Today was a much needed break from the rainy weather we have been having. It was absolutely beautiful. After class, Emily, Macord, Melissa and I went to a couscous restaurant for lunch in the Marais. It was so good, even the bowls were beautiful!
After lunch we got on the train to Versailles to visit the gardens. We ended up getting on the wrong train and it took twice as long to get there. But it was still fun, we absolutely love the countryside and were just giddy the whole trip.
i thought that little girl in the stroller was so funny playing with her baguette.
When we finally got to Versailles, we wandered through the gardens for a little but I was really only wanting to see the Hameau, Marie Antoinette's play village. I had heard wonderful things about it from my mom but I had no idea what it actually looked like. For anyone interested in visiting Versailles, I would honestly recommend seeing the Hameau over seeing the chateau. You have to enter through the Petit Trianon, and it is a separate fee than the main chateau. We were excited to get in free with our student cards. Those things have literally saved me a ton. Once we got to the Hameau, we came across a pretty little lake and this family of geese under a shady tree.
I could already tell it was going to be magical. As we wondered through the village, I had so much fun photographing the cottages and all the little details. Each building had a special purpose, there was a mill, a bedroom, a fishing house, an aviary, a lighthouse, a dairy etc. and each one had its own garden. I was surprised that they were full sized, I had imagined that they would be miniature sized play houses. There was also a lot more open space than I thought.The farm and mill were actually used back in the day for agricultural purposes and not just for play. The whole village was so calm and peaceful and just so charming! I can completely understand why Marie Antoinette would have liked coming here rather than staying in the castle all the time.
on the left is the queen's cottage where she had free reign to do as she pleased. On the right you can see the lake and in the background, the farm. We spent some time relaxing in the shade of this tree.
the farm included space for cows and sheep
on the right is the inside of the fishing house
because I know you're wondering, i am in fact wearing a cream colored sweater under my dress. don't worry.
on the right is the 'boudoir' where Marie Antoinette would sleep by herself.
The farm is separate from the rest of the village and holds chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons, turkeys, and even a peacock.
I was thinking about my mom the whole time and wishing she could be there with me. Hope you like the pictures Mom!
After the Hameau we went back to the Grand Canal in the gardens and kicked our feet in the water for a little. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.
Sunday May 20th.
The Bois de Bologne is one of my favorite spots in Paris. We went through on one of the walks and I knew that I wanted to come back to spend a little more time there before the end of the program. So today Melissa and I brought a change of clothes to church and then after church we just threw on some pants, changed our shoes, and hopped onto the metro. After waiting a few minutes on the train we realized that it was broken down and wasn't going anywhere. The strange thing was that most of the people were just patiently waiting and it didn't seem to bother them that there was no estimation for when the line would be running again.. We decided to take a different route and got to the Bois without any more problems.
We were looking for the Jardin d'acclimation, because Melissa had researched it a little and read that we could ride horses, bikes, and boats there, so we decided to go check it out. Turns out it was a little amusement park for kids and you have to pay to get in. If I had kids with me I would have done it in a heartbeat, there was a little train to ride, a carousel, a playground, a petting zoo, and who knows what else. We asked the girl in the gift shop where we could rent bikes and she pointed us across the street.
We were excited that the bikes had cute little baskets. It was so much fun to get out onto the bike trails and explore.
taking a picture while riding a bike is not easy.
The first thing we came across was a sweet waterfall-not what you would expect to see in Paris.
We saw a beautiful windmill in the distance and rode off to get a better look. Then, like 10 seconds later, it started pouring! We were completely drenched in a matter of seconds. We made it to the safe shelter of a tree where some other bikers and runners were waiting it out. One man said, "attention, il va pleuvoir." We thought that was hilarious.. Luckily it was a warm rain and actually kind of pleasant. At this point I was very grateful that I didn't bring my camera.
After the raining stopped a little we rode around the pretty windmill which happened to be right next to the horse racing tracks. It was definitely a side of Paris I had never seen.
It was definitely a memorable ride.
Next we rode over to the lake. On the way I passed this car and had to stop to take a picture. It was a nice little reminder of home.
We continued riding right next to the lake which was a little bit bumpy but really beautiful. We stopped to admire this little family of swans. It was precious. (What you can't tell from this picture is that you can see the eiffel tower just in the distance. it felt really out of place.)
saturday may 19.
on my way back from the saint sulpice walk, I realized it was still fairly early and I hadn't been to the Louvre since the last time I was in Paris, so why not go in for a little? ( I love that I can do spontaneous things like that here)
I had fun wandering around enjoying the art and of course taking a few time lapses. I didn't bring my tripod because I wouldn't have been allowed to use it, so I had to find places to rest my camera- there were some surprisingly good spots. Hope you have fun watching these :)
I met up with Ashley afterwards and it was pouring rain. She was so sweet to wait outside with her umbrella. We ran back to my apartment and made a delicious pasta dinner and chatted, it was a fun night!
xoxo Heather
saturday may 19.
This was a pleasant stroll through Paris, if my memory serves me correctly this was the last walk I had to do and it was also the first walk I did on my own. It was so nice to move at my own pace and just enjoy my time in Paris. I want to start off with this clip from Paris Je T'aime because this is how I felt. (Hopefully minus the American accent?)
Au Cherche-Midi: to look for noon.
I love how old and beautiful all the buildings are in Paris. Its so different from home. This whole street was a mixture of architecture from the 1600s through the 1900s. It is interesting to see the different styles side by side and compare the proportions of the floors from one building to the next.
Poilane is a world famous traditional bakery that opened in 1932. The bread is made from stone ground flour and raised without yeast and is preservative free. I didn't go in so I can't tell you whether or not its good, but basically I have come to learn that every bakery here in Paris is amazing. I don't go a day without eating something fresh from a bakery, whether its a croissant, baguette, quiche, pain au chocolat, pain au raisin, tarte au citron...and everything is out of this world good, even if I get it from the gas station next door to my apartment. So next time you're in Paris... try Poilane if you want, I'm sure you won't be disappointed, but just know that its not the only place to get good bread.
This centaur statue by Cesar was commissioned in the 80's, made from scrap materials. I don't get it..
Above: Théâtre du Vieux Colombier. This Theater opened in 1913 as a venue for 'bare' stage productions (plays without scenery, props, etc.)
The location was risky because it was so far away from other more
commercial theaters, but it was successful even after the first world
war began. Today it is owned by the Comedie Francaise. (side note: in French, a "théâtre" is only for stage productions while the "cinéma", or ciné for short, is for movies. This is something I always forget because in the US if I am talking about a theater, 90% of the time its a movie theater.)
Next stop in the book was Pierre Hermé. I was really excited to try it because 1. I love macarons and 2. Pierre Hermé has a world wide reputation for reinventing the macaron. Their pastries are described as "couture", "innovative" and "gem-like". In fact, thanks to an article in Vogue magazine, they're known as the "picasso of pastry". So basically I felt like a peasant as I stood in line wearing my sweater with the hole that I still hadn't fixed, and carrying my camera around my neck-basically wearing a sign on my forehead that said tourist.. To make matters worse, the macarons were at the far end of the room, so by the time I got up there to see what flavors they had they were already getting impatient with me for not knowing exactly what I wanted. I ordered a jasmin, a rose, and a jardin parfum macaron in perfect French, but then when the guy at the register was trying to ring it up I got confused and blurted out something completely unintelligible and after that he snidely told me the price in English and basically threw the macarons at me on my way out. That was the first and last time I went to Pierre Hermé.
Oh but look how pretty they are. The macarons were literally dusted with sparkles.They were almost too pretty to eat. Even the napkin was fancy.
I took my macarons over to the square in front of Saint-Sulpice and enjoyed every last bite. Then I went into the church, the 2nd largest church in Paris, made famous by the Da Vinci Code.However I learned that the 'facts' in the da Vinci code are based off of information invented as part of a hoax by Pierre Plantard back in the 60's. So the Priory of Sion is made up. Also, the line running through the church was simply part of an astronomy experiment in order to define the exact time of Easter Sunday. There is no such thing as a "rose line". There is a meridian line in the Paris Observatory that was once considered the Prime meridian of the world (today it is in England), and throughout Paris there are inlaid medallions along that line as a memorial to Arago.
On the way to the last part of the walk I passed this band performing outside the metro. Fun. I should have taken a video (I kind of gave up on videos when I realized that they take about 2 hours to load with the internet we have here.)
Next I sat down in the park next to Abbaye Saint-Germain. It was a nice peaceful little break. When the abbey was built in the 6th century, it was in the fields outside of Paris. Now Paris has grown all around it of course, but the garden is tucked away into a little corner so its nice and quiet. When I was there, there were beautiful silver gelatin prints of Paris for sale along the fence of the garden. Someday.. that will be me selling my photographs.
There was also a wedding going on at the abbey. All the women were wearing insane outfits like this one. It was fantastic.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Paris, Je T'aime.
xoxo Heather
friday may 18.
Today our professor took everyone out to dinner at a fondue restaurant called la casserole.We had to order our food ahead of time so I ordered the raclette. What I was handed was a plate of cheese with a couple of slices of semi cooked ham. At first I was a little confused but then they handed me a potato and a frying pan and I realized that I was supposed to cook it myself on the little stove on the table. It was actually really fun!
For dessert they gave us chocolate crepes, one thing I just can't get enough of in Paris. Without even thinking about it I started drawing with my fork in the leftover chocolate on my plate. (It says Paris, Je t'aime.) I am such a child.
Afterwards a group of us took a boat cruise around Paris, called the Bateaux Mouches. We were running late from dinner and there were several metro changes to get there, so we were literally sprinting through the streets in order to make it on time. We made it just in time but I still leaped onto the boat from the dock just for dramatic effect. The weather wasn't bad and the scenery was beautiful, I love seeing Paris lit up at night. But the cruise itself was a little annoying because there was commentary going on the whole time. They translate it into about 6 languages so there was literally never a moment of peace. I would have preferred it if they just played music and gave us a pamphlet to read about what we were seeing on our own, since I had already been to all the sites and knew what they were. I took a few pictures, but they didn't turn out too great since it was so dark, so I just decided to have fun and ended up photo stalking all the cute couples I saw along the Seine.
