The Blonde Parisienne

Mon Post Finale

2009-12-19T01:18:00.012+01:00

Today was my last day in Paris...

I cannot believe it. You cannot believe it. But we all must believe it because sadly - it is true.
C'est ouvert. C'est fin. Tomorrow I return to the United States.

I don't even know how to write this last post. There is still so much to say. So much to do. So much to aime. But my time is up.

I did, however, have the ultimate last day in Paris. I know you're dying to hear about it - so let's begin.

Woke up to more neige! Falling lightly and covering Paris in a layer of buttercream frosting!

The day started with a trip up to my banque, to close my account. Which was very sad! They made me hand over my checks, and my French credit card - which they proceeded to cut in half in front of me!I had wanted to keep it as a souvenir, so I was very triste! And watching them cut it up was kind of traumatic! I needed to go to a patisserie after to feel better.

So Caroline and I went to our favorite boulangerie in the 7th, where I got my final pain au chocolat. It was parfait! Buttery, flaky, chocolate filled. Oh how I will miss seeing them stare at me in every boulangerie window. Chocolate, butter, and bread...the perfect breakfast!

Next on my list was a final trip to the Musee D'Orsay, my favorite museum of the big ones in Paris. I had to say "au revoir" to my pals Van Gogh and Degas. It would have been quite rude if I left without saying goodbye.

The musee had two amazing exhibitions on - so I spent a couple hours in there, admiring the art nouveau metro entrance and macabre, post- impressionist paintings of Erson. It is such a GORGEOUS musuem. Walking out those doors for the last time was very difficult for me. I felt like sobbing. For the fifth time that day.

As I started towards home, I noticed the snow-covered jardin de tulieries across the Seine. So I detoured and walked through it one last time, and said goodbye to the Louvre. I LOVED my runs through Tuileries. I loved watching the cute french children play with boats in the pond, and sitting in one of the nice chairs looking all the way up to l'arc de triomphe. Simply - incroyable memories.

I picked up Caroline at our apartment, and we went to have afternoon tea at Marriage Freres, which we had been wanting to do since we moved in. The smell is intoxicating when you walk through the doors, and it is adorable inside with the white-tux wearing waitors. Such a lovely experience.

We got sandwiches, sweets, and eventually were able to choose one of the 1000 kinds of tea that they have when we saw "tea du Noel". As Caroline said, "It was Christmas in a cup." The sandwiches were amazing! Foie gras, salmon croque monsieur- need I say more? The sweets included mini creme brulee, madelines and bien sur macarons. It was the most perfect afternoon, and most perfect final lunch in Paris!

Ice skating had been in my intital last-days plans since the day I saw them building the rink at Hotel de Ville. However - the rink never opened, and I was getting very frusterated....until today! It opened today! A bit ironic, non? It's like they were saving their opening day to make my last day even better! Like Paris wanted to surprise me with a going away present!

Awwwwwww Paris! You shouldn't have!
Okay, okay - you should have!

I nearly cried when I saw it was open! The rink is right in front of Hotel de Ville, with the roof sparkling, two giant christmas trees, and Notre Dame off to the left. Skating around there was like being in a dream. One of my crazy, Paris-obbsesed dreams. I could have stayed all night - but I had lots to do still before the night was over!

We jumped on the bus (LOVE the bus - it's like a free tour of Paris) and went to Trocodero, to go to the Marche du Noel one last time, and see the Eiffel Tower of course! I went to order my final crepe after a long process of choosing the stand with the person who looked most trust-worthy and capable for such an important task.

I ordered my crepe jambon fromage and explained in French to him that this was a very important crepe because it was my last. He proceeded to not only make me a truly delicious crepe, but told me I speak "tres bien" and that I am "tres jolie!" I definitely choose correctly! What a wonderful crepe making man! If I was staying another week I would make him my Parisien BFF.

I munched away, savoring every magnifique bite until I was right underneath the tour. The Eiffel Tower always takes my breath away, but when I am actually right next to it like that, I also am not able to move. I'm just paralized, not breathing - and tearing up.

I wanted to see ALL of Paris one more time on my last night, so I walked over to the Seine just in time to catch a Bateaux Parisien river cruise! I've taken Bateaux Mouche, and Vendettes du Pont Neuf - but Bateaux Parisien blew them out of the water. Or I should say out of the Seine!

They played French music the whole time (including la vie en rose, songs from An American in Paris, and au Champs Elysees)and had the most fun facts! Some of which I didn't know already, which is a true accomplishment on their part since I know everything about Paris.
I don't have to be modest. This is MY blog.

There is no way to see the city and the lights like you do from riding up and down the Seine. It is so magical. All the boat-people were talking to me since I was seule, so I got to speak a lot of French which made me even giddier than I already was. To end,you ride past the tour. I had my face pressed to the glass and tears in my eyes. I'm sure everyone else on the bateaux thought I was insane! If so, they thought right.

When I got back on land - I HAD to go up. The tour was begging me to. Because of the snow, only the first level was open so I couldn't go all the way to the top. But - I had never been to the first level, and didn't know there was a mini Eiffel Tower museum up there! Quel surprise!You can imagine I almost peed my pants when I realized that.

There are all these different paintings of the tour by various artists, and also a short film with video of Gustave, the 1889 exhibition, and even a clip from Funny Face! I was freaking out! I braved the freezing weather to walk around the outside, and say goodbye to all the beautiful things in Paris one last time. Opera, Sacre Coeur, the Pantheon, Place de la Concorde, Pont AlexandreIII, Grande Palais....This is when I started crying.

I went into the cafe and sat journaling for a bit, smiling just knowing I was inside the tour - crying because tomorrow I'll be on a plane...At least I'm flying AirFrance.

I exited the tour at 10:59,and at 11:00 the sparkling began. I stood there right in front of it for the full 5 minutes - LOVING IT, watching it sparkle and wondering how my life would go on without it. I'm not sure it will....

Then, because I have a clinical-obbsessed-with-Paris-disorder, I remained outside in the FREEZING weather for another 20 minutes, watching the Eiffel Tower do it's light show where it lights up a million different colors and ways for 10 minutes after the sparkling stops. It even turned completely pink!! I don't remember what happened next because I fainted from the sight of the pink tour.

Okay - I didn't faint. But I did stay there until 11:30, when I caught the bus back to Hotel de Ville, watching the tour get smaller and smaller as we drove away until I couldn't see it anymore. I stood in front of it for a moment, turned to look at Notre Dame, and then I walked to my apartment in the Marais for the last time - eyes filled with tears....

Go ahead and make fun of me. I know it's just because you are jealous that Paris and I are in a serious relationship.

Now I'm in my bed - for the last time. Bloggin about my Parisen day, for the last time. It's sad my blog has to end, but really - you wouldn't want to read post after post of how much I miss Paris, and baguettes, and the Eiffel Tower. And I can guarantee that is ALL I will be talking about for the rest of my life.

I want to thank you for following my adventures, and for those of you who helped me get here and supported me coming - rest assured you are on Santa's good list for doing such a good deed! The biggest and most sincere "merci beaucoup" goes to my parents. There is no way no to describe how these past 4 months have changed my life. Allowing me to come to Paris is the most generous and wonderful thing my parent's have ever done for me. I could never thank them enough.

I had the most parfait, most incroyable, most magnifique last day here. And the most parfait, most incroyable, most magnifique 4 months of my life, living in the most beautiful city in the world. And for that I am truly blessed. And truly awesome. (it's MY blog - remember)

I can't believe it's le fin. I have truly enjoyed sharing my vie parisienne with you! One day, La Blonde Parisienne will revenir to Paris to live again. So it's not "au revoir" that I must say - but instead, "à bientôt."

Paris Dans La Neige!

2009-12-18T01:00:00.002+01:00

Ohhhhh la la! Aujourd'hui a Paris il neige! C'etait incroyable!!

As Caroline and I were riding to school on the 69 bus for the last time, I was getting more and more melanchonly with each stop and writing in my journal about how sad I was. Then all of sudden, Caroline says "oh my gosh, it's snowing!" And I look up, to see giant white flurries fluttering through the Parisian air, falling to the ground and covering Paris in a white blanket!

I don't think I stopped smiling about it all day!

I had HOPED and DREAMED that before I left I would get to see Paris in the snow! And the last 2 days of my life here - it snows! How parfait! Another example of how me and God are BFF.

It was such a beautiful, snowy day! After class Caroline and I went to l'arc de triomphe, and walked down the Champs Elysees one last time, stopping in at all the fancy stores,and walking through the Marche du Noel! Knowing that was the last night I would walk down the Champs until who knows when was heartbreaking for me.,,

Afterwards, I went straight to the Eiffel Tower, because I wanted go to the top one more time, and look out over a snow-capped Paris! Mais, when I arrived - it was ferme! I wanted to cry! Partly because it looked so beautiful covered in snow, and partly because I was so sad I couldn't go up it.

But it so amazing to just stand there under it. Gazing up at huge and beautiful it is... I could do it all day and love every minute.

So since I was freezing and starving - I headed to Angelina's to meet Caroline and our friends Arielle and Leandra for - what else? CHOCOLAT CHAUD! Angelina's has the most incroyable chocolat chaud! It may or may not be better than City Bakery, because I award them bonus points for their homemade marshmallows - butI award Angelina's points for their macarons, and gorgeous salon de the. So it is a tough choice....

Anyways, we sat in the beautiful grand salle for nearly two hours, drinking our sinful chocolat and talking about how much we love and are going to miss (every moment of every day!!!) Paris. It is so nice to be with people who are equally as obbsessed with something as you are. In this example - Paris. (And chocolat chaud).

We started to walk home, (because hello - we just had drank liquified chocolat bars with real whipped cream) and stopped in the jardin de tuilieries because it was gorrrrgeous! All covered in snow and looking like a dream. Ohhh, Paris is even more beautiful in the neige!

We stopped to pick up a baguette and cheese for dinner. Our LAST baguette, wine, and cheese nightin Paris. It was soooooooooooooooooo sad. I just wanted to sob the whole time. But the cheese was so amazing I couldn't.

We got this cheese called "mont d'or" - which is a special cheese only made in France in the winter. It's super creamy and the way to eat it is to go at the center with a spoon, and then spread the spoonful on your baguette. So OF COURSE we had to try it!

I can't even tell you how delicious it was. We drank our last bottle of merlot together, ate our last baguette together, and enjoyed our fancy french cheese! What a perfect nuit!

Oh, P.S. I am desperatley sick! Like death by sneezing. Every minute or so I have body-shaking sneezes and my nose is constantly running. But like I would let that stop me from enjoying my last 2 days in Paris!

I bought some french rhume medicine at the pharmacie today and since everything is better in France it should start working soon. I'm hoping to be sick-free by the time I return aux etats-unis Saturday.

So tomorrow is my last day....
I cannot believe it. It is so so so so sooooooooooo
soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
triste.

I BELONG HERE. And so everyone I love needs to compromise and move over to Paris maintenant! Got it? Good. I'm really not asking that much of you. You'd be glad you did it after 1 pain au chocolat. I promise you that!

I have a busy day of fun Parisian activites planned with Caroline for la jour finale. Ending with my champs de mars campout. Wish me luck....

A Piece of Gâteau!

2009-12-17T00:01:00.003+01:00

My French exam was a piece of gâteau! Pourquoi? Because I am la blonde parisienne who is totally fluent in French!

Okay, and it was also quite easy! But I was soo proud of myself for being able to completely understand the oral and reading comprehension!

My french class went out for some vin chaud afterwards, and reminisced about how wonderful the semester is and how we love Paris. I showed my French teacher my Paris journal/scrapbook and she was loovvving it! It really is my favorite souvenir. I can't wait to read it cover to cover and cry on the plane ride home. And then one day show it to my children. And then grandchildren. Who will most likely say, "oh my, Grandmother you were an alcoholic." And I will say, "Non, mon cheri - I was French!"

I asked Madame for a good cheese recommendation, and she told me about a wonderful type of chevre, and even went with me to the fromagerie to help me find it!It was so sweet of her, I have LOVED Madame! Going into a fromagerie is sooo wonderful. That is definitely something I am going to miss so much. It's just the most adorable thing. Stacks and stacks of every sort of cheese, the wonderfully stinkiness, the cute old french men who work there that have devoted their life to fromage. It's just charming. I bought some wonderful chevre that I can't remember the name of. Not like I could find it in the States anyways.(sadness)

After my cheesy purchase, I met my friend Lauren at Bar Au Central, this adorable place on Saint Dominque that I have been wanting to go to for the past month. We had wine and amazing french onion soup. I love 2 hour meals. I love when the waitor tries to explain something in english and cannot find the word he wants. I love the fresh, crusty baguettes they bring to the table. I love un carafe d'eau. I love when the waitor does not bring you the bill until you say "l'addition, si vous plait!" I love bistros..... I love Paris!

I walked past Invalide, Pont AlexandreIII, and looked back towards the tour just as it started to sparkle. Despite the FREEZING weather, I stood there for 5 minutes. Shivering, yet completely warm inside at the same time from the sight of la tour. So incroyable!

Now I'm sitting in my almost empty chambre. I've just spent the last 2 hours packing all my things I won't need for the next 2 days into the 4 suitcases I brought along. They may burst on the way home, I'm just saying....

I cannot believe I'm packing. I cannot believe I'm leaving in 2 days. I cannot believe that this time next week, I will already be in Texas - teaching my new neice French. 4 months just flew by. The best four months of my life (yet).

As we were eating fondue with Caroline's adorable Aunt and Uncle last night in their gorgeous apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower, I said to myself, "I am going to live here again." I don't know when. I don't know for how long. But I do know that it is going to happen.

People move to Paris - and they don't leave. My speech teacher, my french teacher, Caroline's aunt and uncle....wonder why? I don't! I know why. It's that "je ne sais quoi" that Paris has and nowhere else does. My speech teacher said to me, "I always thought if I could figure out what it was that I loved about it here, I would put it in my suitcase and take it with me." But obviously, he never did. You can't. There is something here that no where else has.

My conclusion is just that Paris is simply magical. That's all there is to it.

Examen Francais

2009-12-16T14:05:00.004+01:00

Examen finale today! In about 1 hour. I started studying about 3 hours ago - and have hit my limit.

Really, the best way to study for a french exam is to go walk around the street, parlering with people and ordering crepes. That's real France!

I am trying to keep the 10 verb tenses I am going to be tested over straight, listening to the french MTV to practice for the oral comprehension part, and skimming through le petit prince once more to prepare for the reading....

God, please don't let me fail.

Luckily, our exam is only worth 20% of our grade. Most of our grade is based on class assignments and participation, and our personal acheivement in the class. Since Madame told me during my oral exam with her that my accent has improved sooo much, and I have only missed 2 classes all semester - I am going to pass with flying colors. Even if I do confuse the passe simple with the subjunctif, and completely forget the endings for the imparfait.

Maybe I can sing "la vie en rose" for bonus points....

After the examen my French class is going out for a "coup de champagne" to celebrate how wonderful and french-sounding we all are! Bon Sante!

Fini et Fondue!

2009-12-15T18:26:00.005+01:00

Just finished my Paris Architecture exam! It was TRES DIFFICILE! Though, I got B+'s on both the midterm and the final paper (which nearly killed me), so I will definitley receive my P for PASSED - so lets celebrate with cheese fondue!!

Really, I am going to go celebrate with cheese fondue! Carolines adorable Aunt and Uncle who live in Paris have invited us over tonight for fondue and it is the only thing that got me through that exam! Nothing is more delicious than warm, gooey cheese dipped in various things on a cold winter night!

IT IS INDEED A COLD, WINTER, NIGHT! It is freezing here! The kind of cold that when you walk outside your face is immeaditley frozen and you can't make any expressions. Which is simply terrible because on my last week I would prefer to be frociling about Paris instead of trapped indoors! Between the bitter cold and the studying, I am restricted to musees and cafes! But that allll ends tomorrow! Because I have my final exam in the afternoon, and I am free to enjoy my last 3 days in Paris.

Oh mon Dieu. How is it possible? Only 3 days....
I just....
I don't even....

I can't think about it. Let's go back to talking about cheese!

Have I devoted a post to cheese yet? I don't think so actually. Not one just to cheese - I know I incorporated cheese in the things I was worshipping several times, but praise must be given to cheese, and it must be given now.

Brie, Camembert, Emmental, Comte, Pont-l'Évêque, Roquefort, and of course - my true cheese love, Chèvre.

Voila, Chèvre.

Mmmmmmmmm chèvre. Creamy, soft, sharp, tangy chèvre. Toasted on brioche, wrapped in philo and atop a salad, inside a crepe,in an omlette, or simply generously spread straight from the wrapping onto a crusty baguette. I have never tried it straight with a spoon, but I could see it happening in my future.

Chèvre has my made my life in France so much better. And you don't find chèvre in the states like you do here. Trust me, I will be on the lookout. Maybe I will have luck Balducci's, afterall, it is only a few blocks from my new nyc apt! BONUS

I need to face the facts that my life in nyc is not going to be like my life here. no more daily baguettes, no more chevre, no more crossiants, no more Notre Dame on my way home....

Caroline and I have already decided we're going to have "Paris Day" once a week. This will entail:
speaking only French all day,
listening to French music all day,
going to either Pain Quotidien, Madeleine, or Payard for lunch,
having wine and cheese night,
reading an excerpt from my Paris journal,
and watching either a french movie, or movie filmed in Paris

I also plan on getting a giant picture of the Eiffel Tower and taping it outside our window so it looks like we have a view.

La Vie Parisienne will continue, no matter what it takes!

Exams in Process...

2009-12-15T12:57:00.003+01:00

I managed to write and perform my final "farewell to Paris" speech yesterday, about an hour before class started, making me the Queen of procrastination! When I practiced it for Caroline right before leaving, I started crying! And then laughing because obviously Caroline made fun of me for crying - and told me under no circumstances was I allowed to cry when I did it for the class....

It is quite a tear-jerker if you ask me! Since I KNOW you are just sitting there wondering what I said, I will post it for your enjoyment. Though it is a bit lengthy, and I'm warning you...grab the tissues before you proceed!

I'm got to keep studying for my architecture exam in exactly 2 hours! ahhhhh Wish me bon chance!

"Farewell to Paris"

Today, I would like to tell you a love story…

A love story more moving Napoleon & Josephine, more tragic than Romeo & Juliet!
Yet slightly less known…
It’s about a young girl, and a city called Paris.

Her obsession began at an early age. Loving Brie at 7, and starting French lessons at 10, which she continued until age 18 – when she finally arrived for the first time in the city she had studied and dreamed of for years.

Her every dream came true in Paris. The Eiffel tower gave her chills, the musee d’orsay nearly made her cry, and her first nutella crepe was love at first bite. She was very much in love - and Paris loved her back! For rarely had it met someone so enthralled with its beauty, so excited to walk its streets, and so devoted to trying each and every one of its pastries!

Sadly, the girl had to leave when her week was up. But she thought of Paris everyday they were apart, and it missed her too.

She returned 2 years later, and things got serious between them. They spent morning, afternoon, and night together, and Paris truly had stolen her heart. But like the time before, her days were numbered – and she had to leave…. Not sure when she would return again! The girl was heartbroken because she could not imagine her life without the city…..

(dramatic pause)

Well, the girl in the story is me. And I have truly fallen in LOVE with Paris.

People say as you live in a place like Paris the glamour slowly wares off….
That your big eyes get smaller…
That eventually croissants are no longer appetizing….
And that the Eiffel tower becomes just another part of the skyline…

But This is SIMPLY NOT true for me!
I still walk around, eyes wide and jaw dropped, with EVERY STEP.
Just looking at a boulangerie makes my mouth water, and I cannot see the Eiffel Tower without stopping and STARRING as the chills spread over my body and my heart melts like butter on a warm baguette.

While I will miss everything about Paris, I need to say goodbye to a few things are especially close to my heart…..

So... Goodbye to:

-The Marais
How nice it was to walk home through a sea of men, and never have to worry about being approached or followed! Rue Rosier – I still feel dishonest for paying only 5 euro for the best falafel I’ve ever eaten.

-Opera
I spent so many afternoons, and SO many euros – shopping your beautiful streets! I will miss admiring the ceiling in Galleries Lafayette, and no ballet will ever compare to seeing Giselle at Opera Garnier

-The Musees
Who knew that “History of Art Student” was equivalent to “celebrity” inside your walls?
I will miss Room 16 of the Musee D’Orsay and the stunning sight of Winged Victory, everyday.

-2 Euro bottles of Wine. And being old enough to buy them!
Merlot, Chardonny, Rose – je t’aime!

-Macarons
You have made me so happy… You are the most perfect 2 bite dessert in the world, and don’t let anyone EVER tell you otherwise.

-The Seine
Thank you for letting me sit on your bank, drinking wine, and eating cheese while admiring the beautiful city built around you. I love you in the rain or shine.

And lastly…
to the Eiffel Tower……
I remember the day we first met. The young girl that I was, running towards you with a buttery croissant from Polaine in my hand, unable to speak because you took my breath away…. My feelings have not changed since. You still make my heartbeat fast, send chills up my spine, and when you sparkle it brings me to tears. Your beauty is unparalleled – and I will think of you, EVERY day of my life, until we meet again.

4months in Paris….
19 Museums
43 bottles of wine
37 baguettes
5 lbs!
Only God knows how many macarons…

It all equals out what I will always remember as the BEST time of my life. And surely a love story, that will stand the test of time.

The End.

Parisian Makeover

2009-12-14T18:12:00.005+01:00

Oui, I should be studying for my History of Paris Through it's Architecture Exam tomorrow, but I just happened to come upon this makeover website and decided to waste an houring doing that instead!

Since I have had the same hairstyle since the 7th grade, I am contemplating a Parisian makeover before I leave! So, I played around this awesome website!

You can change your hairstyle, color, put makeup on yourself, false eyelashes, plump your lips up, whiten your teeth - its amazing!

Here are some makeover possibilities I came up with...

TAAZ.com : Virtual Makeover. Real Beauty.
http://www.taaz.com/makeover/180319968755264-1df83f35daa343205aa3073fd2ccc48e/89247023.html

Before

After

TAAZ.com : Virtual Makeover. Real Beauty.
http://www.taaz.com/makeover/180319969146264-3972d09116ffaf63b6831e939cc6f5a6/89247953.html

Before

After

TAAZ.com : Virtual Makeover. Real Beauty.
http://www.taaz.com/makeover/180319969327264-acee4b827cf023f3f4575b652feb4f3a/89246440.html

Before

After

TAAZ.com : Virtual Makeover. Real Beauty.
http://www.taaz.com/makeover/180319970416264-5bf63c3a32eb48a0685aad344f9e7ddd/89248555.html

Before

After

TAAZ.com : Virtual Makeover. Real Beauty.
http://www.taaz.com/makeover/180319970723264-59ef89a25d5afb498d97156bdb809d9f/89248573.html

Before

After

As I write this I can hear my mother reading it, going "Ohhhhh NO!" I predict a phone call now...
Mom: "ANN!" You're going to make a HUGE mistake if you cut your hair!"
Awww my cute little mom! I am quite excited to see her! And my daddy! I think my dad would support a makeover. Lucie too! So that's 2 to 1. Majority wins, since I am bi-partisan.

Chances are, I will not do anything because I am a big scaredy chat. But it would be very Sabrina of me! Alors, c'est possible...

La Semaine Finale

2009-12-14T01:01:00.002+01:00

I would just like to point out that at this moment, my parents, sister, and Joshua are chatting and chowing down on amazing Greek food together at one of my FAVORITE restaurants in New York, Periyali.
Clearly, the people in my life just go on living without me! How rude!

I would also like to point out that a few hours ago, my parents found us an apartment to sublet for Spring Semester that is...
1/2 Avenue from my favorite bakery, Billy's.
1 Avenue from my dearest boyfriend Joshua.
4 blocks from my favorite bagel place.
2 blocks from my gym.
6 blocks from FIT, and....
2 stops on the C train from my darling pal Kristin!
Clearly, there IS a God, and I am on his A-list.

I would also like to point out this is my last week in Paris. I leave Saturday morning.
Clearly, this is devasting. And I am going to cry like a bebe at the aeroport

A final thing I would like to point out is that in exactly 12 hours, I have to give a final speech for my Speech class - that I have yet to write! I choose my topic " A Goodbye to Paris."
Clearly, I cannot write it because I just not ready to say goodbye! I do my best work last minute anyways.

So was my last Sunday in Paris. My last time waking up and getting ready for Church at the American Church of Paris - which I have LOVED. Today they had the children doing a re-inactment of the Christmas story. It was so cute! The sheperds (little kids with dishtowels on their heads) and the angels (little kids with aluminum foil rings on thier heads) dancing about the stage. It was really adorable!

We also went to ACP last night for a holiday Christmas concert. It brought back memories of good old GOHS and the annual Holiday concert, which I now realize was pretty top quality (minus treble chorus). It ended with a sing along! And I can still belt out the Alto part of my favorite song "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" just like senior choir in Chorale. Gosh that seems like AGES ago!! How am I growing up so fast? And more importantly, how do I make it stop!!?

After church, I went to the Louvre. I wanted to see the Napoleon III apartments, since I never had - and I had to say "au revoir" to my favorite work in the Louvre, "Winged Victory" I sat in a little nook right near her and did some studying for my architecture exam for about an hour before coming back to mon apartement. It was very hard to say goodbye to the Louvre because I Louuuvvvvre it soooo much!

Saturday I said goodbye to Montmarte, which was even worse. Caroline and I walked up the stairs of Sacre Coeur, around the artist sqaure, and stopped for a crepe! We told the crepe-maker we were leaving Paris soon and he decided to make us a "going away crepe" which meant triple the amount a cheese a crepe would normally have! IT was truly a wonderful going away present from Mr. Montmarte! Who says Parisians are rude!

So while this is probably going to be the sadest week of my life yet, I am looking forward to seeing everyone! Moeski and Freddy! And Lucie! Joshua, my friends from home! I haven't seen anyone in 4 months! Sadly I will only get to spend 48 hours at home, and then we are flying to Texas to Christmas in the Lonestar state - where I get to meet my neice, Nina! T, and M.Ice, Alison, Biggie and Diana and the adorable Oliver! It's going to be soooo fun to be with my whole family! (Minus Mands and David who WILL BE MISSED EVERY SECOND!):(

Thenn....to Flordia! For 2 weeks of sun, sand, and Mickey Mouse with Joshua to ring in the New Year! So I am definitley looking forward to the month ahead! I'll wait until mid-January when all the fun is over to start my missing-Paris-sob-fest. Bring on the wine!

A Religieuse Experience!

2009-12-11T22:09:00.008+01:00

Today, I took Caroline to have tea at Laduree for an early Christmas present! I have popped in for macs time and time again, but never actually sat down in the beautiful salon and indulged in a ridicously expensive and delicious little cake. Until today!

We got the cutest table! Upstairs, right next to the fireplace, in the most beautiful room! It was all so parfait! Laduree is like a giant, Parisan mansion. A series of fancy little rooms, connected by hallways lined with portraits. It's very adorable.

Just as we were sitting there, enjoying the prissy-ness and fancy-ness surroundingus, we saw a grey thing dash across the floor...

Grey dashes were ALL too familiar to me to not know what it was! A MOUSE! In Laduree! Oh mon Dieu!
I could not believe it! Only us and another table saw it at first, running from one side of the room to the other. As we were starring at each other, exchanging looks of disbelief - the guy said to me "its under your chair, right now. Right by your feet - don't move!

You can imagine..... I FREAKED OUT! I jumped out of my chair nearly screaming "there's a mouse!" to everyone in our little room. What is even odder than seeing a mouse IN Laduree, is that no one cared! All the Parisians were just as unemotional and nonchalant as ever!

One woman said "Ohh, itz juzt Ratoutille! He iz cooking downztairz!"
Another said "Don't whurry - all zee reztaurantz in Pariz have zee mice"
Ohhhh, Merci Madame! HOW REASURING!

Despite my pounding heartbeat, and memory flashbacks our own Rataouille problems this past September - I decided to pull it together, because eating at Laduree has been a dream of mine, and I wasn't going to let Ratatouille ruin it. So I kept my feet raised off the ground for the duration of our tea, which resulted in a killer ab workout, that came in handy as we were eating our 8 macarons.

I read the tea menu to find a tea called "Marie Antoinette." Bonjour, parfait! So I got the "Marie Antoinette" tea of course! I LOVE that they have that! And - it was actually delicious! I usually don't like the actual tea drinking part of having tea - but when Marie Antoinette is involved - of course I amgoing to love it!

We had some macarons, of course! Pistache, Framboise, Fruits Rouge, and Chocolat Noir. They were all aaaamazing! For main course, we ordered a grand macaron pommes caramel and a religeuse a la violette!

The macaron was magnifique! Filled with roasted apples, and caramel creme. The religeuse was the first I've had in Paris! And it was incroyable! I LOVED violet-flavored things! The taste is so unique! When Josh was here we had the most amazing violet ice cream with a chocolate mi-cuit. It was out of control delicious. And so was this!

It was like a little violet tower of yumminess! We sat sipping our tea and savoring every bite of our cakes as the lights of the Champs Elysees went on and were visible through all the windows, sparkling away and lining the street.

Our waitor was veryyyy magnifique because he brought us 4 more free macarons, "becauze of zee mouze." It was tres nice of him! I must admit, the sight of the mouse was well worth the 4 free macarons! Maybe our mouse relocated to Laduree once we installed the electro-cat - he was pretty smart! It would make sense to me, really. If I was a mouse, I would want to live in Laduree.

After our very prissy and very Parisian tea time, we walked over to Trocerado to see the marche du noel by the Eiffel Tower! There was an ice rink set up there too! I nearly flipped out! Skating in front of the sparkling tour! Can you think of anything more wonderful? I am so doing it my last night here, post camp-out.

The market was very adorable, and full of delicious looking things - just like the other one! But, they get bonus points for playing the Carpenter's Christmas album. And being right in front of the Eiffel Tower! I LOVE Christmas in Paris! It just keeps getting better and more beautiful, everyday!

So, next our list is afternoon tea at Marriage Freres, which is almost equally famous and right on our street! But this time, I am going to inform Rataouille that he is NOT invited to join us!

Piq-nique on the Bank of the Seine

2009-12-11T00:26:00.004+01:00

When Caroline et moi arrived in Paris, we made a list of things we wanted to do before we left. Nearly everything on the list was accomplished by now - but one very important one we did not get around to until today!

Pique-Nique on the banks of the Seine! And it was a magnique pique-nique! (I HAD to... the rhyme was too perfect)

Today in Paris it was simply goorrrgeous! Literally, it was like one of those early April days when there is still a bit of a chill in the air, but the sun is shining and it feels like Spring! I like to call it "sprinter". I thought this was very clever and amusant and Caroline did not. She barely gave my clearly hilllarious joke any acknowledgement.

Alors, since it was soooo pretty outside, we grabbed our wine and cheese and headed to the Seine! We walked up to the Pont Neuf, and sat right on the tip of that little island that sticks out right on the Seine and had our pique-nique there, feet dangling over the bank! This idea became less genius as the wine bottle became more empty...but we made it out
alive!

(THIS is where an adorable photo of us would be if my camera had NOT broken 2 weeks before leaving) We actually took some with le camera de Caroline, so eventually I will post them. For now I will have to use a photo courtesy of Google Images....

Ohhh how fun and Parisian it is to sit along the Seine, breaking a morceaux of baguette off the end, and smothering it in creamy fromage! Ohhhh how I will miss that. Ohhh how I will miss staring at Notre Dame on my walk home to our perfectly located apartment.

I am down to 8 days until I depart. 8.... 8! How did this happen! I knew time would fly, but it seems like it took a private jet - and landed early.

I feel like just yesterday I was counting down the days till I was coming to Paris, pulling my most Parisian-looking ensembles from my closet, looking through my old French text book to brush up my verb tenses, listening to La Vie En Rose on perpetual repeat. And now... I am counting down the days until I have to leave with tears in my eyes.

I am going to live this last week like it is my first. Go to all my favorite places, walk and see all day and not come home until the early morning, then wake up and head out again. Induldge in a nutella crepe (en plus du nutella si vous plait!) like it is my first. Wander through the musees like I've never seen them.

Most importantly, I have every intention of sleeping on the Champs de Mars in the sleeping bag Caroline brought here on my last night. She thinks this is fou and that I am not actually serious. Clearly, after living with me for four months she has no idea just what kind of a lunactic I am when it comes to the tour! All I need is a sleeping bag, my Paris playlist on my i-pod, some vin, and a box of Pierre Herme mac's - and I'm good to go! Bon Nuit!

Art History Majors Party Hard

2009-12-09T01:58:00.003+01:00

I don't know what kind of school you go to (or went to), but I have experienced a whole different world of school acitivites at AUP than at FIT. And it is a beautiful world indeed!

The biggest shock came today: The school parties. I don't think FIT even has parties actually. By parties I don't mean going dancing at Tenjune with some people from your FM class and a creepy promoter. I mean an "end of the semester" party for the History of Art students, funded and put-on by the Art History party of AUP.

Sounds pretty lame right...? WRONG!

I was of course going to go, even though I totally expected it to be empty and boring - because I have loved my art history class so much, and the email said "drinks provided." Count moi in!

So, expecting nothing, I walk into the classroom, which has been totally transformed! Huge banquet tables, dim lights accented by the candelabras in the cetner of the table-clothed table, and christmas lights decorating the ceiling! On the table was a spread of baguettes (of course), several types of cheese - including my favorite - chevre, clementines, mixed nuts, homemade apple crumble, cookies - and that's just what I remember!

Then, because we ARE in France, neverending bottle of wine, the head of the department corking them left and right! Let's all eat cheese and drink wine and listen to Christmas music!

I knew things were out of control when someone showed up with about 100 jello shots. I had never actually taken a jello shot until tonight - which I only did because they had whipped cream on top, and like I could turn down whipped cream!

So some of my friends from class and I did a shot with our awesome Professor (in our classroom mind-you), who has taught me more in 1 semester than most teachers could in a lifetime, and continued to drink bottles of wine and eat chevre and crumble. Only in Paris!

A little, art history trivia game was played - sadly,after the wine was making my mind fuzzy as it tends to! But, nevertheless I was quite impressed with my ability to solve some of the riddles, to which the answer was a famous work.

For example,
Riddle: "the old lady sits on an island....she is forever ours"
the answer (of course) is.............

Notre Dame! Duh! Any intellegent Parisian/Art History student should have known that!
I shoud point out that I am not trying to sound like a total nerd but I know I am. What's more important to point out is that I don't care!

I have LOVED my Paris Through It's Architecture Class! I am truly sad that it is over. I wish I could be in until I had visited and studied every building and monument in Paris. But no more crazy-length papers, please! Because 15 pages about the Centre Pompidou and the Elgise Saint Merri nearly drove me insane.

So I guess that's what the "lets all eat cheese and get drunk" party hosted by our teachers was for!

Tomorrow is my offical last day of class. Then I have 3 days of finals next week, and then 1day of fun, and then I leave....

Excuse me, I have to go sob now.

Manoush, je t'aime

2009-12-07T23:18:00.007+01:00

Amazing. I'm going on ten minutes of internet connection!
I returned because I wanted to introduce you to the store of my dreams.

Hello, family and friends - this is Manoush.
Manoush, this is my family and friends.

You both say: Enchante!(kiss, kiss)

look how magnifique it is! http://www.manoush.com/collection.php

Sooo magnifique! It's like Marie Antionette in the 21st century, with a bit of Barbie and Elle Woods thrown in!

I am loouvvrrinng it! Too bad that half a skirt is even more expensive than those pink Repetto flats I dream about on a nightly basis!

Les Ennuis

2009-12-07T23:04:00.002+01:00

I have absolutely ZERO time for blogging - but I just dropped in to complain for a paragraph about things!

#1 WHY IS MY INTERNET NOT WORKING? For some unknown reason, why pink Viao is longer connecting to the internet for a period of more than 5 minutes every 5 or so hours! The tec guys at AUP couldn't help -and neither could the French-speaking Numbericable help hotline! How wonderful!

#2 FINAL PAPERS are such a RUDE assignment! Tell me - who can write 20 pages about ANYTHING without wanting to stab themselves with a baguette! I don't think I could even write a 20 page paper on how much I love macarons. It's just insane. AUP needs to re-evaluate the amount of the work they have given me.

#3 I ONLY HAVE TEN DAYS LEFT HERE.
enter: (tears...) (anguish....) (sadness.....) (more tears.....)
and I have to spend most of them studying so I dont fail school.
enter: (tears...) (anguish....) (sadness.....) (more tears.....)

That's all. Merci.

Noel on the Champs!

2009-12-05T13:19:00.007+01:00

Last night was the Parisian Christmas-y night I've been waiting for! The whole day was actually quite magnifique because it was sunny and nice! Despite the freezing wind!

I left early in the afternnon to do some wandering! Wandered around Rue Mouffetard - one of the oldest and cutest streets in Paris! They were having a fresh market which was simply incroyable! Wandered over to the ile st. louis, one of my favorite part of Paris, where I found some tres adorable things for Noel presents in the coolest little shops!

I also wandered over to the St. Merri catherdrale and Place Igor Stravinsky because I have to write my final paper for Art History on the comparison of the modern architecture of Paris "living' right next to the old, gothic architecture. That's what I should be doing right now! But blogging is much more fun. So volia! Maybe I will just print out some posts and hand them instead!

I eventually wandered back to Hotel de Ville (ice rink still in process of going up - WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG!) and home! Where I proceeded to spill an entire thing of tomato soup ALL over our cuisine! As sad as it was it also kind of funny. I definitley destroyed a hand towel or too mopping it up - since we have been out of paper towels for about a month now! And I keep forgetting to buy more while I am at the grocery store stocking on up Merlot, Chardonnay, and this delcious sparkling cider from Normandie that I found! c'est la vie parisienne!

After the soup-catastrophy, Caroline et moi left to go to the Place des Vosges and go into the Maison de Victor Hugo. We were both tres decu, because it was tres lame. We basically had hoped it would more like le maison des Miserables and it was not. So, I checked it off my list, and put a sad face next to it for decu!

The rest of the night I was very far from being decu though! We continued onto "Merci" this boutique department store on Boulverard Beaumarchais that is so chic and so adorable! They had the cutest mini-people clothes that I wanted to buy for Ollie and Nina - but I couldn't because the mini-people clothes were more expensive than big-people clothes! Encore....C'est la vie parsienne!

Merci has super cute "used book cafe" that is in a room surrounded by bookshelves full of old books you buy! Everyone there was truly Parisien (us included) and we sat there sipping wine and parlering!

Apres, we went to place de la concorde to ride the giant wheel! I cannot even tell you how AMAZING the site of the place de la concorde is right now! I also could not photograph it - because my camera broke yesterday. I can't really talk about because I am so upset. So from now on all photos are curteosy of Caroline.

The view from the Ferris Wheel nearly made me cry. Caroline kept making fun of me for being over-enthusastic, and overly obbsessed with Eiffel Tower - but I can't help it! It's who I am. Over-enthusastic and obbessed.

It was GORGEOUS to see the entire, sparkling, twinkle-lit Champs, lined with Christmas shops and the arc de triomphe at the top and the obelsik at the end! The Eiffel Tower, just to the left - huge, beautiful, amazing as always! On the other side, the jardin, pyramid, and the Lovure! I don't talk about how beautiful the Louvre is enough! I could see the golden statues on top of Opera Garnier, the pillars of the Eglise Madeleine, and of course - the ghostly white Sacre Couer perched on top of Montmarte! Only 2 more weeks of seeing these things...can you understand why I almost cried now?

We browsed the market stalls next, and stopped for a delicious raclette sandwhich! That's those giant wheels of cheese that just sit under a heat lamp, and then they take a baguette and put it under while they scrape the hot, gooey cheese into it. Yeah - I KNOW! Good thing we walked around ALL day and night yesterday!

Then, I bought myself an early Christmas present! I had to! Something I can have everyday and look at and remember Paris bv. Something that is tres moi. Something I had made for me by the kindest little French woman!

"Blonde Parisienne" on the front, and the dates I lived in Paris on the back! And its pink!
I spent the rest of the night taking turns between admiring it and the Eiffel tower as we walked down the Rue de Montaigne! (Lined with huge, red-lit trees!)

I am going to wear it everyday of my life. Everyday until the day when my first blonde daughter leaves to spend her semester abroad in Paris - at which point I will give it to her. (God - PLEASE let me have little girls. Unless they are as cute as Oliver. Then 1 boy is okay)

We went to a bar for a bit - where I was disappointed that they did not have champagne by the glass to celebrate the birth of my braclet. So I had to settle for a Kir cassis instead.

The only thing that put a damper on my night was knowing that today marks 2 weeks until I leave. 2 WEEKS. How did this go so fast? How am I already leaving so soon! How am I going to live without the tour! I keep having dreams about being back in New York - crying. I'm not even joking un peu!

On the brightside - a lot of wonderful, Parisian chirstmasy things start this week! The marche noel in St. Germain, the christmas music concerts in Notre Dame, hopefully the skating rink! So I can really live my last 2 weeks amazingly. It's most definitley crepe-eating crunch time!

Love In The Afternoon

2009-12-04T02:32:00.006+01:00

How is it possible that I had never heard of the movie "Love In The Afternoon" until the other day when my teacher brought it up in French class?
And how is it possible that I had never seen this wonderful, old movie until just now?

Of course I came home and rented it! Started it at midnight and that is why I am an insomnaic.

The movie is adorable! And what is most amazing - is that I feel like the movie was made for me! There were several moments that I went "Oh la la!" For example:

It is filmed in Paris.
I'm living in Paris!

It stars Audrey Hepburn.
I want to go back in time and be Audrey Hepburn!

It takes places at the Paris Ritz.
It's my dream to stay at the Paris Ritz!

There is a yorkie named Lulu in it.
I have a yorkie "Lucie" who I call "Lulu"!

A scene is filmed in Opera Garnier.
I'm obbsessed with Opera Garnier!

The opera shown is Tristan & Isolde.
Tristan & Isolde is my favorite French story!

The story is a young girl who falls in love with an older man who travels the world.
Hmmmm reminds me someone... maybe - Josh!

And finally - when Frank Flanaggan is trying to guess Ariane's name - the first name he guesses is Anna. ......
MY NAME IS ANNA!!

That is far too many things to be a coincidence! I truly believe this movie was made with me in mind.

Here is the trailer. If you have never seen it, it is well worth an I-tunes rental because it is simply magnifique!

So cute! So French! So moi!

To talk about another French reference - as I was watching Gossip Girl last night (leave me alone - I can watch whatever crappy TV shows I want!) Mrs. Waldorf announced to Blair that they were moving to the ile st. louis! Right near Blair's favorite restaurant! At which point Blair interjects - "La Rotisserie Beaujoulais! Their poulet roti is worth the move alone!"

So, naturally - I googled it tout de suite, and have added it to my list of things I must do before I leave.

Because if Blair Waldorf loves it....chances are so would I! (Yes - I am aware that Blair Waldorf is a fictional character) But that doesn't mean I can't take her restuarant recommendations seriously! Alors, poulet roti here I come!

Mrs. Waldorf also says she has brought back the most wonderful from Marriage Freres - which is on my rue! And a visit there for afternoon tea service is much overdue!

Paris au Noel

2009-12-02T20:37:00.010+01:00

C'est Noel a Paris et c'est vachement incroyable!!

I'll start my day from the end because the end was AAAAmazing!

I hop off the bus at Hotel de Ville - to see the Eiffel Tower shining its bright lights through the Parisien fog, the Conciergerie lit-up and towering over the Seine, Notre Dame in the distance - peaking out above the buidlings, just my usual walk home!

But as I came upon Hotel de Ville - I was overjoyed to see the ENTIRE ROOF SPARKLING, two GIANT Christmas trees, and an ENORMOUS ICE SKATING RINK going up!!

I WAS FREAKING OUT!!

The Hotel de Ville looks GORGEOUS and I loveeee (louvvrree) ice skating in the winter. Bundling up! Taking breaks for hot cocoa! Falling on your butt! I bought skates last year I love it so much! Had I know that there would be a beautiful ice rink steps from my apartement, I would have brought them along! Mais c'est pas un probleme - parce-que I can rent them there. If only Josh was here to skate with me and hold my mitten-clad hand so I don't fall!

An ice skating rink overlooking the Seine and Notre Dame means that Christmas in Paris just got a million times more magnifique!

That was just the fin to my wonderful day! I also went to le grand palais to see the Renoir exhibit which was incroyable!! It was ginormous - and they had so many wonderful works I'd never seen!I also learned so much about Renoir!

He was BFF with so many other important painters! One of which was Pierre Bonnard - who is only important to me because 9 months ago Josh asked me to go to the Pierre Bonnard exhibit at the Met with him, which was our first date! Awwwww! First date at the Met! We are tres cute - and tres New York!

But, I have always loved Renoir, and after seeing the huge collection of photos they had of him - I loved him even more because he just looks like Mr. France. Observe....

tres mignon, non?

My culture didn't end there today! I braved the rain over to St. Augustin - this amazing hybrid gothic/industrial cathedrale where I met my architecture class! It was unlike any other church we've visited in Paris! AAAmazing! Then we went over to Opera Garnier!

You'd think that the 4th time wouldn't be as magical....but if so then you'd think WRONG! Because it is! The Opera Garnier is my favorite (interior) building in Paris. I wish I could go everyday just to wander through the gilded foyer and pretend im in the early 19th century!

I payed a visit to Box #5 before I left this time! To try to catch a glimpse of the phantom of the Opera! Opera Garnier is the opera house where the legend took place! They actually found a "lake" underneath at some point - so who knows! I left singing "Think of Me" and "Masquerade" in my head as I danced into Gallerie Lafayette.

I went because I wanted to see the giant tree - but my intentions changed when I entered and saw the sign directing me towards the Pierre Herme boutique downstairs with all the shoes!

Repetto flats and macarons in the same place! What a bonne idee! I got "white truffle hazelnut" and "passion fruit chocolat" and ooooohhh la la there are not even words. Luckily I had my camera so I was able to capture photos this time! If you don't know what Pierre Herme is - you need to refer to my earlier blog post called "Pierre Herme the God of Macarons".

INCROYABLE!

So I ate my delicate little treats in a frenzy of sugar and happiness - and then proceeded onto Printemps to see their decor! There - I found these tres cool notebooks! They had silver-lined pages and had either a heart, spade, club, or diamond on the white cover!

Hellllo present for Josh! I got tres excited - until I saw the tag said 68Euro and became tres mad! $100 for a notebook! Leave it to Printemps! So, I took a picture instead. Because a picture is worth a thousand words. Or in this case - $100 dollars.

When I left I proceeded to get lost in Opera, taking a series of cute streets - admiring amazing Christmas lights as I went, until I finally ended up at Hotel De Ville where my story began!

I'm very pleased to have checked 3 things of my list today! There is no time to loose! Tomorrow starts my weekend! And I plan to go Christmas crazy! Ice skating, cider-drinking, ferris-wheel riding, present-buying, maybe even some paper snow-flake making!

It's that time of year!

Today I decided that if I could have anything I wanted in the world - I would live on the top of the Eiffel Tower for the rest of my life - and pay for monthly trips for my family and friends to visit me!
And also have Repetto flats in every color.... And a never ending supply of Pierre Herme macarons!

Il Faut Que Je...

2009-12-01T22:15:00.004+01:00

Today is the day I have long been dreading! December 1st...
The day that marks the beginning of my last month in Paris...
There is only 17 days left until I have to pack my bags - and leave Paris...
My eyes are tearing up just thinking about it.

3 months of living in Paris has flown by. I really feel like I live here now. I know my way around without my map (most of the time). I know the best boulangeries to get a fresh, crispy, baguette. I can almost visualize from memory the impressionism rooms of the Musee d'Orsay. I've even gotten used to the million stairs I have to climb to get into the apartment.

So - my plan of attack is to be the most proactive I've ever been. Not waste an hour when I could be doing things in Paris.

However - my annoying finals are going to get in the way of my Parisien fun! So I will do my best to not fail out of school while still spending my afternoons strolling through St. Germain.

I have made a list of things that I must do before I leave Paris. It's divided into 2 parts
"things I still must do" and "things I must do again." It's a work in progress - but here is the start.

Things I must still do...
-afternoon tea at Laudree
- visit the Grand Palais
- Musee de le Quai Branly
- Maison de Victor Hugo
- stroll and shop on Rue Mouffertard
- tea at Marriage Freres
- go to Merci
- have a fondu dinner in Montmarte
- eat a religeuse
- walk through le parc Buttes Charmont
- tour the Catacombs
- Musee de la Vie Romantique
- get ice cream from Berthillon
- voir un film au Cinema Rex

Things I Must Do Encore
- go to the top of the Eiffel Tower
- spend a dat at the Louvre
- Musee D'Orsay
- indulge in chocolat chaud at Angelina's
- sit in the Opera Garnier and stare at Chagalls ceiling
- wander around Montmarte and pray in Sacre Coeur
- get macarons at Pierre Herme
- Musee Rodin
- Seine boat ride at night
- shop at Gallerie Lafayette & Printemps
- get a croissant at Polaine
- drink wine and eat cheese on the Champs de Mars

My last day must be planned out carefully! Full of crepes, tour-gazing, and la vie en rose singing. (And inevitably lots of crying.)

I need to mention that now that it is December 1st - the offical month of Christmas - the decorations throughout the city are plentifull! Every rue is lined with unique Christmas lights, garlands, tress! Paris is so magical at Christmas! On the bus-ride home tonight I basically had my face pressed to the window starring out and oooing and awwwing!

As we rode past the Louvre, I looked out over the jardin de Tuileries, and saw the giant ferris wheel lit-up and the arc de triomphe glowing in the background - I literally jumped up out of my seat and my heart stopped.

And it just made me say - Paris... je t'aime!

Tonight I went to the Cinema Pagode. It is a very famous, old, Parisien movie theatre that is Japanese-inspired and beautifully decorated inside with Japanese influence! A famous French actress, Fanny Ardant was giving an interview-type thing there and they showed a bunch of clips from her most famous films!

It was in French - and I could understand almost every word! It made me feel so wonderful! She pronounced everything so clearly and spoke a slower pace (compared to most parisiens) so I caught almost everything she said! Even jokes!

The night at the cinema was quite fitting because yesterday after class, I went to the Cinematique Francais! It is the museum of the cinema, and also a movie theatre of international and classic films. It was sooo incredible inside!

They had a free audio-guide - which I LOVE - because then you get to learn all about everything you're seeing in depth! The museum had some amazing things. From the very first ways of doing special affects, to early camera, and even several costumes! My favorite things were the costume of the woman from the movie Metropolis, which I watched and wrote an essay about in the 10th grade! And still remember vividly! And also the dresses from both All About Eve and Little Women! It was tres incroyable!

Perhaps tomorrow I should make it a true cinema week by going to see a French film at the Cinema Rex! I've got to start working on that "things I still must do" list immeaditely!

"Hoi" Holland!

2009-11-30T18:37:00.012+01:00

Tuesday morning in the Marais! Just made some breakfast and now I'm watching MTV en francais. Which is tres comical. I'm watching "mon incroyable anniversaire" (my super sweet 16 in the US. Dubbed things are very funny! I am also thinking of my wonderful weekend in Holland! I got to see Caroline's hometown, got in touch with my Dutch roots, and have a delicious, American, Thanksgiving!

This may be beginning to sound repetitive about places I visit - but I LOVED Holland! What's not to love about a country where every town has a town windmill, little houses line cute canals, and there are delicious things to eat?

Caroline lives in a cute little town called Wasenaar - which happens to be where the Prince and Princess live! Sadly - I had no opportunity to meet them and become BFF with the Princess. Of course we also went into Amsterdam! I get so excited arriving in a new place! My first view of Amsterdam was of cute, colored houses lining the canal! How perfect! I fell in love at first sight!

We arrived conveintantly starving, since we quickly encountered a fresh cut french fry stand! Caroline had long been talking up "pinda sauce" - a Dutch speciality that is put on lots of things - including fries. What is amazing is that it is peanut butter based! My peanut butter obbsession is now clear to me! Clearly, I inherited my ability to eat PB with a spoon from the jar from my ancestors eating pinda sauce! So it's in my genes - and you can't fight genetics.

So - the fries were AMAZING! Truly the perfect fry! Perfect thickness, firmness, and saltiness! Smothered in pinda sauce, and served in this giant cone. It was seriously enough fries to feed all an entire wooden-shoe-wearing family! And possibly their sheep. (I saw lots of sheep in Holland)

But the fries were not what I came to Amsterdam for. I came for Panneokoken and Olliebollen. I knew we were having Panneokoken later for dinner, so needed to locate Olliebollen immeaditely! We were riding the tram over to the Van Gogh museum when I saw the bright lights and pink awning of the stand! Obviously - I excited the tram and went!

Now, to be honest - I didn't expect to really LOVE to Olliebollen, because it is fried dough and usually I'm not a funnel-cake kind of girl. But this was not like a funnel cake! It was a delicious, fresh, chewy, dough, ball of sweet goodness - covered in an obscene amount of powdered sugar! In other words - it was the dough form of heaven. It took me about an hour to stop talking about it. Only the Van Gogh was able to take my mind elsewhere.

Van Gogh is one of my favorites, and due to my art obbsession I had to see the Van Gogh museum! It was very cool because they had a lot of his works that I had never seen - along with some quite famous ones. Caroline was especially proud that he painted in Den Haag - the town next to hers.

We wandered around the musuem, in complete awe and admiration for about an hour - when we went to leave and realized it was POURING rain! zut alors! So we had to with our coats over our heads run back to catch the bus! The rain made me tres triste because we couldnt just wander around the cute streets - which is my favorite thing to do in a new place!

We were riding along - about to head to train station when my eyes spotted a cute square decked out in Chirstmas lights - and more pink stands selling treats! STOP THE BUS!!!!
We exited, to find ourselves in the cutest, Chirstmasy, little square in Amsterdam, that Caroline instantly recongnized as one of the favorite places! There was even an ice rink - but it was closed because of the rain. Rain is kind of a fun-sucker.

So instead, we went into a little bar - that looked like the North Pole inside it was decorated - and I ordered the first beer I have ever drank in my life.
Ok - it wasn't exactly beer - as Caroline made a point to tell me everytime I gloated - It was a cider beer. BUT the name beer is in it - and for a total beer-hater that is a big step! The cider was delicious - but a sip of Caroline and Maddy's real beers secretly made me want to gag. So I will just stick to who I am. A wine, champagne, and cocktail kind of girl - and I like it that way.

That night - that pancake dreams came true. We got panneokoken!! Panneokoken is like a mix between a crepe and a thin crust pizza. They are HUGE, round doughy pancakes, that are thin and having toppings of your choice on them. There were 102 different kinds of toppings! This is a problem for an extremely indecisive person! So - after much debate I decided on apples and bacon to get both a salty and sweet experience in one!

There are few moments in my life that I can recall eating something so delicious. I am going to have to try to re-create them. Or just move to Holland for a bit so I can eat them until I am sick of them. Which would never actually happen since there are 101 kinds left to try!

Saturday we had Thanksgiving! It was so nice to be in a home and with a family! Caroline's Aunt and Uncle from Paris were there, along with some of their close friends. It was nice to have so many people like I would have at home! Her mom made a DELICIOUS dinner! Thanksgiving is the best meal of the year.

I did really missed my family though! I got teary eyed talking to my mom! I've been away from home so long now! And Thanksgiving is such a big deal to our family - I hope I never have to miss Holidays again. It was so nice to be in a home and have a great friend to spend Thanksgiving with - otherwise I would have spent the day crying and skyping.

Caroline took us on a little tour of her town - which included the beach! There is such a beautiful beach 5 minutes from her house! How did I not know Holland had beaches? It was literally freezing, and we were all in our dresses. But it was so nice to see the sand and the ocean! I LOVE the beach! It made me very excited to go to Flordia with Josh in January!

That night we went out in Leiden. Which was very fitting because it's where the pilgrim left for the United States from! Leiden is such a cute little town! Little shop-lined streets, all decorated with garland and lights! Unfortuantely - it was POURING again! We had to run about ten minutes through the rain, so I arrived at the bar soaked in my boyfriend blazer. A couple gin & tonics helped warm me up though!

What's so fun about traveling and when you stop and think - Wait a second....I'm in Holland right now! It just makes everything 50% more fun!

I haven't mentioned yet that Caroline has some fierce Dutch-speaking skills! Dutch pretty much sounds like gibberish to the french-trained ear. So its quite funny to hear two people speaking gibberish to each other and it all making sense! She is quite Hollandaise!

Like everyweek - Sunday came too fast! I got tons of postcards (so keep a lookout in your mailbox!) and tons of stroopwafels!! These amazing dutch cookies that I LOVE. Some are for Biggie - who asked me to get him some. Some are for my daily pleasure! We had an early train back to Paris so my adventure Hollandise came to a fin.

So I have come to the conclusion that I have to go back in the Summer! I have to see the rows and rows of rainbow-colored Tulip fields, I want to go lay out on the beach in Wasenaar, and most importantly - there are still 101 kinds of Panneokoken to try!!

Joyeuse Mercigiving!

2009-11-25T17:22:00.005+01:00

Joyeuse Mercigiving!
See - the French could celebrate thanksgiving if they wanted to! The holiday name translates so perfectly....kind of.

Today is Thanksgiving! And I have truly never felt less-thanksgivingy in my life! If I were not in Paris - I would already be home in the lake house, up late talking with a penguin-pajama-wearing Moeski and squeezing my yorkie, Lucie while she obsessively licked everything in sight!

I would have spent the week deciding which harvesty-flavored dessert I was going to make, and whipped it up yesterday while Moeski supervised my every whisk in her immaculate kitchen.

I would have woken up early to watch the broadway shows perform at the parade, and to find my daddy downstairs already starting on the turkey. Soon to be stuffed with David's famous stuffing that I would later eat thirds of!

Mais - I am in Paris. Where there is no Thanksgiving. It's the one thing about Paris that is unfortunate. Today in Paris will be just another Thursday. No parade, no pie, no family fun, no giving thanks. C'est vraiment trop mal.

It dosen't make sense to me really. I know that France has no ties whatever to native american and pilgrims feasting together, but they love food - and after being thankful, thanksgiving is all about eating delicious food! So isn't that reason enough to adopt another country's holiday?

So, yes. Today is going to be a bit depressing. I LOVE thanksgiving. I LOVE spending time with my family, and I LOVE pumpkim pie. But - to soften the blow of being thanksgiving-less, I am going home with Caroline to Holland for a belated-thanksgiving feast, visit of her home-town, and visit of my native country!

Yes, je suis Hollandaise! So I have long been wanting to visit Holland, and get in touch with my Dutch roots by eating pannekoeken and buying some wooden shoes! I have also long been wanting to meet Caroline's parents and see her home town! And ride around on the back of her brommer!

Saturday, we'll celebrate Thanksgiving! If I had to miss a Thanksgiving dinner, I don't know what would happen to me - aside from crying myself to sleep for weeks. Had I not had such a wonderful pal to take me to her home - I may have ended up at the "AUP Thanksgiving dinner". It's actually nice that they do it - but I can only imagine how pathetic it is!

So, today we head out for Holland! I don't really know anything about Holland, aside from giant pancakes filled with toppings. But on that basis alone I know I'm going to love it!

After dinner, my family always goes around the table and says what they are most thankful this year. So, in Kloots-family Thanksgiving tradition, I will close this post with a verrrry sappy (but very true) declaration of what I am most thankful for this year.

- For God. Who watches over us everyday, and gave us this beautiful world.
- For my amazing parents. Who I love more than I could say, and who eventually gave into my begging and pleading and let me come to Paris. Where I am spending the best 4 months of my life.
- For my incredible siblings - truly my best friends, and new niece and nephew - who are perfect little angels.
- For having met Joshua - the absolute sweetest and most amazing guy I have ever dated. Who shares my love for shake shack, Disney, and France!
- For wonderful friends - who are always there to talk to, dance-crazily, ice-cream-eat-with, and have proven to be excellent tour guides!
- And finally....for Paris! All I can say is, God - you did good with Paris! Also for crepes. And Nutella.

Joyeuse Mercigiving! I'm off to Amsterdam!

Just When You Think Paris Couldn't Get Any Cuter...

2009-11-24T14:55:00.011+01:00

As if the Champs Elysee weren't amazing enough on its own, it has been tranformed into a giant Christmas street! Little stalls line the sidewalks of the Champs Elysee selling gifts, crafts, and the most amazing foods! At the top, is the Arc de Triomphe! At the end - is the Place de la Concorde with a huge chirstmas ferris wheel! And lining the streets with the Chirstmas stalls, are trees full of twinkle-lights!! I have found where I am spending every day of December until I leave!! I took a short movie of myself freaking out. Sadly, my poor video skills left me with a less-than mediocre film.

So let's get down to what's most important. The food! I start talking down and find that inside some of these cute little, decorated stalls are GINORMOUS pots that are full of creamy potatos with lardons, giant smoking sausages, cassoulets, even chilli con carne in one of them! These things are either scooped into a dish - or into a fresh baguette and eaten on the go!

My jaw dropped and drooling, I continued! One stand had giant hams, sausages, and turkeys roasting, which they were carving and putting onto baguettes! Then, they topped it my scraping cheese off of this giant cheese wheel that was under a cooker so it was warm and melty! It looked INCREDIBLE!

Another stall had fresh, bavarian pretzels and pretzel bread that were made into sandwiches! I kept walking to find a stall with giant slabs of foie gros, making fresh foie gros and fig jam baguette sandwiches! Another stall - cavair on a cracker with a shotglass of vodka! Little viande stalls, with cured sausages hanging everywhere and stacks of pates! Vin chaud! Fresh oysters with champange! Giant slabs of salmon hanging in front of a fire - for fresh smoked salmon and creme frais sandwiches! I WAS FREAKING OUT!!

And that's just half of it! The sweets was a whole another world! Tons of chocolateries, selling chocolate-covered-everything! Fruit, gingerbread, giant bricks of flavored chocolates that you can break off to create a mixed bag! Marshmallows, meringue, and of course - chocolat chaud!! C'est incroyable! Bon-boneries with overflowing bins of bon-bons, nougat, various fudges, and lollipops that are being made on site! I watched a guy pulling the candy to stretch it - like I've seen on the Food Network! Fresh made churros, falling from the machine into the fryer, covered in sugar and cinnamon, and then put fresh into these giant cones, with a side of chocolate sauce! Then of course your traditional crepes, fresh made gauffes, and sugary, puffy beignets! All topped with nutella and creme!

Literally, I was going crazy with delight! I was on a gourmet/Paris high! Aside from the food - there are tons of little shops selling cute gifts, jewlery, candels, ornaments, clothes, santa dolls, every cute Christmas thing you could want! It is truly adorable! There are all these cute Christmas carnival rides for kids! And even a live-animal reinactment of the manger! THEN - to top it all off - there is an indoor exhibit of the city and monuments of Paris in giant ice sculptors! La tour in ice!! I didn't go in because I am saving that activity for a night of Christmas fun where I ride the ferris wheel, go to see the ice tour, and get dinner and treats! Oh what fun is to be in Paris at Christmas time!

I had been worried I would really miss the Union Sqaure Christmas Market - but not anymore! I should have known better than to doubt Paris' abilities to fullfill my every desire! When the city lights go on in the night - and the whole city is sparkling, and now sparkling with twinkle lights for Christmas - there is simply no place in the world more beautiful! Before I made it to Christmas-Market fun, I went to the Petit Palais, a museum I had yet to see, right next to the Champs and the Pont AlexendreIII.

It was really beautiful inside! A huge, painted ceiling and beautiful rooms with statues and paintings! Downstairs, was the exhibit of the history of the Petit Palais, from the time of its conception for the Universal Exhibition until now! They had all these amazing photographs of Paris, floorplans for the palais, and advertisement posters for the exhibition! I was very excited to find such a gem!

As you exit, they had a giant white canvas, with post-its all over it, and pads of post-its and pens on either side! There was a sign that instructed me to write what I thought about the museum, and post it on the canvas! The canvas will hang until its full, and then they will take a photo to go in the museum forever! How fun!

So, I got to write a lasting love note to Paris! A little piece of me will always be here, hanging in the Petit Palais! And that - as you can imagine - made my day!

The Classics Never Get Old

2009-11-23T22:48:00.007+01:00

A very interesting thing happened today as I was sitting in my Speech class. I'm not sure how we got on the topic, because I was gazing out the window trying to see the Eiffel Tour -but suddenly I heard my teacher ask, "You've all seen the movie 42nd Street right?"
The simultaneous reply was:

me: OF COURSE!
rest of my class: head shaking, looks of confusion, mumbles of no/what's that/huh?

I could not believe I was the only person in the whole class that had seen the movie, and actually....the only person who even knew what it was!

What is happening to our world!

Old movies are one of my favorite things about life. I LOVE turning on TCM at night - and transporting myself temporairly into the Old South with Scarlett, or Tiffanys with Holly Golightly. If it is true that people my age don't even know what these movies are! Old movies are everything wonderful! Take a minute to watch the original trailer for my favorite Audrey movie, Funny Face.

Paris and Audrey! What could be better?

Doesn't that 2 minutes of 1950s wonderfullness just make you smile? If not...something is most definitely wrong with you!

For your enjoyment, I've posted a short list of some of my absolute favorite old classics! Everything from musicals to horror movies - and all released before 1960. Well, I extended it to 1961 so I can include Breakfast At Tiffanys. Because no list of classics would be complete without it!

I beg you, in your spare time to do yourself a favor, and watch some of these amazing films! Admire the way life used to be. The gorgeous clothing, the impecable manners, the wholesome ideals, and the ability to break out into song in the middle of daily life! You will soon find yourself begging me for more suggestions!

The Audrey Classics. It's hard not to love them.
- Funny Face (my favorite Audrey movie)
- Roman Holiday (you should know by now how I feel about this movie)
- Sabrina
- Breakfast at Tiffanys

The Movie Musical
- 42nd Street
- Guys and dolls (young Frank Sinatra)
- Wonderful Town (I did this show my senior year of high school. I was Eileen - duh)
- West Side Story
- Singing in the Rain
- King and I
- White Christmas (Mandy dance scene is my favorite)

Bette Davis & Joan Crawford. Goddesses of films.
-Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (Bette Davis at her scariest)
-All About Eve
-The Little Foxes

The Famous and Fabulous
- Gone With the Wind (my #1, favorite movie of all time)
- An American in Paris
- Casablanca ("here's looking at you, Kid")
- Rebel Without A Cause (James Dean's leather jacket changed fashion forever)

Lesser Known, but No Less Wonderful
- Royal Wedding (tap dance on the ceiling)
- Picnic
- East of Eden
- Gigi

Now I know I'm missing many classics. But this is MY list of favorites! And I promise, if you like my blog - you will love each and every movie! So get watching! Hours of happiness await you!

Loving London!

2009-11-22T23:16:00.015+01:00

Where to begin...? I LOVE LONDON!

In complete seriousness, my new life plan is to live in London! It is the ultimate city for me for so many reasons....
1. It has a mix of the coolness of NYC and the charm of Europe!
2. It is only a 2 hour Eurostar ride away from Paris- my favorite city ever!
3. Everyone speaks English and is SO friendly and funny.
4. The tube is the cleaniest, nicest, metro system i've ever been on. Also it has a cool name.
5. The double decker buses are the funnest mode of public transportation!
6. Harrods is the most gorgeous department store on Earth and has an amazing food market.
7. I could have afternoon tea everyday!
8. I could get all my clothes at TopShop. The best store EVER.
9. London does an amazing job of Christmas decorating, and you feel like your in fake town.
10. I could say fun things like "have a go" and maybe even develop a britsh accent.
11. I may run into Harry Potter or Edward Cullen on the street.
12. Daily visits to Brough Market for sampling would be possible.
13. I wouldn't need a watch, I'd have Big Ben.
14. The WestEnd would fullfill my theatre needs.
15. England is still a monarchy - so there is a chance I could become queen!

I could go on and on and on! I LOVE LONDON! I wish I would have had more time to spend with Amy and see the city, because 2 days was simply NOT enough! I had such a wonderful time, and truly felt that I could live there!

Let's begin my London-worship with praising the EuroStar. The Eurostar is more convienant than the Paris metro. It is SO nice, clean, and FAST! Training-about is so much better than flying! No bags to check, no shoes to take off, no annoying stewardess yelling at you to buckle your seat belt and turn off your ipod! Just ease and luxury! Once I made it through border-patrol, I was passed out in my luxury seat, and woke up in London!

Amy was waiting at the train station, looking ADORABLE with her Audrey Hepburn hairdo! It was sooo wonderful to see her, it had been almost a year! She took me to the Wolseley, her dad's resturant for dinner! I have LONG been wanting to go to the Wolseley, as it is not only her dad's resturant, but the #5 most popular resturant (according to Zagat) and the #1 rated for afternoon tea! It was also quite a treat to have a lovely, gourmet meal in a gorgeous restaurant! I hadn't since Josh took me to Jules Verne! My steady diet of baguettes, yogurt, eggs, and cheese was interupted with a delicious filet of beef! Mmm!

After our delicious champange, dinner, and home-made Lemon-Meringue-Pie ice cream "coupe", we walked to the tube station, past the London Ritz (the Wolseley's neighbor) where I thought of Hugh Grant in Notting Hill - another must-see movie! (Partially because of Hugh Grant's general fabulousness - and partially because the main character's name is Anna.) We took the tube to Amy's house, where her sweet parents (and adorable labradors) welcomed me into their beautiful home! What a wonderful welcome to London!

The Wolseley

In the morning, Amy and her brother James took me for breakfast at this cute and quaint little place on their street, where I had the most delicious "porridge" with dried, carmelized fruit and nuts. I loved that it was called porridge! British english is so much more fun than American english! We really should consider just switching to all their sayings, because they are so cute!

Amy and I took the double-decker red buses to get over to the cute shopping areas! I didn't realize that the double-decker buses are just regular, public transportation! It is so fun to see them all riding around the street! We got off and did some shopping and gawking over Harrods! Harrods could be an entire post on its own! It is the most amazing department store! I would like to work, sleep, and eat at Harrods - everyday of my life from now on. It is SO beautiful, and they have the most amazing, gourmet epecerie attached I've ever seen!

There was beautiful room after room of roasting chickens, fresh seafood, amazing fruits and vegetable stands, sweets, everything! (I was particulary fond of the cupcake counter selling pink frosting-filled martini glasses). It is a never-ending mania of gourmet delight! There are also tons of little counters you can eat-in at, including Laudree, Krispy Kreme, and an old-fashioned ice cream parlor serving enormous ice cream sundaes and milkshakes! If you remember the one that was temporairly in FAO Schwartz in NYC, it was obviously copied from the one in Harrods!

Had I not JUST had breakfast, I would have been all over this!

Aside from the amazing, gourmet wonderfulness - there is a beautiful, elaborate, disney-world-ride- like "Egytian staircase" that leads you to floors of the most amazing clothing and a full "dog floor" with a puppy bakery selling "pupcakes" and Roberto Cavalli dogclothes for 200 pounds. They also had a "Wizard of Oz" theme going on, so there was a yellow-brick road running through the store! For an extreme Dorthy-lover as a child, like myself, it was quite thrilling to walk down the yellow brick road! All in all, Harrods could charge an admission fee, because it is more like a museum of awesomeness than a department store!

We stopped at Itsu to meet Amy's "mate" for some Sushi! It had been MONTHS since I've had sushi - so my ahi tuna sushi and nori salad was particulary delicious! The food comes around on a conveyor belt and you pull off what you want and eat it! A very genius idea for those who hate waiting for food, and like seeing what the dish looks like before you order it! (I fall under both of these description).

Since all the museums in London are FREE (another reason I LOVE it there) we wandered into the Natural History museum's dinosaur area, where a rather life-like, moving T-Rex gave both of us a freight (Yes - I'm trying to sound British), and then into the V&A musuem, where we went through the fashion exhibit.

Amy had to work at the pub that night, and my brother (whom I call Biggie) was coming in from Brighton, so I tubed over to Victoria Station to pick him up! It was SO WONDERFUL to see my brother! I haven't seen him since June, and haven't seen family since August! So to be able to spend some time with Biggie, and in London no less! I took him out for a birthday dinner at a place called "Gaucho". Good thing I am no longer a Veggie because it was entirely decorated in cow-fur and they bring out their freshly-imported cuts of beef from Argentina, raw meat cuts on a silver platter so you can choose. I choose the "award-winning" burger - because burger's in cool restaurants are always amazing. This super thick, cheese and pancetta-topped materpiece was not a let down! My side of sweet potato "chips" was the perfect addition! One bite-in and I was saying "hello gourmet burgers, I have MISSED you!!"

Burger at Gaucho

Since the tube was closed, I had to take a cab home - which was an experience on its own!
I am used to New York. I am used to cabs that smell like Halal food, rude drivers that almost kill you with their maniac driving, and having to shout directions from the backseat, because he dosen't actually know where Washington Street is!
Welcome to London, where you're cab driver has been through a 5 year cab college, and actually knows how to get around the city, does not make you fear your life with his driving, and is sharing his life story with you on the way! When I got out, I felt that I had made a new friend! Now, this plesant cab-ride did not come cheap! 20 pounds to get across London!! - Which Amy told me was actually quite reasonable! I guess you pay for the service, knowledge, and kindess, but it certainly makes for a pleasant ride!

Saturday, after Amy made me a delicious "english" breakfast, I headed out to Brough Market to meet Biggie in what turned out to be the outdoor market of dreams! Stalls and stalls of food to rival Harrods - but with that busy, market feel and tons of free samples! Biggie got a sausage roll and apple cider, and I got mulled wine, since it is a British thing! We wandered around, wide-eyed and drooling over grilling cheeses, sizzling gumbo, smoking sausages, fudgey brownies.... truly a foodie's paradise!

I tried mulled-wine to be British!

The site-seeing commenced next! We popped out of the tube right next to Big Ben! Who is QUITE big and beautiful! Parliment sqaure literally blew me away. (Partially because it was very windy, but mostly because it is GORGEOUS). I have never seen so many beautiful buildings so condensed in one square! Biggie pointed out one particular church where scenes from Harry were filmed! Of course I freaked out! I found out only too late that you can actually take a 'Harry Potter tour of London". IF ONLY!!! That is one huge reason I must go back ASAP!

Afterwards we walked through the park, towards the Palace! London is full of "commons" which are these beautiful, huge parks! They are full of pretty trees and benches and dogs and it is so picturesque and wonderful! This particular, tree-lined path of the commons, lead us right to Buckinham Palace, where I saw my future-home, because one day I will be Queen. London still has a monarchy, so that is another reason I need to live there!

When it became afternoon, it was time for afternoon tea! Oh how I LOVE afternoon tea! We went to the Wolseley of course, and I had the most delicious scones, clotted cream, and jam of my tea-eating life! I could have just kept having scones and never made it to the sandwiches and petit fours! Luckily though, I did - and they were equally tasty and delightful! I so wished my mom was there to be tea-ing with us! She is the reason I love going for tea, and have so many wonderful memories of skipping school and eating petit fours!

After our very British afternoon - we went to Oxford Street, which I name nicknamed the North Pole because it is the most festive, adorable, twinkling, magical collection of streets I've ever seen! Oxford, and all the little side streets and covered in lights, trees, inflatable-reindeer, sparkles, and garland! It is truly like walking through Santa-world, only there is no snow!

Oxford street is also magical because it is home to TopShop - the coolest store of all time! Shopping in London is the best I've ever witnessed! It is so forward, cool, and unique - and TopShop truly at the top! I thought I had experience TopShop since the New York store opened, but sadly - the New York store is NOTHING like the London one! If they would allow it, I would pitch a tent in the middle and live there for a week so I could see everything, and go on a shopping spree for a week-straight. Since I wanted to buy EVERYTHING, I had to practice some self-control and only go for my favortie item. Ballet flats that actually look like real ballet shoes! They are so adorable, so comfy, and make me feel like the prima ballerina I always dreamed of being! I also actually really needed shoes, so it was a savy purchase afterall!

Our cute sqaure

Cute oxford street led to cute Regent Street, and cute Bond Street, and they just kept getting cuter and cuter until we took a secret passage way, and ended up in this adorable, shop-filled, 4 story, indoor sqaure completely covered in twinkling icicle lights! I was so adorable! Secret passages always lead to the best things! There were trendy little stores, and a yummy noodle bar/chinese place we had dinner later. Todd and I have always loved secret passages so it was very appropriate to find such a particulary wonderful one! The only downside to the restaurant was that they "don't do desserts". Excuse me?.... I don't understnad. You don't do desserts? Like - you don't even have 1 option? Nothing?......Is that even legal? Apparently is it. So, we had to outsource, and ended up very pleased with out chocolate fudge cake and strawberry ice cream we got next door! Yum!

Regent Steet, covered in lights!

When I got back to Amy's, her parents had just got home from the ball at Wimbeldon, so I was able to show-off the precious little outfit I picked up for my new neice, Nina to Amy's mom before passing out in my cozy bed! Dreaming of christmas lights, scones, and moving to London!

Sunday afternnon, her parents took me for a "traditonal British, Sunday Roast" at the pub Amy works at. The pub is so cute! It is decorated really funky chic and Amy is the most adorable waitress of all time! I ordered the Pork with crackling, which means a huge piece of pork with a crispy, "crackling" crust, applesauce, yorkshire pudding, vegetables, potatoes, and gravy. I was slightly worried upon ordering it what it would be like - and pleasantly surprised when Amy put down a delicious, beautiful looking plate of meat, veggies, and what looked like a popover! It turned out that was Yorkshire pudding! It's not a pudding at all, its a giant, puffy, fried bread thing that is delicious!

For dessert, another traditonal British experience of treacle tart - which is like a more sugary pumpkin pie, served with a side of rich, creamy, custard sauce! It is soo sweet and scrumptious (good British word)! I always remember reading Harry Potter and wondering what treacle tart is, and now I know! So now I will read and salivate, instead of read and wonder!

So, on the train back I was quite sad because the weekend went sooo quickly! I didn't want to leave Amy and her wonderful family, and I didn't want to leave London - the Christmas city of cuteness! I will have to go back soon to see all the museums and do some more shopping! I will plan a day each for the Tate Modern and TopShop spree! Amazing musuems, shopping, and restaurants is all I need in life!

Before I came, my only London knowledge was from SpiceWorld, Romantic Comedy movies, and the 8 times I've seen Billy Elliot. So, it was quite fun to ride a red bus, see the Ritz, and go in a "pasty shop" and hear people say "50p". But what was most fun is discovering a city that I honestly want to move to, and could see myself living in! I couldn't live in New York City forever - because after a while the crowds, noise, and grime would get to me - and you can't have a family there. I also couldn't stay in Paris forever because the Parisiens relish in being a smoky, depressed, wonderfully-tragic race - that I would never quite fit-into to. But London would give me the best of both worlds! I could have my tea-cake, and eat it too!

Une Bonne Semaine a Paris!

2009-11-18T22:59:00.007+01:00

Ohhh, home sweet Paris! I had the most wonderful week back in Paris!
It was so nice to be able to speak French again, and all the italian food made baguettes and crepes taste like the first time again! Oh, Paris. Tu as mon couer pour toujours!

Monday apres l'ecole Caroline and I went to Le Grand Epecerie at the Bon Marche. If you are unfortunate and do not know what that it, it is the Bergdorfs of grocery stores. How many grocery stores do you know of that decorate for Christmas? It is a wonderland of expensive cheeses, pasteries, breads, and meats. They had this entire new display of candied fruits that belong in the Louvre next to the Mona Lisa.

So, we got the ingredients for me to make some baked ziti. Because I was still craving italian and the only food we had was tons of pasta. As I was dancing around the store in a Parisienne/Christmas/amazing food frenzy, what to my wandering eyes did appear but a petit jar of PB&Co Dark Chocolate Dreams! I couldn't believe it! Santa must be real, because my Christmas gift came early, in the form of my FAVORITE peanut butter being sold in Paris!

They were also selling those ginormous containers of nutella that all the creperies have, that weight like 20 pounds. I actually considered buying it because it would save a lot of money in the long run. Had I been alone, I probably would have. Luckily Caroline was there to talk some sense into me! There are some quite funny photos of me hugging it though, which Caroline has to incriminate me with later on in life.

So, since Monday at Le Grand Epecerie had been so fun, I decided to spend my 3 hour break inbetween French and Paris Architecture class at La Lafayette Gourmand, same concept - only at Gallerie Lafayette! Along with gourmet food, they also have all these mini restaurants/shops inside where you can sit at the bar, eat fresh food, and watch all the shoppers and shop owners!

So, bien sur, I sat at the cutest one, and had the most amazing assisette de trois fromages, cut before my huge, delight-filled eyes, with this amazing salad and mini baguettes! Everyone at the bar with me was French, and I felt to Parisienne sitting and eating my cheese in the Lafayette Gourmand, chatting the cheese-man and the nice woman next to me (in French!). It was magnifique!

Afterwards, I went into the Opera Garnier to do my reading before class. Because why wouldn't I want to do my homework under the gorgeous, Marc Chagall ceiling of the Opera House, starring out into the beautiful theatre? Could there be a better place to read a chapter about Haussman's modernization of Paris? Je pense que non!

Marc Chagall is such a wonderful, modern, twist to the very Baroque Opera Garnier!

Today, it was warm!! Well, warm-ish. Paris is essentially freezg, so 50 degrees and sunny is like swimsuit weather to me now. When I got out of 3 hours of French class, the sun was shining on the Eiffel Tower, and I mentally confessing my love to it. Things are getting serious between us...

Since I had a couple hours until I had to be at the Pantheon for my architecture class, I decided to get lost in the 6eme. Getting lost in Paris is one of my favorite activities! I just go somewhere I haven't been yet, and start following the cuteness and discover the most wonderful things! Today, I was wandering about and came upon of the cutest Parisien, cobble-stone streets I've seen yet!

Rue de Mouffetard. It begins at this adorable, ivy-covered church, and ends at a beautiful sqaure with a foundtain and cafes. If that weren't enough, it is lined with the most wonderful fromageries, boulangeries, patasseries, boutiques, bucheries with chickens roasting outside! I mean, the smells alone that you get from trapsing down the rue are worth the visit! So, when I got to class I told everyone they had to go - and my teacher said "You really do go everywhere!" And I said "OUI!"

Tonight, I went to see "Tenatation" with some friends from French class. To you Americans, it's "New Moon," the second book of the Twilight saga. Which yes, I love. And yes, I know is ridiculous. But I am pretty much the queen of loving ridiculous things. So it works. So, to be a movie critic for a moment - I throughly enjoyed it! It is far better than the first movie, which Kristin, Amanda and I laughed our way through and left crushed. It is still full of cheesy moments and bad acting, but that's what makes it wonderful, non?

So afterwards I got tricked into going up to the 7eme to go to an Irish Bar. There was some important soccer game going on against Ireland and someone, and people were going mad! They told me we were going to the 5eme (close to my apt) but since I was not paying attention I realized too late that we were in the 7eme (far from my apt). But, it all worked out for the best, because just as I was leaving - the giant tour started to sparkle, and all the lights of the city were on, and I was standing there, looking around and admiring the tour, and I was SO HAPPY!

I love that the tour and I have memories together... I remember the first time I saw it! Eating a croissant from Polaine under it with Tre! Screaming and running down the rue de Montaigne at night towards it because I saw it sparkle for the first time! Having a crepe there with mom and dad when I finally returned to Paris in August! Josh taking me to the top to have an amazing lunch at Jules Verne! It's not just the Eiffel Tower to me. It's so many wonderful memories now, and I LOVE that!

First time in Paris, seeing the Tour with Tre. The best trip ever!

Tomorrow, I leave the tour, because I'm going to London! I am even extra excited because I get to see my brother, Todd - and my adorable friend, Amy! It will be so nice to spend time with family and friends I haven't seen in months!

I am also excited for London because of high tea! I LOVE having afternoon tea, and London is THE place for tea! Eveything about tea is fun! Fancy clothes, pretty setting, nice china, little sandwiches, little desserts, scones and cream, good manners! I can't wait!

Also excited because London is where Harry Potter lives! Well, technically Little Whining, but Diagon Alley is in London. And yes, I kind of believe Diagonal Alley is real.

Also because of TopShop (duh) and the queen (which I should be someday) and British accents! I love them. I am contemplating adopting one for the weekend. We'll see. My Britsh accent is kind of crap, I need to work on it before I execute this idea. Perhaps I can do that on the "tube" tomorrow!

Roman Holiday

2009-11-16T03:50:00.018+01:00

Ciao Bella!

I've just returned from the most wonderful 5 days in Italy - a truly amazing and beautiful place, that I am SO extremely happy I got to visit, because Italy is magnifique!

I know - I didn't blog live, but why would I spend time on the internet when I am in Italy for a mere 5 days!? But I will try to make my re-cap blog just as vivid as my documented trip in my travel journal! Which is nearly filled!

So, to re-cap: I JUST HAD THE BEST 5 DAYS!!
After my last, abruptly-ended post, Dyne and I went for an "aperitivo"! This means you go to a restuarant and you order a drink, and then you eat as much as you want of the delicious italian buffet! Why does Paris not do this! Why does the US not do this? It's amazing! I got a Negroni, because I knew my sister Amanda loved them, and because they are Italian thing - and you know, when in Rome....!

Dyne took me to a cute little place called Obio!

Since Dyne had class all day Thursday, and a date with her cute Italian boy, I decided to go to Roma! I took the 8am train, and was in by 9:30, when I bought a guide book at the train station - and off I went! I was THRILLED to be in Rome! I get this rush of excitement when I get somewhere new - even if it's just a new NYC restaurant. So you can only imagine the level of excitement I had upon arriving in one of the most exciting cities in the world!

What I did next, may make my mother the proudest of me she has ever been. I bought a ticket for the double decker tour bus of Rome, and hopped on! My mom LOVES those buses. She made my dad ride it 3 times in a row with her when they were in Italy, and she goes everytime she comes to visit me in NYC. I usually hate these bus tours - because I would rather walk around and experience things on my own - but, since Rome is huge, and I only had 1 day to see as much as I possibly could - I thought it would actually be a "good one"! So, I boarded - and the amazingness began!

I wish I could have bought one of these for Moeski!

It was a gorgeous day! Clear, blue, at least 70 degrees! I was standing on the top of the bus, blonde hair blowing the wind and coat off - snapping photos like a crazed tourist within minutes of boarding! My first view from the bus was of the colosseum, and I basically made a small scene by completely freaking out as we passed right next to it, and continued past the Circus and Palantino! It is breathtaking! I instantly made a friend on the bus of course! A goofy, old, Irish man and his wife, Jannette. We bonded over having problems getting our informational headsets to speak in English! He was quite histerical - I could have paled around with him all day! But I had to leave him when the bus pulled up at Saint Peters Square, because I was being drawn to it like I'm drawn to cupcakes in the window of Billys!

When I actually was standing in the middle, looking at the Vatican - my eyes filled up with tears and I was completely overcome with how amazing it was! I don't know what happened to me! I was so upset with myself for not having enough time to go inside - but I only had 10 hours to see as much as I could, and the line was wrapped around the square! So I went on to my next stop - Trevi Fountain! Which needs it's own moment of silence! Trevi Fountain... I am completely in love you! I wish I could spend an hour everyday just sitting on your steps, eating gelato and being happy! If there was a most beautiful fountain in the world award - I would nominate you, and sutff the ballot box to ensure that you won!

So after gawking there for awhile, I forced myself to other sites of Roma! The Panthenon, Spanish Steps, the piazzas! Thanks to the bus, I got to see just about all the sites that day! The bus is actually good! I was in complete awe when I got inside the palantino, walking around the ancient ruins! I was just in time to watch the sunset over the city! I wish I could have seen my face all day - because I must have looked ridiculous with my jaw dropped to the floor and eyes huge, gazing at everything like it was a dream and shouting words of admiration!

I took the bus on a night loop, so I could see all the lights of Rome, which was incredible! I was so sad when I got to the train station! I was an hour early to make sure I didn't miss my train back to Florence, since it was the last one of the night. This is where speaking Italian would have come in handy! I did not know how to read the boards! Turns out, I was looking at the wrong board the whole time, and missed my train! So at 9pm, I realized I was stuck in Rome for the night!

Now I won't lie - I had a mild moment of panic. I called Josh, travel expert and boyfriend extraordinaire! But then I realized.... I'm trapped - IN ROME! Not such a bad situation to be in Anna! So, being resourceful and smart like I am, I went into the train bookstore, found a guide to Rome, looked up a nice hotel by St. Peter's Square, and a metro ride later I was checking into a little room at the Hotel Amalia!

I truly believe it was divine intervention. All I kept saying all day was "I wish I had more time here! I want to see the Vatican!" So, God helped me out a bit and made it happen. It was the best accident ever because THE VATICAN WAS AMAZING! Again, tears upon entering! Why? You tell me! Perhaps I am just more emotional when I travel than I usually am! Perhaps it's because I was standing in the middle of the center of the Christian world! Perhaps it was a little of both! Whatever the reason, it was incredible!

After wandering around the basilica for hours, and starring at every statue and tomb in the grottos, I went to see the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican museum does not make it easy for you to get to the Sistine Chapel! It's like they want to be sure you're not just trying to see that and then leave! I had to maze through the entire museum before I finally was standing underneath the "Creation of Adam". I stayed there at least an hour. Just starring at the ceiling, jaw dropped, admiring how the colors and the figures of the fresco pop off the ceiling and come to life before your eyes. It is truly masterpiece.

I visited the inside of the Colosseum next, which was so cool! I love being in things that are just unfathomably old! It's incredible! I also had time to go to the Piazza Bocca de la Verita, where I stuck my hand in the stone face's mouth - just like in the movie "Only You"! Which if you haven't seen - you need to because it is an old Kloots family favorite, and it takes place in Rome! If you haven't seen Roman Holiday - you shouldn't be reading this blog. Just stop - now! You're no longer welcome here!

So I spent the rest of my beautiful, Roman, day number two seeing everything I hadn't and eating gelato! Ohhhhh the gelato stands in Italy! It is just about every other shop is a gelato stand. I was in creamy heaven! I got 2 gelatos in Rome, and 2 in Florence. I think Rome is the winner though. I tried pistachio, carmel, nutella, black cherry, and melting chocolate in Roma! ALL delicious!

First cone of the day. She actually asked me if I wanted whipped cream! HA! What a silly question!

Second cone, eaten at Trevi at night! I loved the mini cone on top!

After saying arrivederci to Roma, and successfully making it ON my second train - I was soon back in Florence, with Dyne! After Dyne cooked up a delicious, italian pasta dish, we went out dancing to celebrate my successful return at a place called YAB. I expected techno or italian music, but was very surprised when I instead got to start a dance party to the Michael Jackson music blasting when we got in! We instantly made friends with some italians and had a blast dancing off all our pasta!

The next afternoon was one of the most fun and unique things I've ever done! We went up in the hills to Ponte a Ema to pick olives! The FIT florence coordinator lives up in the hills outside Florence, and has 400 olive trees that she was in the middle of harvesting! So with the rolling hills of Florence and a golden sun as our background, we spent the afternoon picking olives from the trees! When we were finished we went inside for a "snack" she had prepared for us.

The "snack" turned out to be an italian feast of bread, flatbread, foccacia, bruschetta (that I helped make!) prosciutto, salami, giant olives, fresh Roma tomatoes, mozzarella, wine, and olive oil from her trees that she pressed ONE week ago! The olive oil was incredible! I didn't know olive oil could taste like that! It was life changing, I can never look at store bought EVOO again! After we were all stuffed of italian deliciousness, she brought out the chewiest, most delicious biscotti I have ever had, and dessert wine! There is always room for dessert, and dessert wine!
P.S. This whole feast was taking place in the cutest little italian country home in the hills!

We left offically STUFFED! We needed a nap before waking up and going to dance it all off again, with Dyne's italian boy and all his friends - who only speak italian! Well, aside from being able to say "I don't speak English!" So, it made conversation quite limited and restricted me to sign language to communicate, but it was lots of fun!! You don't need to be able to talk to have a crazy fun dance party!

Now I need to take a moment to admire my friend Dyne. Dyne is so adorable! She is nearly fluent in Italian after like 1 year of classes, and she seems to know everyone in Florence! All her friends are Italian, and she is truly making the most of being in Italy! Not to mention she is the best host ever! She referred to me all weekend as her VIP guest, and I sure felt like one! It was so fun to see her, to get to see Florence, and to get to meet all her friends! I wish I could go to Florence for the Spring when I'm forced to leave Paris! It would help soothe the pain!

My last day - I got a "Last (Italian) Supper" with Dyne. A mozzarella pizza, and a pear and gorgonzola calzone....I know, right?! There are not even words! Then Dyne took me to the original GROM, like they have in the west village in NYC, for a final gelato! Now I've never been there in NY, but this was amazing! Soooo creamy! We licked our way through the giant cones as we wandered through the cute Florence streets, back to the apt to get my bag.

I was quite sad on my flight back! I wish I had more time there! I had such an amazing time in Italy! It was the one place I said I had to see while I was here, and I am so thankful I got to go. I have already made a list of the places I need to return to, which currently includes Venice, Naples, and Capri. I want to improve my Italian first though! It would be nice to know more than 5 words before my next visit!

So, I know what you're thinking. Does this mean that the Blonde Parisienne likes Italy better than France?
Well mes amis, comparing France to Italy, is like comparing Billys to Buttercup! They are both wonderful! Both can fullfill your buttercream craving, and make you want to come back for more! But when people ask, what is the best? I say Billys, and I say Paris!

This morning as I was walking through the light rain, eating my just-baked, buttery, crossiant, and admiring the view of the Eiffel Tower as I headed to my French class - I knew that no place takes my breath away like Paris, no sight give me chills that compare to the ones I get looking at la Tour, and no scoop of gelato compares to a Pierre Hermes macaron! So - Paris will always have my heart.

I am, afterall, la Blonde Parisienne!

La Blonde Italienne!

2009-11-11T16:43:00.002+01:00

I know I promised not to fall in love with another city - but Florence is too beautiful not too! So, just for the duration of my stay, I am calling myself the blonde italian. Im imagining next weekend I will be going by the blonde Brit after spending the weekend in London! But I will always first and foremost be the Blonde Parisienne, so never fear!

Have I mentioned yet that I LOVE IT HERE!! Florence is gorgeous! Today it had to be 65degrees, all blue skies and sun shining! First thing first - I went straight to the Duomo and climbed the 463 stairs to the top! Which is why I have renamed it the duomo the DOOMo because I thought I was going to die midway! Imagine the smallest, spiraliest stairs made of stone ever....463 of them! But it was worth it! I got to enjoy a delicious, creme topped waffle afterwards guilt-free!

The city is BEAUTIFUL! All the red, old, rooftops match and then these huge palazzos stick out, all covered in marble and stone! Its truly breathtaking! The DOOMo is really striking when it sticks out over the city!

In the same piazza as the doomo is the Gates of Paradise doors! Its actually a copy but it was still very cool to see! I learned all sbout that in art history at FIT! I LOVE old, important, things! NO wonder I love it here!

I continued my walk down to the Pont Vecchio, and across to the Pitti Palazzo, where I went into the Boboli Gardens! I LOVED the gardens! Every royal gardens is based off of them! Including Versailles! I did not really know where I was going, so I walked to the top of this hill thing, went through a gate - and thought I was in heaven it was so beautiful! Giant, rolling green hills, dotted with skinny italian trees and adorable little country homes! I literally could not breathe it was so beautiful!

I stayed in the gardens for a long time, journaling, napping, exploring! Then I went into the costume musuem, that had a bunch of really awesome clothing from all the different decades, and dating back to Marie Antoinette styles - which I loved seeing!

I spent the rest of the day just walking around, looking at all the beautiful things and desperately wishing I could speak Italian! Im back the hostel now - ONLY because I can use the internet here, and I have to pick up my suitcase.

Dyne just came to pick me up!!! So goodbye hostel forever!!!!

My First - and LAST Night in a Hostel

2009-11-11T01:31:00.003+01:00

I have arrived safely in Florence!! I got in a bit ago, walked through the ADORABLE little town to my Hostel I am staying in just for tonight. Tomorrow I move in with my sweet friend, Dyne. But since I got in so late I insisted I stay in a hostel tonight so she wouldnàt have to wait up for me.

Apparently, the hostel I am staying in is the "luxury" hostel so I was expecting it to be nice. Hoever, my idea of luxury is the Ritz. So I should have known better.

THIS PLACE IS DISGUSTING. I do not think I will be able to sleep tonight. Therefore, I am blogging instead - and complaining, because if you were here you would be complaining too.

On the brightside, I think the guy at the check-in counter thought I was cute becuase he gave me free internet time and moved me into a room that only has 1 other person instead of the 7 other girls in the room I was supposed to be in. There are perks to being an exotic blonde in Europe!

I just went into the room, made the bed - or what they THINK can PASS for a bed - locked up everything I own in the locker, and came downstairs where I am hoping to pass the next 7 hours until I check out of this doomful place!

But what is amazing to me is...if this hostel luxury - then what are the bad hostels like! I cannot even imagine! I do not understand how people do this! I think it is worse being alone, but still. Alone or not - dirty is dirty. And this is DIRTY.

I suppose I have just stayed in one-to-many suites in the Waldorf Astorias of the world....

Okay, enough complaining. It is just one night. And at least it is safe. And there is only 1 other girl in my room. When I saw her Sheer Blonde shampoo bottle in the bathroom - I was hopeful we would bond and become Florence friends - but turns out she was quite upset that someone barged in on her privacy and turned the lights on at 2am! But hey - I don not want to be here anymore than she want me to!

On the brightside - I AM IN ITALY!!! It is SO exciting to be somewhere new in Europe! I forget sometimes that I have only been in France! This weekend is like a whole new chapter in my life! Full of pizza eating and piazza sitting!

Tomorrow I will trapse about the city, ooo-ing and ah-ing over everything, until Dyne gets out of class at 1! At which point we will have a delicious, Italian lunch and go to some fun fashion presentation her friend told her about! What a wonderful first after in Florence!!

I have researched more about the city and added several other things to my "must do" list that I created in my last post. Turns out there is more to do here than just try all the gelato flavors! There is a quite famous and important museum I am now DYING to see called the Uturzi (spelling, I know! But I take French remember! And spelling has never been my fine point!) So I have added that and several other important art things, and open markets, and found plenty of piazzas I want to sit in and people watch!!

I love it here already! Well not here, in this hostel. But here - in Florence!!
Wish me luck to make it through the night....I am going to need it!

"Attraverissmo!"

2009-11-09T01:59:00.004+01:00

Tonight is Sunday.....
Tomorrow is Monday......
So the next day is.....THE DAY I GO TO FLORENCE!!!

Oui mes amis, c'est vrai! La Blonde Parisienne is finally venturing to Italy! But no worries Paris, I promise not to start a love affair with Italy and change my blog to "La Blonde Italienne". It dosen't have the same ring to it anyways. And it wouldn't make much sense as I am only there for 4 days, while I am here for 4 months. So Parisienne I shall stay! No matter how crispy their pizza and creamy their gelato!

Yummmmmmmmmmm pizza and gelato!! I am soo giddy and full of excitedosity to be in Italy! It is really too bad that the ONLY word of italian I know how to say is 'attraverssimo" (I said SAY not SPELL) which means "let's cross over". I only know this becuase I read "Eat, Pray, Love" last year - and have that little peice of knowledge to show for it! I realize this may not exactly come up in everyday language, but you can bet I will get my use of it! For example - I can cross to the wrong side of the road, and then boldly declare - "attraverssimo!" as I cross. Genius! I know. Merci.

Since I am spending 4 full days of italianism, I may have time to hop le train up to Roma!! Because, really - I want to pretend I am a princess who has escaped, cut all my hair off into a cute little do, and meet a handsome man who I happen to fall in love with as we ride past Trevi Fountain on a vespa! Okay...that is the story of Roman Holiday. But I do not see any reason why if it happened to Audrey it couldn't happen to me.

Adorable Audrey and Gregory Peck. From "Roman Holiday"

My boyfriend, Josh, (who should completely ignore the forementioned plan of "meet handsome man in Rome") has advised me several times NOT to go to Rome, because it's not the real Italy - and several other reasons that I have blocked from my memory because I am DYING to see Rome! I mean come on....it's Rome! Now I know you can't do Rome in a day - but you can do part of Rome in a day - and that's better than nothing! Who knows the next time I will be in Europe - advantages must be taken!! While Josh is the most experienced travler I know - and is right at least 50% of the time (I say this because this statistic will make him INSANELY frusterated) I am going to trust my heart over my head on this matter.

So I may or may not visit Rome.
And may or may not relive Roman Holiday.
And may or may not love it there!
(I'm hoping for the "mays" in all these hypothetical situations)

My only mini worry is that....well - I don't know anything about Florence! Therefore, I will be largely relying on my adorable gal pal, Dyne - who is sweet enough to host my silliness for 4 days! She is going to fitFlorence, and she is one of the few people (besides myself) that I would say has an excellent knowledge of the city they live in! So I think I will be in good, nicely manicured hands!

Due to my lack of knowledge, my current "must do in Florence" list is as follows

1. Eat gelato near some type of Italian-looking fountain
2. Eat pizza near some type of Italian-looking fountain
3. Seek out amazing pasta sauce - as I am OBSESSED with pasta sauce. (and eat it near some type of Italian-looking fountain)
4. See "David"
5. Oggle over the "Duomo" and try to recall some facts I learned about it in Art History at FIT.
6. Laugh because I don't remeber ANYTHING I learned in Art History at FIT.
7. Go to the Silver Bridge and buy myself a trinket! (My mom reminded me of this one - only she of course accidently called it the "Golden Bridge")
8. Cross the street, yell "ATTRAVERISSMO" and cross back over.
9. Repeat #8 until it gets old.
10. Visit Rome and relive Roman Holiday by meeting a handsome gentlemen and falling in love as we ride a vespa past Trevi Fountain! (only joking Joshua!)

Hmm.. perhaps I should stop by Gilbert Jeune tomorrow and pick up a guide to Florence....

If you think of anything else I should add to this list - notify me before 5pm Tuesday....because by 7 I am outttta here!!! Au Revoir Paris!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

2009-11-08T21:16:00.015+01:00

In the words of one of the greatest men who ever lived, Frank Sinatra, "Oh by gosh by golly - it's time for misteltoe and holly!" You can only imagine my delight, and complete state of holiday cheer - when Caroline and I arrived at Opera to find that Christmas has already come to Paris!

Gallerie Lafayette was completely lit up like a giant, sparkling, building-version of a Christmas tree! The whole square behind Opera was actually! It was tres oh la la-worthy!! Inside, Gallerie Lafayette has giant, pink presents suspended from the ceiling - and an enormous, floating, pink-lit christmas tree!! I was OH LA LA-ing all over the place indeed! The entire theme for them this year is "Noel Gourmand", so their window displays are adorable, sparkly, hot pink creations of presents, Louboutins, macaroons, fur, bunnys, pink wigs, gingerbread men, champange! Basically....anything I would be completely obsessed with is there!

It is the cutest Christmas decorations I've ever witnessed. I should have known that Christmas in france would be all about macarons and champange! I am totally copying them next Christmas and turning my apartment into CandyLand! Like were Queen Frostine lived! I was in a frenzied, holiday state when we left. Which got me to thinking.....is there any season better than Christmas? NON! Is there any place better than Paris? NON! Alors, Christmas in Paris is my ultimate dream!

I orginally thought I would miss New York. The frosted ceiling at Saks, the musical snowflakes outside, the ginormous tree at the Rock, drinking hot cider at the holiday market at Union Sqaure, the Rink at Bryant Park where I skate with the skates I bought last year (and only used twice but it was STILL more cost effective!). But so far - Paris is doing a wonderful job of keeping me satisfied, merci!

We also made a magnifique discovery!! The amazing, gorgeous, delicous grocery store inside Gallerie Lafayette - full of little carts selling gourmet everythings! I had a moment of extreme weakness, after already buying and devouring a cafe macaron, I saw the "chocorons" - chocolate covered macarons! I think we all know what I did next.... walked away. YAY RIGHT! I hope you know me better than that. I said "un chocoron si vous plait!" Cassis of course, and OMG - it was a revelation. What a seriously genius idea! The downside is - now I am going to be craving them. I guess several trips to Opera are on deck!

We also picked up some French cheese from the fromagerie station, and a crispy baguette from the boulangerie station! You can tell a good baguette because of the way it sounds. How many cracks you can hear when you press on it! (I learned that from Ratatouille!) So we took our goodies back to the apt. and had wine and cheese night! Bottle of red, bottle of white, round of cheese, 1 baguette....what more do you need to be happy? Well, 2 baguettes would have been nice. We ate our way through numero un tres vite!!

Due to my holiday cheer - and slight drunkiness, I felt like cooking! So, I whipped up pumpkin soup with the precious remainders of my Libby's, and some fresh snickerdoodles! Half-baked of course so the centers were as warm and gooey as my christmas-filled heart! (Cheesy? Oui! But true....Bien sur!) Ohhh the magic things you can do with a little butter, sugar, and flour! Both were delicieux! I must also note I was listening to the Carpenter's Christmas album as I baked. The best Christmas album of all time! But I must search for some French christmas music because "when in....Paris!" I have adapted the saying "when in Rome" for Paris. Because it should have been about Paris in the first place.

Before we ended up in Christmas/macaron wonderland - we went to La Conciergie. I think it is possibly my favorite bulding in Paris. It looks like a giant old castle.... which is actually what it was. At one time, it was part of the King's castle, and then became the Prison during the French Revolution. So I of course wanted to go because it is where mon amie Marie Antoinette spent the last 2 months of her life! They actually have a bunch of re-created prison cells, including hers! It was very sad for me to see - the cell where my best-pretend-friend was sentenced to death. I cried for a bit, wished I had brought along some flowers, possibly some macarons....

It is quite creepy actually, so see the cells that once held doomed frenchmen! I made Caroline take a rather hilarious photo screaming behind some of the bars. I have refrained from posting it on my blog though because, well - she knows where I sleep!!! We did learn that once they were sentenced to death - they got to have one last "feast." Of course they did - it's Paris! Apparently this is custom in US prisons too. I didn't know that but Caroline did. She seemed to know a lot about prison actually....hmmmmm. You think you know someone. Jokes! Anyways, I spent some time wondering what Marie choose... undoubtly a dessert of various macarons! Maybe she even had a "chocoron" like me because we are long lost soul mates.

There is also a petit chapel inside that Louis XVIII built in honor of Marie and Louis, after they were killed in the Revolution. It's very pretty and petite. I think one day I would like a little chapel to be built in my honor. Again - if only I had been Queen!

Mon Amie, Marie Antoinette

2009-11-04T01:58:00.017+01:00

In my Paris: Biography of a city book for my Art History Class - I've come to the chapter on the French Revolution. This subject as always fascinated me - mostly, I think, because of my weird yet severe obsesssion with Marie Antoinette and Versailles. (Louis XVI.... not so much.)

So, of course after reading all about her today for homework, and visiting the Musee Carnavalet this past weekend, I had a sudden urge to watch the movie, because not only is it one of my favorites, but it is truly a visual feast of fashion, pasteries, and pugs! What could be better?

I love this movie because while historically it is most likely farther than way off, and we all know from paintings that Marie was not nearly as cute as Kristin Dunst is - it does paint such a wonderful picture of how every girl imagines life as queen would be, and makes her into a heroine. I have felt rather attached to her since I saw it the first time. I think had I lived in the 1700s, I would have been one of her favorites. I may even have been able to advise her not to say some things that got her in serious trouble with the Parisiens - like "let them eat cake." I would have suggested she instead bake everyone cupcakes! Problem solved! Maybe then she would have been buried with her head in tact!

The Real Marie Antoinette vs. Kristin Dunst as Marie Antoinette

What is most interesting about her to me is that she truly set the fashions for all of Paris. Her "royal designer" Rose Bertin, would not let anyone wear a new style until she had. So Marie was always the first to set the trends of how many bows should be on your dress, and how high your matching hairdo should stand! She called the shots! Marie was the Anna Wintour of the 1700s.

However her life of eating Laudree macaroons, drinking endless glasses of champagne and playing with her pugs could not last too long. Marie was eventually taken prisoner in the Conciergerie (which happens to be one of my favorite buildings in Paris). The revolutionaries killed her best friend and "waved her severed and desecrated head on a pike" in front of Marie's prision window, until she was eventually taken to the Guillotine and killed. Now no one deserves that!

The movie was actually filmed at Versailles too - which is an amazing way to live vicariously through film if you have never been. I love - love - LOVE Versailles. Just to walk up the grand walkway and imagine 300 years ago arriving in your horse and carriage, being in an enormously huge and elaborate dress, ready to attend some sort of fete. I could sit in the jardin there all day, and let my imagination go wild.

So, I would like to attempt to clear Marie Antoinette's name. She probably had very little, if anything, to do with the decisions being made by the regime, yet she was blamed. She had a husband who had countless mistresses, so she never found true love and she was never liked by the French from the start - purely for being Austrian! So she sought happiness in the things any girl would - macarons, dresses, and puppies. Is that really such a crime?

Why I Should Have Been Queen

2009-11-02T18:43:00.005+01:00

I have decided that I would have made an excellent queen of France. I could do a spactacular job at wearing beautiful clothes, eating delicious pasteries, living in a cheateau, and influencing my husband on deciding how to run the country. It is really too bad that I was not born a princess in the 1700s. I could have gone down in history as "Anna the Wonderful"

I came to this realization today as I was wandering around the jardin of Malmaison. We had off for the French holiday Amistice Day, so I took the opportunity to take a petit voyage outside of Paris! I love that I can live here, in a big, modern city - but then I can take the train only 20 minutes outside the city to a small little town that is home to the chateau where Napoleon's wife Josephine once lived. This is something so unqiue about Europe and I absolutely love it! Malmaison is the chateau that Napoleon bought for Josephine, his first wife. He used to visit her there on weekends, until their divorce. But I wanted to see it mainly because of the famous love letters Napoleon wrote to Josephine while he was away at war and she was living there. I've read some in the book "Love Letters of Great Men". (You know the one from Sex and City movie- that was not a real book, until the movie came out and every woman on Earth wanted that book - so they made one!) My lovely friend Kristin got it for me for Valentine's Day last year! They are truly some beautiful letters that he wrote to her. I highly recommend buying the book if you do not own it. It makes great late-night reading material - along with the Zagat of course.

So I arrived that the train station in the little town of Malmaison, where I discovered the bus there would be an hour wait, as I had just missed it. Alors, I walked! Which turned out to be wonderful because the little town is lined with trees that are changing colors for fall! So the gold, purple, red, and green leaves were blowing in the wind and creating the most scenic walk to the chateau! It is a very modest chateau, compared to the others I have been too - but very charming. I was quite disappointed that the top floor, which has dresses of Josephine's on display - was closed! It was very inconsiderate of them to close the most interesting part of the chateau during my visit! But, I was not let down by the huge, original, painting of "Napoleon crossing the Alps." It was stunning! I have always loved that painting, I think it is so dramatic and stunning, so it was very cool to see the original one hanging in his wife's old chateau. There is also a giant park next to the chateau, where I sat on a bench reading some of my book about the history of Paris while I watched a group of tiny French children running around and picnicing. They were so adorable and small. I love how highly their voices are - it makes it extra cute when they speak French!

My next stop on my chateau trail will be Fontainebleu, the chateau Napoleon built for himself while he was emperor. I so enjoy visiting the Chateaux here. They are all different, each with their own history and story, and it is so interesting to see them. When I am inside, I can never get over the fact that this is where they lived! I am standing in the very hall Napoleon once stood. It is remarkable. I must say, he was quite handsome in all of his paintings! It is too bad that Josephine did him wrong and lost his love forever. It's like Josh said "you just never know if your husband is going to become emperor of the known world." Better be on your best behavior!

All You Have To Do Is Swing!

2009-10-31T02:26:00.002+01:00

Anytime I think of my sejour in Paris - I will remeber this night. Tonight was one of the most fun and french nights I have had in Paris! Caroline, her friend Alieen, and I danced our night away with the locals at le caveau de la huchette - an underground live jazz and swing-dancing club in the latin quartier.

This place was so adorable and unique. We walked down the windy stairs into the "caveau" where the live jazz band was busy playing so all the locals could show their stuff. We were noticably not locals - not many french people have 3 feet of blonde, wavy hair! We also were some of the youngest poeople there - which made it so fun! Everyone was a charming, french person with their dancing shoes on (some of them with taps!) - and they all seemed to know eachother! They were all switching dancing partners and having a blast!

The dancefloor has seating all around it, so you can sit and admire the dancers, and join in whenever you want - as we did! It did not take long for some of the dance-shoe-clad, 50 something, hysterical frenchmen to invite us for a dance! Things took off from there - and we spent most of the night out on the floor attempting to following the fancy footwork and spining around! I just have to say - dancing like that is SO MUCH FUN. I didn't even know what I was doing, and it was fun! So I can only imagine how fun it is to actually know the steps and dance with a partner really fast!

Of the locals, there was Richard - wearing a black dresshirt and necktie. I only know his name because he insisted on giving me his card so we could dance again on these dance-boat parties. There was Patrice - who I think was my favorite. He was from the Congo and made the most hysterical expressions when he danced, really putting his soul into it. A younger frenchmen, who danced SO fast, some cute, old little frenchmen, and two other native African men, both in black and white saddle shoes! They were the best dancers there - except for the adorable old man wearing black dress-overalls and shiny black tap shoes! He had to be in his mid 80s, and the few times he danced, he was amazing! Pulling out tricks like no one else! Not to mention when we left at 2am - he was still going strong! Only in Paris!

When they weren't dancing with one of us - there were several, amazing women showing their stuff too! Out favorite by far was this adorable, little woman. All dressed in black, with short, dark hair and her dancing shoes as well! She was the perfect illustration of a perfect french woman - and she could dance!

If you can imagine this scene - you can imagine how much fun we had! We were making fools of ourselves with our complete lack of swing dancing skills, but having a blast trying! It was so fun to be somewhere so unique to Paris, with a bunch of fun, nice, french people, and get to dance all night! By the time we left we were exausted, sweaty, and much better at dancing than 3 hours before!

If you haven't guessed already - I am now obbsessed with learning to dance like that! I am thinking of investigating where Josh and I can take lessons in the city! How fun would that be! Speaking of Joshua - he is now 28! Today is his birthday - and I wish I could be with him to make a big fuss and bake him a cake! But since I sadly cannot, I wish him the very best birthday he could possibly have !

Pierre Herme, the God of Macarons.

2009-10-28T22:15:00.007+01:00

I knew from the moment I removed the framboise/pistache macaron from it's beautifully presented packaging, and it was so soft that the mere act of touching it with my finger caused the delicate shell to crack - that the rumors were true. Pierre Herme is the God of macarons.

The macaron obbsession started when I came to Paris for the first time in 2007 with my sister, Tre. She knew about them, and it did not take me long to discover this little, multi-flavored treat, and name it as my favorite. If you don't know what a macaron is - I'm so sorry. You need to get it together and get informed, because it will change your life. There is no American equivlent to what it is - the texture, the tastes - they are incomparable! They are sort of sandwich cookies, made up of 2 delicate cake-like "shells" and filled with various types of filling, dependent entirely on the flavor, and the patisserie making them. However - like crepes, they are not all created equal! Some macarons are very disappointing. Dry, flavorless, and hard. The ideal macaroon is so soft it cannot be handeled, so flavorful that your tastebuds are going wild, and so moist that barely need to chew. When done correctly - it is magnifique in every way.

Laudree is the famous, Parisienne patisserie for macarons and other fancy tarts. Their handi-work is featured in one of my favorite movies, "Marie Antionette". Laudree was one of my first stops once I was back here - where I had a carmel buerre salee and a vanille and they were both amazing. I thought it was certain that they were truly wearers of the macaron crown. But then - I remembered a blog-post my brother, Todd, had forwarded to me about a macaron showdown between Laudree and Pierre Herme, in which Pierre Herme had won! I had never even heard of them at this point! So naturally, a stop there was on my "must do one day" list, and I was very fortunate that today - was that day.

The line was out the door of the little patisserie, which is always a good sign. When I got close enough to view of rainbow of mini-mac deliciousness, I began to panic! This panic always happens when trying to select macarons. Being faced with around 10 flavors, if not more, and only be able to choose a few! I knew I had to make the most of my visit, so I got four. Caramel and vanilla (so I could compare to Laudree) rose, and the choice of the fine man helping me, "raspberry and pistachio", which looked like a christmas macarron as it has red and green. I must note these macs are expensive! 1.50 Euro each! Which is midly obscene for a macaron I thought - and then I tasted one and understood.

I started to pull out the framboise/pistache macaroon, once I was sitting near a scenic fountain, only to find the mere graze of my finger nearly crushed the macaron. It was perfect texture. I took one bite - and then I died. I am currently writing this as an angel - up in heaven, asking God if he could arrange for Pierre to whip up some more for dessert tomorrow.

The mix of the flavors was incredible! And the combined, jelly-like filling of the raspberry and pistachio was unlike anything i've ever tasted. I had planned to save the others for later - but there was no way I could resist now. The rose was eating a fresh grown flower, the caramel was the perfect salty/sweet combination - and the vanilla was this intense, vanilla bean flavor that tasted like my buttercream frosting in macaroon form. I could not believe I was eating something so perfect. Pierre knows what he is doing!

I do not, unfortunately, have original photos because I did not have my camera with me in attempt to lessen the weight of my bag - so I will simply have to return soon to have more, and get a photo to remember them by when I am back in the United States, where Chips Ahoy is the cookie of choice.

If you are now desperate to try a macaron, as you should be - unfortuantely it will be quite impossible. The ONLY acceptable place I have had a macaroon outside of Paris is a darling, authentic, french, patisserie that is a favorite spot of mine in New York City called "Madeleine." It is on 23rd between 6th and 7th, and they have a huge selection of flavors, and a delicious macaron. But really, you should just fly to Paris and try them here at Pierre Herme, because then you will know that you can die happy.

http://www.pierreherme.com/index.cgi?&cwsid=9964phAC194316ph1890557

http://www.madeleinepatisserie.com/Madeleine_Patisserie/Home.html

Madeleine Vionnet, My New Idol.

2009-10-25T20:43:00.004+01:00

Hooray for beautiful, sunny fall days in Paris!! Today was another delight with clear blue skys and a bright sun, shining its rays down on la tour!

Aujourd'hui, after church, and lunch of a PB&J on my pumpkin bread (YUM) I went to la musee de l'art decoratif. And it could very well be the coolest museum I have seen yet in Paris! I went because I saw a publicite for the Madeleine Vionnet exhibit, which was GORGEOUS - but I ended up being blown away by the whole museum!

It is connected to the La Louvre, but is its own museum, which has a bunch of cool, decorative things like fashion, furniture, and toys! I am quite obsessed with musuems! There are so many wonderful ones in Paris, and I get into them all for free - so why try to get to them all?

Madeleine Vionnet is important to the fashion world for many reasons - but she is famous for inventing the bias cut, using crepe like it was never used before, and making the most exquisite evening gowns of the 1930s. So, you can only imagine how beautiful the exhibit was! A gigantic, black room, where all the dresses were dramatically displayed on mirror-backed platforms, so you could see the dresses from all angles. Then, they had photos of the dresses on the model from the original shoots. There are not even words! I was in evening gown heaven. I wish I had places to go that I needed gorgeous, crepe, evening gowns for! And matching gloves, and handbags. I have always loved dressing up. I often think I should have lived in the 1950s when you had to put on a dress, gloves, and a hat just to go to the grocery store. Oh, those were the days for fashion.

So, after I saw the amazing exhibit - I continued to the furniture by decades rooms, which were so cool. The rooms showed the cool furniture designs from the 40s - 2000s. The 60-70s room was the coolest. They had this awesome, cool-chair display in the middle, and then a little room on the side where you could sit in some of the chairs and watch a 70s movie, while you enjoyed the giant windows with views of the Tour and Tuilieries, and Sacre Couer. Incroyable! It was such a wonderful surprise - to wonder into a museum not knowing what to expect, and see such incredibly cool things!

I also discovered the Carosuel de Louvre today, which is the boutiques and restuarants under the Louvre! When I forced myself to head home to get my homework done, I stopped for a delicious ham and cheese crepe, it had been awhile and the mec a fait un bon crepe pour moi! I ate it sitting my the fountains at hotel de ville, looking out across the Pont Neuf onto Notre Dame....loving Paris, as usual.

I also got to Skype with my adorable nephew, Oliver - currently the cutest baby boy in the world, with a smile that melts your heart! All in all - another wonderful, Parisienne day!

Chateaux de Chantilly

2009-10-24T01:36:00.004+02:00

Another beautiful fall day in Paris! I love Fridays! Mostly - I love having no school on Fridays! It's so wonderful to wake up, and go do something fun while other people are in class, being tortured with history and grammer. Why be in class, when you can be out in France? Today we took a small day trip to the chateaux de Chantilly! (Pronounced "Chan - t - ya" if you are French, and Chan-tilly if you are me and want to pronounce it the way that sounds funner). I need to point out at this point that while "funner" is not actually a word - I consider it one and will therefore use it. So, we boarded the RER and 45 minutes later were in the cute little ville de Chantilly! Famous for horses, golfing, and of course - Chantilly creme! From the train station, the castle was a nice, 20 minute walk on this tree-lined trail of cuteness! The chateaux is really beautiful, and now is considered a museum because it holds the impressive and large art collection of the last duke who lived in it. A lof of original furniture is also there, which is also cool to see. We got there just in time as a college tour group - so we planned on tagging along so we could learn about the castle, but the tour guide was pretty doomful. Her tour was boring - so we departed the group and did our own thing!

Like all chateaux in France, there are enormous, beautiful, gardens! So many acres of land there is no way it was all used. In Chantilly - there is a formal, French garden behind the chateaux, an English garden on one side, and a Chinese-garden out to the east, along with a mini-forest. We walked through it all, stopping in the mini forest to admire the "hamlet." This a little, watt

le and daub, farm-type house, that Marie Antionette used when she built her Hamlet in the gardens of Versailles. It was tres charmant!

Since it is now nearly November, there was no one there! We basically had the entire chateaux and gardens to ourselves, which was wonderful! Except that all the "food kiosks" were closed, so there was no where to eat the lunch I had imagined, and to try a glob of creme! Alors, I had to wait until later, when we left and walked through the centre ville to get back to the train station. We found a little boulangerie where I got what was like a "giant pig in a blanket" - aptly named by Josh. It was a hot dog, inside a buttery, croissant-like, pastry thing. In otherwords - it was heaven in hot dog form. I was so starving too that it was extra delicious!

It is so awesome that these amazing, historical places are just a short-train ride away from Paris. And that there are hundreds of them! I could go somewhere different everyday of the week - and still not see half of it! It is kind of maddening, but I really love visiting chateaux - and the little villages around them. There is something so amazing to me about the fact that people actually lived in these enormous castles hundreds of years ago. They wore gigantic, elborate dresses, and had fancy balls! Now that I know a little about architecture, I love trying to anaylze and understand it. I really love France for its history, as well as its beauty. I asked Josh when we were in the Loire if he could spend one day in any time period, any place, as anyone - what he would choose. A really tough question to answer! He chose to be a founding father of the United States in 1776. I chose to be Marie Antionette (pre French Revolution), living at Versaille and going to huge ball. If only someone would invent the time machine......

The Sweet Smell of Poitron!

2009-10-22T21:24:00.005+02:00

What is that sweet, harvesty scent, wafting fresh-baked through the air of my little cuisine at the moment? Ahhh, mais bien sur! C'est le pain du poitron!

Yes - today was a VERY magnifique day because I found Libby's pumpkin puree, and there is currently a load of homemade pumpkin bread cooking in my oven. Ohhhh it's going to be a glorious morning!

There is a petit and I mean petit American store called "The Real McCoy" located right by school - where one can find what the French consider "American" groceries. For example - Reese Puffs, Quaker Oatmeal, Duncan Hines cake mixes, canned frosting, marshmallow fluff, cream cheese, Campbells soup - and yes, Libbys pumpkin puree!! You can only imagine my excitement upon finding it! The wheels turning in my head of all the delicious things I would make with it! However, my excitment died down a bit when I realized it was 5euro a can, but it's totally worth it! I just have to be spare with the things I bake - to make sure I am using it to the best of my ability! So - I beg of you to send me your best pumpkin receipe so I can get to baking! I have used 1/2 can on some "Old Maine Pumpkin Bread, ' currently in my oven. But there is 1 1/2 cans left to make cookies, pie, muffins, smoothies - you tell me! I did find one AMAZING looking recipe for Paula Deans "Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes" but unfortunately too many of the ingredients are unfindable here -so that will have to wait until next fall. But - send me your best stuff! I also picked up some extra crunchy JIF! OH to have PB again.

My pantry is now stocked, and opening it to my stock of yummy spreads puts me in a frenzy of joy.

Have I mentioned yet that today was GORGEOUS! It was a picture-Paris-perfect fall day! After class, I knew I had to go somewhere and take advantage - so Caroline and I hiked over to Pere Lachaise Cemetery, a very famous cemetry in the 20eme. It was beyond cool. It is absolutely huge, and in France all the graves are above ground, mostly in these little gothic style plots that look straight out of a horror movie, all moss-covered and broken. Among the people there are Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Chopin, and Oscar Wilde - who had the coolest grave by a longshot. We visited them all, but Oscar's was my favorite. Covered in lip-stick kisses and insrctiptions from loving visitors, it sits near the back of the cemetery. If the red kisses and scribbles weren't enough to make it stand out - it has this really unique design and right above the ground it says "here lies the greatest man who ever lived." What better phrase could you think of for your gravestone! You must admit it's hard to beat that! Below that sign, is a small notice from the French government, urging people to not deface the grave stone of Oscar Wilde, which clearly no one has obeyed. But is kissing and "Je t'aime, Oscar" really defacement? No one esle buried there had love notes on their grave - only shrubery. Flowers die, but a kiss - is forever.

The Importance of Being Earnest is my favorite work of Oscar Wilde. I think I may watch the Reese Witherspoon version tonight in his honor!

Today I was, again, thinking of how much I LOVE being here, and this thought was only stressed after spending the day in such a cool, Parisien place, I got to thinking - can you really put a pricetag on travel?

Luckily, for now, I am young and still under the support of my wonderful and unbelievably generous parents. But when I become a "real person" and my money needs to go to paying the bills, and buying clothes and food, and taking care of my puppy.... I promise to remind myself of these four months. That what I'm doing right now....there is simply no way to put a price on this! And I made some sacrifices of my own to come here - I worked hard all summer, I saved my money, I barely shopped for months! And a small part of me wondered if it would be as great as I imagined.... I can't even begin to describe the ways that my expectations were suceeded in my first month alone.

Is there really any reason good enough NOT do this if you can? For me.... no! I just know that this is apart of my life now. God created a huge, beautiful, world for us - and I have got to experience it. It's hard for me to think of somewhere I don't want to go! If it means that I will have the most modest of apartments, a less-important job, the end of gourmet restaurants, and that I'll never be able to afford a Caviar bag....so be it! I'd choose a plane ticket in my hand over a Chanel bag anyday.

La Parisienne Dans La Plu

2009-10-21T19:49:00.003+02:00

What a wonderful, rainy, Parisienne day! It literally rained all day - and I was sans parapluie! I usually hate the rain. But as I crossed the Pont Neuf towards home, watching the rain fall into the Seine and the fog settle around Notre Dame, listening to Edith Piaf on my Ipod, holding my baguette and bottle of Pinot Noir - I felt so French, and so fabulous. It was a moment I wanted to freeze. If there is any city in the world where rain only makes the city a new kind of wonderful, instead of ultimate doom - it's Paris. Rain is so iconic Paris than you actually kind of love it here when it rains.

I am fini with my exams! Ohhhh, it feels wonderful! I had my French oral this morning - which went....okay. I had to talk about myself and my aspriations, say my plans for the future, give advice to Madame about a "faux probleme" and them do a skit-type thing where I got to yell and pretend I was angry. Then I had to read some of le petit prince, where I was graded on pronounciation. Which is my weakness, as I am still striving to conquer the french "R." But I think that everything went bien.

I had a two hour break until my architecture class was meeting in les jardins de luxembourg, so I went to the area early to go the la musee Luxembourg, where there is a Tiffany Glass exhibit, which was okay - but not my favorite of exhibits I have seen here. Today my class went to the Palais Luxembourg, Chapelle de la Sourbonne, et Val de Grace. We are now studying Louis XIV and Baroque architecture. So the places we visited were all examples of that, and were all quite belle!

Like I said, it rained continuously, and I did not want to go all the way home to get my umbrella, so I just got wet. Good thing I woke up late and did not have time to wash my hair - because it was soaked and pulled back into a sopping wet bun by the end of my class. Once I got home, I took a hot shower, poured myself a glass of wine - and began to cook while I continued listening to Edith (the female, French-version of Sinatra). It was all quite magnifique!

I also booked my ticket to Florence! You can fly ridiculously cheap within Europe - so I am going to visit my friend Dyne- who is at FITFlorence, and eat some pizza and gelato and say ciao all weekend! How fun!! I have a long weekend because of "All Saints Day" - so I get to spend 5 days in Florence. I may even train-it over to Rome for a day or two to see the Vatican and Trevi Fountain, but I may be too in love with Florence to leave. I took Art History at FIT and learned so much about Florence, I cannot wait to see everything and actually be there! I have quite a busy November now! Florence, then London, then Holland! I am so thrilled to be able to travel in Europe. I have dreamed of doing this, and seeing these places my entire life! And to finally get to go, to see the things I've studied, be in the places I've dreamed of, visit friends, and to experience the culture - I am simply at a loss for words except for - I LOVE Europe. I LOVE Paris. I LOVE traveling.

That's all there is to it mes amis!

La Jour I Got A Fresh, Hot, Just-Baked Baguette - and It Changed My Life.

2009-10-20T17:52:00.002+02:00

OH LA LA.
Moments ago, in la rue, I was trying to decide which boulangerie I should go to, to pick up a bageutte to accompany my pumpkin soup (more on the soup later). I went with the boulangerie at the end of my street, and as I left holding my warm, crusty, just-out-of-the-oven baguette - I knew I had made the right choice!

One bite in, I was in a world of bready-delight. I made myself wait until I was home to continue manging. Incroyable! Even more incroyable when I dipped it in my pumpkin soup. Yes - I found pumpkin in Paris. However - I found it in my grocery store, pre-made, and to be perfectly honest, it let me down. You can only imagine my glee in finding soupe de potrion, but it was kind of bland when I warmed it up for dinner last night. Nothing like the pumpkin harvest soup at au bon pain. So - the search will continue. I did ask my French teacher where I can find pumpkin things - and she told me to buy a pumpkin and make them! We actually went on a pumpkin/coooking discussion, and she ended up assigning us "make pumpkin soup" for our homework on Monday - where we will have a pumpkin soup-off! How fun! Of course, I will win. As soon as I find out where I can buy a pumpkin!

Right now, I'm watching a Ratatouille. I have finally become brave enough to watch it, because my own Ratatouille has been MIA for awhile now. It is really adorable. I learned on the Seine boat ride with Josh, that the restaurant in the movie, "Gusteau's" is based off a real resturant in Paris, called "La Tour d'Argent" and aside from being very famous - it is the oldest resturant in Paris! It gives the movie a whole new level of wonderfulness.

Tomorrow - I have my final midterm! Afterwards, I am going to go to the Palais de Luxembourg, where there is a beautiful Tiffany glass exhibit right now! My architecture class is meeting there to go to the Sourbonne chapel. So - I get to see two things in one day! A much needed cultural experience to celebrate the offical end of midterms!

I must say - whoever wrote Ratatouille must have loved Paris almost as much as I do! It truly has some wonderful lines! Like
""what better place to dream, than in Paris?"

Falling In Love With La Musee Rodin!

2009-10-18T20:45:00.004+02:00

Today was magnifique! I slept it (heavenly) and woke up a beautiful, blue, clear sky and shining soleil! How bon I thought! I knew immeaditley that I needed to make the most of the sun-soaked day and get myself somewhere beautiful! So, I did!

My initial idea to go on a run through Tuileries was cast aside when I remembered I have yet to see the Musee Rodin, and since it is largely a jardin - it is best to go when it is nice outside! So, I re-planned my day to include doing my homework in the gardens of the museum, like Josh told me he always used to. I owe my trip to the musee to Josh, who on the first night we met and talked about loving Paris, told me how wonderful the Rodin Musuem was, and that he used to take his homework there because it was so wonderful. We meant to go together while he was here, but we ran out of days! So I took advantage of today by doing a visit alone.

What a wonderful Parisienne surprise the musee Rodin was! Not that I didn't expect it to be beautiful, after what Josh had told me, and just general knowledge that everything is beautiful in Paris - but it was gorgeous! I was in love after two minutes! From the street, you can see into the gardens but you would have no idea how big they are! Let me describe the scene....

Enormous, strikingly beautiful Rodin bronze sculptures scattered around the gardens, which are filled with giant, mulit-colored rose bushes, harvest-colored leafy trees, and the golden dome of invalide and the tip of the tour peaking through! Then, you turn around the side of the Palais, which is the actual museum part, and there is a huge, tree-lined promenade that leads down to a pond, and behind the pond this tri-arch shrubbery that has a little park with giant wooden lounge chairs! On each side of the promenade are little tree covered walkways that have more sculptures all around! It is insanely beautiful! I was so taken with the jardins, I wanted to kick myself for never coming when it was still warm!

I sat on one of the many benches surronding the Palais, and did some of my homework. Mostly reading the history of Paris for my art history class - which was very appropriate! I stayed until the museum was almost closed, so I would have time to go see in the inside. Rodin's sculptures are so stunning. I feel like sculpting is an under-rated art form. Unlike a canvas, which you only see and admire from straight on - a sculpture you can walk around and analyze 360 degrees, and the mere fact that is was carved out of a giant slab of something, is incredible! Josh taught me that Rodin's sculptures are characterized by giant hands and feet, which was extremely evident. I also noticed they all have really complex poses, and are all extremely muscular. The most famous, la penseur (the thinker) sits in the middle of the front gardens. What an appropriate place to do homework - next to the thinker. But, my favorite sculpture was "The Kiss." Weather permitting, I plan to copy my boyfriend as much as possible, and do my homework at the Rodin Musuem. I will just have to bundle up, and bring along some chocolat chaud for warmth!

This week will be busy! I have a presentation in marketing and a speech tomorrow, a project due in french on tuesday, and an oral exam for my midterm in French on Wednesday! My lunch tomorrow is going to be depressing...knowing that last Monday I had lunch at Jules Verne with mon amour. One week you're eating ox cheek at the top of the Eiffel Tower with your love, and the next week your eating a baguette sandwhich in the campus bar alone. Alright - I won't be alone, but it sounds more dramatic that way. Yes - I am still sad my boyfriend is gone, but it's been a few days since I cried last - so things are looking up! I will be home in a matter of months, so I have been able to get over my sadness and translate it into happiness that it happened, and excitement for January.

I go home in two months from tomorrow. How has two months gone this fast....? I have no idea, but it is triste! Going home for the holidays will be wonderful, and so will seeing my family and friends. But I will soon be crying because Paris is gone! And I have a feeling that will take more than a few days to get over, because I do not know when I will see it again.

Faire du Shopping at Galleries Lafayette

2009-10-18T02:42:00.002+02:00

What a bonne journee I had today!
Two good things happened regarding my being freezing cold problem.
1 - The heater in the kitchen mysteriously started working, so half the apartment is warm!
2 - It was actually not that freezing....this afternoon. The night was a different story.

So I left early this afternoon to head to Opera in search of a winter coat! I searched in Zara and H&M, only to be extremely disappointed in both stores this season. H&M's colors are really off, and a majority of their clothing looks like it came from a prostitute's closet in the 70s. And Zara doesn't have anything that is a must have item. So - I decided to abandon the mass chains and head up to the contemporary floor of Galleries Lafayette - where my prayers were answered. What a difference. The only sad thing is that while Zara and H&M are affordable, it was not. But I did manage to find an affordable and adorable winter coat to keep me warm - and I was able to find a black winter coat that wasn't belted and fur-collared like every other one in the world. It's very Paris and I have decided that I am in love with it. It is so fun to shop here. I love saying "bonjour" to the sales people - it just makes me grin with delight that I am living in Paris, shopping in Opera, and speaking French everyday.

Afterwards, I came home to eat an early dinner of my homemade banana bread with nutella. OMG was that a genius combination. I should also mention I had banana bread for breakfast. All my meals today included banana bread. It reminded me of nights in the Ivy Tower with Kristin and Brittany - eating banana bread fresh out of the oven. I really do miss my city friends! And city boyfriend of course, who was still here this time one week ago. Two of my sisters are also at home this week, which makes me sad that I'm not there too. I love going home for the weekend and spending time with my parents and my puppy. My extreme love for my family and my friends is the only reason I could never live here forever. It is tres hard to be on another continent.

We went out in St. Sulpice tonight, which was loaded with cute french boys for Caroline, who is on the prowl. I was totally into going to the bar we planned on once I learned it was on Rue de Princesse! It was called The Frog & The Princess, and we're going back tomorrow after chruch for 5euro blueberry pancakes at brunch! Yum! I ADORE walking around Paris at night because it is so incredibly gorgeous! Extra gorgeous where we live I think, as you cross the Seine, you see Notre Dame, Conciegerie, la Tour, St. Chapelle, and then all the other ponts lit up. It nearly brings tears to my eyes everytime!

I'm watching the latest season of SNL as I blog - which is quite funny. I miss being there! I cannot believe that was already one year ago this time! Where is time going? Soon I will be 21, at which point I plan to invent a time machine so I never have to get older, and I can go back and relive these 4 months whenever I want because they are going to fast!

Wearing My Uggs As Slippers, and Sipping Tea for Warmth!

2009-10-16T13:40:00.006+02:00

What is going on Paris?!

It is absolutely FREEZING here! And it all happened in a week! It went from sunny, late summer to freezing winter in one weeks time! What is happening?

I am come to realize that my JCrew summerweight sweaters, and Zara cropped jacket are not going to help me make it through the winter! I brought along no winter clothes or coats....Which makes me wonder.....what was I thinking! It's no wonder I had only 2 suitcases! I was so proud at the time and now I realize it was quite stupide of me to not pack any winter clothes!

The only warmish clothing I have with me are chesnut Uggs (which I only wear for the warmth), a cablenight turtleneck, and a sweater from the gap that Josh so lovingly called me "Merlin" all day when I wore it because it slightly resembles a wizard robe. So today I must look for some cheap winter apparel and a coat so I don't freeze to death this week. I found the coat of my dreams at this adorable store, and then my dreams were crused when I saw it was 580Euros. How rude! When you translate it into dollars, it's even ruder.

Part of the problem may be that Caroline and I cannot figure out how to turn on the heat in our apartment, so it very much feels like an icebox. On the brightside, I have not seen in the mouse in weeks - and I think it is because our apartment is no longer a place for him to escape the cold!

This morning I woke up at noon. It was wonderful. Granted, I did not go to bed until 4am. A - because I took a 5 hour nap after class yesterday. And B- because I watched 3 hours of 90210 and then 3 hours of Gossip Girl. Which, I must add, is so letting me down this season. It has lost its way. Later today I have to go to school to work on my French project, creating an entire city, which will be doom. I would much rather accompany Caorline to the Louvre. But after the work, I am going to make "Anna Banana Bread" with the hundred black bananas we have accumulated in the two months we've been here. I wish I could make pumpkin bread too - but there is pas de pumpkin in France! Which is really quel dommage. It is so sad that the French are missing out on two of the best holidays - Halloween and Thanksgiving! What is even worse, is that there is no pumpkin bread, muffins, cookies, fraps, mochas, ice cream, pie......it is my doom. I LOVE pumpkin anything - it's why fall is my favorite season! I must check out the american store I found, ironically called "thanksgiving" and see if they have any Libbys!

At least Thanksgiving will be pumpkin-filled in Holland! Caroline has so sweetly invited me to Thanksgiving in Holland, where I can see her hometown and pay hommage to my hertitage all in the same weekend! How bon! I can also stuff withmyself with pumpkin items. Mmmmmm

I understand that Halloween and Thanksgiving are American holidays - but if another country has a holiday that is awesome and wonderful - why not just steal it and pretend its your own! Sure, Thanksgiving is about the founding of America - but the French have adopted some American words, and watch American movies....so volia! Why not adopt Thanksgiving too? It's not like the US would mind! The same goes for Halloween - a holiday all about candy! Why is this not celebrated in France?.... they love candy! Then I wouldn't have to suffer through a pumpkin-less fall. I guess its a trade off - and so I ask myself, which would I rather have? Pumpkin....or Paris?

Alright, the winner is Paris.
But I would still kill for a slice of pumpkin pie.

La Salon du Chocolat

2009-10-15T21:18:00.004+02:00

Yesterday we had a field trip in French class, to le salon du chocolat! Only in Paris would your class take place at a chocolate show! Can you imagine a more wonderful way to spend 3 hours on a wednesday morning?

Entering through the doors into the salon, the smell of chocolat was intoxicating! Every major chocolatier & confisserie was there, selling bricks of chocolate, gourmet chocolates, chocolate bread, cakes, fondants, truffles, hot chocolate, macaroons, chocolate covered everythings, need I go on...?

But the selling of the chocolat was not what made it amazing - it was the SAMPLING! Every place has samples! AMAZING samples! Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, chocolate with nuts, fruit, marshmallows, coffee, caramel.....mmmmmm

Aside from all the tempting sweets - there were demonstrations from these cute students enrolled in chocolate school, working on making a cake sculpture, as practice for their exam! You could see them crafting the chocolate, like a painter working on is masterpiece!

The chocolate show proved to be a great distraction in the week of doomful studying for my midterms. But - I made it through, and today afterclass I spent time napping to make up for 10 hours of sleep total that I got in the past week. I napped and then watched 3 hours of 90210. I know - it was lame, but I needed some R&R, and a dose of crappy tv drama.

Caroline and I then spent some time laughing at our matching Gap pajamas, blue fleece snowflake print circa 1994! Both of us have hand me downs. Mine from my mom. They have been my favorite jams for years now. It was quite funny when we realized we had the same vintage pajamas.

Tomorrow - I am sleeping in! And then going out to find a winter coat, because it is freezing in PAris!!

Mon Amour est Parti

2009-10-13T00:50:00.008+02:00

Mon amour est parti. :( He left this morning as I left for school, as I cried. Actually - I think sobbed would be the correct word. I got to school and was mistaken for being "really sick" by my french class because of my red, puffy eyes and runny nose. Once I composed myself, I tried to improve with mood with a stop at Starbucks for a mocha - but waiting in line saw a petit fondant au chocolat that I got for Josh one day last week when I got a mocha - and the tears welled up yet again. I know - I am ridiculous. But we had such a wonderful time together here, I was so sad to see him go, and I am really sad I won't see him for two months.

Joshua offically won the title of "Best Surprise Planner" after his visit. After the amazing suprises of the past two weeks, yesterday was the icing on the very delicious cake! Josh took me to lunch at Jules Verne - and it was incroyable.

I honestly never suspected it! Even when he told me to meet him by the Eiffel Tower! Given my obbsession with gourmet food, Paris, and the Eiffel Tour - eating at JV was my dream come true! Everything was amazing! The decor, the stylish suits of the waitors, of course the beautiful view of all of Paris, the delicious, gourmet food, presented like art- and of course, the wonderful company of my boyfriend. We had a truly delicious, 3 course lunch.

Josh had foie gras canard with fig jam and red fruits. Then little morceaux of chicken, province style with fresh vegetables in this delicious broth. For dessert, roasted fig with honey and fromage blanc sorbet.

I had choc-fleur soup(ish) thing with this mysterious green pate that was warm and frothy and amazing! Then I had ox-cheek with red wine sauce, champignons, and lardons. It was so tender I barley needed to cut it. Dessert was my favorite. I had this petit mint-chocolate, layered, bar type cake, topped with brownie bits and a mint-choclate macaroon, served with a side of fresh-mint leave sorbet and more brownie bites! It looked like modern art when it came. Then - they gave us more mini desserts of coconut macaroons, these amazing fruit and shortbread cookies, and a parfait of caramel and coffee flavored pudding-like flan. AND a mini bowl of homemade marshmallows, and another mini bowl of dark chocolate truffles! Imagine enjoying all these amazing desserts while you are IN the tour and looking out over the entire, beautiful city of Paris! Does life get any better than that! Je pense que non!

Upon leaving, they give you a party-favor bag of homemade madelines! YUM! We left JV stuffed, so we walked around the tour and then down around St. Germain, took a mini-nap at the apartment to regain strength- and headed out for part 2 of our last day together.

After bundeling up, we headed to the Pont Neuf to catch a boat ride at night. Paris is incredible at night, all light up, with the tour sparkling every hour! You learn so much about the city, and pass under the Pont Marie where you must make a wish, and then kiss your neighbor while you pass under in order for it to come true! After our boat ride, we walked to St. Germain where we stumbeled upon the most charming, authentic french restaurant and had a late dinner! They were famous for Boeuf Bourguignon so I got that of course, and it was wonderful - of course. We shared a fondant au chocolat with violette glace for dessert, and I sang Happy Birthday to Josh and made him make a wish and blow out the imaginery candle. We did a final Paris walk, around the Latin Quartier, past Notre Dame, and then back to le Marais. A fabulous way to end a truly fabulous trip. It could not have been better.

Now the work starts. I was lucky to be homework-free while Josh was here, but this week is full of midterms, projects, and presentations. If you know me - you know how I despise all the things previously mentioned, but I will tough it through - with the help of the tour et du vin.

Dimanche des decouverts!

2009-10-11T23:40:00.003+02:00

Today was a Sunday of discoveries! New things in Paris for both Josh and I! What is more fun than discovering new things you've never seen before in a beautiful city?..... Doing it with your boyfriend!

So, we began our day at Angelina's. A place that was recommended to me by a friend, and NYC dessert critic, Beth Johnson. My sister, Amanda, and Beth have a dessert-blog where they review the best desserts and places to get them. (visit the website http://www.justdessertsnyc.com/) So, she came to Paris and told me Angelina's was her favorite place here, and that they had amazing chocolat chaud, and so I had to go! I wanted to go for dessert, but I realized they close everyday at 2:30! So, brunch it was!

I was so happy to discover Angelina's is an adorable, fancy, place on the rue de Rivoli. You can get a variety of delicious pasteries, cookies, beverages, and real food as well. But who needs real food when you can have hot chocolate and croissants?.... Josh does.

I ordered the chocolate chaud, and "toast" which came as these giant slices of broiche with jam, butter, and honey! mmmm! The chocolat was just as I had researched. A little pot of pure, melted chocolat, served with fresh whipped cream on the side to mix in. Magnifique! Josh got a veggie quiche and frites! And a palmier, which was delicious as well! I was not even slightly disppointed! I intend to go back and try some of the many, creative macaroon flavors soon!

After brunch, we went to l'Orangerie, the new museum in jardin de tuilieries, that has a huge Monet and Renoir collection. It was beautiful to see these giant Monet paintings that took up whole walls! And Josh was full of all sorts of information about the artists. Since we were in an art mood - we proceeded to the Musee de l'art moderne, which Josh did not know existed. It is truly amazing! It is a huge, beautiful, modern art museum in west Paris near la tour! There are some amazing works inside and the whole museum is stunning. It was a wonderful surprise to us both, since we had no expectations! There are so many musuems in Paris, I must go to them all before I leave so I do not miss out on anything!

The final thing we discovered today was a wonderful thai restuarant on my street! Where we shared spring rolls and green curry! The flavors were wonderful and it was nice to take a break from French food for a night! We wanted to go on a night walk - but it started to rain during dinner, so instead we are going to watch a movie, encore. Man in the Iron Mask was really cool to watch last night after having been at Vaux le Vicomte! If you have not seen it - do yourself a favor and rent it on Itunes for $2. You won't be disappointed!

Tomorrow, Josh has his final "surprise" for me during the afternoon. I have no idea what it is, just that it involves lunch. I got sad today realizing he is leaving soon. I cannot believe 2 weeks has gone so fast! We have had the most wonderful time in France together, in the city we both love so much! And I will miss his killer French skills. I think they were starting to rub off on me because I actually pronounced some words with the correct accent today. I am still working on the french "r" - which is near impossible for Americans, but I said "joshua" correctly today. It is pronounced "JO-SUE-AH" It's very tricky because there is no "shhh" sound involved. There is no "shhhh sound in French at all. It's quite funny to hear a french person say Joshua Jay.

Once Josh is parti, and I am sad and drinking lots of vin- then I can focus on blogging every moment of my life here again and updating my posts with photos - so hang in there until Tuesday. Bon nuit mes amis!

Vaux le Vicomte

2009-10-11T01:13:00.004+02:00

Today was Josh's birthday! Well, not really...his birthday is in two weeks, but since we won't be together, we celebrated today! So, we took a birthday trip!

We took the train to Vaux le Vicomte, a beautiful chateaux outside of Paris, with an interesting history. It was built by a finanical minister of France, who was thought to have been stealing money from the country - so his elaborate chateaux was confiscated from him, and he was put in prision only months after building was finished. Louis XIV used it as inspriation for Versailles - which you can see through the architecture outside, and the elaborate, beautiful, decorating inside.

We got there around 4, and immeaditely rented on of the golf carts you could drive around the enormous gardens in! Josh even let me drive....temporairly. It was beautiful weather this afternoon, and we had a wonderful time exploring the gardens, taking post-card worthy photos, and driving around the grounds. The gardens are medevial-style, with really meticulous shapes carved into grass, and triangular trees. The chateaux itself is not as large as Versailles, but very stunning and opulent from the outside and inside. We did not go inside during the day - because each Saturday they do a candelight night tour of the chateaux! They place and light about a million little candles all over the gardens, the outside of the chateaux, and the interior. Then, once its dark the candels are the only lights and you tour everything that way! It was gorgeous!

While we waited for the sun to set, we had dinner at the resturant in the gardens, overlooking the chateaux and watching sunset. It was such a beautiful setting, watching the sky get dark and the candels get bright. It was also great because unlike Versailles, which is so crowded, there were not many people there. It is truly a hidden bijou! After dinner we got to see the inside, all lit by candels, the way it originally would have been lit at night. Nicolas Fouquet, who build the chateaux, had a family crest that had a picture of a squirel. This explained the thousands of stuffed squirels in the giftshop that had puzzeled me earlier. I explained this to Josh, saying - 'Oh, that is why the sold squirels in the giftshop!" And he thought I meant live squirels. Proving that everyone has blonde moments. Not just us blondes.

We are now back in Paris - about to watch one of my favorite movies - The Man In the Iron Mask - because it was filmed at Vaux le Vicomte! It is so cool to visit a place and then see it in a movie! And, it is an awesome movie, that I highly recommend seeing if you have not! Any movie that was filmed in France is a movie you should watch! Since I could not make Josh a birthday cake today, since we took a spontaneous trip - I will make the fondant au chocolat tomorrow for him instead! That is a chocolate cake that is all meltly and gooey fudge in the middle! it's his favorite. Celebrating your birthday over 2 days is much more fun anyways!

Pas des temps pour blogging!

2009-10-07T00:53:00.002+02:00

C'est tres difficile de trouver les temps pour "blogging" quand ton petit ami est ici, et vous passez tous les temps avec les activities amusant!

Since Josh has arrived I have basically been MIA. From facebook, from emails, from journaling, and oui- from my blog. Je suis desolee. But, it's hard to find time to blog when every minute is filled with fun, and that's exactly what has been happening!

I can't begin to describe this past weekend that we spent in La Loire right now, because I do not have the time or energy it will take. I will do it as a re-cap blog post soon, but to preview - I will say that I spent the most wonderful and amazing weekend like a princess! More to come on that later!

Today was a very cultural day for us. I spent going to class, sadly. But I met Josh during my break at the Musee d'Orsay. Josh studied French Art for a year while he lived in Paris - so he is basically a walking guide-book to the museum. It was quite handy to have him as a tour guide. I have chosen my favorite painting in the Musee d'Orsay. A Van Gogh of two people sleeping in haystacks. It is stunning. Josh likes Cezanne. He taught me all about him as we admired his art. Like I said - he is very handy. And quite cute.

When I was done with class for the day, I came home and cooked dinner for Josh and Caroline! We've been eating out a lot - so a home cooked meal sounded wonderful! And not to brag - but it was! I made (whole wheat) bowtie pasta, with fresh red, orange, and yellow peppers, lardons, grilled chicken, fresh mozzarella, and tomato sauce! And of course, salade verte et vin rouge! Josh originally offered to do the dishes, and said "where's the dishwasher?" It was very cute because no old, little, french apartments have dishwashers! His face upon learning this was priceless. But he did rinse them all, to prep for washing later. We had to run out because we went to a concert at L'Eglise Madeline where a live choir was performing Mozart's Requiem. It was amazing! The church is so beautiful inside, and the acoustics with the choir was fabulous. It made me miss high school choir for a second. Just one. It was such a fun thing to do though! Josh is full of fun ideas and surprises.

Post-concert we walked up the Champs Elysee and got I got ice cream, Josh got second dinner. We passed the sparkling tour on the way - and then saw the enormous arch! I just love Paris! Even more when Josh is visiting!

Dans Le Noir

2009-10-01T00:15:00.004+02:00

Tonight one of Josh's mystery Paris surprises was revealed! We ate dinner in a restaurant that was pitch black inside. PITCH BLACK. You could not see a thing. Not the table, your food, your glass, the person next to you, your waitor....nothing. It was tres cool and quite an experience.

Let me elaborate.....
It's called "Dans Le Noir" (In the Dark) and it is a concept created in 2004 to both support the Foundation for blind people, and to open up your sense of taste in a new way. Without your greatest sense -sight - the way you taste things is completely different and more intense. All the waitors and waitresses are blind, and the place is literally so dark you cannot see your hand in front of you, and your eyes do not adjust at all throughout the whole dinner. You enter first into a little, lit, room where they make you lock up everything that has light (watch, cel phone, camera) and then you pick how many courses you want. You have no idea what you're going to be eating, you just choose how much you want to eat. When your table is ready, you get in a line and are lead into the restaurant by your blind leader.

It was literally crazy. We walked through the curtain and had to just follow the woman leading my hand through the darkness until we arrived at our table, which we couldn't see, to the chair - which you had to feel for and sit yourself in. Once we sat, we felt around for our silverware and cups, and waited for our food to come. It was Josh, his good friend Rune, and myself. And the other strangers at the table, who we spoke with but didn't see. It's really odd when you can only talk to someone but not see them. You can't tell their reaction, if they're paying attention, if their itching their face. It is really crazy to have your sight gone, but everything else continues as normal. I must note - I made an excellent joke of "this restaurant would be a great place for a blind date". I get it from my dad.

When the food starting arrving things got tough, and very interesting. Imagine your plate in front of you, full of food you don't know, and you can't see a thing. Using a fork and knife was really difficult, since you needed your hands to find your plate and where the food was on the plate. So I copied Josh and used a hand/fork combo in order to eat. The food was really amazingly delicious. We got the menu with entree, plat, dessert, so it was 3 mystery courses. I had the following ideas going through my mind during each....
1 - some delicious carroty-tasting cold thing. some taste I can't place...what is that taste?? oniony but not - driving me nuts that I can't place it. Fruity-type warm thing stuffed with cheese. Mmmmm
2 - some type of fish in a tangy sauce. some glob of cripsy, warm, and gooey potato-like thing. (Loving that) Something I tried to bite, but it felt rubbery and weirded me out a bit. Thinking it could be some type of tentacle? Don't attempt to eat that.
3 - Apple (?) crumble thing. Found some type of fruit sorbet too that's amazing. Can't place the flavor. Key lime tart-type thing. Tarte thing is amazing. Want more tarte thing.

In addition, just imagine pouring yourself a glass of water, in the pitch black! It was really such a cool experience, and such a good dinner! It is crazy to be eating something, and you know that you know the taste, but you can't place it. And the taste of eveything is megafied because your greatest sense is gone.

When everything was finished, and we were lead out, we waited for our eyes to adjust and then they show and tell you what you ate. Which is really fun because then you go "ohhhhhhh it was shallots!" and so on. And it's when you realize you have spilled some food on the front of your dress. And your boyfriend laughs at you for being a messy eater.

All in all, it was such a cool experience and unique thing to do. Leave it to Josh to plan wonderful surprises like this one! They also have locations in London, Bruxelles, and San Francisco, so if your near - I would totally reccomend going! It's eating out, in a whole new light.

Mon Amour est arrive!

2009-09-29T01:05:00.002+02:00

Aujord-hui - mon amour est arrive a Paris!

I velibed home from class as quickly I could possibly Velib, and ran down my rue to find mon amour sitting in the cafe across from my building! You can only imagine how magnifique it was!

We set out on an adventure tout a suite, and decided to walk over to ile de la cite to get a late lunch. We couldn't pass Notre Dame on the way without stopping in to look around, but then continued on to a little boulangerie where we got a peice of quiche and a demi baguette pizza with crudite. I must also note that Josh pruchased a jus d'orange. I have always found it oddly charming that Josh always drinks orange juice at the most peculiar times and with the oddest food choices. Anyways....the manging of these delicious items took place 3 minutes later on the bank of the Seine. Have I mentioned yet that it was absolutely beautiful today? Sun shining, wind blowing, completely parfait! After our lunch, Josh needed second lunch/lunch dessert - so he got a nutella crepe of course! We decided to start walking to Montmarte, which is both our favorite area of Paris. From the ile de la cite, it is quite a walk, but we love adventures so it was more an amusing walk than a hike. We stopped several times to look at beautiful things and say how much we love Paris.

When we finally arrived at la butte de Montmarte, it was sunset and the sky was this beautiful mix of bright pink and blue! Sacre Couer, the beautiful, white, giant that it is was gleaming at the top of the hill, people were drinking wine on the hill, the adorable merri-go-round was spinning, and then we saw the eiffel tower in the distance - SPARKLING! There simply are not words....

We walked up to the top and around the square with the artists until we found a cute petit restuarant where we had such good food, wine, and scenery. We absolutely love Montmarte. Josh's favorite thing about Montmarte: " the setting and the company"
My favorite thing about Montmarte: "the tiny, cobblestone rues of cuteness"

It was such a perfect first day in Paris together! It is so wonderful to have your amour in Paris with you because everyone else does, and when yours is missing, it is very dommage! Tomorrow we are going to Disneyland Paris! Where rumor has it, there is a fete de High School Musical! Oh la la!

"The September Issue"

2009-09-26T02:13:00.002+02:00

Thursday night is movie night in Paris for me and Caroline! We've gone to a movie each thursday night since we've been here, so the tradition continued this week with "The September Issue"

If you don't know - this is a documentary about the making of the September Issue of Vogue Magzine. September is like January in the fashion world, the new beginning, the start of the year. The September Issue of Vogue is nearly 1000 pages of the most important looks, designers, and trends of the year. Vogue is run by the amazing, "ice queen" Anna Wintour - and the doctumentary offers an inside look into her life - much more real than the depiction in "The Devil Wears Prada." Now, I knew going into it that it was going to be good, but it was amazing. I was completely fascinated from start to fin. Her power and influence over every aspect of the fashion world is remarkable.

I read a biography (unauthorized) about her life in high school, and her rise to power as editor-in-chief of the Bible of fashion. The September Issue shows you first hand her expertise and personality - showing that all the rumors are true - and fabulous. She is fabulous. There's no other word. Not only did the doctumentary leave you thirsting for fashion and dying to shop, but it was truly an indepth look about how the magazine comes together, and it is fascinating. It reminded me how much I love fashion, and how badly I want to work in it. Yes - I actually want to work someday.

Aside from the indepth look into the workings of Vogue, there are magnifique shots of Paris and New York! What could be better! New York, Paris, Vogue, and couture! It may well be the best doctumentary ever made!

www.theseptemberissue.com

Raoul, Cupcakes, et Roti Magnifique!

2009-09-23T20:35:00.005+02:00

Today may have been one of my most wonderful days in Paris yet!

I had no classes at AUP today! Both my French class and Art class were held walking about les rues! I started with French class, where we went down to Montparnasse, where I had not yet been! Madame Picard showed us around the area, pointing out her favorite cafes, cinemas, et boulangeries! We stopped at a cafe for chocolate chaud and just talked about la vie! There was a street marche that we walked through, looking at jewlery, food, clothes, art, all the various things in the market. We talked to the venders in French, we laughed, we bargined, then we walked some more! It was so fun! Our tour continued through les jardin de luxembourg, and ended near la Sorbonne, and I had a bit of time to walk around and up to Les Halles for my other class, History of Paris through its Architecture. Today we met at St. Eustache, and learned about the church there becuase it is a great example of a hybrid style (half gothic half Renassiance). It is a beautiful church, patroned by the marketplace that used to thrive during the reign of Francis 1 in the fifteenth century. Tres beaux et magnifique! We also went to the Fountain of Innocents, right beside it. I am learning so much about Paris - I love it! It is so fun to see things and know the history behind them! It makes everything even better than it is.

It was beautiful today! So after class was finished I hopped on a Velib and biked over La Bourse to go to the outdoor market and buy a chicken for dinner! If you don't know - In Paris there are Rotis on the street, that have chickens roasting in them and potatoes cooking under! So the potatoes have all the chicken flavors dripping on them while they both cook. It is AMAZING! The smell alone makes your mouth water, and I hadn't eaten since breakfast so I was starving! But - I got to la bourse and the market was fini! A bit discouraged, I got another velib and headed back towards le marais. On the way, a cute and delicious looking organic store caught my eye, so I locked my bike up and went inside to see if they had something for dinner! When I came out minutes later, without food, I could not get my velib unlocked! The key wouldn't turn! I flagged down other bikers for help after trying myself for 15 minutes, but no one could unlock my bike!

You get charged by the 1/2 hour for your velib, so you don't want to just leave it sitting there! And if you don't return it in 24 hours, they charge you 150 euros! So it was crucial that I unlocked my velib fast! I decided to go search for a policeman, meanwhile I attempted to explain my problem in French over the phone to the police. I must have looked very distressed, because three men sitting in tabac saw and overheard me, and offered to help.

They were a funny group. A young french guy - Raoul, who was playing cards with an old french guy, Marcel, and the bartender, a young italian guy, was keeping their score. It was their daily routine: sit in the Tabac, play cards, have a boisson, and they were quite funny. I tried to explain my problem in French to them, and I think they only half understood me - because Raoul responded with "Cheri, don't worry about the bike - what would you like to drink!" But I didn't want a drink - I wanted help! So, I re-explained my problem with many gestures, to their amusement, until the bartender presented me with these giant wire clippers - and told me to clip the cord! I took the pliers and tried it, but the cord had metal inside so it was not working. While I attempted to vandalize my velib, Raoul came out to help me, and was able to turn the key and unlock my velib! I was so relieved, and my new friends insisted that I have a "coke light" to celebrate. They were a funny trio - Raoul from Paris, Marcel from Provence, and the bartender from Italy. After much laughing, bad French, and a proposal of marriage from Raoul, I thanked them all again for their help - and started walking towards home again.

I turned down a street I had not yet seen, and it turned out to be la rue de la chance! Right there was a charcuterie with a roti, roasting chickens and potatoes! The butcher told me "dix minute pour le petit poulet', so I occupied myself by continuing down the rue - and found a cupcake shop! I could hardly believe it! 15 flavors of cupcakes and mini cupcakes, beautifully decorated and lined up in a case! Monsier Cupcake began to tell me the flavors: Oreo, red velvet, chocolat blanc, poivre, peanut m&m, casis, and I stopped him at "caramel burre salee"! Une petit si vous plait! OMG was it amazing! There was salted carmel filling, carmel frosting, and chunks of peanuts on top as a garnish. All in a two bite, mini gateaux! Dessert before dinner! High on frosting, I continued to find the cutest little shop of clothes, shoes, and umbrellas that was so cheap! I tried on some robes and contemplated buying a black umbrella with cream hearts and ruffle trim, but decided to wait until I lose or break my current umbrella. Which will happen any day, most likely, given my history with umbrellas. Which could be a whole blog post on it's own. It rains a lot in Paris, so a cute umbrella is a must have for la blonde parisienne!

So after all my fun, I went back to the butcher and bought my little chicken and yummy potatoes, and carried them home with the smell sweet of rotisserie teasing my tastebuds with every step. Inside, I carved the chicken, dished up some potatoes, poured a glass of vin, put on my French music, and had a delightful fin to a delightful day!

Oh, I forgot to mention.... I am never leaving Paris!

Gustave Eiffel, Je t'aime.

2009-09-21T18:46:00.001+02:00

Today as I walking to the library from my French class (spent in un cafe again over cremes reading Le Petit Prince) one of those wonderful Eiffel Tower moments happened! If you don't know what I am talking about....let me elaborate on what I refer to as "un moment magie de la tour."

I was simply walking down la rue, looking at my carte and trying to find the right directions to get to the AUP library. When I turned off the main rue, onto the side rue, there was the tour - huge, beautiful, and towering above me. This happens often in Paris- you are somewhere and do not even realize the tour is near, and then you turn et volia! Moments like this - les moments magie de la tour, make your heart stop. Something prohibits your eyes from looking away, and you simpy have to stop and stare as an enormous smile takes over your face and tears of joy begin to form because you are reminded that you are in Paris. And somehow, your day is suddenly better! Your fatigue has subsided, your worries vanished, and everything and everyone couldn't be more bon.

To celebrate my love for the tour, I went to the Gustave Eiffel exposition at l'Hotel de Ville called "Magicien de Fer" all about the wonderful man who created the tour and it's history! An entire exhibit devoted to the tour? What could be better! Photos were strictly "interdit" - but I snuck a few when the guards weren't looking. The exhibit was really interesting, and I learned alot - despite all the information being in French. I knew that when the tour was built, it was not liked. But, I did not know that the following year several architects proposed ideas to transform it into something else, by adding things to it! Thank Dieu it didn't happen! But it was very cool to see all the drawings and the history of my monument favori!

I love the Eiffel Tower so much, that I feel bad that our relationship is so one-sided. The tour gives, and I just take, take, take! Sure I picnic there often, and admire its magic, but for awhile now I have wished there was something that I could do for the tour to thank it for being so wonderful. So, c'est decide! When I get my blonde french bulldog, I am going to name him Gustave, after Gustave Eiffel. Could there be a more perfect name for my French bulldog? Je pense que non!

Another wonderful thing happened today as I was picking up my leather jacket from le retouche after ripping the sleve on a rude gate the other day. Monsieur et moi were talking about how they had fixed the rip, and the words were coming out of my mouth without me even thinking about them! It is so wonderful and fun when that happens! Usually I have to think about what I want to say and how to say it, but sometimes, the words just come out naturally, and it is the best feeling! You feel so accomplished and French! I biked home afterwards, in the perfect weather, around perfect St. Germain, past perfect Notre Dame and to our perfect apartment. It was a perfect jour parisienne!

Une Soiree Chez Nous

2009-09-19T10:39:00.001+02:00

Last night we had our first soiree at our apartement! We had some friends from AUP over for margaritas, chips, and guacamole! Mmm! Maddy, who is studying her French here to attend le cordon bleu, made the guacamole and it was delicious! She also taught me a wonderful trick about preserving it so it won't go brown - you keep the seeds in! It is amazing, it stays perfectly fresh and green for hours! Maddy worked at a professional bakery, so she is very experienced in desserts! We have decided to take a "French pastry tour" and try all the pasteries of Paris. The only condition is that we must run to each patisserie, and run back, to avoid gaining 100 pounds by the end of the tour. Bon idee!

We went to a few neighborhood places afterwards, and then ended up at "MyBerry" - which is French Pinkberry! There is a faux Pinkberry in Paris, right next door to our apartment! I didn't get any last night, so I cannot say yet if it is the same, but it looked wonderful! For a Pinkberry obsessee (moi) it is nice to know I don't have wait 4 months!

Yesterday was the first warm and sunny day all week! So of course - we had a pique-nique! We were contemplating all our various pique-niqueing options, and decided on the Champs de Mars because we both missed the Eiffel Tower. I need to see it on a daily basis, it is like a drug. I need my dose of the tour to make it through the day. I made us what I am calling "salade de thon francais." French tuna salad! I bought some tuna at the grocery store, came home and added some fresh cumcumber and carrots that I chopped up, EVOO (as Rachel Ray would say), and salt and pepper. I despise mayo, so I created my own - mayoless version, that was really delicious and healthy! We packed that up with clementines, almonds, and a baguette and 30 minutes later we were laying on the Champs de Mars, enjoying! We stayed there all day, journaling, reading, listening to French music, and napping. Magnifique! I eventually got up, and rode a velib home, passing la musee de la mode on the way home, which is gorgeous! Sadly, the fashion musuem is closed until 2010, so I will never get to see what would probably be my favorite musuem in Paris! I guess I will just have to come back in 2010 to see it......c'est dommage!

I also saw another thing on my bike ride that was dommage! A pink and white, vintage looking Vespa! I felt the cold stab of jealously for the very first time. It should be mine! It has "Blonde Parisienne" written all over it! While I do love riding a bike everywhere, riding a Vespa everywhere would be so much more fun! I have decided that when I move back to Paris after graduation to open my Bakery, I will have a pink Vespa just like it. I wonder if I could get cupcake upholstery....?

Au Cinema Pour "Julia et Julia"

2009-09-18T01:14:00.000+02:00

C'est jeudi! Pas d'ecole demain et pour le weekend!

The second week of school went tres vite! I am happy to report that I am getting much better in my French class. I am near to comprehending about 85% of what happens. Today was wonderful because we spent class in a cafe a cote de le rue, drinking chocolat chaud and speaking French! What a wonderful way to spend the class period! Today was "club day" at AUP, meaning all the clubs were recruiting members. I am now a proud member of the French Club (of course), the Theatre Club (please no laughter), and the running club (they were warned). I thought, why not join beaucoup de clubs, thus increasing my French activites and friend-making possibilites! Alors, I did! Regretfully, the cooking club no longer exists! I was really wanting to join the cooking club, and now so more than ever, after seeing "Julia and Julia"

What a movie magnifique! I must remember to tell Meryl how much I enjoyed it the next time I see her! Really though, it is truly a work of art! There are several scenes of Paris, and better yet - "old Paris" which is so charmante. Meryl Streep plays Julia Child with perfection, and really makes you fall in love with Julia! Oh how Julia Child and I would have gotten along! She loved cooking, loved food, and loved Paris! It is quite possible she is my soul mate! I have never seen a depiction of a person with more joie de vivre than her! The movie is both funny and endearing, like a dream for the food-lovers and the French lovers of the world. Which should be everyone. If you don't fall into one of those groups....what are you doing with yourself? Get a baguette, some vin, listen to "la vie en rose", and get it together!

All Crepes Are Not Created Equal

2009-09-16T02:39:00.001+02:00

Crepes may well be one of my absolute favortie things to mange in the world. Living in Paris, and having access to fresh crepes whenever I want is something I do not take for granted!

The crepe itself is such a wonderful idea! Why not take a pancake-like batter, form it into a paper-thin circular shape, and then fill it with a variety of sweet or savory items to create the ultimate on-the-go meal?

However, all crepes are not created equal! Sadly, every once in awhile you may order your crepe and discover the crepe is not made fresh to order, put was pre-made and will simply be filled! Sometimes your crepe may be smaller than the usual ones, and it is gone within bites! Some crepe batters are different than others, and some crepe makers cook their crepes longer than others, so it could be too crispy! Worst of all, you may order your Nutella crepe and find there is not nearly enough Nutella! The rule for toppings, on anything, is always - the more the merrier! So, after a few crepes, you begin to learn which creperies, or crepe makers will likely produce the most delicious crepe, and you try to go to them to fill your needs.

But every once in a while, you pass a crepe stand and you just know, "that would definitley be one amazing crepe," and that is precisely what happened to me today.

I ended up near the Bourse on my 3 hour break betweeen classes, because I attempted to go to la bibliotheque nationale to do some homework, mais unluckily for me, it is closed this week! So instead a did some reading in a nearby parc of cuteness, and then started to walk towards the Metro to head to school, when I found an adorable, petit, outdoor market! I was browsing through the fresh fruit, vegetables, roasting chickens and potatoes, old books, fromages, and hand-knit sweaters, and when I saw it. A little creperie stand, with a young french woman using the rake to thin the perfect looking crepe batter over the hot griddle. I could tell she was putting so much love and care into each crepe she made, and I just knew - that would be one amazing crepe!

I conveinantly had not eaten anything but my apple for breakfast, so my stomach begged for the sweet aroma of the cooking crepes! I scanned the board detailing my options for fillings.
Madame Crepe informed me that their "homemade caramel buerre salee" is their best crepe. I cannot put into words the way I feel about caramel buerre salee, so it was very tempting. But I was really craving something savory, so I went with jambon et chevre. (I am a bit obbsessed with chevre.) As she layered on the ham and goat cheese generously, folded the crispy edges over eachother, and handed me my lunch of joy, I could hardly contain my excitement.

One bite in and my tastebuds were going wild. It really was the best crepe I have ever eaten. It was the perfect thinness, and made with the darker crepe batter that I prefer! The salty jambon contrasting the creamy chevre, among the oozes of guyrere and folds of crepe was unreal. All I could think of all day was how I would have to return another time to try the buerre salee crepe! And perhaps see the library as well.

It just goes to show you, you find the best things when you're not looking for them! And - you find the best things if you are in Paris!

Au Revoir, Merchant Souris!

2009-09-15T00:39:00.000+02:00

Last night was the final straw! Or as I learned in French class this week "c'est un comble!"

As I was parleing avec mes parents last night, they asked me if I had seen the mouse lately. I was happily telling them that non, I had not, and like clockwork Rataouille popped his furry head out from under the fridge where he hides! I screamed and he went back under, only to reappear moments later! I got the frebreeze and starting spraying it around the kitchen like a mad-person, under the fidge and cabinets - attempting to poison him with fake watermelon scent and dis-infectent. I swear though, this mouse is after me! I went into my room, stuffed a towel under the door to prevent any intrusions, and began to do some reading.

Then.....

RATATOUILLE WIGGLED IN, THROUGH MY BLOCKING-DEVISE, INTO MY ROOM!

I swear this mouse is out to get me!

I screamed, jumped up and continued screaming, woke up Caroline, who was freaked out too, and ended up shoving books in front of my door and going to sleep in Caroline's room, laying stiff as a bored, mind on mice and freaked out. It is was totally unsucessful because I couldn't sleep at all knowing Ratatouille had the run of the apartment!

After school today, we went to BHV where we bought les peiges des souris (mouse traps) and "an electronic cat", which is this cat shaped thing you plug into the wall that omits sounds that only animals can hear that scare them. It also has these creepy red eyes that light-up. We finished dinner, plugged in the electronic cat, and set the mouse traps with pont l'eveque and peanut butter! That's right - we sacrificed some of the small amount of peanut butter we have here with us to bring about the death of Ratatouille! We mean business! The traps should kill the one who seems to think this is HIS apartement, and the cat should keep away others to want to move in, according to M. BHV Worker (who originally was telling me, in French, that mouse traps are mean, and to be gentle with the mice! HA!) I cannot wait to wake up and see la mort de Ratatouille! I don't think I have ever been as obbsessed with accomplishing something as I am with ending the life of this mouse! I am a parisienne obbsessed!

Just in case both these plans fail, I have a back-up plan of extremeness. Mouse exterminator men! I called today and discovered that they come and put down some type of poison or something around, and the mice never come back - ever! They guarentee! It sounds magnifique but it is quite expensive, so it is a last resort. But I have learned through this adventure that the feeling secure and the ability to sleep at night without fear of being nibbled on, is priceless!

My First "American Moment"

2009-09-13T15:12:00.000+02:00

I started off yesterday with another run through les jardins de tuilieries! It is such a beautiful place to run, and afterwards you can sit in one of the several chairs around the fountain and look up to the Champs! It is a wonderful, post run place to forget the pain of what you've just done.

Caroline and I decided to have an exploration day because it was sunny and warm, so we started walking from our apartment and ended up at le Bastille eventually. We passed a very petit little grocery store along the way, called "Thanksgiving". It was full of peanut butter, Betty crocker mixes, chocolate chips, easy mac, candy bars, bisquick, and other American goodies. However, it was super overpriced! The oatmeal I wanted to get was 10 euros, which is about $15.00! I think I'll stick with crossiants, merci! We wandered for about 2 hours, and kept peeking into various patasseries looking for a treat, and then something awful happened....

We had a totally American moment, and went into McDonalds to get McFlurrys! I know, I knowww it's bad, but at the time - it sounded so good! And I must admit I was curious to try one because I have seen several people eating them and looked different here! The flavor options are much different, and the size is much smaller! I choose "crumble" flavor, which turned out to be chunks of shortbread in my vanilla glace! Yum! Caroline got the French version of a Heath bar, that's called "Daim". As embarassed as I was to be an American eating McDonald's in Paris - it was delicious! I am trying my hardest to only be french when i'm here, but when it comes to ice cream - the rules change! McDonalds is much better, cleaner, and chicer in Paris, and everyone we meet thinks we are either Swedish or Scandanavian, not American. So hopefully people thought "oh look at those swedish girls eating Mcdonalds", not "those sad americans are actually eating mcdonalds in Paris?"

After our exploration afternoon, I jumped on a Velib and biked over to Le Bon Marche to go to Le Grand Epicerie and get some groceries and dinner! It is a really quick and pleasant bike ride up the Seine and one rue over to it! The problem was when I got there! Le Grand Epicerie is this ginormous, beautiful, grocery store of delight. They have the most wonderful quality of breads, cheeses, meats, treats, fruits - you name it, they have it, and it is bon! But again, I had the same problem I had last time - I don't know what to buy because I don't really know what anything is! Fruits and veggies are easy, but you get to the boulangerie and there are about 100 kinds of pain you can chose, and I don't know what they mean! Then I move onto jambon and have the same problem! And I also don't know the metic conversions for pounds so I don't know how much to ask for! The low moment was standing in front of the dairy section for at least 30 minutes analyzing different yogurt products. Fromage blanc, yaogurt, creme, it's so confusing! Then there are hundreds of brands and flavors to choose from once you've decided what thing you should get! And since the labels are all in french, you really have no idea what anything means! I never thought of how hard grocery shopping in another country is! I can only imagine what Europeans think when they come into a Giant Eagle! So after about 2 hours in Le Grand Epicerie I left with peaches, fromage blanc, carrots, a baguette, wheat bread, and a roasted chicken for dinner. I need a grocery shopping assistant for next time.

Caroline cooked us up a wonderful dinner! She made some scalloped potatoes and cooked carrots that we had with salad and the chicken! It was like home-on-the-french-farm yumminess! Sometimes there is nothing like a home-cooked meal!

We went out and about after dinner! We were invited to a house-warming party for some friends of Caroline's friend, Jacob, who goes to Parsons here. It was themed "dress as your idol". I have actually never been to a theme party, becaue of not attending a proper college with weekly frat parties (thankfully). So, it was a first! Since we really did not pack along our costumes from home, we made to make due with our wardrobes. A black dress, flats, and a french twist later - I was Audrey Hepburn. Caroline put together the most perfect Hannah Montana outfit ever, and off we went to the 17th! We got some beyond strange looks on our street, due to Caroline looking like the most ridiculous American tourist ever to those who didn't recognize she was dressed as Hannah for a costume party...which was everyone. We were by no means the most creative people there. We partied among Lady Gaga, Mic Jagger, Twiggy, Velma Kelly, and (female) John Lennon, to name a few. But we came home kind of early so we could wake up for church, and watch a crappy movie before bed! I have a weakness for really ridiculous, cheesy movies. (Think High School Musical)

We found a great church today! We went to the American Church of Paris, which is beautiful! It's a cathedrale, all white inside with beautiful stained-glass windows in blue! The pastor was great, and it was a big congregation (ltos of opportunities to make friends). We're going to start going to the Young Adult Bible Study on Tuesdays, and make that our church while we're here! Caroline may help with the cheerleading team they have, so she cannot make fun of me anymore for wanting to join AUP's theatre club.

I have to spend the rest of the afternoon attempting to teach myself direct and indirect object pronouns in French. I have a quiz tomorrow, and my teacher did the review completely in French - so I was lost. My other assignment was to memorize the lyrics to la vie en rose, but luckily, I already know them, as any good parisienne should!

Piq-nique at le louvre!

2009-09-11T20:18:00.000+02:00

Today we woke up, and both said "do you want to have a piq-nique!" Well actually, we said picnic, because Caroline doesn't speak French. Yet.

So we decided to go get a baguette, and take some yummy baugette toppings and blanket to les jardins des tuilieries. There is a wonderful patch of lawn that is right in the middle of les jardins and le louvre, with a view of the tour, and that is where we sat!

It was the most beautiful day for a picnic! Warm and sunny, but also a breeze, and a perfectly clear blue sky! The louvre is so totally beautiful, that is almost unreal to sit there and eat your baguette and nap and be with friends. Or in our case, a friend. We are still working on coming up with French friends.... It's a work in progress.

In the midst of our wonderful picnic, I got some wonderful news!!
One of my classes at AUP was called "Media, Law, Policy, and Ethics". In other words, the class of doom. It was basically a law class! And as much as I have always wanted to be Elle Woods, I do not have any interest in law! So, yesterday I went to an academic advisor at AUP, and found a class that is much more in line with my interests - "Paris through art and architecture". So, I was awating confirmation from FIT that I could get credit for it, and I got it!! So, I need to switch from the class of law doom, to the class of Paris fun! And because I am taking an art history class, I get a special student ID that lets me into every museum and momument in Paris for free! How magnifique is that! The class meets twice a week, the first day you have a lecture on somewhere, and the next day you visit that place and learn about it on site! It is the class of my Parisienne dreams.

After out picnic, I came home to draft a letter to M. Drourard, our neighbor who "watches over" our apartement, to explain the mouse situation. I did it all in French ;)
Something needs to be done about the mouse, as he is still alive, and still terrorizing my life.

Tonight Caroline and I are going to see Harry Potter! With French subtitles! How fun! I can learn all sorts of new French vocabulary like "broomstick, wand, spell, and wizard!" It should definitley come in handy in my daily life. Afterall, my boyfriend is a magician! haha! The theatre is on the Champs so before we can do some exploring in the 8th. And maybe some crepes for dinner!

A night of Harry Potter and crepes! Ohhhhh, how I love Paris.

Mes Devoirs Amusement!

2009-09-09T21:45:00.001+02:00

Today I had 3 hours of French, and did un petit better than I did yesterday with comprehension. It is really hard to only know what is happening half the time you are in class, but I think that I am getting better each day. J'espere!
But class was fun today because we are working on two things right now which I have homework for.
1 - La Vie En Rose. My favorite song. I prefer Louis Armstrong version, which is not in French but is fabulous. But, we are learning the song in french, as a little exercise to practice verb tenses
2 - La Petit Prince. A truly charming famous French book, which I have always loved. We are going to read it in French and discuss in class, in French.

It is really quite fun. I am just slightly frusterated with myself that I have forgotten so much, that I used to know so well. I am desperately wanting to be better.

After class I went to la banque with Caroline because my French credit card isn't working yet. Josh warned me that banking in France was tres annoying, but I opened an account anyways because
1. It's fun to have a French carte de credit
2. It will end up saving me a lot of Euros to not be a charged a fee on my American card.
What's odd about French credit cards is that there is a code you must punch in everytime you use it, like a debit card. My code secret was not working, so I went to the bank to see if they could tell me my code. The conversation resulted in me finding out that....
the code that was given to me was only for online banking, so it's not right, they can't tell me my code, they don't have access to that information, and they will mail me my code, which will take a few days. The biggest question I wondered upon leaving is "how does the bank, who issued my card, not have access to the information of what my code is!" I must admit that banking is definitely something I prefer in America.

I came home from class, and had plans to drop off my books and then go velo around St. Germain, but I layed down for what I thought was a minute, and woke up 5 hours later! I was very mad that I wasted my day sleeping, but I suppose I needed to catch up at some point. Caroline has class all day today, so I waiting for her to get home to go into the kitchen to mange something for dinner. Ratatoutille comes out at night, and I fear he will attack me if I am in there alone.

The peppermint oil didn't work. I saw him run around the kitchen last night as I was skyping with Josh, and was shocked and disgusted. I am also so mad that I turned our apartment into a candy cane for nothing! I do not know what to do now to get rid of Ratatouille besides call a mouse man to come deal with him. He is obviously a very smart mouse.

My new idea, in the meantime, is to pretend I am Cinderella, my favorite Princess. And then the mice would be my friends, wear little shirts and shoes, and help me do my chores.

I'm Living in a Candy Cane

2009-09-08T20:08:00.000+02:00

Oui, it smells like we are living in a candy cane. It's actually quite nice and soothing to contiously smell peppermint!

This is all due to Ratatoutille. After spotting him 3 times last night, and not sleeping at all because of my immense fear, I decided I needed to take action again! I could not wait for the peppermint oil to arrive, I went and bought a petit bottle today from this very nice French woman, who obviously thought I was nuts when I started acting like a mouse to communicate what I wanted the peppermint oil for. I came home, and basically poured it all over the kitchen, and around all the base-boards in the bedroom. According to Google, mice hate the smell of peppermint, so they will stay away from anywhere they smell it! The idea of keeping the mice away entirely is actually much more appealing to me than luring them in and poisoning them! I have also put the mort aux rats EVERYWHERE, so if one does brave the peppermint smell to enter, it will hopefully eat the poison. But, I think we are benefiiting from the oil because the smell is quite nice!

Today was my second day of school! I only had French today, which was even more funny than yesterday. We had class today with the teacher's assistant, Chloe, who will be teaching us every Tuesday. I guess Madame Picard exaplined this yesterday, but I failed to comprendre! So today we had Chloe, who ONLY speaks French! Very fast! It is quite funny to be sitting in class and honestly have no idea what is being said 50% of the time! I used to sit in Chemistry and think I had no idea what was going on, but at least I knew what the words meant. There is so much vocabulary that I do not know, and it is very confusing. It really makes me want to learn more and get better, so I have developed a plan.
In addition to daily class I must....
- listen to only french music on my i-pod
- watch French channels on TV a bit before bed
- watch french films with french subtitles so I can follow and understand
- read french books
I also plan to ask Josh to speak only French to me while he is visiting, because he sounds perfectly native. And it will be fun. And romantique!

So after french, I got a baguette sandwhich, and headed to the champs de mars to mange and then take a nap in the sun, watching la tour! I love the champs de mars. I want to buy a tent and camp out there with vin et baguettes. It really is a bonne idee!

I also pink-ed up my room today. It didn't seem like it without some pink! I needed extra sheets so I got pink ones (of course) and these adorable pink ruffle rugs! So I feel tres at home now, and love the apartement even more! Now all I need is a little French Bulldog puppy sitting on my bed to make mon apartement complete!

Le Premier jour d'ecole!

2009-09-07T21:48:00.000+02:00

Aujourd'hui etait mon premier jour d'ecole a AUP!
As I walked to my first class today, I tried to sink in everything so I would always remember the moment. Walking down le passage Jean Nicot, a cute cobble-stone street that leads to the building I needed to go to. I wore a dress I've had forever, a black and purple striped Betsey Johnson that it both comfortable, familiar, and (I think) kind of French looking. I arrived first, since I did not want to be late to my first class. But I also didn't want to be the loser that was first in the classroom. So I stalled some time, and walked in about 4th, taking a seat in the second row, which to me says "I am not an overachieving wierdo - but I take class seriously". I have solid class from 9am - 3pm on Monday, so it was a long day and I got a little taste of all my classes.
Marketing, French, Media Law, and Speech.
While I could comment on them all, I will stick to just speaking about French, because it was my favorite, the most funny, and seems the most promising.
From the time Madame arrived in the classroom, until the time class was fini she spoke maybe 1 sentence of English. Which, I suppose I had expected but as it was actually happening, all I could think was merde, I am rusty! She explained our class in French, syllabus in French, rules and expectations, everything! It was tres funny because a majority of the time, I was only taking in about 50% of what was being said! What I did comprenhend, is that the class is going to be very cool. There are only about 8 students, so we will all get a lot of personal attention, and personal assignments based on our skills and needs. We will also often conduct class in a cafe or somewhere in Paris that relates to what we're learning. How fun! It is French for commuication and culture, so I think it is exactly what I need to learn how to speak better, more vocabulary, and some street slang so I actually sound Parisienne. I hope that tomorrow, my french is better than today, and that trend continues! I think I will really be able to learn a lot in the class, and so I am really contente.

After school was over, Caroline and I went to lay in the sun on the Champs des Mars and look at the beautiful Eiffel Tower, towering above us beneath the clear blue sky. I think this is something I will have to do everyday. I velib-ed home after a petit of shopping at l'Opera, and rode past the Louvre, down the Seine, and right up to our rue. It was magnifique. I cannot put into words how beautiful Paris is on a sunny day, velib-ing around. I am tres obbsessed.

As dinnertime approached, I decided to go down to fanprix where I bought some jambon, chevre, spinach, and a bottle of beaujolis. I proceeded to make the most wonderful salad of spinach and jambon, topped with toasted goat cheese toasts of pain complete et chevre that I enjoyed with a glass of vin, and a petit scoop of Nutella on shortbread (made by Caroline) for dessert. I would normally never make myself a late night dinner of this magnitude and frenchness, but something about being in France makes you want to go the extra mile to treat yourself right.

I just had to take a fifteen minute break in my posting, because of the following events...

Ratatouille appeared
I screamed for Caroline
Ratatouille ran under the sink
Caroline ran into the kitchen
Caroline banged on the cabinets above the sink to scare Ratatouille away
We sprayed Febreeze everywhere, including under the sink, to posion Ratatouille with chemicals We got rid of all crumbs with a quick cleaning job
I poured myself a large glass of wine to ensure I sleep tonight
I ran into my room and stuffed a towel under my room so Ratatouille cannot enter, hopefully.
I resumed my posting, sitting on my bed, in fear.

The mort aux rats is obviously not working. Rataouille must know that it is actually death food and not real food. Blast! I am awaiting the peppermint oil to arrive from Amazon France, which is apparently supposed to keep them away. Until then, I sleep only by the power of vin, and in fear. Tonight I got a good look at him, and he is actually quite tiny, definitetly a mouse not a rat, which is a huge relief. If he was not terrozing mon apartement, I may even say he is cute. But mon fromage et ma vie is in danger while he lives, so he is nothing but the mouse of doom.

What I Love About Paris

2009-09-06T20:23:00.001+02:00

This is almost a silly post title, because I love everything about Paris! The list of things I love is never ending! But, today I have to comment on a particular thing I love.
Some of the things that are sterotypical about Paris or the French, or not actually the way it is here. For example, no one actually wears berets, and little scarves tied around their neck. However, the idea that everyone walks around with a baguette in their hand is extremely true!
It is so fun and adorable! Everyone you see walks around les rues with a french baguette traditionel from their local boulangerie. Some are nibbling on the end of it, some are saving it for the cheese they also puchased next door at the fromagerie. It makes you have to one too of course! The other thruth is that in Paris, wine is cheaper than water. Everyone drinks wine with every meal, you need wine to live. And I agree.

2E can get you a delicious bottle of wine
3E can get you a fresh baguette and your wine, and
6E can get you a wonderful chunk of fromage, that fresh baguette, and the wine!

So for 6E, you can have the ultimate French meal of delight. Tonight, chez nous, we had a delightful Chardonny, a cripsy baguette from the boulangerie, and pont l'eveque! All while listening to Frank Sinatra. It was magnifique! I could do it every night, with a different wine and a different cheese!

Earlier today, we woke up and went on a run through les jardins des tuileries! It was such a beautiful day today. We did a couple laps around les jardins, around the louvre, and then sat by the beautiful fountain, where you can see straight up le champs to the obelisk and l'arc de triomphe! It is quite a wonderful view, and the sun was shining, cute french children were all around me, and little french ducks were swimming in the water! Caroline and I stayed there for awhile, resting and loving Paris. It made me wonder.....why does everyone in the world not want to live here?

We went to church this afternoon, and then went to the Centre Pompdiou, because it was free! The public museums are free on the first Sunday of every month. I was glad it was free because
I would have rather spent my euros on macarons, to be honest. There was no Warhol, and only 1 Pollock. So I was disappointed. It is nowhere near the wonderment of le musee d'orsay or louvre. But, I am glad I saw it, and the building itself is tres amazing, and it has a breath-taking view of Montmarte and Sacre Coeur, my favorite church. There are so many musees I want to see while I am here, I will have to do at least 1 a week to fit them all in.

Tomorrow I begin school! I have class basically all day until 3. But I am oddly excited to see what classes are like here, make friends, and hang out on the champs de mars between classes. A semester of school that I am looking forward to.....only in France!

Day in le Marais

2009-09-05T02:28:00.000+02:00

I finally slept in today! It was much needed since I have been go, go, going since le moment that I arrived! There were no meetings or activities today for AUP so I was able to sleep till 11. But there was that small feeling upon waking up of "Merde - it's 11! I have wasted an afternoon in Paris sleeping!"

It was mom and dad's last day : ( They walked down from l'hotel to meet me in my neighborhood, le marais. Le marais is interesting because it is both the gay neighborhood, and the jewish neighborhood. What an odd yet wonderous mix! As a result, les rues are lined with fabulous shopping, and jewish delis. Le marais is the only part of Paris where you can find bagels, cheesecake, and falefel. Now true, none of those food items are French - but they are all delicious and sometimes (not very often but SOMEtimes) you might want something other than a croque monsieur. Today for example, mere et pere were a little over-frenched after nearly 2 weeks here, so we went to this adorable little jewish deli/diner we found steps from my apartement!
Mom and dad both ordered NY hotdogs that came with the coooolest fries! They were shaped like hot dog buns, so you could pour your ketchup on them and it would look like a mini hot dog, and hold your ketchup to insure some on every bite, and eliminate the possibility of mess! It was genius! I had some very yummy chicken noodle soup, great to keep in mind if I ever get sick.
We walked around le marais for a while, going in and out of all the ridiculously magnifique shops. I stopped to purchase some perfect ballerina flats so I can dance on les rues. I also purchased some mouse poision. Sorry Ratatouille, your doom awaits.

I also did some grocery shopping today, which proved to be quite funny since nothing in the grocery store is even midly recognizable aside from produce, bread, and nutella. It is kind of difficult because I don't know what snacks and brands are good and how to read the nutrition labels to see if things are healthy. Then I reminded myself.... I am in France! Everything is delicious, and nothing is healthy! Just try it all! So I got a small variety of things at the Franprix, and went to the local boulangerie for pain complete (wheat baguette). It is so fun to go buy your bread for your local little bread maker instead of the bread isle in Food Emporium. Another point awarded to France.
Current Point Standing - France= 100 U.S. = 1

The one thing I think is better in the US is the city plan. ONLY because nyc is a grid, so you can learn your way around the whole city in an hour, and you always know where you are and how to get where you want to go! Paris is just about as far from a grid as you could ever get. It is a series of small little rues that go every which way, and often change names several times, intersect with others, and are not all listed on different maps. So trying to find the street of the place you want to go is quite challenging, as is learning your way around!
What is fun, however, is that because of the several windy and unplanned streets, you can start walking without knowing the exact way, just keep following the cuteness in the general direction you need to go, discover hundreds of the tiniest, most adorable rues as you go, and eventually one leads to where you wanted to go! It is quite magicial! So really, the US should only get 1/2 point.

Today I Had Wine With Meryl Streep

2009-09-03T17:34:00.000+02:00

Well, pas exactement!

Apres visiting le Louvre avec ma mere et Caroline, we were extremely tired and in need of a glass of wine! So we decided to go to the cafe outside, near the pyramid and while we were enjoying our vin blanc, Caroline said "don't look now, but I think that's Meryl Streep." So of course, me and mere looked now, and it WAS Meryl Streep! Usually celebrity sightings to do not excite me because really, who cares. But Meryl Streep is in a completely different league of celebrity! It was very cool to be sipping your wine tables away from one of the most famous actresses ever, while people watching at the Louvre! Paris is simply magnifique! Even Meryl thinks so!

Mom kind of liked the Louvre, I think only because we did not stay there very long. Caroline and I found out we get in free because we are students in France, so due to tiredness, we did an abreviated visit which included "la Jaconde" (the Mona Lisa), and my very favorite, "Winged Victory". Mom re-inacted Audrey Hepburn coming down the stairs near the statue in "Funny Face" which was quite entertaining. We will go back several times to view the other millions of things inside, study, read, and perhaps bring the sleeping bag Caroline brought and attempt a secret Louvre sleepover!

Tonight we have a AUP organized "Paris by night" red bus tour as an orientation activity. Mom is super jealous! It should be very fun because the city is sooo beautiful at night, and we're hoping to make some more amis.

Caroline saw Ratatouille yesterday while I was out with mere et pere! So he is offically our pet. Today I looked for mouse traps and couldn't find them anywhere! I think this is partially due to my lack of French vocabulary. Like the word for "trap" "killing" and "mice". But, thankfully we just learned from our English speaking neighbor we did to search for something called "mort aux rats" (death to the rats). HA! What a funny name. Appartently that is poison that will do the trick. Poor Ratatouille, soon he will be in mouse heaven. Hopefully eating lots of fromage.

Ma Bonne Idee Pour Ma Vie!

2009-09-03T01:50:00.000+02:00

Aujourd-hui, I had a wonderful revaltion! I now know what I am going to do with my life, and it involves two of my life-long dreams becoming realities!

After a delicious dejeuner with Caroline, we walked les rues to the Metro, admiring all the various patissiers and the many deliceiux things inside! All the patissiers are slightly different, but they all have the same things - macarons, pain au chocolate, eclairs, nougat, religeiuex, tartes, ect! And trust me - they are ALL amazing! But, there is not one bakery that has something different, something new, something with sprinkels!!
So my new life plan is to move to France after graduation, and open the bakery I've always wanted to open.... in Paris! I will sell my cupcakes, cookies, brownies, and custom cakes to tourists and Parisiens alike! Now you may think that the French will not want any part of American baked goods over their own, but I have no doubt that I can win them over with my liberal amounts of buttercream frosting! They may be stubborn - but they're not stupid! Who can say "non" to swirls of pink buttercream topped with rainbow sprinkles!
Caroline even suggested naming it "Blonde Parisienne Bakery" Ha!
I love my new life plan, and I am so excited that I finally have an answer for the age-old "what do you want to do after college" question. I can now smile and say - "Well, I am moving to Paris, opening a cupcake shop, and eventually raising cute French children who will help me frost cupcakes! C'est brillante!

My enthusiam and excitement spread to the rest of the day! I took a tour of the Paris Opera House! Opera Garnier, where apparently The Phantom of the Opera lived. I took a photo of the infamous "box 5" where he sat each night! The Opera House rivals Versialles in beauty! It is abosoutely, mind-bogglingly, gorgeous and amazing! Not only to think of what it took to build it, but also the people who used to go there, and also the events that happen there now! I cannot wait to see a ballet there! AUP has tickets to Giselle that I am hoping to snag since I love, love, LOVE going to ballet, and going to the ballet there would put me in another dimention of delight!

The other highlight of tonight was going to this adorable restaurant, right by mom and dad's hotel, which only served steak frites, wine, cheese, and bread! Ha! It was so french and had really amazing food! It was mom and dads 35th wedding anniversary, so it was a fun way to celebrate!

I have to change my French class early tomorrow morning at school. I tested into French for Communication and Culture, which is pretty advanced, or so I'm told! So I am proud of myself for retaining some things - but also worried I'll be behind in class! It was one of my largest goals to leave here leaving very confient speaking French! Afterall, I will get more costumers if my bakery is bi-langual!

Dimanche - le jour de ferme!

2009-09-02T02:45:00.000+02:00

Les jours are flying by already! I am finding time to blog difficult because of early wake-ups and late returns to the apartement!

Since I last blogged, I had orientation and moved my bags into my apartement! So I am now living in le Marais with Caroline! Oh, and our new pet, Ratatoutille. Oui, last night while I was skyping with my sister, Amanda, a petit mouse ran through the kitchen and into my room. To say I was terrified is an understatement. But I am working on accepting the fact that old building have mice, and mice are little and harmless. It's too bad our mouse could not actually be like Remi - and make us delicious traditional french food!

Orientation was tres easy! Way easier than FIT, and everyone is so welcoming and nice! Apres orientation we moved my bags up the 3 windy staircases into the apartement, and had lunch in le marais near the Centre Pompidou, which I cannot wait to go to! One of the largest musuems in the city and I have never been. It's borderline avante garde modern art, according to Joshua. So I will do that with friends instead of mom, who hates museums. She was even bored today in the Musee D'Orsay! She rated it a 4, out of 10! How can you be bored in the middle of the original works of Van Gogh, Degas, and Renior - to name my favorites!

We had dinner with a group of other etudiants and our student advisors in Oberkamptf at a really cute local place called Chez Justine. Caroline got a mad delicieux burger that we shared with a salad! After dinner, a large group headed over les Champs des Mars, where a huge group of AUP kids, along with tons of others, were sitting, chatting, and drinking wine - while watching the tour sparkle every hour! It was my dream! Caroline et moi bought a bottle of wine, and sat until the last sparkle and the Eiffel Tower turned off for the night, just drinking our wine and talking! It is so funny to be able to just buy a bottle of wine, take it in front of the tour, and sit there with 100 people enjoying the view and company! Afer the tour went dark, we rented les velibs and velib-ed home! It was such a wonderful way to spend le soir! Only in Paris!!

We've also had some helpful meetings at school. Paris survival, and cultural activites ideas. Many of which are travels to really cool places for very cheap! Caroline and I have composed to following list of places we want to travel - so we better plan now!
- Catacombs
- Loire Valley
- Rome
- London
- Coppenhagen

Quite a list for only 4 months! We will try to do our best! I want to make the most every second I am here, but it already is going to fast!

The Magic of Montmarte!

2009-08-29T00:53:00.000+02:00

As I blog, I am listening to my new French music I have downloaded on Itunes. I wanted French music to play while I do my homework, drink wine, and nibble on a baguette. It's tres bon and relaxing!

Today was un autre jour magnifique! We went up to Montmarte, one of my favorite parts of Paris. It is home to my favorite church, Sacre Coeur. It is the breathtaking, white, dome-shaped church on the hill you see in pictures of Paris. It sits of top of this enormous hill, so when you climb the millions of stairs to get to the top, you can see the whole ville! It's also home to the Moulin Rogue, and several adorable petites rues for wandering, manger, and buying art! After admiring the gorgeous alter in the church, we headed to the place for la dejeuner! We shopped around all the artists, and mere et pere bought two petit painting for the house! They are so great because the little french women who painted it herself wraps it up for you! How bon of her!

The cuteness of the rues of Montmarte is out of control. I hope to spend many a Saturday afternoon there, admiring the artists and laying on the hill eating a crepe and looking on the city I am so in love with, and then going into Sacre Couer to thank God that I am here!

We also went to Places des Vosges today, where there are some seriously amazing art galleries, but they are seriously cher aussi! We walked up a rue of all the most wonderful shops du monde until we reached mon apartement, and went it to visit! I am moving in there tomorrow because I cannot stand to not be living there anymore! The cuteness and frenchness is calling to me!

I had saumon au tartare ce soir pour diner at Ma Bourgonne et oh la la - c'etait delicieux! Ma Bourgonne is known for their beouf tartare, but raw beef is not so much my things. Mais, the salmon version is quite enjoyable and this particular preparation, served with these frizzeled onion strings, was out of this monde! I got to parle en francais avec l'homme du restuarant for awhile about how awesome it was!

Orientation begins demain, so I need my rest! I need to arrive looking impossibly french and chouette so no one can tell I am americane!

La Jour Magnifique des Velos!

2009-08-28T01:25:00.000+02:00

Aujourd'hui, nous avons eu un jour magnifique des velos!

To steal a phrase from my mother, today "was my dream" in so many ways! The jour started with un petit dejeuner a l'hotel. In America a "continental breakfast" means assorted cereals and stale bagels in the lobby of your Holiday Inn. Mais, en France, it is the most beautiful and delicious assortment of crossiants, baguettes, pain au chocolats, muselix, fruites, jambon, fromage, jus d'orange, cafe! Everything fresh, amazing, and served in a delightful petite salle off the lobby! It is a wonderous way to start to your morning, and just another example of how much better life in France is than life in America.

Alors, today was la jour d'aller a Versailles! I went to Versailles with Tre on our Paris trip of fabulousness 2 years ago, and it was defintely one of my favorite things we did because it is so beautiful and so interesting! Le Palais is quite magnifique, mais it is outshined by the 250 acres of jardins et le canal that follow! I cannot think of a word strong enough to describe how gorgeous it is to stand on the stairs in front of le palais and look out over everything! We walked through les jardins and along the canal until we found le plus mignon cafe de manger! It looked over the canal where people were row boating around! The only bad thing about lunch was that for some reason, my mom was being swarmed by bees! No one else in the outdoor cafe was even being bothered by them, but my mother was seriously being attacked - and since she has this awful fear of being stung, she was causing en scene and we had to move inside to finish! My Mom admitted that she did not like Versailles, but I think that was largely due the attack of the bees.

After mom nearly escaped death by bee, we started to walk towards le grand et le petit trianon (les domaines de Marie Antionette) and realized you could rent les velos to ride around! So of course we did! We had these adorable bikes to ride around tous les jardins and to get from place to place! It was magnifique because my parents couldn't complain about walking too much for a bit! J'adore les domaines de Marie. I kind of want to go back in time and be Marie. Aside from having my head cut off...and having all of France hate me. For some reason I am kind of obbsessed with her.

After Versailles, we took le metro to St. Michel where there is a giant fountain and tons of the cutest rues in Paris! It was en peu sad to be there without Tre because those are les rues where we spent our favorite nights eating fondue, drinking wine, and buying lots of bon bons! But it was a new kind of fun because of les velibs! Velibs are these cute velos that are all over Paris that you rent for 1 euro and ride around all day wherever you want, and then drop it off at any Velib stand! It is the most convienent and most fun way to get around Paris! We rented les velibs near the Quatier Latin, veloed along the Seine all the way to La Louvre and all around les jardins de tuileries with the sun shining, wind blowing in our hair, and la tour towering above! It was a dream come vrai! We veloed back to Rue de l'Harpe for diner, et puis all the way up the Seine to la tour! Right when we got to the tour it started sparking! Imagine riding your velo along the Seine on a beautiful Parisien night, the city lights are shining everywhere, you see the tour is close but you can't see it clearly, and then volia! There is the tour, HUGE, and SPARKLING right above you! I think there were tears in my eyes....

We starred in awe for beaucoup des moments, and then veloed around under the tour, around the tour. I wish you could velo on the tour! Then we got glace and stood under the tour eating our glace and being in love with Paris. We veloed back to l'hotel et le jour magnifique des velos etait fini!

I am never leaving Paris.

Paris, je t'aime

2009-08-27T01:58:00.000+02:00

Mon obsession avec Paris continues avec jour deux!

Due to jet lag (Paris is 6 hours ahead) we slept in late! It is tres depressing to wake up at noon in Paris and realize that you have wasted hours of being in Paris asleep! It is trop mal that you have to sleep at all when you are here! It is such a waste of time to be asleep when you could be walking les rues!

Mais, we made the most of our afternoon by going to la tour, et nous avons mange un petit dejeuner des crepes! Dad actually got un gauffre chantilly that was delicieux! But right now I am addicted to crepe mixte (jambon et fromage). Mmmm. Eating crepes, at la tour, realizing this is my life now.... I wanted to dance around. I have to continually remind myself that I am staying here, and then I get this enormous grin and feel like shouting...."Paris! Je t'aime!" I really do aime it beaucoup!

We spent a lot of the day on les iles! Ile de la cite, where we went to Notre Dame et Saint Chappelle (which is better) and then had lunch at a cute little cafe overlooking le pont! I had ice cream for lunch! Noix de coco et caramel! La glace de Berthillion, the famous french ice cream! Je compris pourqoui a cause de c'etait delicieux! Also had a few of moms frites because they were magnifique! We walked by a lot of places that reminded me of my adventures with mon amie parisienne, Tre! It made me triste because I would love to promenne les rue avec Tre encore! But she has chosen having a baby over visiting Paris. Only time will tell if that decision was bon. I am kidding of course. Mostly.

We then walked along the Seine until we came upon les bateux mouches! We got on just in time for all lights of the city to go on, and it was la plus belle boat ride down the Seine ever! Just as we took off, the tour was sparkling! And just as we came back, it was sparking encore! We got to see 2 sparkles! And the city just looks absolutely beautiful lit up at night. Along the Seine, everyone is having baguette, cheese, and wine picnics and dancing! I was definitely meant to live here!
After les bateaux mouches we went to un cafe that was right by la tour for vin et croque monsieurs and got to see it sparkle again! That made 3 sparkles in un jour! Quelle chance! We walked back to l'hotel on la rue de montaigne and looked in the windows of all the masters. Chanel, Chloe, Dior. Mes favoris! What a magnifique fin to a magnifique jour!

Le Premier Jour a Paris!

2009-08-27T01:22:00.000+02:00

There is simply no way to describe ma joie de vivre maintenant! Paris est vraiment la plus belle ville du monde. I am in constant awe of how breath-taking every rue every musee even every patisserie! I will try to summarize the wonderful evetns since je suis arrive.

Before I begin, un moment to dit how much I love AirFrance! If only every airlines was as magnifique as AirFrance, le monde would be a better place! What other airline gives free wine et champagne, pain au chocolat, et mini baguettes!

We arrived at went to the hotel, The West End Hotel, which is located right off the Champs Elysee and right near the George V! Which makes it easy to drop in for afternoon tea with mom this week! Also close to Louis Vuitton. Mais - if you know me, you know I am not vraiment a fan of LV. Mais the Paris magasin is quite amazing so it is bon. Apres checking in, we took a long walk to apartement! Down the Champs, through la place de la concorde, down the rue de rivoli, and all the way to le marais where we stopped at mon rue! The apartement is everything I dreamed and more! Imagine the most adorable, quaint, French apartement you can....that is mon apartement! The stairs up are these black marble-ish escaliers (one of my favorite french words) and they are all windy! They lead to a little courtyard full of red flowers, where you walk through to get to the other stairs, that lead you to la porte! Caroline was there, so she showed me around! The petit salon when you enter was a table and these cute chairs where we will sit in the morning and eat our croissants et cafe! The kitchen has this adorable blue tile and is so petit and parfait! The two bedrooms follow, with the bathroom at the end! All the rooms have french windows that look out over the cute courtyard of fleurs! I was going un peu insane over how adorable it is! I cannot believe I get to live there! I will prends les photos bentoit! Caroline gave me the key - which is this giant ancient looking gold key! It is so french and perfect! I bought a gold eiffel tower key chain today to match it! Ohhhh j'adore Paris!

Apres, we went back to the Champs pour crepes, bien sur, and then did some sightseeing for mere et pere who have never been here before! Mom made us get on the les cars rouges, the big buses that take you around. It is the least-french thing you could ever do in Paris. But my mom is obsessed with them, so we had to go because she kept complaining until we did. I thought it would be complete doom, but actually it was not that terrible. Not as bad as the buses in New York! It was a great way to see all the beautiful views and architecture of Paris, and you get to ride right up to la Tour which is magnifique if you are obsessed with it like moi.

I do not know what it is exactly about la tour eiffel, but I can honestly say it is the most breath taking and beautiful thing I have ever seen. I am completely obsessed with the tour. During the day, the background of the blue sky and clouds on a clear day leaves you breathless. At night, when the lights are glowing, it outshines any star in the sky. And when it sparkles....oh la la, je n'ai pas les mots! It makes my heart stop! Seriously! It is so architecturally different from any other thing and it is just so amazing. I could spend an entire day just sitting in front of the tour, with a baguette and a bottle of wine and it would probably be my favorite day of ma vie. If for some reason you have not seen la tour you need to get your priorities in order and get to Paris because it will give your life new meaning!

After obsessing about la tour we got off the bus and popped into a couple places magnifique! Les galleries lafayette (la plus belle magasin du monde) et the Ritz Paris (to show pere the bar Hemingway) were the highlights for moi! After a short cab to Saint Germain, we had a 10pm diner with Caroline at les deux magots! How much more francais can you get? We walked Caroline home past Notre Dame at night and around the Seine home! Un premier jour magnifique!

Mon top dix

2009-08-13T14:21:00.000+02:00

1o jours!

In honor of being 10 days away from my departure, I am going to make a list of the top ten things I cannot wait to do in Paris. This is going to be hard because I cannot wait to do everything in Paris. But I will try to select my most anticipated activities.

10. Go to class! I know this statement may make you think that I am actually not writing this, because if you know me, you know I usually hate going to class! Mais the fact that I will be attending the University of Paris makes going a class a whole different ballgame. You can see the Eiffel Tower from the classrooms! And attending school there will make me feel like I really live there, instead of just feeling like I am on an extended vacation. I can't wait to take my homework to the lawn in front of the tour or a musee. And I cannot wait to take French classes again because I desperately want to leave France fluent en francais.

9. Move into l'apartement! I cannot wait to live in le Marais in a cute little French apartment! I will feel so French! I am hoping that we can befriend our neighbors and M. Durand, the little old French man that lives below us and watches the apartment for the owners. I think it will be so fun and amusant when something goes wrong- like the sink exploding, and Caroline and I do not know enough French to desrcibe our problem! And we will run around our apartement panicing and laughing. Yes, I am looking forward to the prospect of diaster! Only because it is French diaster!

8. Spend time in Montmatre. I did not get enough time in Montmatre the last time I was in Paris! Tre and I decided to hike up there on one of our last days when it was lethally hot and we were already exuasted. We had to stop for a baguette on the way up the enormous hill we were so tired! Sadly, when we arrived we only had a few momments before it started raining chats et chiens! Our parapluie blew inside out, so we were getting soaked. For the record - I wanted to stay! Tre, however, got very grumpy and insisted we return to the the hotel to nap. But the little of Montmatre I saw was adorable! The street artists, the open markets, and the Sacre Couer! If you love Amelie as much as I do, you want to spend time at the Sacre Couer. I plan to spend many a Saturday's there, and purchase some art for my Paris-themed room in Ohio!

7. Get immersed in the Culture. I do not want to simply study in France, I want to become French. (Even though I secretly believe I kind of already am.) I want to go to le cinema and see French films, I want to go to the Opera, and be in awe of the beauty of Paris ballet! I want to go hear concerts, read French books au jardin or au cafe while I people watch. I want to shop in petit boutiques and of course les gallaries lafayette! This also means speaking French all day everyday when I can! If I don't know the French word, I will pantomime what I mean! The only exception will be mon amie Caroline who speaks no French. I will have to converse with her en englais. But, I am going to try to abandon all my American mannerisms and truly become la blonde parisenne.

6. Hear Dad attempting to speak French. My dad took French in high school, 40 some years ago, and swears he has retained it! He knows three words/phases. They are, votre (your) comment t'allez-vous? (how are you?) and je parle francais (I speak French - though he should not use this phrase because he clearly does not). Everything aside from that, he just puts a French accent on the english word. Ex: go-er, eat-er, see-er. It is quite comical, and I am looking forward to hearing it. Though I will not be able to let it go on for too long because the French people he attempts to talk to will hate us for destroying their language!

5. Have a crepe on the Champs Elysee with mom and dad. There are several reasons why I cannot wait to do this. The obvious ones are of course - crepes and the Champs! But the not obvious part is the "with mom and dad" This will be so fun because my mom LOVES activity and people watching, which are the two words I would use to desribe the Champs. My dad will be fun because I will make him order the crepes! My first time ordering crepes, the crepe man looked at me and said "Mademoiselle, tu parle bien!" I was sublimely happy! I don't think the crepe man will say this to my Dad! I think instead he will say "Monsieur, tu ne peux parle Francais, pas de tout."

4. Visit Museums! I have to group them because there are too many that I want to visit again, it would take all my list up! I cannot wait to go to some I missed on my last visit. The Rodin Musuem, Picasso Musuem, Musee de la Mode, Centre Pompidou! And returning to the Musee D'Orsay is on the top of my list! I LOVE musuems. I could go to one a day and not get sick of it. So to have so many amazing musuems within a ten minute walk is magnifique!

3. Manger et promener! I say both of these together because if I manger without promener after, diaster will ensue! But seriously, a moment of silence for French food...... fresh, crispy baguettes; crayola-colored macaroons, savory duck confit, buttery escargot, amazing fromage of every type, flaky croissants et confiture, chessy croque monsieurs, and warm, melty, nutella crepes! All I can say is oh la laaa et Bon appetite!

2. Explore et Voyager! One of my favorite things to do in any city is simply go to an area I am not familiar with, and start walking! I usually bring a petit journale so that when I pass cute restaurants and shops that I want to go back to, I can write down the name and location. This has lead me to so many wonderful finds in nyc, and I know it will be just as fun in Paris! And I want to find "my" cafe, patisserie, and boulangerie. They will know me and my order after a month or so because I will be a regular! How amusant will that be!? I also cannot wait to voyage to the other parts of France! La Loire, Reims, Nice, Brittany, I want to see it all!

1. See the sparking Tour. (Especially with Joshua when he visits) Every night before the Eiffel Tower lights go off, they SPARKLE for a few minutes, and it is the most beautiful and amazing thing to see the Tour sparkling above Paris! The night Tre and I discovered this, we were walking down the Rue de Montaigne, I was wooing over the Chloe store windows, and then we turned the corner and Volia! The tour was straight ahead and SPARKLING! We, of course, started running towards it and screaming "the tour is sparkling!!" It is one of my fondest memories of Paris with Tre, and I cannot wait see it again.

And if I can add an honorary number that goes along with every one of my top dix, it is to have my friends and family for visits so I can share all the je sais qoui of Paris with them! I know the phrase is je ne sais qoui but that means "I don't know what" and I think it is totally wrong! It should be "je sais qoui - I know what"! Because saying that you don't know what is so fabulous about Paris is ridiclous! I do what is fabulous...Everything is fabulous! Alors my phrase makes much more sense!
But, to have family and friends visit in Paris would be so magnifique that I hope everyone will seriously consider visiting! And please don't use work or school as an excuse to not come because honestly - what is more important than visiting one of the most beautiful cities in the world....Carpe Diem!

Nous Avons Un Apartement!

2009-08-10T21:01:00.000+02:00

Bonnes Nouvelles!! Nous avons un apartement a Paris!

Thanks to mon amie magnifique and her mere, we are the proud renters of un apartement in Le Marais! Close to Le Place des Vosges, Musee Picasso, et Maison de Victor Hugo! Home to one of the most interesting streets, the famous rue des Francs-Bourgeois, one of the rare streets of Paris completely open on Sunday, and know for fabulous boutiques! Oh la la!
Caroline and her mother were kind enough to go to Paris last weekend, and spend the day looking at apartments after learning the school accomodations were less than promising. A few apartments into the search, they stumbeled upon l'apartement parfait and volia!

2 bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, fully furnished! And, apparently the style of the molding inside is called "patisserie" because that is what all the patisseries have! It will be like LIVING in a patisserie! What more could a blonde parisienne want! All my parisienne dreams are coming true and I am not even there yet!

2 weeks from today I will wake up in Paris! I will have already had un crossiant et cafe and will be strolling les rues, or perhaps at the Paris Plague! It seems quite surreal still at this point. I have been dreaming of studying in Paris since I was 10. There are simply not words to describe my excitement and how completely lucky and blessed I feel that my dream will soon be a reality.
I cannot wait to see les photos of the place! Caroline says she has taken about one hundred, so I am anxiously awaiting them! The only triste thing is that there is no oven in our apartement. Finding a cheap apartement with an oven is next to impossible, so I will not be able to bake while I am in France. But I do not think I will be at a loss for delicious treats. The awful "grocery store cakes" and "boxed cakes" which people in America feel are acceptable desserts, do not exist in Paris. The idea is really absurd and should be done away with completely. If you do not have the desire or skill to make a cake from scratch and relish in it's moist delight, or at least seek someone who can bake to provide it for you, then you have no business eating cake. The same goes for frosting. But my point was, I am more than confident that French desserts will suffice while I cannot bake for myself.

NYC v. Paris

2009-08-07T16:50:00.000+02:00

Initially I felt that having to return to NYC for a day was the worst thing that could have happened maintenant. But, upon further thought I have come to realize it is actually quite magnifique! Having to go to the Consulate again is NOT magnifique, but getting to return to my favorite U.S. city and spend a day of fun with my sisters is tres magnifique!
It got me to thinking about my life in New York...

Walking the streets of streets of the city, admiring the French Bulldogs and keeping an eye out for new restaurants to try. Walking around the village and stopping in Yougrtland for a creamy creation! Saturdays in Madison Sq. Park, beating Josh at various card games. Heading the Met to check out the new exhibits. Running around the Jackie O'Nasis track in the park and admiring the skyline. Sunday Brunch at Esperanto and shopping in Soho. Roof dinners with my sisters! I realized all my familiars in my life will not exist in Paris! I will be replacing them with French versions! I have hypothesized the following exchanges for ma vie a Paris.

- morning bagel and shmear becomes morning croissant et confiture
- class at FIT with a view of the empire becomes class at AUP with a view of the Tour
- walking along 5th Avenue becomes walking along the Champs
- going to the Met becomes going to the Musee d'Orsay
- living near the Square becomes living near Place de la Concorde
- browsing street art in Soho becomes browsing street art in Montmarte
- continously smelling Halal food becomes continously smelling crepes
- reading in central park becomes reading in le jardin de luxembourg
- easy access to cupcakes becomes easy access to macaroons
- babysitting on weekends becomes traveling the french countryside on weekends
- saying "OMG" becomes saying "Oh la la!"

I must say, I am very excited for all of my exchanges because they sound fabulous! But there are a few aspects of my New York life that are simply irreplaceable.
-Fun activites with my sisters! I will not have sisters in Paris. Unless I elope with some garcon because I have had too much vin and he happens to have a sister. I hope this does not happen.
-Kristin Paige Folck for a roomie. I will miss her daily company and our daily antics more than words can say.
- Living 20 blocks from Joshua Jay, who has brightened everyday of my life since we met. No John-Paul or John-Claude could replace him.
- PB&Co. Who knew such a little place could bring such enormous joy. I will miss their creative sandwhiches on giant bread, the amazing PB flavors, and the ridiculous PB brownie sundae. PB is a rare find in France, I will have to bring some jars along for personal enjoyment. As far as I know, there is no Nutella & Co in Paris, so this joyous place will be missed!

I realize that I have said that the only thing I will miss about New York is family, friends, and peanut butter. But that is precisely why I am, in every way, the Blonde Parisienne.

Still Without Mon VISA

2009-08-06T18:18:00.001+02:00

As I feared, Amanda arrived today at the French Consulate Office in New York to pick up my student VISA for me, and was denied. "Pourqoui?" You ask? Because the French Consulate Office is most inefficently run agency I have ever encountered. To make my point clear I must describe the history of my encounters with them.
April 2009
Upon my acceptance in AUP, it was made clear I would need a student VISA to stay in Paris for 4 months. How bon and amusant I thought! A French VISA for my passport! I thought wrong.
May 2009
Before you can apply for your student VISA, you must register with an organiziation called CampusFrance. FIT, my school, knows NOTHING about the abroad program at AUP, instructed me that after registering, Campus France would set the appointment at the Consulate for me! Again, I thought how bon and nice of them! Again, I thought wrong.
June 2009
I register with CampusFrance, and await the apparent confirmation email with my VISA appointment date, supposed to be within 2 weeks. In the meantime, I go to visit my new nephew Oliver in California, who is adorable. I return to New York City on the 15th, and have not yet recieved an appointment date! I am offically worried. I attempt to email Campus France. No response! I question FIT, quel surprise they know nothing! I attempt to call the Consulate Office, mais YOU CAN'T CALL THERE! Alas, after sending them continuous emails, I finally get a response.
"Madame,
Campus France does not make the appointment. You must do it online.
No appointments will be made in person."
Fuming, I log onto the Consulate Website and find that the earliest appointment I can obtain is July 13th! Being that it is the middle of June, and I have no purpose to be in New York for another month, I decide to fly home until my appointment.
July 13, 2009
I arrive at the consulate at 9:30 for my appointment at 10am. I wait outside until 11am, when the rudest, most unfrench security guard opens the door and allows the crowd waiting outside to come in. After the most extensive security check of my life, I am permitted to walk up to the office, which is a hallway and three windows with attendents.
Now, this may seem foolish, but I had imagined my appointment for my VISA would be me and a lovely French woman or perhaps older gentlemen in a petit office. They would ask me what my plans are, we would talk about why we love France, they would tell me which patisseries have the best macaroons, there would be complimentary croissants and cafe, they would take my papers, stamp my passport and I would leave with a smile and a VISA.
What actually happened was I waited in a 3 hour line of doom in a hallway that was packed with others as angry as I was. No one there was French, and everyone was mean! After fingerprints, paperwork, and questioning, I finally got to the window to turn in my papers, I was told that same-day VISAS are no longer issused, I have to come back in ten days. I remained calm enough to explain I was leaving New York, and the attendent said a family member could pick it up for me as long as they had all my papers and passport. So, I leave the Consulate and New York without my VISA, without my passport, and having to give the responsibility of getting it to my sister, Amanda.
August 6, 2009
Amanda goes to the Consulate to pick up my VISA and is denied! Pourqoui? They failed to scan my fingerprints correctly while I was there! They will not give a VISA without fingerprints, so I have to go BACK to new york AGAIN a mere 2 days before I leave for France to get my VISA!
August 19th, 2009 (4 days before my Paris departure)
I will be flying to New York and can only hope that things go smoothly at the Consulate and I leave this time with my VISA! Because I am an eternal optimist, I see that there is good coming out of all this. I get to spend one more day in nyc, and have a last 'hurrah!" with my sisters! So at least there is a petit bit of bon.

Spreading the Love for Nutella

2009-08-06T05:42:00.000+02:00

Today I got a text message magnifique from my sister Alison. It read "Finally had Nutella and omg!!"

Honestly, this message made my day. Knowing that someone I care so much about had experienced the insane deliciousness of Nutella for the very first time was a joy unlike any other. The wonderful creamy texture. The rich chocolate delight. The subtle hazelnut undertones! "omg" is right! It got me to wondering how many other people in America make it to adulthood before discovering this magical spread? How triste!

To my extreme luck, my first French teacher, Madame Fillez, made me my first crepe with Nutella at age 11 and it was love at first bite! Of course during my week in Paris in 2007, I ate an obscene amount of Nutella between all my crepes, baguettes, and other treats. But it was earlier this year that Nutella came back into my life.

One night after taking Homo Hip Hop class at the New York Sports Club, mon petit ami suggested going on a walk to get crepes in the west village. Quelle une bonne idee! As I took my first bite and the warm Nutella flooded my taste buds, I nearly went mad from delight. How had I forgotten about Nutella? Why was a jar not in my pantry for daily enjoyment?

So upon my return to Paris, I plan to get my weekly fill. But for those who are not going to be living in a city where Nutella flows like water, I urge you not to forget about our wonderful French friend.

http://www.nutellausa.com/

Dix-huit jours jusqu'a Paris!

2009-08-05T20:54:00.000+02:00

Dix-Huit jours jusqu'a Paris! Oh la la !

As the days until my departure get less and less my excitement grows and grows! My life as a Parisienne is long overdue, mais non?

Sadly, my time until mon voyage is being spent working for mon pere . My afternoons, which should be spent sunbathing to have the ultimate bronze glow upon my arrival in Paris, are instead spent trapped inside Leonard Insurance Services answering the phones and scanning files. Perhaps to prepare for parle-ing en Francais everyday I should start to answer, "Bonjour c'est Leonard Insurance. Comment peux j'aidez-vous?" I do not see any reason why this is not completely appropriate. Not only would I be preparing myself, but I would be enriching the cultural knowledge of those merely calling to report a claim. Volia!

Now I fully believe that my life in Paris is going to be les mois d'heureuse, manger des macaroons, et danser dans les rues. But as I prepare to live abroad, there are a few looming questions on my mind that I would appreciate advice or input from mes amis on.

Probleme 1. Comment am I supposed to pack for 4 months/3 seasons of life in the most fashionable city in la monde! Who knows what kind of vetements I may need! I know that my accomodations in Paris will be no larger than 10m2. Which means unless I would like to sleep on a bed of sweaters and jeans, I must downsize from my normal packing routine. Aidez-moi!

Probleme 2. Pas de cel phone! Since I will (sadly) only be in France for 4 months, I cannot purchase a French cel phone plan. I have heard people dicuss SIM cards, mais je ne compris pas what that is! Quelle dommage....
It appears as though I wil skyping - assuming I can figure out how to attach a webcam to my labtop, and do not lose and or break the webcam.

Probleme 3. Je n'ai pas un visa! Ma souer - Amanda, was supposed to pick up my student long stay Visa a week ago. However due to her very busy schedule of dessert eating, it has not yet happened. Based on my experience with the French Consulate of New York when applying for la visa, I would not be surprised if they dit "NON" when she tries to get it, claiming she is trop tard.

Aside from mes petites problemes I am tres pret de departir pour Paris! J'espere que la France est pret pour la blonde Parisienne!