Make way for the laziest blog entry EVER! This last week has been pretty low key. I did a couple bucket list items, but mostly I just hung around home playing with art stuff or going out doing necessities because the weather turned to poop about halfway through the week. I wasn't feeling so great either, and I was missing my friends who were either out of town or busy. Boo! So forgive this rather lackluster entry! Except for, of course, the PICTURES! Because, rain or shine, Paris is still Paris.
Invalides! During my quest to find the Musee Rodin I walk around this guy a couple times, so a picture was necessary. I ended up coming right back later so it's a little prophetic.
Thinker feet! I have a thing for sculpture feet. Read my tongue in cheek guest-blog entry detailing this fascination here.
Thinkin' thinkin' thinkin'...
Tada! The garden!
Fave sculpture in the museum. Took about a thousand pictures of it. Still couldn't tell you what it's called.
Hotel Invalides has a LOT of different museums in it, by the way. This one was the... Musee Armee I think? A lot of war history. ALL of the war history all condensed, actually. I wouldn't say it was exactly... exciting, but it had it's moments. Like, when I rounded a corner and was startled by these guys thinking they were real people.
Now, I find humor in kind of sad things too. There was a stuffed animal a pilot kept with him during the war and they found it in his plane after he'd crashed. Really sad. But the english translation is ... kind of funny -- "Cuddly toy, penguin mascot". As in, "Goodnight! Do you need anything, sweetie?" "Oh! Could you give me my cuddly toy, bear mascot?" "... You mean your teddy?" "Why, of course!" ... funny. Considering the extreme amount of depression I felt going through this museum (that would never end!!!), I get to keep my small sliver of humor.
Chair found in interrogation cell with the following inscription carved into the bottom -
Blah. I was seriously sniffling and dabbing my eyes for two hours going through this museum. War museums are NOT my thing.
Invalides! UNBELIEVABLE inside. So worth getting a ticket just to gaze up, let alone seeing the crypt.
Ah! Napoleon!
There is a connected chapel of some kind through that glass window and there was a choir singing that was so beautiful and full and ... ah.
Tea Salon! This place, La Deux Abielles, was in a tourist book listed as inexpensive AND authentic, so I had to check it out. It was so cute! Mind you, I could tell I really wasn't their priority and they seated me right by the door when I was clearly cold and sick. Oh well. I got to sit right in front of the dessert table!
I got 'geisha tea' which was some sort of oolong concoction so I was happy and so was my cough-ravaged throat. The tart is raspberry and some kind of nut. It was delicious, but I wish I gotten that chocolate cake. Also, for all I know maybe the meals are cheap here, but I still spent 15 euro on a tea and slice of pie so that tourist book has a seriously distorted view on what is "cheap".
This is right by my house, some consular lives right around here. The garden is so beautiful, and it's finally started to bloom!
Bah! Could you imagine having that apartment?
Laurence and I went to this coffee shop called Merce and the Muse. It's an english-speaking establishment with pride in their coffee! AND the coffee makes sense if you're familiar with only north american versions. I forgot to take a picture of my itty bitty macchiato and my best-dessert-I've-had-in-France (yes, you read that right) banana cream pie/tart thing. Let me describe: Nutty, caramelly, crumble crust; stickey, warm, baked bananas with all sorts of homey flavors; chantillty creme with a mountain of coconut, real coconut. I almost cried. It was unbelievable.
Look how cute this place is!
Dun dun duh! Shakespeare and Company! FINALLY!
I found a sign after that said not to take pictures... but I'd already taken them... so I feel like it's ok.
Mirror in the poetry cubby that said to write poems to it. Cute!
And so people sat down on the one little stool in this tiny, tiny room and did so!
Dins! I bought a lot of endive so I had this salad on several occasions.
And then I created the best bacon soup known to man. Seriously good when it's rainy and you have a stuffy nose.
Lemon Tartelette! I bought this and some pastries for the next day (Sunday) and I was out one euro so my boulanger put me down to owe him a euro and let me go. So cute. I love him. When I went back to pay him back the other day he was like, "You teach me english and I'll get your french better". Stoked!
Then I started sculpting a foot because I was so stoked on feet from my Rodin visit. It's a little bitty foot, smaller than my hand. I love it.
That sunday I went to a Dimanche Rouge experimental theatre thing. I wasn't feeling so hot so I unfortunately could only stay for the first bit which means I missed all the people that people come to see. As in, I saw the people no one really wants to see. It wasn't that good. I'll accept it for what it was: experimentation. For that it was successful. But that doesn't mean I enjoyed watching it. I'll definitely go back next time, but later on in the day.
This chick was kind of cool.
Next day! Got lost trying to find one lunch spot and found this one. Schwartz's Deli in Trocadero. Americana food and english speaking people which, when you have no friends around for a bit, is really nice. Sometimes you just need to speak your own language. The food = EPIC. When it is absolutely miserable out, nothing is better than comfort food that you know isn't that good for you. This was my first hot dog in seven years. It was awesome because of that, but I'd definitely get a burger next time. I was so jealous of the guys beside me. The fries here are amazing.
The cappuccino was as big as my head, and cheaper than any creme I'd had in a while. Amazing.
Finally checked out Defense, albeit briefly, on the way to a wine tasting in the school underneath the Grande Arc. My sort-of stepsisters' sort-of cousin invited me along with him and his girlfriend, and, unbeknownst to us all, it was entirely in french. I tried really hard to understand and got some stuff out of it. Mostly I just drank wine. I did recognize the word pamplemousse (grapefruit) and got very excited. Funny word, pamplemousse. Pamplemousse. Heh.
Defense!
Next day was one of those days where I just wanted to stay in bed. But! I went out to find Patissier Viennoise by the medical school. I've real about this place everywhere, most notably in blogs and books by David Lebovitz (who I love). This is the Chocolat Chaud Viennois (big size!) and it did not disappoint. It was perfect. The whipped cream was the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen. It was so thick, the hot chocolate was overflowing under it's weight. And it was real whipped cream. It was beautiful. I was so enchanted I left my umbrella there. Which, when I was caught in a downpour later on my way home, made me cry.
A couple photo-free days later Kendra and I are at this crazy restaurant by the Grand Boulavards. We called is 'the train restaurant' so I don't really know what it's called. It was an Italian place that was decently cheap that had one of those legit ovens. The super tacky decor is why we went though. We insisted on being in the back when they almost sat us up front by the windows. We wanted our mirror-filled booth experience. We had a blast.
There is a house wine option of a litre jug. It's cheaper than two glasses. We did it.
The waiter offered to take this picture of us. I like that the lamp is what is in focus.
My pizza! First pizza in seven years here too! Going off the gluten free diet for this little while is proving very beneficial to my happiness. It was amazing.
Banana split! This is us being authentically French... right?
This is the only picture I took yesterday. I spent a whole day out and about just shopping around and the one picture I took was of my dessert. This day I also found that lunch place I couldn't find earlier in the week, Escale 58, and had the best goat cheese, roasted tomato, cucumber and herb sandwich known to man. Then I grabbed the huge churros up by Trocadero. BUT! This chocolate tartelette stole my heart. It was so little but so rich I could easily have shared it. Or saved it for later. But I am a greedy, greedy, girl. So I ate it all. Slowly! Over like an hour! But I did it. And I liked it. All of it. The end.
Laziest blog entry ever. I will eventually get back into the swing of this. It's amazing what grumpy weather can do to your motivation. I spent a good four hours one night, instead of sleeping, looking at internet memes. Oh no!
Must get out into the sunshine today, au revoir!
