Taken on my first night in Paris
Monday, April 2, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Ian in Paris
My dear cousin Ian of London came Paris for the weekend with his friend David to return the visit that I paid him back in February. He set such a high standard of hospitality that weekend I all but had a panic attack in anticipation of his arrival. How can I possibly equal or top the same amazing time he showed my friends and me!?
I'll have to check the customer satisfaction questionnaires that were handed out at the end of Ann's Magical 24 hour Whirlwind Tour of Paris but I have a good feeling the troops enjoyed themselves.
The only negative comment that I got was that there was this really creepy papparazzi following us all over Paris taking pictures of us. Ian, who gets this all the time, was upset about this invasion of privacy (" Why can't they ever just leave me alone.. I want to live a normal life!") But as I had no control over this factor I can't take any responsibility for the following pictures.
The itinerary went as such:
Night One:
Clubbin- er Dancing at Madam on the Champs-Elysees
Day One:
Obligatory hangover picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens
Adopted a baby
Dinner at the Frenchest cutest nuggetiest restaurant in all of Paris, Au Pied de Fouet 3, Rue St Benoît in St.Germain
DAY 2:
Breakfast at the Eiffle Tower:
A little brain-food at Musee L'Organgerie
The Falafel Experience in the Marais
Quick glance at Centre Pompidou
Afternoon workout up the stairs of Sacre Coeur
Light stroll and afternoon cafe through Montmatre
If I may be so bold to break in the itinerary now I'd like to tell you about a really amazing thing that happened that night.
My friend Vince from Philadelphia is currently on a 3 week tour of Europe with Lee Fields and the Expressions. In laymans terms, he's an expression. Last night David, Ian and I had the absolute pleasure of seeing them in concert for their Paris stop of the tour. It was Incredible! If you haven't heard of or listened to Lee Fields stop whatever you're doing right now. Stop reading my blog! Right. Now. Pour yourself a glass of wine and listen to this..
Okay now come back.. Don't fall asleep. I know red wine makes you drowsy but pull yourself together! Keep reading my blog!
I've been to a fair few concerts in this aged life of mine, but very few have put me in quite that state of euphoria. The energy they were putting out was on another level- intoxicating and tangible. David, Ian and I were in a complete stupor. The music, Lee, the venue, the crowd, the beer- awesome.
As if that wasn't enough we met up with Ian's friend Yvonnes and went to a snazzy club where the Jay-Z of France happened to be hanging out. I'm sure he's a musical genius and all but that night my heart belonged to Lee Fields.
Twas a great weekend. I hope Ian made his train this morning.. if that papparazzi is still at large I'm sure I'll find pictures of him sleeping on the Eurostar back to London.
I'll have to check the customer satisfaction questionnaires that were handed out at the end of Ann's Magical 24 hour Whirlwind Tour of Paris but I have a good feeling the troops enjoyed themselves.
The only negative comment that I got was that there was this really creepy papparazzi following us all over Paris taking pictures of us. Ian, who gets this all the time, was upset about this invasion of privacy (" Why can't they ever just leave me alone.. I want to live a normal life!") But as I had no control over this factor I can't take any responsibility for the following pictures.
The itinerary went as such:
Night One:
Clubbin- er Dancing at Madam on the Champs-Elysees
Day One:
Obligatory hangover picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens
Adopted a baby
Dinner at the Frenchest cutest nuggetiest restaurant in all of Paris, Au Pied de Fouet 3, Rue St Benoît in St.Germain
DAY 2:
Breakfast at the Eiffle Tower:
A little brain-food at Musee L'Organgerie
The Falafel Experience in the Marais
Quick glance at Centre Pompidou
Afternoon workout up the stairs of Sacre Coeur
Light stroll and afternoon cafe through Montmatre
If I may be so bold to break in the itinerary now I'd like to tell you about a really amazing thing that happened that night.
My friend Vince from Philadelphia is currently on a 3 week tour of Europe with Lee Fields and the Expressions. In laymans terms, he's an expression. Last night David, Ian and I had the absolute pleasure of seeing them in concert for their Paris stop of the tour. It was Incredible! If you haven't heard of or listened to Lee Fields stop whatever you're doing right now. Stop reading my blog! Right. Now. Pour yourself a glass of wine and listen to this..
Okay now come back.. Don't fall asleep. I know red wine makes you drowsy but pull yourself together! Keep reading my blog!
I've been to a fair few concerts in this aged life of mine, but very few have put me in quite that state of euphoria. The energy they were putting out was on another level- intoxicating and tangible. David, Ian and I were in a complete stupor. The music, Lee, the venue, the crowd, the beer- awesome.
As if that wasn't enough we met up with Ian's friend Yvonnes and went to a snazzy club where the Jay-Z of France happened to be hanging out. I'm sure he's a musical genius and all but that night my heart belonged to Lee Fields.Twas a great weekend. I hope Ian made his train this morning.. if that papparazzi is still at large I'm sure I'll find pictures of him sleeping on the Eurostar back to London.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Paris: People and Places
Perfect Paris Picnic
Yesterday I signed up for the Velib bike share program here in Paris.
After a bumpy start (literally, the first bike I took out had a flat tire and I made a wrong turn onto the very unbike-friendly Champs-Elysees and had to bump my way tout-suite over to another bike station to switch) it was exhilarating, and I am now a new woman.
I rode down to Invalides for a picnic with Ryan. We hung out on the open lawn for a bit then headed to Les Jardins Luxembourg ensemble.
There we were greeted by a carpet of beautiful healthy happy people picnicing, sitting, kissing, reading, laughing, and living.
Ryan and I plopped ourselves down on the beautiful people carpet and just hung out for a couple hours reading and people watching. When we got up the sun was setting but there were still people everywhere. It was a "C'est la Vie!" day. Not in the apathetic negative connotation, but rather the positive affirmative. This is the life.
Today I am going out again for a picnic at Trocadero (Eiffle Tower) with a dish inspired by my recent trip to Sicily. Fennel, blood orange, heirloom tomatoes, olive oil, and lemon salad. One of my favorite recipes from La Cucina de Mimi!
yum!
After a bumpy start (literally, the first bike I took out had a flat tire and I made a wrong turn onto the very unbike-friendly Champs-Elysees and had to bump my way tout-suite over to another bike station to switch) it was exhilarating, and I am now a new woman.
I rode down to Invalides for a picnic with Ryan. We hung out on the open lawn for a bit then headed to Les Jardins Luxembourg ensemble.
There we were greeted by a carpet of beautiful healthy happy people picnicing, sitting, kissing, reading, laughing, and living.
Ryan and I plopped ourselves down on the beautiful people carpet and just hung out for a couple hours reading and people watching. When we got up the sun was setting but there were still people everywhere. It was a "C'est la Vie!" day. Not in the apathetic negative connotation, but rather the positive affirmative. This is the life.
Today I am going out again for a picnic at Trocadero (Eiffle Tower) with a dish inspired by my recent trip to Sicily. Fennel, blood orange, heirloom tomatoes, olive oil, and lemon salad. One of my favorite recipes from La Cucina de Mimi!
yum!
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
I am Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge
Remember when I predicted a few things that I was certain would happen to me while I was in Paris? Well, here's a little secret... I was using this great and relatively unknown writing tool called "sarcasm" and didn't actually really truly literally think any of that was going to happen.... Oh.. you got the joke? .. oh, okay so I didn't have to explain it again..k cool. Just making sure..
Well I have big surprising news! Most of those things have actually really truly happened! Specifically the one about waking up every morning like the opening scene of Moulin Rouge in a baby turret apartment.
I have been living on the 6th floor of an old building on Ave de Friedland but my original apartment faced the interior of the building. My lovely neighbor decided she was over Paris and needed to move back to Rome so I have moved one door down from my apartment into hers and here is the grand tour!
Other things on the list that have happened:
I have had the Amelie soundtrack emanate through the city- I play it sometimes when I run... and I wake up to it in the morning.. and I hum it in my sleep..
I did find a Louis Vuitton suitcase at a vintage market.. but it was closer to a million euro than 40
I did have a brief and imaginary love affair with a really beautiful parisian man who lived above me.. and by love affair I mean.. my land lord told me to use the parisian upstairs' shower when mine was broken and after we chatted in French over a glass of wine and watched a Wes Anderson movie dubbed in French and then said good night and never heard from him again.. until I bumped into him on the stairwell and he introduced me to his girlfriend. On Valentine's day. C'est la Vie!
This wasn't on the original list, but it's something that I've always wanted to happen.. to find a really cool peice of original and authentic street art for relatively cheap and by an interesting artist.. Today I was walking past a metro stop and a poster taped to the stop caught my eye. I back tracked and saw that it was infact an original ink and water color signed by the artist "liox" (www.lioxart.com) so I looked over my left shoulder, looked over my right shoulder saw that no one was really looking and snagged the piece off the pole and kidnapped it back to my apartment. Turns out that is exactly what the artist wants you to do.. take his art for free.
Unfortunately I have not maintained a perfect figure on the diet of bread, cheese, and wine.. but F it. I will continue to eat bread and cheese and all that good stuff.. I can torture myself with a diet when i get back to Nyc.
Other things to mention:
I traveled to Berlin last weekend and had an AMAZING time. I will write a separate post about that.
My dad and step-mom just arrived today from NYC and I had a lovely day walking around with them.
Friday is my 21st birthday and we are going to Versailles with a few of my friends for a picnic and tour of the gardens and palace. :)
yay that's all you get for now!
Well I have big surprising news! Most of those things have actually really truly happened! Specifically the one about waking up every morning like the opening scene of Moulin Rouge in a baby turret apartment.
I have been living on the 6th floor of an old building on Ave de Friedland but my original apartment faced the interior of the building. My lovely neighbor decided she was over Paris and needed to move back to Rome so I have moved one door down from my apartment into hers and here is the grand tour!
Other things on the list that have happened:
I have had the Amelie soundtrack emanate through the city- I play it sometimes when I run... and I wake up to it in the morning.. and I hum it in my sleep..
I did find a Louis Vuitton suitcase at a vintage market.. but it was closer to a million euro than 40
I did have a brief and imaginary love affair with a really beautiful parisian man who lived above me.. and by love affair I mean.. my land lord told me to use the parisian upstairs' shower when mine was broken and after we chatted in French over a glass of wine and watched a Wes Anderson movie dubbed in French and then said good night and never heard from him again.. until I bumped into him on the stairwell and he introduced me to his girlfriend. On Valentine's day. C'est la Vie!
This wasn't on the original list, but it's something that I've always wanted to happen.. to find a really cool peice of original and authentic street art for relatively cheap and by an interesting artist.. Today I was walking past a metro stop and a poster taped to the stop caught my eye. I back tracked and saw that it was infact an original ink and water color signed by the artist "liox" (www.lioxart.com) so I looked over my left shoulder, looked over my right shoulder saw that no one was really looking and snagged the piece off the pole and kidnapped it back to my apartment. Turns out that is exactly what the artist wants you to do.. take his art for free.
Unfortunately I have not maintained a perfect figure on the diet of bread, cheese, and wine.. but F it. I will continue to eat bread and cheese and all that good stuff.. I can torture myself with a diet when i get back to Nyc.
Other things to mention:
I traveled to Berlin last weekend and had an AMAZING time. I will write a separate post about that.
My dad and step-mom just arrived today from NYC and I had a lovely day walking around with them.
Friday is my 21st birthday and we are going to Versailles with a few of my friends for a picnic and tour of the gardens and palace. :)
yay that's all you get for now!
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