A TOUR DU JOUR
EATING MY WORDS IN MY THIRD WEEK IN PARIS
École (school) has one direction… forward. Or in my français case, tout droit.
Wow! How do boodles do it?! How do they sit all day learning non-stop and still have energy to run around in a park after? I can’t!!! I am fatiguée (tired) with a capital F everyday! Until now, I forgot why we skipped so many classes in college – we blamed Evan Williams from the night before, but really it was the textbook fatigue we were suffering from. I mean…
Aside from the added yawns and mini daydreams, that I counted as standing naps to get me through my first full week of classes, there was no (actual) rest for the weary. I had fun to get to!
I have had the most eventful week – but for the sake of keeping my energy high for my homework later, I will keep this EN ROUTE short and sweet! Talk about sweet… I’ll need you to dogear Venchi in your travel log for your next trip over. The petit cône with noisette et caramel is ummmmm everything sweet, and délicieuse!
A TOUR DU JOUR
Brace yourselves. I, the queen of snobbery, when it comes to any sort of organized walking, riding, informative group guided anything on a trip, broke down and went on .. wait for it … wait for it… a walking tour with a classmate who showed me the light! It was a DREAM. Never thought I’d say this, or admit it (since I’ll now have to eat my words. But hey! Not such a bad deal since I’m over in France. I’ll eat mine with a side of croissant and a scoop of glace s'il vous plaît). I’ve now been on ahem three tours. Can’t stop. Won’t stop!
Our school offers two excursions per week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those are my most exciting days! That’s when I get to be with Manon, our incroyable (yes, she spent hours on this word with me. It’s more difficult than you’d think - for moi anyway) excursion leader. She talks with me in French, teaches me new words, and is forgiving when I mispronounce it all. Oh! And she has a gap in her teeth. My favorite thing about her. Always been obsessed with them - a sign of beauty in my opinion. (Sidebar. I once asked my dentist, Dr. Sanders, to give me a gap while my mom was out of the room. He asked if she knew I was asking for that. I told him it could be our little secret… I’m sure I gave him wink. He didn’t do it. I was nine.)
I have paid Manon to be my friend. KIDDING. But for real though. I have convinced her to start dinning with me on Tuesdays before our tours (possibly Thursdays too. We’re going to see how this week goes.. like, see if she doesn’t kill me for staring at her gap to watch the pronunciation and asking her to repeat EVERYTHING so that I can imitate it correctly). Our teacher doesn’t let us talk / practice much in class yet. Hence me recruiting an outside muse to be my one-on-one tutor. I mean friend. I really think we are! She did WhatsApp me all weekend like a bestie would… so ;)… I’m just sayin.
Tubias, ooop I mean, Marcel, our teacher, promised me that we’d be practicing conversations soon… whatever soon means. These sweet Parisians, they move at an escargot pace with most everything, so I’m not holding my breath that conversations in the classroom will take place any time in my near future. Make way for my SHEro, Manon!
Ok, back to it…
Manon took us on the Seine Thursday (magnifique! Truly I have changed my tone on tours. It’s the most incredible way to see the city. Not to mention work on your tan. I’m talkin brown as a berry!) and then Friday, my new friend Lilach, who is guilty for convincing me to join her on ALL of these walking tours, invited me to Montmartre with Dawie. Wow! He was a riot! DO THIS when you come. It’s one of my, and several poor artist’s (like hmmm Picaso, Van Gogh, Monet.. heard of them?!!) favorite neighborhoods in Paris. (They all lived here for a bit.) It’s also home of Moulin Rouge with wall to wall sex shops – so maybe leave the tots at home for this one. And if you’re hungry, yet chose to pass on the crème filled donut penises, you can make your way to Café des Deux Moulins for a proper crème filled dessert - the crème brulée. Their’s was made famous by The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain film. You may have to wait for a bit — but it’s quite the charming spot and I hear the brûlée cracks loud with the spoon!
I texted Marshall (remember him from two EN ROUTES ago?) while I was in his Montmartre hood that the tour he had given moi on my first week in town was WAY better than this one. He showed me the oldest (and only) vineyard in Paris, a little pink house on the most postcard-esque street, and ended with vin rosé. So in honor of the red light district I’m willing to play the Madame and (tour) pimp him out so you can have the same experience! He doesn’t know yet. So, to be safe, just DM me for deets.
My girlfriend, Caroline, who lives in Metz, had invited me out for the weekend. Alas, last minute, she had to postpone my trip. I was overjoyed. NOT because I didn’t want to go. I did/do. Yet, I’m a little tired and therefore forgetting... Have I mentioned SCHOOL yet?! Mama is fatiguee! I was happy to say home this weekend and sleep when I could. You’ll hear more about Caroline in future EN ROUTES (she is one of my sweet French friends who I worked with at a — ahhhh… didn’t even plan this! But brining my gap-tooth-obsession back around – Madonna concert many moons ago. (Madonna has a great gap!)). I got to see her for wine this week but sigh, got caught up in the moment of gabbing, so didn’t take a pic. At any rate. Now that I wasn’t leaving early on Saturday morning to head her way, I decided to join Lilach and Marina (our other classmate, who’s from Brazil) for dinner at Un Zèbre à Montmartre. One of the BEST meals I have had in Paris, and bonus… cheapest too! They will (kindly) speak French with you (you have to request it) and patiently wait as you take 3 minutes to order… say whaaaaa?!! I’m shavin that what-is-the-word-in-french ordering time down ladies and gents!
The next tour was on Sunday in the Latin Quarter, where my colleagues at the Library Society would have lost their minds! Hemingway wrote most of his novels in the Place de la Contrescarpe … A Moveable Feast to name one and ummmmm something I feel I am personally living right about now. All one big long feast.
We went to Le Jardin du Luxembourg — one of my all time favs! And then, stopped off by Shakespeare and Company bookshop — the only dedicated English bookstore in Paris, not to mention, the longest queue in Paris. No joke! I had NEVER in my life seen this shop so busy. I’m talking coiled around the Seine a few times. What are these people doing?! Other than pretending to be Owen Willson in Midnight in Paris?! Ah, who am I kidding? I was the one bringing up the rear!
When you come here you can purchase an original shop book – they’ll stamp it for you to show you bought the book that was written about the book shop you’re standing in: Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs: The Left Bank World of Shakespeare and Co. HUMMMM what??!!!!! That was going to be the name of MY title! Can you handle?! (For those of you who are asking still… my bedbugs are GONE.. outta here. It was the most expensive itch of my life. One time bite night.. And then Luigi did his thang. They are gone. Incroyable!)
We walked past the now famous block where Emily in Paris is shot. (It’s wild but I must share. One of my dear friends who reads EN ROUTE… I see you Rachel!! Knows THE Emily (not her real life name by the way) that Emily in Paris is based on. And fun fact, Rach told me that the real “Emily,” unlike the one on the series who puts us Americans to shame, does speak French. Like moi! I mean …like I WILL.)
I also took myself to Musée d'Orsay. The best moment of my life. I can’t express how much I loved this place. Smiles were beaming left and right as people literally walked into eachother. Why do galleries do that? It’s like no one is watching what they’re doing. Art has a funny way of making people lose track of personal space and etiquette. I mean… BACK UP s'il vous plaît. I tryin’ to take a selfie, or at least a ticktock, in front of Starry Night Over the Rhône!!! Is that too much to ask?!
BACKDROP
In a nutshell this week was incroyable… and the one I just started will be another for the books! I had my first surprise exam today (I’m talking full body perspiration for this one), drinks with a new friend tonight, lunch (code for oral exam) tomorrow with Manon, excursion in Le Marias … and then dinners, drinks, excursions all the livelong week! Oh!! And I’m planning to take myself to Versailles this coming weekend. I have decided to wear my best outfit (maybe even gasp heels!!!?? And priss about on the lawn – pretending that the mega palace is mine. ALL MINE!)
DROP BOX
It doesn’t sound like it.. But I do still have a bit of time on my hands – as one does on a solo trip to a new country with only one (working on two) handfuls of friends (what?! I’m used to hands and feet full kind-of-numbers of friends around me). If you have any suggestions of where to dine or see etc.. send them my way. It’s for your own good too. Promise! I’m working on a collective spreadsheet now (you can take the Dir of Ops out of her role but you can’t take the role out of HER! Gotta be organizing something!) so that when you come – You’ll have the lay of the land. I’d love to add your places to my list and go where you’ve gone. You’ve got my number.
Until next time.. I’m off with these few twenty minutes between homework and drinks, to tape my “black out” shades (more like let the light and heat shine directly in since they are hung inches away from the windows to block anything out) to the wall in an attempt to reduce the temp in my precious ac-free pied à terre. When you’re in the fantasy of living in Paris, you forget that the dream of living in Paris comes with a side of night sweats, blasting fans, and a fine by the police if you’re caught with a window unit for cooling down. Yep! Learned that this week. Units in the window are illegal in most areas in the city – and buildings are too old to put in central air! So, bring on the craft aisle and ample rolls of Scotch Doublesided… I'm ready to seal this baby up! Here for another month and it hasn’t even reached 80° yet. If you haven’t already invest in Scotch. Do it soon — I will make you a fortune!
EN ROUTE to another great week. Au revoir for now!
Love these reports from the front. But wait- you worked at a Madonna concert??!
Enjoy Versailles - it's incroyable, indeed! Will walked the outside gardens and I explored the palace. We really wished we had spent more time there. Pack those flats, mama. xo