Sunday, May 30, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Yesterday Was a Perfect Day
One of the all time best. Top 5, or maybe Top 3--
It all started when I woke up. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and when either of these things happens in Paris you just know its going to be a great day, because they really don't happen too much!
I got ready, wore a SUNDRESS (I know! Bare legs in Paris finally!), and hopped on the metro to Saint Germain. Cafe de Flore was the plan, and a wonderful plan it was! I got there, sat down at a little table outside facing the street bien sur, and waited for a waiter to bring me a carte. Little did I know, the menus were right behind me, literally a foot to my right in a pocket on the wall. Oops. Thank you nice waiter man who pointed this out to me... I ordered oeufs a la coque, which are eggs in the shell--I'm sure there's a real name for them, but it's the eggs that are cooked in the shell but the yolk is still runny, and you eat them in a cute little egg-shaped stand/bowl! They come with long strips of bread, in Cafe de Flore's case, strips of baguette (not toasted). And beurre, don't worry!
I was an absolute failure at eating them (I probably should have asked someone about that before I ordered them, but once I had them in front of me I was a bit too embarrassed, once again, oops)--I cracked them with my spoon like I had seen people do before, but of course since the egg white is essentially hard boiled the shell just sticks to the egg even when it's cracked. I then proceeded to peel off the top of the egg, because I knew that you were supposed to leave the shell around most of it so that it acts as a sort of bowl to dip the bread in. Well, merde. This is apparently not what you're supposed to do, as I had pieces of egg shell everywhere, and my friend Lucy informed me last night that I was supposed to cut off the top of the egg with a knife after cracking it. Ah well.... it tasted delicious though! I ordered a cafe (Espresso, bien sur) too, as I figured this is probably what all the old writers ordered while they were working back in the day. Perfect way to sit at the big Saint Germain intersection and watch all the busy socialites and students walk buy!
Then I headed over to Palais Royal for a tour of the Conseil d'Etat with my Judicial Systems class. It was so interesting, and the lady giving us the tour of the building and the building's history was so cute and funny! The man that talked to us about the function of the Conseil d'Etat in the General Assembly room (where the ministers of important departments meet to discuss laws that the Parliament has to refer to them--this room is used for the most important discussions, because these are discussed in the small blue room first and then for a second time with the Vice President of the Conseil d'Etat, the presiding member) was interesting too--French law is so very different than that of the US, but I find it quite interesting to hear about their different thought processes and reasons they do things the way they do. All the rooms were so pretty and so old--I loved the small blue discussions room, and the French Working at Work painting around the General Assembly room and the paintings of all the departments of Napoleon's regime around the ceiling of that room.
Then I read in the Jardins du Palais Royal, after walking pass Mitterand's infamous black-and-white striped columns--the children love playing around them, and they're so cute, so I decided that I can look past their weirdness and like them too haha! The Jardins are so, so pretty--they're hidden right now because of this big construction thing in between the Ministry of Culture and the Comedie Francaise (which is across the square from the Conseil d'Etat, and was made because the theatre room of the Conseil d'Etat building (which is now a court room!) was decidedly insufficient), but that was kindof nice because it felt like I was in a secret little world in the middle of Paris, just me, fountains, trees, purple flowers, pretty birds and some chill French. Parfait!
Then I decided that I should probably stop sunburning myself, so I went to the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. A-MAZING. I bought a ticket (being a student only gets you a reduction here--the ticket was 7.50 Euros) and walked straight back, which was apparently an exhibition, which I didn't have a ticket for, but the guy let me go in anyways I think because he didn't want to correct my confusedness... But I'm quite glad he did, because it was one of my favorite things in all of Paris! It was the Lavalle exhibit, the first time a French art museum has exhibited the work of the couple (two artists, the husband, Francois, used to paint too but decided to focus on sculptures when he met Claude, another wonderful sculpture), and it was beautiful. It had the famous sheep, which I had read about my first couple weeks in Paris and which took over the art world in the 60s, and Claude made so many gorgeous housing decorations--the bronze clock apple, the wonderful cabbage/lobster/etc gold and silver silverware, the metal couches, tables and chairs, Choulapin, the moth/butterfly bracelet, I could go on and on... Francois made amazing things as well, like the Hippo Bath and the Rhinocerous bars, the Rhino couch (I want one), the Donkey cabinet, and more!
Upstairs is an assortment of things--some rooms are medieval and renaissance, some other old periods (16/1700s), but they have more modern things too--they even had a toy room which had all my favorite stuffed animal characters--Peter Rabbit, Babar, the Bisounours (Care Bears!!! Like the cutest ones ever--Grosbisou (Tender-Heart Bear, but in French it's Big Kisses Bear!), Grosdodo (Bedtime Bear, but it's like Big Sleepy Bear!), Grosfarceur (Cheer Bear--my favorite bear in America, cute little rainbows are universal), and Grosgateau (Birthday Bear, but the French do it so much better--Big Cake Bear! It was the cutest one there by far), a vintage Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal, the whole Winnie cast (Jean-Cristophe=Christopher Robin (love the Frenchified version, so typical); Tigrou=Tigger; Porcinet=Piglet; Bourriquet=Eeyore (the wonderfulest one of course)), and more! It was amazing. There was even a room upstairs that had fashion, both vintage fashion, old posters, and more modern crazy out-there fashion!
I then went out to the gardens behind the Musee's cafe, which are the gardens by the Arc in front of the Place du Carrousel of the Louvre. Lots of people lounging, picnicing, smoking hooka, reading--it was so nice out--who wouldn't be outside?
Finally, I went to the Carrousel du Louvre shops to buy some Mariage Freres the for Mom--I almost got the Marco Polo, their best seller, but I decided on Pleine Lune (Full Moon), because it has almond in it and both mom and I love that.
At 19h30 I met a friend at Le Nemrod for dinner, and I ordered their salad oeufs mollet (lettuce, lardons, brioche crutons, white mustardy dressing, onions, poached egg) and a croque monsieur, because theirs is supposedly one of the best. Croque monsieur was good, pretty with lots of cheese, but I think St. Barths does it better--the addition of Bechamel is key! If I went back, I would get the Croque Madame (with egg, which they serve runny) and french fries (thick but short, double fried it looks like), but I couldn't take more fried/buttery food that night! Salad was yummy though--I miss big salads here!
So, in summary: Mom and Dad, I have decided that I'm staying here forever and never coming home... it's just too beautiful and there are too many things to wander around and discover!
Off to Montmartre to discover the best baguette of Paris 2010 and lay out by the Sacre Coeur--I'll report back later, never you fear!
A bientot,
PM&SB
It all started when I woke up. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and when either of these things happens in Paris you just know its going to be a great day, because they really don't happen too much!
I got ready, wore a SUNDRESS (I know! Bare legs in Paris finally!), and hopped on the metro to Saint Germain. Cafe de Flore was the plan, and a wonderful plan it was! I got there, sat down at a little table outside facing the street bien sur, and waited for a waiter to bring me a carte. Little did I know, the menus were right behind me, literally a foot to my right in a pocket on the wall. Oops. Thank you nice waiter man who pointed this out to me... I ordered oeufs a la coque, which are eggs in the shell--I'm sure there's a real name for them, but it's the eggs that are cooked in the shell but the yolk is still runny, and you eat them in a cute little egg-shaped stand/bowl! They come with long strips of bread, in Cafe de Flore's case, strips of baguette (not toasted). And beurre, don't worry!
I was an absolute failure at eating them (I probably should have asked someone about that before I ordered them, but once I had them in front of me I was a bit too embarrassed, once again, oops)--I cracked them with my spoon like I had seen people do before, but of course since the egg white is essentially hard boiled the shell just sticks to the egg even when it's cracked. I then proceeded to peel off the top of the egg, because I knew that you were supposed to leave the shell around most of it so that it acts as a sort of bowl to dip the bread in. Well, merde. This is apparently not what you're supposed to do, as I had pieces of egg shell everywhere, and my friend Lucy informed me last night that I was supposed to cut off the top of the egg with a knife after cracking it. Ah well.... it tasted delicious though! I ordered a cafe (Espresso, bien sur) too, as I figured this is probably what all the old writers ordered while they were working back in the day. Perfect way to sit at the big Saint Germain intersection and watch all the busy socialites and students walk buy!
Then I headed over to Palais Royal for a tour of the Conseil d'Etat with my Judicial Systems class. It was so interesting, and the lady giving us the tour of the building and the building's history was so cute and funny! The man that talked to us about the function of the Conseil d'Etat in the General Assembly room (where the ministers of important departments meet to discuss laws that the Parliament has to refer to them--this room is used for the most important discussions, because these are discussed in the small blue room first and then for a second time with the Vice President of the Conseil d'Etat, the presiding member) was interesting too--French law is so very different than that of the US, but I find it quite interesting to hear about their different thought processes and reasons they do things the way they do. All the rooms were so pretty and so old--I loved the small blue discussions room, and the French Working at Work painting around the General Assembly room and the paintings of all the departments of Napoleon's regime around the ceiling of that room.
Then I read in the Jardins du Palais Royal, after walking pass Mitterand's infamous black-and-white striped columns--the children love playing around them, and they're so cute, so I decided that I can look past their weirdness and like them too haha! The Jardins are so, so pretty--they're hidden right now because of this big construction thing in between the Ministry of Culture and the Comedie Francaise (which is across the square from the Conseil d'Etat, and was made because the theatre room of the Conseil d'Etat building (which is now a court room!) was decidedly insufficient), but that was kindof nice because it felt like I was in a secret little world in the middle of Paris, just me, fountains, trees, purple flowers, pretty birds and some chill French. Parfait!
Then I decided that I should probably stop sunburning myself, so I went to the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. A-MAZING. I bought a ticket (being a student only gets you a reduction here--the ticket was 7.50 Euros) and walked straight back, which was apparently an exhibition, which I didn't have a ticket for, but the guy let me go in anyways I think because he didn't want to correct my confusedness... But I'm quite glad he did, because it was one of my favorite things in all of Paris! It was the Lavalle exhibit, the first time a French art museum has exhibited the work of the couple (two artists, the husband, Francois, used to paint too but decided to focus on sculptures when he met Claude, another wonderful sculpture), and it was beautiful. It had the famous sheep, which I had read about my first couple weeks in Paris and which took over the art world in the 60s, and Claude made so many gorgeous housing decorations--the bronze clock apple, the wonderful cabbage/lobster/etc gold and silver silverware, the metal couches, tables and chairs, Choulapin, the moth/butterfly bracelet, I could go on and on... Francois made amazing things as well, like the Hippo Bath and the Rhinocerous bars, the Rhino couch (I want one), the Donkey cabinet, and more!
Upstairs is an assortment of things--some rooms are medieval and renaissance, some other old periods (16/1700s), but they have more modern things too--they even had a toy room which had all my favorite stuffed animal characters--Peter Rabbit, Babar, the Bisounours (Care Bears!!! Like the cutest ones ever--Grosbisou (Tender-Heart Bear, but in French it's Big Kisses Bear!), Grosdodo (Bedtime Bear, but it's like Big Sleepy Bear!), Grosfarceur (Cheer Bear--my favorite bear in America, cute little rainbows are universal), and Grosgateau (Birthday Bear, but the French do it so much better--Big Cake Bear! It was the cutest one there by far), a vintage Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal, the whole Winnie cast (Jean-Cristophe=Christopher Robin (love the Frenchified version, so typical); Tigrou=Tigger; Porcinet=Piglet; Bourriquet=Eeyore (the wonderfulest one of course)), and more! It was amazing. There was even a room upstairs that had fashion, both vintage fashion, old posters, and more modern crazy out-there fashion!
I then went out to the gardens behind the Musee's cafe, which are the gardens by the Arc in front of the Place du Carrousel of the Louvre. Lots of people lounging, picnicing, smoking hooka, reading--it was so nice out--who wouldn't be outside?
Finally, I went to the Carrousel du Louvre shops to buy some Mariage Freres the for Mom--I almost got the Marco Polo, their best seller, but I decided on Pleine Lune (Full Moon), because it has almond in it and both mom and I love that.
At 19h30 I met a friend at Le Nemrod for dinner, and I ordered their salad oeufs mollet (lettuce, lardons, brioche crutons, white mustardy dressing, onions, poached egg) and a croque monsieur, because theirs is supposedly one of the best. Croque monsieur was good, pretty with lots of cheese, but I think St. Barths does it better--the addition of Bechamel is key! If I went back, I would get the Croque Madame (with egg, which they serve runny) and french fries (thick but short, double fried it looks like), but I couldn't take more fried/buttery food that night! Salad was yummy though--I miss big salads here!
So, in summary: Mom and Dad, I have decided that I'm staying here forever and never coming home... it's just too beautiful and there are too many things to wander around and discover!
Off to Montmartre to discover the best baguette of Paris 2010 and lay out by the Sacre Coeur--I'll report back later, never you fear!
A bientot,
PM&SB
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
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