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. 

The Time of the Ironic 4th of July

This morning we set off to one of Teo's London recommendations - Portobello Market in Notting Hill. It was about a 40 minute bus ride, but so worth it when we got there to see the adorable little town houses with colorful doors and paint. It was a lot more quaint and local-esque than central London.

 (Hi Mom, this is a blue door in Notting Hill just for you ;)

 (At the entrance of the market, there were people pretending to be Alice and Wonderland characters. And this was no cheap make up - this was detailed with a set and props)

The market was an excellent recommendation, as blocks upon blocks of little stores had vendors outside selling silver goods, bags, scarves, antiques, souvenirs etc. It was a wonderful market; I'm learning that markets here do not usually mean food. I really enjoyed the crowds of people looking at these items for sale even though it was a little overwhelming deciding what to buy.

I ended up getting my sister an English straw hat and my mom a little flower-patterned English creamer. 

At about 11:30 a.m. we set off walking towards Kensington Palace. This is an illustrative example of one annoying part of London: everything is called the same name. For example, we initially got lost at our residence because there's a Camden Market, Camden Station, Camden High Street, Camden Garden, and Camden Town. Kensington was similar. Imagine us walking from this market without Wifi or directions, aimlessly following street signs to Kensington Palace. Then the streets are called Kensington Garden, Kensington Terrace, Kensington Garden Terrace... you get the idea. Which one do we take?! 

Eventually we did see a fancy gate that we assumed went on their street. Photography wasn't allowed, but all the houses were white and gorgeous, until eventually at the end we saw the red bricks of the palace. Kensington Park had some dead grass but was otherwise cheerful. The set of gates facing part of the palace displayed flowers, happy birthday balloons and signs and pictures of Diana. I'm assuming her birthday is near. 

Next up on our itinerary (which, by the way, we planned last night and used Google maps at our residence while we still had wifi, so pat on the back to us for that) was Harrods. We took a bus from the sidewalk near Kensington to Knightsbridge and turned the corner to see this huge store that had to be Harrods. Little green overhangs trimmed the bottom floor - the store in general reminded me of Macy's in New York City or something because of how big and beautiful it must be at Christmas time. 

I can't even explain how confusing the layout of this store is for me. It's open, with pathways walking through stores instead of closed off rooms with doors, and elevators at the heart of this nightmarish maze. They have employees all over the store with gold sashes (like in beauty pageants) just so you can ask them where to go. Designer stores, suitcase stores, housewares items... it was like every store packed into one. Finally we made it to the Tea Room, which was one of the top things I wanted to do in London. 

We only had to wait in line a little bit, and then they sat us down against a green cushion in a bright yellow room. Everything is served on Wedgwood - a pretty strawberry pattern - and made me feel super fancy. I ordered "The Wedgwood" tea meal, which includes a tea (I chose the 1849 blend from India), scones with jam and butter, finger sandwiches and a dessert choice (I chose salted caramel sea salt). 

The scones were not as rough-textured as in the US, but looked more like giant cream puffs in shape and were tasty with the thick white butter and strawberry jam. The baby sandwiches were cream cheese and cucumber, cream cheese and salmon (delicious despite my usual indifference to salmon), and a roast beef bleu cheese I gather. My dessert was wonderful (of course it has to be my favorite) as it was a layered cake-like pastry with a dense chocolate bottom, soft caramel custard in layers and lighter chocolate cream, adorned with chocolate candies. It was so rich I absolutely couldn't finish it! 

I'm very glad I could have this experience while in England - what other way can you eat lunch here? Eve though I think it's supposed to be a dish in between lunch and dinner, oh well. 

We hoped on the tube (our first underground experience) to Westminster to catch our free boat ride. Luckily our voucher allowed us to skip the long line of ticket-buyers and we boarded a huge boat on the Thames. Don't know if I mentioned it, but this river is so much dirtier than the Seine. 

Our boat tour lasted almost 30 minutes as our funny guide pointed out famous landmarks along the way. He joked about one of the alternate languages on the headset guide being American. 

(London Bridge finally- the fifth one in 1,000 years!)

Our ticket enabled us to go by boat all the way to Greenwich, but we got off at the Tower of London since Greenwich would apparently take another hour and we wanted to see some other sights. 

I'm learning that everything touristy in this town costs 20 pounds. The Tower was no different, and it was closing in an hour. Yet the museums are free?! What. 

So anyway, we admired the castle-like brickwork, watched the Tower Bridge be lifted, and went in line to see the crown jewels. 

The line to see the crown jewels was unreal (not actually that bad, I'm learning some can be worse) but the entire exhibit was a dark room with an assembly line of being in a school of fish moving to see a gold scepter. We stepped on a flat moving escalator, like those in the airport, to see the crowns. The diamonds were so beautiful and the crowns emanated power. We noticed the christening items were gone and had signs that said "in use" because of Princess Charlotte's christening tomorrow, we presumed. Despite the ushered crowds in the dark hallways, I did like going in these castle towers to see gems. No pics allowed inside, unfortunately. What does my money buy me?!

We had time to go in the white tower, too, to see knight armor, cannons and an indian headdress. 

Once the tower closed, we took our new best friend, the tube, to St. Paul's. It was stuffy inside the tube, even though it's perfect summer weather here. Breezy and sunny! However, once we got to the cathedral, we saw that not only is the admission 18 pounds, but also that it closes at 11:30 a.m. every day?! What?! New theme of London: "What?!"

And we learned that it's closed for sightseeing on Sundays, so sadly I won't be seeing the inside for myself. I guess I've seen a good amount of churches in Europe thus far. The outside was still nice...

Below is the bonus pic of the day: classic Brits, watching an outdoor screening of Wimbledon in a square outside St. Paul's Cathedral. Can you get any more English? Maybe add some tea and a union jack. 

By crossing a bridge (which was featured in the delightful Harry Potter films), we walked to Tate Modern which (thank God!) was open and free - we lucked out there. 

However, unfortunately, the main gallery in the center of the building was under construction. I remember hearing that usually the whole room is a modern art piece, but this time it was just empty with a sign saying it's changing soon. The information desk said an exhibit is only here six months of the year; we left, but I was still glad we attempted to see it - nothing we can do about that. And it was still very big and open.

By walking along the south bank towards the London Eye, we scouted out where we could eat. Eventually we just went into a random bar/restaurant/something and I had fish and chips because in England, French fries really are called chips so I had to. A lot of restaurants advertise fish and chips in huge print, so I figured it must be a popular choice here. 

(I found humor in the ratio of vegetables to all other food. Sadly, this is more vegetables that I've been having in Paris and London. How are people here at all fit?)

The fish was actually probably the best fish and chips I've had, because it was crispy and not soggy, and wasn't separated from the fish but actually cooked onto the fish well. 

To end our evening, we caught the night tour bus near Westminster Bridge after hurrying from dinner. The last tour begins at 8:30 p.m. even though the sun is barely starting to set. It was very beautiful because it had a different route than usual, through the west end by the Marble Arch, Soho, Oxford Street, Piccadily Circus, etc. 

 (Marble Arch - old entrance of Buckingham Palace)

I thoroughly loved this night tour, because I love cities at night - especially with dazzling lights. This area was described as the young area that stays open late with shops and pubs and squares. It reminded me of Times Square because of the lights - and I savored the view from the very top of the decker bus. I could've ridden it all night!

(This is blurry on purpose because I'm artsy...)

We got off the night tour early because we didn't want to be out late in the dark, going back to the residence on the bus and walking back from the bus stop. But we did stay to see the sunset in front of Big Ben. 

That's it for now, London! You're growing on me, though sometimes you're overwhelming. People are much stranger here - they have dyed hair and piercings and like skulls and books. I can't believe I came into this country without a real plan and sometimes without direction and managed to survive. I was definitely lot more independent and responsible here because it was just me and my friend navigating this cosmopolitan capital.  

The English are a lot more eccentric than Parisians, but it is also exciting watching specks of people on the street hanging out at night in Trafalgar Square or in side streets. Happy 4th of July, from the country we declared independence from - très ironic.