Kelly Does Paris Solo

Friday marked the beginning of "Kelly does Paris solo" series. Most of my friends on my program went away for the weekend so I decided to really explore Paris on my own (which actually didn't really end up being totally on my own) but regardless I got to do a lot of things I have been meaning to do and loved it.

Friday morning Christel wanted to go on a run with me cause she just got new running shoes and decided she wanted to start running. I'm usually pretty bad at running with people so I was hesitant but we just jogged along the quai and she pointed out a bunch of buildings to me and it was really nice! We just did a short jog then carried on our merry ways. Everyone else in the apartment was gone this weekend so we got to bond which was sweet lol.

After that I made my way over to the Marais since I feel like I don't get to spend enough time there. I got a falafel from L'As du Falafel which was quite enjoyable. Though now I feel like I can branch out and try the other competing falafels in the Marais like Pitzman. Added bonus of L'As du Falafel: the nice guy taking my order noticed me trying to take a food in the air photo and offered to take a photo of me. Which turned out incredibly awkward but it's the thought that counts I guess - right? 

After that I shopped around a bit, it was kind of misty/rainy but not too bad. I also went back to ycho' because my new scarf (seen here) had several pulls already and the saleswoman was so nice and sewed it back together for me! Then I made my way to the museums to be ~cultural~

Picasso Museum: Self explanatory. This museum has over 5,000 of Picasso's pieces and shows exclusively his works while also telling the story of his life. The building is very pretty and housed on a quiet street in the Marais where Picasso spend a lot of his time. There's a nice courtyard when you first walk in and a grand marble staircase in the middle of the building with beautiful chandeliers. The whole space is bright and airy, and each room is dedicated to a different theme of Picasso's work (i.e. cubism, surrealism, abstractionism, portraits, his late paintings done in Avignon). There were also a lot of artifacts from his life like letters between him and other artists such as André Breton, and poems written by Picasso himself. Did you know Picasso took a break from painting for a few years to write poetry while his marriage with Olga was on the rocks? I didn't. It was really cool to see the patterns throughout all his works and see how his ideas progressed. It was also amazing to see his pieces up close and personal with his energetic brush strokes and purposeful use of collage. I wrote a paper about it for my art history class if you really want more info hmu and I'll email it to you.

Carnavalet Museum: I had heard nothing but rave reviews about this museum from past students so I was expecting big things. It's a museum about the history of Paris and that's all I knew. When I arrived I was pretty confused because barely anyone was there and the first room was filled with a ton of what seemed like random signs. However, then I finally found a little plaque that explained how all these ornate signs were actually used to designate streets when there were no street signs in the olden days in France which was actually really cool. Then I went upstairs and found myself in rooms upon rooms of paintings of Paris centuries before. There were paintings of the Seine before it was lined by busy streets, the Eiffel Tower, L'Arc de Triomphe... and my favorite paintings were just the ones of french women and men gallantly dressed at parties, or sitting at cafés, or just walking the streets with horse and buggies surrounding them. There were several rooms dedicated to Paris during the monarchy, and a whole exhibit on the French revolution which I found to be the most interesting. I've been really wanting to learn about French history since getting here since I feel like I know nothing, and this exhibit did a really good job of presenting all the facts, but also just a lot of pretty little artifacts to go along with it like ornate pocket watches and swords, portraits, etc. It was also cool to associate different places in Paris with the revolution like Place de la Concorde, Bastille, Les Jardins des Tuilieries... places I go every day that are actually very significant historically.

L'Eclair de Génie: This is on Buzzfeed's list of "top cheap eats in Paris" so I've been meaning to try it for a while. Since I was in the zone of checking things off my france bucket list I figured why not, so I stopped in on my way from the Carnavalet to the metro. To my surprise, it is not cheap. It was 6 euros for my éclair. I gotta say it was a dang good éclair. But not sure I would pay 6 euros for another. I got a hazelnut praline one which had this really elaborate looking piece of chocolate on top.

Candelaria: Friday night I met up with Ellie (Maddie's friend from high school) and her roommate Maura at Candelaria which is this taco shack/restaurant that has a back door which leads to this really cool classy bar in the back. We showed up at 7:30 and went straight to the bar. The margaritas were delicious and we got chips and guac which have been missing from my life for far too long. It was a really cool atmosphere and a lot of fun! By the time we finished our drinks we were dying for tacos, but the taco part of the restaurant had gotten so busy that it would be a 40 minute wait. We decided it wasn't worth it and bailed. I really recommend the bar here! Though we will definitely have to return for the tacos another time.

Café de la Poste: We wandered out of Candelaria to find somewhere else for dinner and stumbled upon this little café just a block away. We knew nothing about it but were starving so we sat down. It ended up being really good! We went all out and got charcuterie and cheese platters followed by these really delicious sesame chicken skewers. It didn't satisfy our taco craving but was delicious regardless!

Saturday I picked another area to explore that I haven't been to much - the Latin Quarter.

Aup'tit Grec: This has been on my list of creperies to try in Paris since the beginning. It. Was. Amazing. It was the best crepe I've had in Paris so far. I know that the name is greek, but the crepes are very much French. They have the option of some greek ingredients like grilled eggplant and feta cheese but they were out of eggplant when I went. I got a crepe with pretty much everything lol: emmental cheese, egg, ham, mushrooms, lettuce, and tomato. It was OUT of this world. The galette was crispy and the cheese was perfectly melted and the salad and tomato were nice touches that you don't find at a lot of creperies. It was a fat crepe and I thoroughly enjoyed munching on it while walking around the cute little streets of the latin quarter.

Le Panthéon: To be honest I didn't know what this even was but it was on my list of monuments to see and was right near aup'tit grec so I went! The building was beautiful outside and is an iconic center mark of the latin quarter. But I was even more surprised by the inside. Originally the Panthéon was ordered to be built by Louis XV to honor the patron saint of Paris. But it wasn't finished until the midst of the french revolution, so the rebels took it over and made it in to a secular building. There are large paintings on the walls now instead of stained glass windows, and beautiful designs on the large domed ceilings. It is now used as a place to honor many of the great writers and minds of the french revolution. There is a crypt downstairs where many great philosophers and writers are buried like Rousseau, Voltaire, and Victor Hugo. I had no idea that it was such an interesting place.

Voltaire

After my sight seeing I settled down at the Sugarplum Cake Shop to get some work done before dinner. They had cute little pumpkin shaped rice krispy treats. I didn't try one but they were very ~fall~

Rice and Fish: Asian restaurant in the 10th I went to for dinner on Friday night with some friends. I got a rice bowl with chicken and vegetable tempura which was actually very delicious. If you need an asian food fix I highly recommend.

I got home and Christel made fun of me cause I was raving about the crepe I had and she refused to believe it's the best crepe in Paris.