One more day complete in Paris!
Today was a fun one! Lots happened!
Amy and I woke up at around 8:30am to eat breakfast. We had the same things as yesterday - cereal, milk, and orange juice. I’m thinking I want to switch it up tomorrow. We got ready for the day, did some homework, and then headed to the city early to make sure we were there in time for M. Olivier to interview us for our conversation class. It turned out that he didn’t have enough time to fit everyone in (the interviews last for 15-20 minutes), so I’m going tomorrow. Wish me luck!
For lunch, I had a sandwich avec jambon cru and a chocolate macaron from "Paul". SO DELISH!!!! The sandwich was on a small baguette covered in poppy seeds with tomato, lettuce, a kind of thin ham, and butter. Totally recommend it. I’ve heard the best macarons come from Ladurée, but the one I had was great!
After some lunch, we met at the Institute building for class. Monsieur Olivier came in and told us that for our culture class, we would be tasting chocolate. You heard me. CHOCOLATE! He came in with this massive bag of chocolate from Michel Cluizel (he is apparently the most famous French chocolatier). We each got 7 chocolates (one of each flavor), and read the description of where they got the cocoa beans. You could literally TASTE the places where they got the beans. There are no extra flavors added, just cocoa beans, sugar, and milk. It was the coolest thing ever! For example, there was one from...the name escapes me...but you can literally taste green bananas and other fruits in the chocolate. So neat. Momma, if you want I can bring a box home and show you!
After the culture (Paris walks) class, I had photography. It’s so interesting to learn about all of these famous photographers and their work in Paris. It’s really pushing me to want to take good pictures! Hopefully I end up with some cool ones. Tomorrow, I have to share some pictures with the class and they’ll critique them so we’ll see what my classmates think of them.
After class, a group of about 8 of us wanted to go to the catacombs but they close at 4:00pm. So, we decided to explore on our own instead. It was quite the adventure! We walked through the gay quarter (oh boy, that was interesting) to get to the Jewish quarter. People were hungry and they wanted a good falafel (I can’t explain it, but Google can!). They got their food and then it was off to the Metro!
We took a few different lines and ended up at...
Le Tour Eiffel!
It was so much fun to walk around and see all of the people wandering . At really touristy sights, we can speak in English more so it was fun to stop blending in for a while. We even did the most touristy, American thing you could possibly do at the Eiffel Tower...
Jumping pictures!
It was also a chance for me to practice taking pictures for my photography class. Here are a few from today:
Amy and I were so caught up in taking pictures that we totally lost track of time. We had to be home for dinner in an hour! We scrambled onto the nearest Metro and changed trains a few times before getting on the RER A to take us to Croissy. I’m tellin’ you, I have the Metro system down! We got to Croissy at 8:21pm and had to be home at 8:30pm. After walking VERY quickly from the station to the house, we made it!
Madame de Grandmaison made fish with a mint sauce, a potato type thing I can’t remember the name of, bread, and green beans covered in cream. Maybe I’m just going crazy but the green beans were so good! I NEVER say anything good about vegetables!...what is France doing to me?! The dinner conversation was really fun tonight too (all in French, of course). I had a heck of a time trying to explain first, what a major was and then, what my major (athletic training) was. Apparently in France, the medical system is flawed and if I wanted to be a trainer in France, I’d have to go to medical school. Yeah, no thanks.
When we finished dinner, Madame asked if we wanted to watch television in the basement. We decided that it would be good to practice hearing French conversations, so she showed us the channels and what not. After flipping through channels for a bit, we decided to watch Glee in French. I’m pretty sure it’s way more hilarious in English, but it was still fun to see. I mean, who doesn’t love the duet between Lea Michele and Idina Menzel when they sing “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Mis? And who doesn’t love Les Mis? If you don’t, keep it to yourself. I don’t want to know.
1 comment:
Chocolate, photography, Glee, and Paris in one day? Please tell me it's not too late for me to enroll. I am on the next flight out.
Your pics are amazing. I am loving reading about your travels and adventures. Yay for Paris!
P.S. My word verification is "rachi." For reals.
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