The Time I (Finally) Tried Snails

Before class, I got up early to go to 81 Rue de L'Universite "Rue de Loo" where Julia Child lived. I wanted to just take a little look, and I caught a morning glimpse of the metro commute as I rode there over the elevated tracks.
It's a very simple building, not in a really bustling area, with just a few random cafes nearby. However, it is right down the street from the Assemblee Nationale bearing French flags and all. It's cheesy, but I tried to imagine her walking down these streets and first falling in love with Paris.

Today we went as a class to Pere Lachaise Cemetery - the most expensive neighborhood in Paris. Teo said a plot of land for a grave is millions of euros. It was a huge labyrinth of cobblestones and little monuments of many famous people, including Sarah Bernhardt, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde and Gertrude Stein.

 As we went along each grave, we would put a pink rose on the tombs of the people we talked about. Teo had brought the bouquet and we took turns putting roses down - mine was on Sarah Bernhardt's.

 Even the cemetery itself was pretty, though they the idea of graves kind of creeps me out. It was similar to a park with fallen leaves, as we passed by a row with tombs from the Holocaust. Down the row there were many sad metal statues of drooping turquoise bodies like skin and bones. It's sad to see remnants of that period in Europe, in the place it occurred.

After our three hour cemetery excursion, I was starving. We stopped in one of the first cafés we saw near Gambette with an orange awning. A common practice here seems to be having a price for a combo meal of a entree and plat OR plat and dessert. Here it was 14 euros for my lamb and tiramisu framboise (raspberry).

 Though it was more expensive than a typical lunch for me, I was impressed that we could get a French meal of lamb and dessert for about $15. I really loved the sweet lamb sauce and almonds for texture. The tiramisu was less impressive - though the cream was good, it didn't flow well with the coffee cake parts but was too separated for my liking. We also had some trouble with the waiter because he didn't speak English and some members in my group were picky with orders.

In the afternoon I had some free time, so I went window shopping in the touristy areas near the Louvre. Sorry to my inner Parisian, but I wanted to see the souvenirs. I didn't take too long, though, because I met one of my friends from UCLA for dinner. Alfie is doing another travel study program that goes to four cities and she just got to Paris. We met near Cluny at Le Bistro Du Perigord, which a girl from my program recommended. 

We ordered that combo option with three courses. My entree was (finally) escargot, something that I knew I definitely wanted to try in Paris but have been procrastinating for no particular reason. I wasn't sure where to go or when to get it to make it special. My fellow student had recommended it, so I knew this was the trusted place. Alfie and I actually ran into her there with her friends, which is how it goes - we find places and share them and go back and have favorites. 

 The escargot actually was really delicious as long as you don't think about it! It tastes like seafood, like little chewy scallops or something. And they're just covered in garlic and oil and maybe a pesto-like sauce? It's salty and chewy, like a good delicacy. You use that little eyelash curler thing to hold the shell, while a two-pronged baby fork takes the little piece of meat out.

This was a rumpsteak with an amazing cream-like sauce and soft vegetables - dare I say ratatouille? It's fun to order in France because even with translated menus, you never really know what you're going to get because they're Google translated and often a little wrong. You see "steak" and "vegetables" but have no idea how it's prepared. Before cutting into that thick slab of meat, I was scared it would be rare like the French do things, but it was just right.

This was my dessert. A sort of caramelized apple kalua coffee ice cream pastry God knows what (thanks Google translated menu). The little pastry shells were so flaky and crumbly, and inside was a huge ball of ice cream and those wonderful apples. A little fruit/vegetable/thing garnish was placed on top, which tasted like a cross between an orange and cherry tomato. The sauce around and on top was a fabulous caramel coffee - a great combination when mixed all together. 

I would completely recommend this place - the waiters here were so attentive and refilled our water like five times. Très bien. 

Maybe on this blog it looks like I'm eating out a lot, and I certainly am more this week than prior weeks because time is winding down. However, when I don't post pictures of my meals, I either had a two euro pastry for breakfast or I made something simple (pasta, likely) in my room. It's not always extravagant, but there are those days like today where we spent 2.5 hours on a real three course French meal done right. And I'm not even scared to take the metro by myself anymore!

The Time Sugar Overwhelmed Me

The countdown begins, as this is my last Thursday here.
Our walk took us around Sacre Coeur, Montmartre,  and the cobblestone streets that lead uphill to the church.

 (Apparently this is a famous corner that a lot of people painted.)

 (Two girls singing and playing accordion.)

 (I just went inside Sacre Coeur for only a few minutes because classmates told me it wasn't as impressive. True, it's not like gothic style, but still pretty. I think I'm done looking at churches, though, because everything just pales in comparison to the Chartres Cathedral.)

(The view! Teo says it's the second best view of Paris, but I like the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame views better.)

 (During our break around noon, I got an ice cream of Creme Brûlée and Pistachio. Not as good as Berthillon.) 

Our walk continued down some wonderful side streets with adorable views of buildings seeming to almost collapse or overlap onto one another. We even saw the cafe where Amelie works in the movie. 

(Van Gogh's house)

Once our group was done with class, I went with a couple girls to Angelina near the Tuileries. It's a place known for its overpriced hot chocolate but it's now the tourist thing to do, so I was weary. I mean, I thought "How much better could hot chocolate get?" But oh my gosh, it was experience. 

First of all, the place is gorgeous like Laduree with gold embellishments to its little tearooms. The waitress didn't even need to ask and just said "Trois chocolat chaud?" I wanted mini croissants to have sustenance for my "lunch" as well. 

The chocolate came in a mini pitcher for us to pour. I'm crying, it was amazing. It was so thick - honestly like melted chocolate with cream. We got little porcelain cups of whipped cream to put on top, too. It was so thick that we could make designs from the melted cream, and dip the flaky croissants into the chocolate. I had no idea hot chocolate could be this good and rich, a little bitter of course but not too much. Just perfect.

The funniest part was the weird sugar rush and food coma it gave us. We were lethargic after just one cup and too bloated to move, yet at the same time we were hyper and talkative because of all the sugar and fat packed into one cup. As I said, I hadn't eaten lunch (just ice cream - oops) and after this I was completely full. I thought Angelina was going to just be a tourist trap for a "Parisian" cafe experience, but it was actually really luxurious.

Also I will add that near the Louvre there are some touristy shops, but I had a great experience in one of them. I asked (in French) if the employee spoke English, and he said "a little" with a laugh. One of the other customers, however, said he spoke both and agreed to translate for us. And so it was, like in movies or something, where I spoke to the customer who spoke to the employee who spoke to the customer who spoke to me. Sometimes I spoke in broken French and sometimes the employee spoke in broken English, but it was a delightful experience and we both thanked the other customer for translating and it was all very amicable. But I digress... 

I'd also planned to go to the Mussee du Louvre today - finally! The two girls had already been, so I went alone, knowing some other people from the program were there (I ran into them twice). This museum is so massive, literally housed in the former palace. 

People told me it takes three days of three hours each to get through the whole thing... I had 2.5 hours to see what I needed, because honestly I can't sit and look at walls for too long. Luckily I was able to get in free because I'm studying in Paris (though it was a complicated process every time I changed galleries to explain that I have an American student ID card but I'm studying here). The staff was really nice and trusted me, somehow - probably because I was speaking polite French unlike the loud selfie-taking tourists. 

I briefly explored the French painting section and sculptures, until I realized essentially everything I wanted to see was in a different branch of the U-shaped museum. A lot of the paintings here are classical as in nude and angelic and regal portraits/scenes, not covered in my modern art class.  

I finally moved over to the other half of the museum to see the famous paintings I knew. Pro tip: if you don't have much time, the Pavillion Denon is really the only area you need to see. 

 (The winged victory statue at the entrance of the staircase.)

(Wonder what this could be...)

 (Oh, it's this. It's as close as we can get. The Mona Lisa is the size of a poster not a piece of paper.)

I was about to leave this area (Italian painters) but I turned down one of the hallways into another room and hit the jackpot by seeing every other painting I wanted to in one single area. 

 (Raft of Medusa, Liberty Leading the People, Napoleon's Coronation, Oath of Horatii) 

Only at the Louvre, called the best museum on earth, can you find Liberty two paintings down from the Medusa. What luck inside the huge monster of a museum. I can't tell you how overwhelming it was to find the Mona Lisa at first, like wandering through mazes of sculptures and jewelry and tapestries. It's enormous. I like the d'Orsay much better because I love the manageable size and the Impressionist collection, which the Louvre doesn't focus on. 

(Venus)

I'd say the best part of the Louvre is the gorgeous venue, a regal place to store these artworks. 

So, to tie this post up in a nice neat bow, today was a very sweet day full of bucket-list things and very overwhelmingly sweet things. The Louvre is over-the-top with its huge collection of artwork and Angelina was overwhelming in its rich chocolate. I was expecting both of these places to be highly overrated, but I actually enjoyed them more than I thought I would, probably because my expectations were low. 

(Bonus pic from our walk - the lamppost says "With love from Paris")

The Time of my Cheese Dessert

On Wednesdays, we go to the market. I got some baby cucumbers, strawberries, a ham bread for breakfast, and a leather purse for myself as a souvenir. One of the stall workers at the market, upon hearing my English, asked where I was from ("England or America?"), then proceeded to say "California or Texas?" I thought it was a stereotype that foreigners group U.S. regions together, but apparently not so much.

 Today was our last formal lecture, during which we talked about the French revolution, reminding me of our trip to Versailles. After my chicken crepe for lunch (I have to eat more of them while I have the chance before I leave soon), we embarked on our walk. We passed by a modern art museum and a park with lots of street art.

 The tour also took us outside the oldest private residence (house) in Paris - that of Nicholas Flamel. Like in Harry Potter.

We walked down many streets, like the rue de Montergeuil, which had many cafes and shops. Our walk ended outside of a gothic church called St. Eustache. I feel like I've seen so many beautiful churches on this trip, and this was no different.  

It was enormous inside, with huge towers holding up the ceiling. I think this was the highest ceiling thus far, I genuinely felt like I was in a giant's church. So impressive.

Since it was drizzly and cloudy today (my favorite weather in Paris), I sat in a cafe with two girls for a bit to soak up the atmosphere and watch the city go by. I had a cafe creme and they had chocolat with whipped cream. I kid you not, their drinks were three inches of hot chocolate and four inches of whipped cream with a straw. It's bliss to sit under a red cafe awning in wicker chairs and watch the grey rain in the streets. 

Soon, I went with a group to the Rodin museum and garden (wow, I initially spelled that "gardin" and had no idea why it was underlined red - French is rubbing off). The metro was insanely jam-packed. At first we thought it was because it was rush hour from work around 5 p.m., but we've travelled at this time before and it wasn't so crowded. In retrospect, maybe it was because of the rain. Anyway, the metros were packed with people like sardines. People would flood out of the doors, leaving no time for us to get on before the doors close. One time, someone got their foot stuck in the automatic doors as they slammed shut, and people had to pry the doors open so his foot wouldn't be like ripped off when the metro took off. Scary. 

The Rodin Museum is under construction, so we could only access the garden and one exhibit for a reduced price. I really enjoyed the garden view, which reminded me of the Vaux le Vicomte architecture because it was yellow and palace-like with a lovely rose garden and cone-shaped tree hedges. It's also seen in "Midnight in Paris."

 We weren't sure whether these were like original sculptures or casts or what, because why would they put "fakes" in a museum but why would they put originals outside? I think we deduced later that they were casts, but like some of the first original casts perhaps. Not sure still, because we thought some of these sculptures are also in other museums and such.

The inside exhibition was not as gorgeous as the garden, but still cool to witness how Rodin created rough edges to see that artist's hand and how he morphed the body. I liked him more after seeing this museum to get a better look at his style. 

After the museum, I rejoined the two girls from the cafe for dinner. I really wanted to try a restaurant with a green awning around the corner from our hotel, called L'Alchimie. Teo had originally recommended it, but then others from our program went and apparently a girl cried because it was so good. We went in with high expectations, though I tried to lower mine so I wouldn't be disappointed.
The menu, first of all, was oddly translated and poetic, like one item that said "with crystallized shallots crushed by blue (bruise) of former days."

This was a special dinner for us, with three courses. I decided to order things I've never had before and we all three got all different things so we could try each other's. For the entree, I had carpaccio of beef in the pesto crumble of parmesan cheese. I was a little nervous to try raw meat, but their dish made it very manageable. I pretended it was like thin ham, and it was so flavorful - covered in oil and garlic and pesto. It was just soaked with that flavor. I also tried the other girl's foie gras and the other's asparagus soup (which was the best - essentially cream and asparagus, reminding me of broccoli and cheddar soup).

 For the plat, I ordered pig's rib with assortment of vegetables. I don't even like pork that much, but this was just so good and hot. In fact, it came out so hot and fresh that by the time I was done, the meat had cooked itself to be dry (but for the majority of my meal, it was perfectly juicy). In the photo below, the vegetables are hidden by a "meadow" as one girl said of herbs, but vegetables lie underneath. I can't even explain the flavor. None of us had even tasted this flavor in our lives. It was like a butter acidic maybe citrus bitter taste that these carrots, zucchini and shallots had been marinating in for so long. They fell apart they were so soft. One girl said it was like a part of her brain was lighting up from tasting this completely new nameless flavor. The best part was the sauce (again, unlike anything I've had) and what I believe are mashed potatoes under the herbs. It was a smooth ball of light yellow, and when I first tasted it, I thought it was pure butter. It tasted like pure butter, in a good way. Wonderful!

 For dessert, I felt that I needed to try a fromage plate while in Paris so I did. It was a brie, a goat cheese and some other type of sharp cheese. While their flavors were very good, especially on the warm rolls they came with, by the end of the meal I felt I needed something sweet to finish it off. So, I was kind of unsatisfied by the whole palette of the meal because I had two meats and cheese - all savory and salty. However, it was my fault for ordering this way. I chose dish by dish instead of a full balanced meal. The two girls got strawberries with cream and basil jelly, and an assortment of sorbets. The mango sorbet had real junks of mango and was very refreshing. The girl with the strawberry basil almost cried because it was good. I liked both their desserts, too, because of their simplicity and light sweetness.

It was a good French meal treat. More expensive than normal of course, but we needed to go here before we left.