Food Markets of Paris: I love you.

Done with school! I can't believe it, especially considering that this means I now have about a month to kill in Paris--challenge accepted. The weather has finally turned more spring-ish, so all those outdoor activities I have been saving for a sunny day can begin. Yesterday, for example, I took Jared (my current visitor, blog post to come!) to see the Jardins de Luxembourg, and I was hit with the realization that it was my first time visiting them without rain or snow! I was baffled by how many people were out and about, because I am so used to wandering the streets nearly alone, teeth a-chatterin'.

This great weather also makes my beloved open-air markets even more fun to browse. As I write this, I am hurrying so that I can make it to my favorite, at Place d'Aligre in the 11th, as per my Sunday morning routine. I got to write about the culture of the markets here versus in the US as part of my final research for one of my classes, but the photos that constitute my "research" are to beautiful to be tucked away in a folder:

ERMAGURD 'shrooms.

Marché Avenue de Saxe, Thursday and Sunday mornings, M: Ségur. One of my favorites because of it's beautiful view of the tower, where I like to picnic afterwards. Heaven.

The beautiful offerings of my ruddy-cheeked cheese lady at marché Avenue de Saxe. Coulommiers is comparable to Brie, and Mont D'or was a hot item about a month ago before it went out of season. You can buy one of those little wooden rounds of it and stick that baby right in the oven for fondue (ohhhhh yeahhhhh).

CREAM

Quail eggs! These are one of the next things on my list to cook, but they are just so tiny and delicate.

Real-sized dogs are tough to find in France. This guy was DROOLING over the meat...but I guess so was I, so no judgement.

Moroccan pastries at marché de la Bastille, near my house. I usually run over there on Thursday mornings.

P.S. Cheese.
P.S.S. Dogs.

Poppin' Bottles..before it's too late!

April 13th was a day on my calendar for quite some time: day trip to Reims, a French city in the region of Champagne, with Andrew, Claude, and Katie! It was kind of a gray day, with intermittent periods of sun--classic bizarre Paris-esque weather--but not too cold, and it's always nice to step outside of Paris for a moment.

Reims was surprisingly small, so we hit just about all the tourist destinations before our dinnertime train, including the gorgeous cathedral there (potentially more impressive than the Notre Dame in Paris, though they are done in a very similar style):

We also saw "ancient land" when we wondered on a ~30 min. walk to find a champagne cave, which allowed us to see where the hunchback of Notre Dame lived (no joke, we freaked out), and to stop into a little pastry shop and each get our own massive tarts--I think the lady at the counter didn't know what to make of us, and a man who passed us as we were digging in outside definitely turned around to laugh at us. No regrets, no shame, only delicious.
We found a cute champagne cave where we took a guided tour, and had a tasting of 3 kinds. Katie, who is on a program abroad in Scotland, but knows Claude from high school in Nashville, is a BO$$ and helped us have our own tasting because she is taking a wine course. Luh da bubbly.

Probably the most culturally enriching Reims experience was finding a bizarre carnival in the public park (pop-up carnivals are definitely a Europe thing; I do not understand it but I am on board). We spent quite some time laughing at these 2 little boys tumbling over each other in a plastic bubble (who THINKS of these things?!):

In short, it was great. It would have been much more difficult to leave Reims and return to a rainy night in Paris, had we not been returning to dinner at Les Pâtes Vivantes, an Asian restaurant where they pull the noodles in front of you. We. Did. Work.

Now I am back in Paris, enjoying beautiful sunshine. Would write another post on Mama Bear's visit, but it's time for another picnic! (May have had one every day this week; yesterday, ate 3 full meals, not one of them indoors). YAY.

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!!