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.

Hello From the Arctic

Sorry for lack of posts in a week hope ya haven't missed me too much! Just to sum it up it's definitely fall here and is FREEZING. Jk I'm being dramatic it's not that cold. But fall is fun so it's all good. Here are a few highlights:

Snack & Chill: I discovered maybe my favorite study café in Paris. Natalie and I have joked about this place a lot since from the outside it looks like the smallest grody little American spin off. But it's a block away from out apartment hidden on a quiet little side street in the 7th. I walked in Monday afternoon to give it a shot because the wifi wasn't working at coutume and was greeted by the nicest smiling French woman at the counter. I looked at the menu and they had tons of snacks ranging from cookies to chips to yogurt to speculos milkshakes! They also had a good assortment of sandwiches, bagels, and salads. I got a coffee (which was cheap! But still a good cup of coffee and came with a piece of dark chocolate). There was basically no one there except for a dad and his son who had stopped in for a snack so it was quiet, and the chairs were pretty comfy, and it was clean - the perfect working environment! While I was working flocks of little French children kept coming in (after school presumably) to buy hot chocolate and candy bars to go. I was surprised by how homey it felt and pretty French despite the very clear American name. Very very pleasant surprise.

Esky: Tuesday's are always a long school day, so Natalie Ben and I stopped here quickly between classes to grab lunch. It's probably the closest thing you'll get to a French health store as possible. They have assorted sandwiches and salads and Natalie and I got these shrimp rice paper sushi burrito things which were good.

Parc aux Cerfs: Tuesday night we had the option of dining with one of the old presidents of EDUCO at this restaurant in the montparnasse area. Hey, free food. So Ben Natalie and I signed up. The restaurant was actually AWESOME. And the professor was really cool. She still teaches at Duke so I might try and take a class with her when I get back. In typical EDUCO fashion we had a three course meal accompanied by a few bottles of wine. I had an eggplant millefeuille with prosciutto followed by magret de canard in a polenta purée and finished up with a nice lemon tart with basil ice cream.

Millefeuille d'Aubergine

Wednesday started off being a great day - Ben and I made a French friend in our Econ class (he asked us when Bill Clinton was president and we didn't know so we googled it), and then yves rocher was handing out free nailpolish and coupons for students outside our school! So that put me in a pretty good mood. 

Affordable Yoga and Fitness: Wednesday I decided to take a Pilates class through this company that liv's friend Anna said was good. They have a few locations in Paris and hold fitness classes like yoga Pilates bare and Zumba for only 5 euros a class! You have to bring your own mat and the classes are very crowded but I'd say it was worth the 5 euros for sure. My class was in a pretty run down building (hence 5 euros) but I've heard their other studios are nicer. You have to bring your own mat which is semi inconvenient but fine as long as you plan ahead. All the classes are also taught in English. I kind of want to try a class in French somewhere else though haha. Everyone was also very friendly and it was clear there were regulars so I'm definitely going to try and do classes more often! Nice break from running.

Cojean: this is a health food store chain in Paris that is kind of like eske but I think is way better. They have a bunch of different pre made salads that have tons of "superfoods" like kale and quinoa along with some sandwiches oatmeal muesili coconut yogurt and things like that. They also have hot meals like soups of the day and risottos of the day. I got some spinach soup and the "superfood jaune" salad which had quinoa, lentil hummus, almonds, and a bunch of veggies. It's a nice break if you're feeling trendy and healthy. They also have juices and smoothies if you're in need of a ~detox~

Thursday morning I went on a run around the Tuileries gardens and discovered this really strange but really cool exhibit (spoiler alert: I went back later in the day, details to come) then I wandered my way over to class at EDUCO walking around and settled at jockey for a few hours before class to study. It was really busy so not an awesome place to study - better for lunch.

Pierre Hermé: after class on Thursday Natalie and I decided to go to Pierre hermé to get macaroons for christels birthday. Our macaron teacher said they're the best in Paris so we decided it was a must. Evan and wheeler decided to join us and we ended up waiting in a preeeetty long line. It's a veeeery fancy pastry shop. They have really interesting flavors like creme brûlée, passion fruit orange cream cheese, jasmin tea, rose, etc etc. and they're beautiful. So we got a box for christel and each got one for ourselves. But as we were checking out I supported these AMAZING looking croissants which are called "Ispahan Croissants". And when I looked at the description I was sold. It was a croissant with a rose almond filling covered in a rose icing and crunchy freeze dried raspberries. If you don't know this already I love almond, and raspberries. Although the croissant was cold it was still unreal.

Vin Chaud: after Pierre hermé, Evan wheeler and I wandered over to the Tuileries gardens where we got some "vin chaud" (hot wine with cinnamon" from one of the cafés. The hot wine was so good! Like apple cider but alcoholic haha. The leaves are changing colors and despite it being freezing and overcast (as Paris usually is) it was still picturesque. They were also setting up all these statues in the gardens (like big thumbs, and animal heads of the animals of the Chinese calendar in the pond) hard to explain. But there is always some new art piece going up in les Jardins des Tuileries, they're usually only there for a few weeks before a new one comes. They might have had something to do with the exhibit I saw.

350: speaking of the exhibit... Evan wheeler and I went! Told ya it was coming! I'm still not really sure what it is for but there are 4 small little buildings at the entrance of the gardens that are really interestingly shaped and have lots of fancy lights. We only went inside two of them cause lines were long but they seem to be cool light/sound shows inside each of them. One is called "color" one is called "listen" one is called "create" and I forget the other. We gathered by the end that the exposition was to celebrate the 350th anniversary of some architect. But if he's that old I'm not very sure how these high tech buildings really apply.. There were also a bunch of people walking around in oldentime garb like from when France was a monarchy and playing violins it was so bizarre but hilarious

Then I went to the adidas store on the champs elysée to buy warm running clothes cause like I said its COLD AF.

Thursday night my host family celebrated christel's birthday so we had dinner at home (yummy homemade mushroom soup followed by veal and an assortment of cooked vegetables like zucchini green beans carrots etc. and then Margot bought a cake from Les merveilleux for dessert! I had seen les merveilleux before and had been dying to try it. They have these cute funky looking little cupcakes that kind of look like fur balls. Anyways - it was a chocolate mouse cake so it was mostly a light chocolate mouse with these layers of flaky/crunchy wafery type cake. We sang happy birthday and it was just like a birthday at home! 

Wallace Café: speaking of birthdays, it was ALSO wheeler's 21st birthday on Saturday. And since he was going to Amsterdam for the weekend we decided to celebrate Thursday night by having dinner at evan's host parent's restaurant. Unfortunately I didn't have anything to eat since I already ate at home but the food looked amazing and his host parents were so nice! I did split the apple tart with Ben for dessert though which was bomb. Evan's host dad brought wheeler's pie out with a candle and we all sang it was cute.

Thursday night was a butte aux cailles bust cause no one goes out in the 13th past midnight on a weeknight. But hey no harm no foul.

My Future as a Pastry Chef

Update from Abroad: Quitting school to become a french pastry chef.

Monday afternoon I went to another atelier sponsored by EDUCO - macaron making!! It's no secret that I have a sweet tooth and my friends and I had been looking forward to this macaron making class for a while. I learned that making macarons is both an art and a science. The woman who led our class had thankfully already measured out all of our ingredients (using a scale - not measuring cups. science) and gave us very careful step by step instructions. First we beat the egg whites and sugar together to create a meringue. After that we had to add the dry ingredients (mix of almond flour, powdered sugar, and probably some other things). However, this is a very important step called "le macaronage". You have a paddle/spatula type thing that you hold in your hand which which you beat your batter in a specific way called "macaroner". This is a verb in the french language that literally means to do this action to make macarons. It's a very intense batting action and actually makes your hand and whole arm REALLY sore. But it was so fun. Everyone looked ridiculous. After that you add in these special powders that can only be found in French pastry shops. These powders are what give the macarons their beautiful colors and flavors. (Except in the case of the nutella and speculos which were flavored with hazelnuts and graham crackers respectively, with a nutella and speculos filling). Natalie and I were in charge of the pistachio which is my favorite type of macaron (I think, they're all so good...). Then you put the batter in one of those pastry icing type bags and have to very carefully make little circles on your tray. But they can't be too big or too small and they have to be even.

After that you bang the tray on the table a couple of times to make sure all the biscuits are flat and don't have any weird points. While the macarons were in the oven we made the fillings. For the pistachio, speculous, and nutella macarons we made a mix between a whipped cream and an icing and then added flavorings to them (pistachio aroma, then straight up speculos and nutella). For the raspberry ones you could just use raspberry jam (but not jelly!). And for the chocolate ones we made a delicious chocolate ganache. Then once they come out of the oven you match the similarly sized ones up, put some filling in the middle and stick em together!

But here comes the kicker.... when macarons come out of the oven they're firm and crispy like a biscuit :( The way that they become so soft and airy on the inside is by putting them in the fridge.... FOR 24 HOURS AT LEAST. We were devastated that we couldn't eat our macarons right away. But it's all good... cause I just had one tonight and it was absolutely divine :)

The final product :)

I've decided that if you're a french pastry chef you've just really made it in life. After this class all I wanted to do was open my own patisserie and live in Paris forever eating delicious pastries. (Still a possibility)

Street Art, Perfume Making, and Courtney - Oh my!

Excuse the cliché Wizard of Oz reference in the title that doesn't really make sense but I don't really care.

Slept at Liv's Thursday night (which was really more of a nap) so that we could wake up early to go on our art history tour in the morning. The morning started off rough but I ended up being very pleasantly surprised.

Street Art and Graffiti Tour of Belleville: Our art history professor hired a tour guide to tour us around the 10th/11th arrondissement Friday morning to take a look at some of Paris' street art - which to be honest I didn't really realize exist. Our guide was very knowledgeable and could recognize artists' work that appeared to be the most random pieces of graffiti. But it turns out all of the really good street artists have common themes that they paint like little robots, toilets (bizarre I know) certain letters, certain figures, things like that. Rue de Belleville was the coolest part. It was a small cobblestone street covered in bright graffiti done by many different different artists. There were references to famous artists such as Picasso, but also a lot of original work. There were also a lot of little diaramas that people made in the windows with what seemed to be a lot of random objects but I'm sure was something meaningful. It was a sunny (albeit chilly) morning so the art was very bright and beautiful. Our guide was also saying how you could visit that street a month later and it would look completely different. That's what's so cool about it - that artists just keep painting over it and it evolves. Then our guide took us up to Parc de Belleville which I had never heard of but was BEAUTIFUL! It was on top of a hill and had a beautiful view of Paris. It reminded me of the view from Sacre Coeur but without all of the annoying crowds. The park was also beautiful and the leaves were changing colors. There was a really interesting building (?) it wasn't a building but more of an artistic overhang type thing. There were beautiful mosaic trees near the edge and on each pillar the artist depicted cartoons of children taking off from the ground and disappearing in to the sky (following their dreams etc. etc) It was a beautiful hidden gem of Paris that I really loved. Also shoutout to Liv who took pretty much all these photos cause she's artsier than I am.

Parc de Belleville

Rue de Belleville

View from le Parc de Belleville

Café Pinson: After the street tour Liv and I wandered around the Marais in search of Stan Smiths for me (to no avail :( ). Then we met up with her friend from england at Café Pinson for lunch. It's a healthy food type café with a cute atmosphere. Reminded me of a brunch place out of New York City. I got "L'assiette du jour" which was some type of birdseed/grain falafel with raw vegetables, potatoes, and a tzatki yogurt type sauce. And I got a juice! Those are rare in Paris haha. We got some madelines for dessert which were pretty good.

Friday night I had a glass of champagne with my host family to celebrate Christelle passing her masters!

SATURDAY

L'Anticafé: Pretty well known study café in Paris. You pay per hour and they have unlimited coffee/tea/snacks. Was a good idea but CRAZY crowded on Saturday. So I didn't really get anything done. Maybe I'd go back on a more random day.

L'Atelier de Parfum: EDUCO organized a perfume making class for a few students through this company "L'ABC du Parfum". We went to this woman's really nice apartment in the 16th and she had tables set up with lazy susans filled with bottles of different scents. There was everything from roses and peonies to raspberries and melon to almond wood and "sweet musk". She gave us a few sheets with examples of what scents go well together and told us about how to balance out different scents and what to put together if we want a "fresh" scent or a "sweet" scent and things like that. But mostly it was just up to us to put some things in a bottle and see if it smelled good! My nose was numb by the end and I was a little light headed... but I miraculously managed to make a good smelling perfume! Still thinking of a name so lmk if you have any ideas.

Le Relais Odéon/Chez George/Crêpe D'Or/Showcase: I hit a lot of big things with Courtney saturday night haha. We wandered around the Saint-Germain area for a bit then met up with Liv, Evan, and Ben for dinner in the Odéon area on the cutest street in Paris. It's a tiny cobblestone alleyway right near the Odéon metro stop. Then we went to Chez George which was fun per usual - but really crowded I guess since it was a Saturday. Then we moved the party over to Showcase (but not before stopping for a quick crêpe at crêpe d'or). Showcase per usual only played weird techno music but made some french friends and overall had an awesome night with court!

Court @ Chez George!

SUNDAY

Marché du Raspail: Wandered over to this food market again Saturday morning since it's so close. Such a fun lively environment! I got some cheese to picnic with along with some trail mix. I was eying these potato/cheese/onion pancake things they had cooking up but the line was far too long.

Spent the day Sunday wandering around the Marais with Courtney and her friends. I splurged on a scarf which is like a blanket for my face and is the best thing ever (and so necessary). Then we went to Berthillon (of course). I got pistachio ice cream and apricot sorbet which was actually an amazing combo.

Le Germain: Super trendy modern restaurant in the Saint Germain area. Went here with Natalie and her friends who were visiting. Food was actually really good (though my salmon wasn't what I expected (cold) everyone else's was good!). And then we finished up with a lil speculos crepe on the walk home. Natalie and Ben are obsessed with speculos so I've found myself being naturally attracted to it and incredibly happy whenever they have it somewhere. Even though I had never had it before haha.

Speculos=bae bye!