Le Parc aux Cerfs and the walk back

So I'll preface this post by informing all of you that Blogger is being evil and not letting me post pictures right now, so I can't show you all the gorgeous photos that I took yesterday and today until their system gets unclogged or I find a better way to upload photos.

That being said....

It was a beautiful day in Paris. So beautiful that I wore a sundress. Word on the street is that this will be the kindest winter in Paris yet -- they expect the sun to stay out until December. Wishful thinking or not, this brief optimism turned Paris into a sea of smiling sunbathing hopefuls stocking up on what could be the last few summer rays.

I, too, wanted my share of sun exposure, so I went over to the jardin de luxembourg to hang out with Balzac for 30 minutes before my lunch at the Parc aux Cerfs on rue Vavin. The jardin was gorgeous -- they were having a "honey festival" and it was like the sweetness rubbed off on all the parisians around me. Everyone was so happy -- it's funny how the sun can do that to you.

When it was time to go to the Parc aux Cerfs, I gathered up my appetite and met my group at the door. The Parc aux Cerfs is a great little place on rue Vavin that, like La Closerie de Lilas and Le Selet, was frequented by artists and writers when Montparnasse was where you went to be an artist or writer. The Parc aux Cerfs remembers it's custom of letting its talented customers pay via painting or drawing by letting its current customers draw on the paper tablecloths (except, we don't get exempt from paying). Luckily SLC was paying for our food today (a 35 EUR meal was a nice way to end orientation), so we were able to indulge like the artists of another age.

The first course was a choice between a cucumber soup with goat cheese, a tomme (a type of cheese) and candied cranberry salad, or a poached salmon. I chose the Tomme salad and was very happy. I think this was actualy my favorite course, though I didn't get a picture of how beautiful the cheese was displayed before I gobbled the whole thing up.

Next came the plat: a choice of chicken, salmon or duck. I chose le canard and was very pleased. The sauce was a lavendar sauce, but had a sweet citris like tang to it that enriched both the duck and the mound of snap peas it was sitting on. I must say, the French really know how to cook a duck. Maybe they put it in butter -- who knows -- but it melts in your mouth.

For dessert, we could have a berry dish, a orange crême brulée or a chocolate molten cake with salted caramel ice cream. Being torn between the chocolate cake and the crême brulée, I remembered that I didn't have an oven and should probably eat cake at every opportunity I get. Plus, it sounded to perfect with the glass of red wine I was having. I was not dissapointed.


I must say that the crême brulée looked very good, too, though. It was not a little dinky thing like I've found at most restaurants. It was pretty sizable. I would try it should I ever go back to le Parc aux cerfs.

The meal finished, like any good French meal, with a café. I took mine décaf, not wanting to be wired for the rest of the beautiful afternoon.

Taking advantage of the clear skies, I walked home via a slightly different route today. I wanted to go to the île st. louis, which is the island on the Seine next to the île de la cité (the one with Notre Dame and all the fancy stuff). My new route took me along the Seine and gave me an incredible view -- all the parisians were out on the seine like it was a beach. What a great idea for a cheap lunch, I thought, noticing a couple sharing a picnic on the left bank.

Being as hot as it was, I wasn't surpised to find that many parisians were out looking for ice cream, but I had no idea how many of them would wait in ridiculously long lines for what seemed to be the most popular ice cream label on the île. Many cafés and stores boasted this label on the canapies and I noticed that the ones who did not serve this type of ice cream had literally no customers.

The ice cream seemed kind of pricey to me at 2 EUR a boule (scoop), but for the ice cream connoisseur, this could be the best deal of a lifetime. I think that's about the same price as a coldstones in the US, right? The prices also get cheaper if you buy larger quantities, so if you really like the stuff, it might fit well into a student's budget.

My trip to the cute little island was a great, but I found an even more exciting pitstop on the other side of the river -- a flea market! It was like all of the 4th was having a yard sale right along the Seine. I looked around for a while and talked to some French people before asking someone how often this happens. Apparently, for one sunday a month, you can pick up someone else's parisan treasures on the cheap! A great idea for souveniers. They also have cheap clothes and anything else you might expect at a yard sale. I highly reccomend it.

I finally got my full belly and tired feet home at about 5pm, and began to work on my homework. Classes start tomorrow!

Total Damages today:
0,00 EUR!

Visit to Vermès!

Today after French class, I went to a photography atelier called Vermès with 3 other girls to meet Phillip Vermès himself and discuss studying photography at his studio. He checked out Jay's camera, gave me a thumbs up, and gave us our first "theme" to start thinking about: our neighborhoods. I already have so many good ideas of where to find things that would make good pictures in my neighborhood and I'm glad that this gives me a reason to explore a little bit more.

Vermès is also much closer to my place than Reid Hall (Vermès is right by Opéra Bastille while Reid hall is on blvd. du montparnasse), and since class is on Thursday mornings with flexible lab times (I get to choose whenever I want to go in), it may turn out to be the superior studio to Spéos, the other photo atelier that we're visiting tomorrow.

M. Vermès was an interesting character himself. He took pictures of all of our ears with his super-mega-awesome-high-powered digital camera and his clothing made him look like someone who just walked out of Venice beach. Come to think of it, the whole studio looks like it could comfortably fit on the boardwalk.

On my way home, I picked up some "groceries" (just some pasta sause with meat to add to my spaghetti, some tiramisu gelato for one of these nights, and a soft drink) and made myself a delicious meal. As I sat by the window, I finished my French homework for the evening and decided to walk down to Reid Hall to print it out.

The walk down St. Michel is amazing, and the detour I took through les jardins de luxembourg was incredible. What a place for a picnic! The place itself is gorgeous and the people watching can't be beat. They even have lounge-style chairs -- it's like they know I want to get comfortable. I've decided that I will come back down here with a baguette and fixings one of these days, maybe I can convice Sam and her French friends to go with me.

In the middle of my super leisurely dinner at the Resto U (pasta, steak, green beans, salad, bread, raspberry tart), a man who appeared to be in his late 30s came and sat across from me. I think he could tell I was American because I was reading some information in a guidebook when he sat down. He was really cordial and explained a lot of things about Paris that he thought were amusing. It wasn't until 1/2 way through the conversation that I realized he didn't have any fingers on his left hand. I was absolutely impressed that he was cutting his steak, eating his apple, and explaining things with his fingerless hand so naturally that I had not even noticed there was anything different about it. More shocking was that when went our separate ways, I had learned nothing about the man's life, what he does for a living, how he lost his fingers, or even his name, but I felt I still had had a great conversation. I think that's the amazing thing about parisians -- they don't talk about themselves that much but still manage to be interesting in a world that is built on "profile pages."

I walked home, enjoying the hot parisian air (I have no idea why it is still this hot here -- I can't even wear pants at noon without breaking a sweat) and found that I didn't even want to dip into that gelato yet. A walk home in Paris was enough of a dessert.

Total Damages:

Pain au chocolat for breakfast from the boulangerie by my school: 1 EUR
"groceries": 3,45 EUR
dinner at CROUS: 3,45 EUR