck? If this night was supposed to make art accessible to the whole city and be a great celebration, it failed miserably because 90% of people were just milling around the streets smoking. I literally felt sick for the rest of the night - I probably ended up smoking half a pack from the air that I breathed in during that few hours! Anyway, the three of us were completely underwhelmed and frustrated and ended up going home at midnight after walking around the entire city in search of something to see. No luck. On a completely different note, I wanted to share photos of my walk through Luxembourg Gardens on Saturday. It was SO beautiful and almost every chair and bench was occupied. Little kids were out in droves, playing around the lake and on the lawns - and French kids are so incredibly cute! I think I freaked a couple parents out when I tried to surreptitiously take pictures of them :P There was also a breast cancer walk going on, which we noticed because of the bright pink shirts of the participants! However, in true Parisian style, they weren't just walking but "nordic walking" with ski poles. Don't ask me why. I'm going to take a book out there tomorrow morning, I want to take advantage of it while the weather still isn't that bad!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

The adventure continues

It's the end of my first full week here, and I'm thoroughly impressed with the range of things I've managed to squeeze in! My classes (supposedly the reason I'm here... but we all know it's the pastries...) went very well and I think they're going to be a lot of fun. The first day of French was a bit overwhelming, but I'm learning very quickly how to keep up with the natural rhythm of my teacher's speech - she doesn't slow it down for students! My electives are going to be a lot of fun and I'll probably retain more because they're in English. I'll get to watch about 10 French movies in my film class, and my fashion class is taking quite a few excursions around the city to museums and centers of fashion. I'm starting to figure out my routine for my week - when to wake up, how to eat, when I'll splurge on coffee, etc. If you don't plan, you can end up spending 20 euros on food and drinks for the day, no sweat! I have a 2-hour lunch break between classes on Tuesday which lines up with my friend Taylor's, so we have a standing date :) Of my adventures the last week, the most notable have been champagne, pretzels and girl talk under the Eiffel Tower on Monday night, dinner with Chelsea Temple (from Starfire) who's also studying here on Tuesday night, another fantastic lunch at Fizz on Wednesday with the girls and trying to navigate the Parisian university bookstore, and finally getting down to Cafe Universel for drinks and live jazz! Whew :) I learned an expensive lesson at the Cafe - Tenny and I ordered cocktails for (gulp) 10 euros each and they turned out to be AWFUL. Like, undrinkable. Mine tasted suspiciously of cough syrup and had about the same consistency. Luckily our friend liked them for some reason and bought us some wine. Much better. The jazz was GREAT though, it was "jazz caraibe" or caribbean jazz with a singer, piano and bongos. The singer was a young African woman who sang in English and French and had the richest, most luxurious voice and had a lot of fun on the small stage. I will most definitely be checking out the acts more often now! Last night we decided to venture out to an Indian restaurant nearby called the Bollywood Lounge. The inside was really fun, a lot of bright colors and a huge TV screen playing Bollywood music videos. Buuttt the food was kind of awful. Minus the chicken tikka masala and rice, which were just average, it was pretty much inedible for me. Luckily we got a glass of champagne and rose out of the deal, but it was a big disappointment. Not to be dettered, our group vowed to try France's version of sushi next week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Today, Jen (a fellow UCSD student!) and I decided to check out a giant antiques and ham (yes, ham) market in a suburb of Paris. After riding the metro out there, we couldn't find it. Somehow, we lost a giant market. Our wanderings took us to what we thought was it, but turned out to be a huge weekly flea and food market mostly populated by Muslim immigrants. It was absolutely insane - everything was so close together, people were everywhere and not polite, and vendors were screaming at the top of their lungs. The fabric sellers were stunning though! Jen and I lasted about 15 minutes before bursting breathless away from the crowd and making a hasty retreat. We're not quite up to that level of market yet! We decided instead to make a pilgrimage to a couple of famous dessert places we'd heard of - Patisserie de Reves (Pastry shop of dreams!) and Christian Constant, the best hot chocolate in Paris. Patisserie de Reves truly was a dream, very very chic and impossible to choose a treat (see pictures of the display below). We finally settled on splitting a "St. Honore," which is an elaborate assembly of cream-filled pastry shapes and whipped cream (see cross section). The packaging itself was spectacular (cute pink box, ribbon, napkins, and forks in a beautiful bag), and the dessert did not disappoint either! We justified our next excursion by walking there, which seems to be a common theme lately :) In a cruel twist of fate, Christian Constant turned out to be right next to my school and very very tempting in its assortment of mini desserts, patisseries, and chocolate. Next door is their cafe, where Jen and I ordered pots of hot chocolate. I'm not kidding when I say that I had to surrender to this concoction (which has only happened once or twice before). When we poured it into our cups, I realized that "chocolat chaud" literally meant "chocolate at a high temperature." One sip and I knew I'd met my match. To give you a picture, we dipped little cookies in the drinks and the chocolate stayed coating the cookie. I drank a cup of FONDUE. It was impossible for us to finish two orders - next time we'll have to share. Unreal. Tonight is La Nuit Blanche (the white night) where Paris celebrates contemporary art and music with an all night party around the city. Public gardens and museums have special exhibits free to the public and it's open from 7pm to dawn. I have a feeling I won't make it that long, but we'll strike out at about 10pm and give it a shot :) Sending LOVE to all - I'm so lucky to have friends and family like you <3

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Exploring the city, earning my doctorate in physical therapy, sometimes sleeping and always baking! Life is a little crazy but always good - one of the things that make it all worth it is playing in my kitchen and sharing the results with the people I love.

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