The Time of Our English Holiday

Yesterday I took the Eurostar with another girl on my program to go to London! We arrived three hours early to the station, which was more than enough time to go through Gare du Nord. This was my first time on one of these trains, and I discovered it looks just like an airplane inside, but it glides smoothly on land instead of air. We spent the two hours looking out the window at the green French countryside - patches of different shades of green forever, along with wind turbines.

When we arrived yesterday, we went straight to the little apartment we are staying at. We rented a room through Airbnb in an older couple's apartment in Camden with their dog. At first we got off at the wrong bus stop and then we went to the next stop; though we didn't have a map, we knew it was in the area. Lugging our suitcases behind, we tried to look at maps and find the street since we had the address. We even went into an office building that helped us Google map the place since we don't have wifi, but it was still hard to find. We didn't really think this through.

Camden was a very happening neighborhood, with people in the streets, in the market, and walking around. It's not at all like Paris, so we were kind of shocked - definitely more shocked going from Paris to London than from the US to Paris. Instead of quiet, classy and clean areas, this was super metropolitan with dirty streets and loud people lounging on the sidewalk. 

When we finally found the courtyard area and got inside, we were pretty nervous to be in a new city. I really can't stress how different Paris is from London, when we thought they'd be pretty similar. Paris (or at least the neighborhoods we've seen) is just very relaxed and serene, but here it is crazy with excitement and hurriedness. 

Then we tried to get dinner at about 7 or 8 p.m. We didn't want to go too far since we didn't know the area, so we attempted to buy food at a coffeehouse called Costa which I think is a common chain here. However, they didn't accept any of our credit cards or debit cards, so we left, worried we'd be money-less. Then we tried another restaurant place and I devoured a "mini" pizza with pineapple and ham. 

We were very exhausted, a little scared and kind of overwhelmed by the city, but began to settle down a little at night. Another girl from our program joined us to stay for the night, too, and we went to sleep. 

The Time We Toured at Night

I started off Wednesday with the local market again - this time I got peaches and a quiche lorraine for breakfast.

On this hottest day of the week (102 degrees), we had the afternoon free. Some people went to museums or just stayed inside to rest. I decided to visit a mall for a bit because it was air conditioned and took less time than a museum. Galeries Lafayette is a really fancy mall with a huge dome roof like some of the churches we've been to.

Inside, it's almost like a bazaar with stations of different brands, instead of rooms. They just have their products laid out on tables and in shelves out in the open, with lots of security guards around to watch you. This is probably the most expensive mall I've been to - the stores are all designers from Coach, Marc Jacobs, Gucci, Chanel, Prada - all those. Around the circumference are the stores, and then in the open center there are little stations for makeup. The bottom floor is purses, where I looked the most, then clothing on the upper levels. 

Edit: I went back another day and bought a Marc Jacobs wallet. Even though he's American, I can still say I got a designer handbag in Paris. Woohoo! I really needed a new one so it was a special treat.  

The mall was insane. Since all the sales are going on in Paris, all the designer items were 50% off, so people were shoving left and right to grab up whatever they could like some sort of weird shopoholic horror movie. Even though the sale has been going on for a week! Shopping is the only area I've noticed where Americans are more polite than French. Even in local boutiques, people have no personal bubbles. If I'm looking at a rack of clothing, people come up and look at the shirt right next to yours and put their hands in your space. It's normal here apparently. 

At 6:45 p.m. we all met to go on a class picnic near the river by the Mabillon metro stop. It was really nice eating cheese, meats, breads, fruits, juice and cookies on the edge in the golden light. The whole bank was covered with people picnicking - it's definitely a favorite pastime here. 

Though we had a night walk, it was still unbearably hot. Between the humidity and the smoke, the air is just so thick and stuffy. It felt like a sauna as we embarked on a 2.5 hour walk. People kept buying water bottles for like 2 euros each every time we passed a market because they were dropping like flies.

The theme of this trip was kind of rags to riches, as we first started in the more poor, scandalous neighborhood where prostitutes hang out in the streets when it's darker. Teo said in Paris, prostitution is legal and even unionized. The streets still looked nice because it was Paris, but we saw a huge cluster of pigeons and even a rat (i.e. Remi from Ratatouille).

Soon we turned towards the nicer streets like Boulevard des Capucines. The sunset was radiant as it peeped over the rooftops.

 I enjoyed this part because it felt like a vibrant city with lights, marquees, cars, and a large road. Teo said there was no shame in going back if we were collapsing from heat, but someone shouted "Come on, if Teo can do it, we can do it." And Teo joked that he is four times our age so we can make it to the end. And we did!

Soon we turned down the Rodeo Drive of Paris - the richest address of Paris lined with extravagant stores. The flagship Cartier, the Hyatt, the Ritz (which was under construction), Chanel and others all on this Rue de la Paix.

This is where we ended our tour. Teo pointed some of us towards the Tuileries Garden to savor the carnival at night. It's very weird to see places I've seen in paintings - the Tuileries and Capucines - now turned modern with cars and amusement parks.

A group of us watched people on the rides and a few people went on one or two. We waited at the bottom of a water slide ride and splashed each other discreetly because it was so hot (even back at the hotel at 1 am, I checked and it was 82 degrees). One of the French people at the carnival noticed we were American and asked if we know Kanye West, which was so funny.

I boarded the ferris wheel with one girl, so we could see the whole city at night. It was very beautiful, with lights illuminating Sacre Coeur, the Eiffel, Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Arc, which were in all different directions around us. Magnifique!

Well, now I'm off to London for our long weekend with another girl. I think I might accidentally speak French to people there. Hopefully I will have Wifi to write about this upcoming adventure - au revoir! 

The Time We Escaped the Heat with Macarons

Walking in the heat in Paris is pretty awful. Though it's funny when we complain, because then we realize how ridiculous we sound. "Oh help me, I'm spending my summer walking around Paris. Poor me." But regardless, it's hot.

Today our walking tour consisted of the Palais Royale, Galarie Vivianne, Place de Victoires and walking through the Louvre exterior, which used to be the palace. 

(Church at St. Germain l'auxerrois. Good escape from the heat)

(A man was playing Bach on the guitar in front of the arches and glasswork)

(Example of classic style)

(A hot garden pathway with rows of shaded trees with light peeping through leaves)

(The fountain in the garden)

(A modern art installment)

(The Louvre pyramid)

I really enjoyed walking through the galleries today. There were tons of rich stores, but I liked that they're inside like a mall, but very fancy with gold decor, glass ceilings, and plants. It felt like walking through a train station in the jungle or something. 

After our tour, a few girls went to Laduree - a famous macaron shop that's apparently really popular as an upscale dessert place, though I hadn't heard of it. We think this is the original one. 

I went and tried three mini macarons flavored rose, licorice, and "Marie Antoinette Tea" which turned out to be the best. I can't place the flavor - I'm guessing it's tea-related but it was almost coconut-y as well. The black licorice, though I usually enjoy that flavor, was not very memorable. All the tastes were mild and the cookies were incredibly light and not as chewy as I've usually had before. So airy! These must be the correct way to make macarons, since they're Parisian.    

The decor of the room was Chinese-themed, with bamboo style print wallpaper and Mandarin writing that some of the girls translated to "Ear, hand, nose" etc. At the front we found the dessert counter with rows of pastries and the macarons of course. Worth the little experience. 

A few of us went back to Marais to look at shops, but everything was either really expensive even with the summer sales, not my style, or available in the US. We found this store called COS that had really simple clothing but it was edgy, with weird shapes and cuts that looked like French fashion. Wish we could wear holographic or waist-less dresses in America.

For dinner, I had a crepe in the upper part of Paris because I met a high school classmate there. This just proves that the street crepes across from our hotel near the Eiffel Tower are really the best, as Teo says. My crepe, while perfectly decent by all American standards, was boring compared to the street crepes. It wasn't as soft or harmonious or cheesy, but instead the fillings were layered and not stuck together nor mixed together in one bite. 

Then we spent midnight in Paris on the Seine, which looked like an impressionist painting.