The Time We Danced in a Fire Station

I started this morning off right with a croissant and pear juice that tasted thick like liquefied pieces of fruit.

In the morning, our long walk took us to the outskirts of Paris - much different from the rest of the city in that it is more diverse, has higher buildings and frankly is not as nice. It looks like the outskirts of any other city with little hints of Paris. However, we stopped at a park with mural art and Teo said this is the best view of Paris because you can see all the monuments - though it seemed too far away to me.

It was a strange neighborhood and smelled pretty bad. The buildings were also higher than the six-story limit in central Paris, so it didn't have the same quaint appeal. Eventually we strolled down a few residential alleys that were very small and charming with flowers all around.

(An aristocat... kidding)

For lunch, we had brought sandwiches (rustic ham and cheese for me) to eat in a huge park with tall trees and a stone structure in the center. However, The Butte Chaumont Park was hilly and muddy, so I actually slipped and got mud all over my leggings and some on my skirt. It was kind of miserable sitting in the wet grass on a hill, but I guess it's a good thing that one of my worst moments in Paris was just getting a little dirty.

At the end of our walk, I went back to the hotel to change and got dessert at a bakery across from our hotel with a lime green storefront. The tricolore is a tiered chocolate cream dessert (with white, milk and dark chocolate) with a single raspberry on top that gave it so much flavor (I wish there were more framboises).

I had an early dinner at the café in the movie Amelie, which we'd passed by in a previous walk. Two girls came along to Cafe des Deux Moulins - it was really cool because the inside looks exactly like the set of the film, except now there are Amelie posters inside and pesky film fanatics eating.

Eventually we felt awkward because we could tell it was a touristy place - what do you call it, like a cliche faux café like we were on a movie set. The menus were in English, no customers were really French,and we could just tell it wasn't a real French café. On the plus side, they did have frog legs on the menu, which is something I've wanted to try here! With so little time left in the program, I thought I wouldn't get a chance to try them, so I was overjoyed. I ordered them with French onion soup for my dinner - can you tell it's a tourist spot yet?

One person was wearing an LA baseball hat, one person was holding a selfie stick... it was bad for us Parisians. I did enjoy the frog legs - they did indeed taste like chicken as I'd been told. It was super difficult for me to get the meat off them, though, because they were like 70% tiny bones. The onion soup tasted alright, but I could tell it wasn't authentic French because the cheese wasn't as messy and over-the-top as it's supposed to be. The bread was somehow simultaneously chewy and soggy and impossible to cut with a spoon.
Like I said, kind of a fake French café but still decent. Bucket list: check.

Since tonight is the day before Bastille Day, there are "balls" at the fire stations, where the firemen and other public officers raise money for charity apparently by throwing a dance in their station down our street. Literally everyone in the entire neighborhood went from grandparents to kids, from 9 pm to 4 am. We went from like 11 pm to about 2 am and I was exhausted, but it was really fun to see all the French people celebrating their national holiday like our 4th of July.

The line was so long for people to get inside to the courtyard. There were booths for food and drinks, and a concert-like stage with a DJ and colored lights. Almost everyone was speaking French, so we knew it was actually something that local people did. The firemen and officers were working by collecting money and checking bags - it was a really cool cultural experience to see this community dance party with people of all ages.

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 I Climbed 1,091 Stairs

Yes, 1,091 stairs in one day because Notre Dame has 387 and the Tour Eiffel has 704. But apparently 387 + 704 = 2 amazing views.

Today we got up extra early to leave at 9 am for Chateau de Vincennes, a medieval castle! It was like a fairytale castle, except the real thing in its antiquated state. The color was very faded, with many tones of yellow or brown or beige. 

We had tickets to cross the bridge over a field of grass (like a mote) and go up into the tower. There were spiral staircases here, too, as we climbed up to see the small rooms and chambers. No furniture was present, but merely rooms of brick and old fireplaces. A balcony was on the other side of the little bridge, where we could see the grounds. The building across from us (which we didn't go into) kind of looked like Versailles on the outside. This medieval castle was never taken during the wars.

Across the castle towers was a church, which was as white and clean as the Chartres Cathedral. The stained glass never comes out as radiant in my photos, but I really enjoyed sitting in the bright church with those common arched ceilings.    

For lunch, we walked around the back of Chateau de Vincennes to a park-like wooded area on the other side of the street. It was a really nice park with dusty gravel paths and even a pond with lilypads. Teo had brought us sandwiches, so I ate a curry chicken one with avocados while sitting on the grass among the flowers. 

After the picnic, Teo led an optional walk to Canal St. Martin, so I went along to see it. Though the area was perhaps a little grimy and grungy and not as nice as the Seine, I liked seeing people hanging out around the canal with the water so high.

At one point, we saw a boat coming up the canal so we waited to watch. Since the canal is tiered, they have a special process to open the canal and let the water levels equal out, raising the boat, so it can sail through. Here is the blockage when it's closed, but we watched it for about 15 minutes while it opened.

We also met up with one of Teo's old students who gave us each a slice of a fruit tart that was brilliantly flakey. After this stroll along the canal, I branched off with two girls to go to Notre Dame, since we embarrassingly have been here over two weeks and have not gone inside. The line in the front was about 30 minutes to get inside the church. 

It was really similar to every other church we've been to, to be honest, with arched ceilings, stained glass rose windows, and gothic details. However, I was surprised by how dark it was inside, with very little light shining through even with several chandeliers and candles around. Posters described the history of its construction, and I could see what Teo was talking about when he said that it was built over such a long period of time, adding other styles to change it.

Another line greeted us outside, this time an hour long wait to pay to climb the 387 stairs to the top. I'll repeat: waiting in line to pay to walk up stairs. That's right. Despite the winding spiral staircases, it was worth it. We stopped at the first level to see the complete 180 degree view of Paris in front of us, with the array of gargoyles and rooftops of Notre Dame behind us. Really stunning, even on this cloudy day. In fact, it started raining while we were up there but oh well. 

 (The view is so breathtaking in person, seeing all the perfectly Parisian buildings and all the landmarks that we can now recognize.)

We walked up more stairs, first to the bell tower to see the giant bells and then to the top of the left tower. We had five minutes at the top, but you can even see the Arc de Triomphe from here, though much of the view was the same as the first level. I was so glad I went to Notre Dame - I can never get over these aerial views of Paris.

Once we wound back down the stairs, we stopped along the bridges nearby to look at art for sale. There are a lot vendors here drawing caricatures or selling paintings or prints of Paris. I LOVE these artworks because they try to capture the fleeting nature of this city, so it makes sense why the impressionists loved Paris. It started to downpour, so I quickly bought a little impressionist painting of the Eiffel Tower, but every stand I passed had wonderful pictures. Wish I could collect them all. 

For dinner, I went to the grocery store Franprix to get cheese-filled pasta. I'm discovering little hidden foods of Paris in these markets that aren't exactly famous Parisian but that I enjoy. For example, there's this fig and nut cheese that has the texture of chunky cream cheese and a salty and sweet taste. And there are these sodas called Oasis (not oasis like the desert, but pronounced oh-ay-sees). They will correct you on your pronunciation if you say oasis. Anyway, I've had both raspberry and tropical flavors, the latter of which is the best soda here. I don't think these are even French things, but I've never seen them at home. 

Post-dinner a group of us decided to climb the Eiffel Tour because it was one girl's birthday (yes, another birthday!). We left around 10 p.m. so we could see it sparkle starting at 11. However, apparently we should've gone earlier because they said that once you walk up the stairs to the second level, you have to buy another ticket to ride the lift to the very top and it might close soon. 

So we tried to climb the tower really fast, but I actually ended up losing them for a while because I stopped on the first level to look at the view. Then I spent a long time just looking for them, climbing the next set of unbearably endless stairs. It's really cool being inside the tower at night, when it's lit up so you can see the intricate metallic weavings illuminated. 

We didn't make it in time to buy tickets to the top, but the view from the second tier is still amazing at night. I especially love the northwest view of the Seine.

And, as always, at 11 p.m., the tower sparkles for five minutes, which was unbelievably neat to see from right there. The lightbulbs just flicker on and off and create weird shadows when you're up there. It was great, other than the part about losing my group for 20 minutes. 

So, all in all, like I said - 1,091 stairs at Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. Even more if you count Chateau de Vicennes. But, it was a day of breathtaking views as well. 

The Time We Ate and Ate

As I'm writing this, I am so full. But let's start chronologically, shall we?

I woke up in Paris, and went out in the morning to recharge my navigo metro pass and buy a croissant from our favorite bakery across the street, which is called a la petite chocolatiere. They have the most crispy and flaky croissants. I also grabbed an apple crumble pastry to have later.

This morning it was really exciting to reunite with everyone on my program, and we all were talking about what we did over the weekend and how glad we were to be back. I really loved this reunion, hearing about people who went to Amsterdam, Barcelona or stayed in Paris.

For class today, we walked around La Defense, which is a more modern area kind of on the edge of the city so as not to disrupt the six-story building historic center. There was a huge arc and lots of glass and steel buildings; Teo said they tried to make this like a futuristic utopia.

 (The view from the steps - you can see the Arc de Triomphe in the center in the distance)

Just beyond the steps was a carousel, which we stopped to ride like little kids. This was Teo's surprise for the day, and I rode a little horse!

Since today's theme was modern Paris, we also strolled through rue Montaigne with all the designer stores. At one point, Teo joked that we should all run into Gucci I think it was and steal all the clothes, and suddenly a security guard came to the window and looked at us. We all laughed and the guard was very confused. 

Rue Francois had a really cute roundabout courtyard, that might have been my favorite courtyard for no particular reason. Maybe I'm just glad to be back in Paris after a tiring weekend, but it was very sweet with the typical buildings and colorful flowers and blue cloudy sky. I feel like I'd recognize a French building anywhere, but maybe more of Europe is like this that I just haven't seen. 

One of the last stops was outside the Grand and Petit Palais, two museum type exhibitions that are simply beautiful on the outside. We didn't go in, but admired the classic architecture that can be randomly and casually found throughout the city. 

We crossed a bridge towards Napoleon's tomb, but the bridge itself provided a perfect view from all angles of the Seine, the Tour Eiffel, the tomb, street lamps, the Palais... just everywhere was picture ready. Apparently this is a rather famous bridge with gold colored statues. 

(That view...unbearable. Great way to end our walk.)

For lunch, a few of us went back to Le Marais to try the world famous falafels. I don't even like falafels, so I was hesitant to spend a Parisian lunch eating one, but this restaurant Teo had pointed out earlier was amazing. It's a soft pita with vegetables, sauce, eggplants, cucumbers and chickpea falafels.

 (Yes there was a line)

 (My half-eaten falafel)

Like I said, I don't even LIKE falafels and I loved this. Wonderful flavors and textures, almost like a Greek gyro. Someone from our program loves falafels, has even eaten them in Israel, and said these were the best ever. We sat on the curb outside to eat because there's no seating offered. Side note: Oh, the places I've sat on this trip. I don't even care anymore - we walk so much that I'm so tired that the floor becomes a viable option. I've sat on metro floors, on streets, on the cigarette-covered Champ de Mars... This was nothing. 

Even though we were full from our wonderful falafels, we passed by a Swedish ice cream place we wanted to test out. This double creme meringue was delicious, like extra creamy vanilla with meringue chunks. Some of the girls felt like we were cheating on our favorite ice cream, Berthillon, though.  

After an afternoon of rest, I went on my adventure project. This was assignment Teo gave us the first week, where he wrote down addresses on scraps of paper and random groups of three students chose a piece of paper. Ours was 83 rue de Reuilly, and since we had a free afternoon, my group went today. The metro took 30 minutes, but we got off in a neighborhood we've never been to and turned the corner to find the impasse we were meant to explore. 

It was merely a cobblestone street with houses and cars parked along the side. It was a side street with a few local French people watering their gardens or reparking their cars. We walked down to see the blend of old and new - the parts of paint chipping, piles of broken cement, graffiti, and old shutters. Then we saw the new parts with growth, like flower pots and a roof with grapevines and grapes hanging over the side. 

It was strange to see a cute little side street that was worn down yet still full of people living. We don't really know what the assignment is, other than to investigate this hidden area of Paris and report back. It wasn't really all that special, but just a nice little street. 

One thing we really noticed was the quiet. The street perpendicular to it was completely loud, with tons of buses and cars and bikes and people everywhere. Then you simply turn right and it's silent in the side street except a bell chime. We don't know why, because there's no door or illusion - but it's very quiet just one foot away. 

Once we returned to the hotel, a group of friends went out to celebrate a girl's birthday. We have a bucket list of food places we want to try, but in Paris everything is closed on Mondays, so our go-tos weren't open. We consulted Yelp, as we always do, and found a place a few blocks away called Le Volant Basque. 
A lot of us wanted boef bourguignon but (and this is something that has happened before in France) the waitress suggested that we try other things, too, and not all get the same item. If you all order the same thing, they will actually tell you to get other things to eat, I guess because they want you to try more of their dishes than just the same one? I think the French are just so proud of their food that they want you to have a good experience, and that's how you know you're "in" if they give you tips and advice. Though we usually listen to their advice, one girl got salmon but the rest of us stuck with the boef bourguignon anyway. Eventually they brought out bread and our food. 

The boef bourguignon was brought out in a copper pan, full of brown sauce, pieces of beef and mushrooms and some sort of bacon-like pork on top. We thought it was one portion and were freaking out that we ordered way too much, but luckily the waitress must've realized our naivety and only ordered two dishes for five of us to share. And we still had extra. It was amazingly tender and flavorful and so genuinely homemade French. They even brought out polenta, some vegetable rice and mashed potatoes to eat with it. It was just so good, probably the best meal I've had here. Very rich, though; I only had three pieces of beef. I'm still full two hours later.

For dessert, we shared two creme brûlées whose insides were very creamy, melty and did not hold their shape. I've had some before that are thick, but these in France aren't. It was good but not stand out. After a truly Parisian dinner of three hours and many laughs (including one girl's story of being called a disobedient avocado), we walked home very happy and full from a wonderful day of eating.