Late Bloomers

One of the highlights of my Wednesdays here is the chance to chat with Anne after my 3 hours of class (if it sounds like torture, that's only because it is), while she is in the hallway waiting to go to her next class, in the room next door. This week, it was even better, because she introduced me to a French girl who is going to be an au pair in DC for the year, moving to my turf in July! We got to talking, and I was WAYYY too enthusiastic, but it made me realize how much I miss my homeland, the District.

Our short conversation brought on a rush of bittersweet homesickness; it's not so much that I am sad but that I am now excited about the prospect of a summer in DC rather than dreading my return to the states. But I think that this "missing home" business came kinda late (nearly 3 full months have passed...), much like spring in Paris. It really needs to spring already. But the first signs of life have appeared, like some greenery and little bulbs in the public parks, and people tentatively taking to the streets to catch intermittent rays of sunshine. I have been lucky enough to catch some of this in my daily walks+runs, so enjoy the beauty that is Paris by foot, a constant remedy to homesickness:

Good morning!

Found this pretty space down a tiny side street off a major shopping street. You never know!

Couldn't resist. All too appropriate that a bag store is named after me <3

One of the city's passages, so 19th century mademoiselles did not have to deal with the gross weather. Now they are just fun to explore!

The très chic Gallerie Vivienne, 2e

Hôtel de Ville! and a carousel! and blue sky!

I have never been prouder to live in my neighborhood than the moment I found this store.

To all the men on the steps: NO I DO NOT WANT A BRACELET

GREEN

I am so excited to see Paris when it is really nice out, and everything is warming up and coming back to life. It is going to be a whole new city. Picnic=pique-nique=destined to be a daily occurrence.

Beer me. AKA Belgium!

Getting back in the swing of things here in Paris, where spring has sprung as of last Wednesday (to quote Andrew, who determined the seasonal change using only his nose: "I can smell things coming back to life"), and winter vacation has drawn to a close. It was a VERY cool sensation to return to Paris with the sense of coming home, after 10 days of a whirlwind of traveling.

Anne and I, les jumelles (twins) for life, hit the road railroad tracks together for the itinerary of Lille-->Brussels-->Bruges. Lille is a cute student city in Northern France on the border with Belgium, or as I like to call it, Beertown. We couchsurfed with Olivier, a student there, who showed us some good beers and helped us make a tartiflette, aka a heart attack on a plate (ham, cheese, white wine, potatoes, onions=literally all the ingredients). We chose Lille because it was the location of a chocolate convention that weekend! See below:

Tartiflette!

We spent just one night in Lille and said goodbye the next night after the chocolate convention and a bit of exploring, catching the train to Brussels. It was late when we arrived so we just slept, but we started the next day of right, strolling in the Grand Place and having a healthy breakfast of waffles and beer (that was the moment I knew we had chosen a good destination). Also, chicken curry +cheese stuffed inside a waffle? Amazing. Better with a beer, followed by a waffle covered in Spéculos and whipped cream.

Vat of beer we saw on our spontaneous brewery tour! Did you know brewery tour tickets include a tasting afterwards? We think our tour guide was drunk.

Another good Brussels discovery: kriek, aka cherry beer. It's awesome and pretty and so deceptively strong

Grand Place, Brussels

The Basilica outside our hotel window!

The Caro+Anne adventures continued in Bruges, the "Venice of Belgium," a tiny city full of romantic canals and general cuteness. And old people. I very much felt as if I should have been on my honeymoon. There's literally a "swan lake" with real swans in it, next to the "lake of love." We couchsurfed again with Emilio, a great host despite the very evident language gap (his Spanish and Flemish to our French and English= general confusion masked by abundant smiling and nodding).

Bruges by night

And by day!

You can't make this stuff up

 

After Bruges, Anne went back to Paris, and I went on down to visit Xtina in Lyon, France, where she is studying for the semester. Apparently, I brought the sunshine with me. It was a great way to end the trip, with a beautiful weekend and a great high school buddy who I have missed dearly. Just like old times, except...in France. Life is awesome.

Hill=painful to climb up, but makes for a killer view. Lyon's marchés along the river are so pretty :)--and prices are soooo much better than in Paris

The "Eiffel Tower" of Lyon. Good effort?

A church whose interior matches the beauty of the outside. It knocked me speechless

The great balcony of Xtina's room, the AM of my departure

It was amazing to have some time to travel, and to have the chance to knock off a couple of firsts: traveling alone with a best friend in Europe, leaving France for the first time this semester (Flemish=utterly incomprehensible to me), and traveling on my own in Europe! Everything worked out great. I can't wait to continue my travels (I have some very exciting trips coming up in the coming weekends, starting with a girls' weekend in Bourdeaux this weekend), but I am also feeling the pressure to take in as much of Paris as possible. I cannot believe it is practically April!! Time flies when you are eating too much cheese studying abroad!!

Paris Welcomes Wonton!

Here's hoping that people aren't actually reading my blog, so my pops doesn't get embarrassed that I have revealed his nickname, Wonton (I seem to be the only person who uses it, anyway). But I think the greatest weekend I have had here to date was the one when my Dad came to visit. We are really close, but it was a whole new context to be gallivanting around Paris, and he got to see me speak French for the first time, which I think was fun for both of us.

Wonton has been to Paris a handful of times, both for business and pleasure, so I tried to show him some of the parts of the city that are less visited by gaggles of tourists. We did some of the musts, like a run along the Seine and climbing all the steps of the Basilique de Sacre Coeur, but we also explored the streets of Montmartre and the Marais, and the Latin Quarter.

Happy hour on his last night was the happiest of hours, because Dad got to meet almost the whole crew: Andrew, Annebam, D, Claude, the usual suspects. We cut out early to get dinner on a little side street, where we ate at the bar (the bartender was cracking jokes the whole time, it was awesome) and I tried to concentrate on my food and not stare at the corner table--Marillon Cotillard, Guillame Canet, and Bradley Cooper. Name dropping=absolutely necessary in this instance. It was the perfect ending to the perfect weekend, and as Wonton said to me before we said goodbye, he had finally seen some of the magic of the city. I would try to take partial credit for this accomplishment, but in reality, he was just lost in Bradley's eyes.

The vineyards of Montmartre

Pensive Wonton. He doesn't know I took this but it makes me smile :)

Everyone should experience the beauty that is the open air marché in Paris

The boys at dinner at Le Mesturet. She was our best buddy--she let me have a plate of cheese instead of dessert!

Learned something about Wonton-nearly non-functional sans coffee

Rarity at the French market: English muffins?!

B. Cooper, 12 o'clock. Slash enjoy Wonton's "discreet" face

Real-life crêpes! *Annebam was there too :)

LATKES + sunshine

I also received confirmation this week of 3 more visitors: Mama Bear, Doo, and PB!! Beyond ecstatic. They are all coming between April and June, so it will be a rush of homelove before the end of the semester. In the meantime, I will be scrambling to accomplish the Paris Bucket List I made this week, to know the city even better before my faves come to hang and I get to play tour guide :)

Love is (Was?) in the Air

Happy belated Valentine's day! At first, I didn't even realize it was the day, even in the most romantic city in the world, because it was just another day of class and errands. But after a nice afternoon of strolling and teatime with Annebam, I took a cooking class with some other students on my program. The woman's apartment was a dream, overlooking the Jardins du Luxembourg on one side, and the rest of the city (including the Eiffel tower, which starting at 7 PM would twinkle every hour) on the other. We made a full multi-course meal, and then ate it together and it was heavenly! Best V-Day ever.

Plus, I got to see some pretty interesting stuff around the city, ranging from cool to romantic to hilarious. I know it's a little bit belated, but I think it's still worth sharing:

The view from the kitchen--there's the tower in all its glowing glory

Pulling caramel for the dessert

Unforeseen consequence of this Vday dinner: I am now obsessed with duck. SO GOOD.

The bakeries around the city also pulled out all the stops for the sweet-toothed lovers; hearts and chocolate were EVERYWHERE. Oh yeah, and bagels?

Because nothing says "I love you" like a bagel.

They were holding hands. I died. French children=painfully adorable, but also way better dressed than me.

Step Up? Nope, "Sexy Dance." AKA "When An Attempted Translation Goes Wrong"

 And, the best for last. As if I had forgotten, I stumbled upon this gem on the street in Brussels:

100% accurate.