Zumba a Paris

Saturday, I took a Zumba class at the American Church in Paris. It's right across from the Seine and it was a beautiful day, so I left 2 1/2 hours early to walk there. Paris has this intoxicating, addictive aura that entices one to walk for hours, which is the perfect balance to for the 3 amazing cookies that I ate on the way. The class is taught by an Au Pair, living in Paris in the church's gym. She started a website, www.aupairsinparis.com, to get all of the Au Pairs together. The class was fun and I met a few girls my age that are Au Pairing in Paris. They both arrived in the Fall and one spoke no French before arriving. After sweating and shaking our hips to Shakira, they convinced me to stay for Ballet. Considering all of the moves in Ballet are French words, it was pretty ironic taking a ballet class in English in Paris. They made me promise to get some more BU students to come to Zumba and hang out, so we'll see how many times I find myself back there.

Musee Graduit

On the first Sunday of every month, all/most museums in Paris are free. Although most are free or have reduced tickets for students, I seized my first sunday here to explore a free museum visit. I was on my way to Musee du Cluny when I walked past the Musee des Arts et Metiers. It caught my eye because there was a TGV train car outside. It wasn't the type of museum that I would ever visit, it had inventions and cars and mostly technology pieces. But, it was free so I went inside. Garrett (or any little boy for that matter) would have loved it. They had pretty much every invention through out time. Each display started with the original and took you up the the present: bikes, telescopes, televisions, radios, robots, tools, etc. The architectural models were really cool too. Then the museum opened up into an old renovated church; however, they had stripped the old stone church and built a display of old cars. You had to climb a ladder and a platform to reach the top. On the ceiling, they had an old wooden airplane suspended. It was the coolest church/museum that I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I won't be in Paris for another free museum day until May- so I'll have to explore a few on that Sunday.

Cours de Cuisine

As part of our cultural experience, one of the professors hold a cooking class at the Fondation Etats Unis (United States Dorms) on fridays. We meet at 11am for the 5 hour workshop, which included prepping, cooking, and enjoying a 3 course lunch. We had a special guest, David K. Campbell- University Provost, and his wife to cook with us. We started by setting up the kitchen and learning the vocabulary for all of the kitchen equipment. Then we started with a classic French dessert, mousse au chocolat. The recipe is on the back of the Nestle Dark Chocolat bars and only has three ingredients. Not to brag but- my partner and I made the best mousses in the class. Then we started on the rest of the meal: tartelette aux tomates, salade avec chevre chaud (warm goat cheese- which I was in charge of melting), jambon avec endive et sauce bechamel, et pinot noir. Thirteen of us cooked together and made a huge mess. The recipes were very simple and each had about 3-4 ingredients. It was a lot of fun and a really good lesson in vocabulary- mostly franglis. We enjoyed conversation and a relaxing lunch after cooking.

Cooking secret: We replaced the milk for the bechamel sauce with the liquid from the sauteed endives. It changed the color but made it a lot more flavorful and complimentary to the dish. That is the second chef to let me in the Bechamel secret- and I have a feeling that the French have a lot more culinary secrets that I need to learn.

Chocolat: L'Atelier du Chocolat

On my way home from Le Marais, I spotted a little chocolate shop, Ateliers du Chocolat, to duck into and out of the rain. They specialize in chocolate bouquets. They make their chocolate in sheets and then break them up and wrap them like a bouquet of flowers. I was tempted by the sheets of nutty chocolates, but I decided to go with a chocolat noir epice. They combined African spices with the dark chocolate to give it a kick. It was my first experience with spicy chocolate, but I am definitely a fan! I love spicy and, as you all know, chocolate, so it’s really just a match made in chocolat heaven for me!

Les Galaries au Marais

Now that we are studying modern art, my art professor took us on a gallery tour in Le Marais, the old jewish ghetto/the gay neighborhood. The weather predicted rain, so I geared up in boots, two raincoats (one with a hood and one longer one), and my umbrella. Of course when I got off the Metro at St. Paul, it was sunny and beautiful. We headed to the first of four galleries. The artist, Frederic Sanchez, used sound to convey his art. We entered a white room with speakers to listen to sounds of clashing and dripping and then you enter a completely black room with more soothing sounds. The contrast was interesting, but I’ll probably stay away from sound exhibits in the future- I hear plenty of noise just outside my window, which faces a hospital. Next we went to an exhibition by Claire Morgan called Life.Blood. (morbid.) But the exhibit was actually my favorite. She used small pieces of colored plastic bags to create suspended planes or cubes in the air. In each artwork, there was a dead animal or bug that was suspended in a scene describing nature. Ok- this sounds terrible, so just look at the photos. The final two galleries were pretty typical of what you might expect from modern art- a random collection of random things by random artists. The final gallery focused on videos and destructive art, which we learned about (and had seen at the Boston Museum of Modern Art).
After being thoroughly cultured, I was starving and luckily the Jewish quartier is home to the best falafels in Paris. I find it shocking that I have never been exposed to falafels before, considering it’s vegetables and fried chickpeas in a pita (aka my diet summed into one pita pocket). AMAZING! I seriously considered life as a vegetarian, or a falafel-tarian. I continued to walk around enjoying the last bits of my falafel. I stumbled upon some other interesting sites in the Marias; cute shops, Mariage Freres (a crowded tea shop), boutiques, souvenir shops, and a few specialty food/chocolate shops! Just as I was popping in and out of shops, the skies opened up and it poured!! The Parisians hid under awnings and in shops; but alas, I had prepared for New England rain and was able to continue my stroll on the empty, flooded streets.

If you are heading over to Paris, consider asking your cabby to just drop you off here and I’ll meet you:
L’as du Fallafel
34 Rue des Rosiers
75004, Paris (Le Marais)

L'Espange: Madrid et Toledo

The three lovely ladies scheduled another weekend getaway—this time to Spain! We took a late flight from Paris to Madrid on Thursday evening and landed just in time for dinner…which never starts before 9pm. We sampled some Spanish fare; Manchego cheese, Sorrento ham, Sangria. It was all delicious!!

Friday, we started the day early with a bus trip to Toledo. The place to board the bus was listed at Palacio Real de Madrid but when we arrived (at 8am) it was deserted! Pam—our translator—spoke to a guard who told us to go underground. Now, I thought Pam’s Spanish just needed some brushing up but we found a door that lead underground and there was our bus! We boarded and headed to Toledo.

Toledo used to be the capital of Spain but it became so crowded and the resources were so overused that the moved it to nearby Madrid. We spent the morning on a walking tour of Toledo. It was beautiful and refreshing to see some green mountains.

Back in Madrid, we visited the Palacio Real de Madrid for real this time. It was the ‘royal palace’ of Madrid. Kings and Queens used to stay here. We took a tour of this as well and learned everything about the interior design. The King ordered each room to be decorated by the best designers in Europe—many of which we not Spanish. Each room was more ornate than the last, with painted ceilings, lavish furniture, and ornate walls. We learned that the famous “Porcelain Room” is not made out of porcelain but a much sturdier material and painted to look like porcelain. We were starved by the end of the tour and made our way to find some lunch. We stumbled upon a steel structure with floor to ceiling glass windows. We were attracted to the place immediately by the large fruit stand in the front window. As we made our way inside, we realized that we stumbled upon a giant tapas market: Mercado de San Miguel. It housed some of the most amazing tapas that I’ve ever had! Each stand specializes in a type of food: fruit, fish, wine, cheese, nuts, beer, meats, etc. I made my way to the chocolate stand for some Spanish chocolates, while Pam tried caviar and my mom had some champagne! Not too bad! We vowed to stop by again, and again.

Saturday, we wanted to explore the opposite side of Madrid so we headed towards Parque Del Buen Retiro. It was a sunny, beautiful afternoon of walking through the park and around the lake. We had a great time in the sunshine

That night we went on a bit of an adventure, Tapas hopping. The concept: make as many stops at as many different bars as you can, stopping to order and drink and tapas at each one. We started with the concierge’s recommendation for Restaurante Casa Granada. He told us to make a few turns, find door number 6, buzz up, take the elevator to the top and walk through the kitchen. Sketchy? Yes. Best tapas in the world? Absolutely! We were surrounded in a hum of Spanish yelling, signing, and talking and locals from students to grandparents. (The latter being the rowdier of the two groups, as they were playing cards.) We order Sangria and a few tapas plates of meat and cheese. A nice cold beer mug of Sangria—a great way to start the night! We headed to another street of tapas bars and picked a lively one. Another round of tapas and Sangria! This time we met friends, a Spanish-speaking guy for Pam, a Frenchman for me, and two English-speaking men for my mom. After a bit of tri-lingual conversations, we headed to another tapas spot before heading home to bed.

Another Spanish tradition that we had to try was “chocolat con churro”—basically Spanish donut sticks to dip in hot chocolate. We found Chocolateria San Gines, a 24 hour ‘diner’, tucked away in Plaza del Sol! We spent the rest of the rainy day seeing the Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena which was absolutely stunning—and dry. Then we walked back to the hotel to get ready to jet set once again when we walked into a cheering crowd in front of “Plaza de Ronaldo”—and a giant statue of the soccer (football) player, Cristiano Ronaldo. We were a little skeptical about erecting a statue for the player but we figured that the Spanish fans were just extremely dedicated fans. Little did we know, we had stumbled onto a commercial set! So next time you watch the World Cup Intro, look for the three lovely ladies in Spain.

Oh la la…Un Cabaret

For my mom’s birthday, we decided to have a true ladies night out at the Cabaret! We chose a little restaurant near the Latin Quartier and Notre Dame for dinner, recommended by our favorite tour guide, the New York Times. (Itineraires, 5 Rue de Pontoise, 5th Arr.) It was French-fusion and the food was delicious. It was exactly what you would expect from The Times: small, modern, older crowd, chic, and they knew food and wine. The highlight of the meal though, was dessert. I got a Tarte Citron, which looked like a piece of art rather than dessert. Pam got crème brule IN a banana! Needless to say, she was happy.
After dinner we found the cabaret and we ushered to our seats at Le Paradis Latin. We enjoyed the champagne, cheesy costumes (sans tops!) and numerous dances. There was a trapeze, unicycler-juggler-bartender, and lots of high kicking legs. The show was entertaining, similar to Vegas I would assume. My favorite dance was the one in brightly colored 80s exercise outfits, completely unexpected. It wasn’t quite Le Moulin Rouge, but a lot of fun for ladies night out.

Le Cordon Bleu

I took my lovely birthday girls for a surprise visit in Paris, to the Cordon Bleu. They were completely unaware until we got off the metro that I had signed us up for a 3 hour demonstration of “An Evening in Honor of Julia Child”, Une Soiree en L’Honneur de Julia Child. It was a full menu inspired by Julia: Scallops St. Jacques, Chicken fricassee with tarragon sauce, and chocolate soufflé. Chef Bruno Stril, spoke exclusively in French while another woman translated to English. He started by melting the chocolate and making the base for the chocolate soufflé. He then showed us how to cut up a whole chicken- now I’m tempted to try it with one from the markets, and got the chicken dish simmering. The tarragon sauce filled the room with an amazing aroma! He continued by cleaning and preparing the scallops and making potato cakes. The potato cakes were literally heavy cream and whole milk smothered baked potatoes. Finally he went back to the soufflé, which I had to hold myself back from asking the lick the bowl. He filled ramekins of all sizes and we all watched in suspense as he removed them from the oven. His secret- maybe I shouldn’t tell you- but he indents a little channel around the edge of the ramekin so that the entire soufflé rises at the same time. Pam and I are curious to try this technique with a cake batter…
After the meal was finished, Chef Bruno popped open some wine and we enjoyed a tasting of the dishes. The three of us were in heaven; enjoying a meal at the Cordon Bleu! Paris, je t’aime!

Normandie

Early Saturday morning, I found myself lugging a giant suitcase out of the apartment on my way to the Gare du Nord. I was meeting the two most wonderful ladies for a week of vacation! Well—their vacation to Paris! Mom and Pam had landed in Charles De Gaulle airport and were making their way to meet me in Paris. We were taking a train north to Normandie for the weekend to stay in Bayeux and visit the beaches.

Already on European time—the ladies arrived four minutes before the train was scheduled to depart and we rushed in to validate our tickets and claim our seats. Exhausted, they slept while I worked on some school work and within the hour we were nearing our destination. I was in charge of rousing them went we arrived in Bayeux. I must have been daydreaming—because suddenly I realized that we were at our stop! I assured them that we would have plenty of time to disembark. We were rolling our suitcases to the exit when we felt the train lurch-- !

It was a split second decision but we jumped! Mom and Pam were on the platform and I began throwing bags out of the cabin doors! I thrust the last one off and landed on the platform. The train halted and the conductor came running to see if we were ok. I apologized (in French) and told him that we didn’t know—we were American. He seemed satisfied and boarded the train and headed off. It wasn’t the smartest move but everyone was awake now and ready to start touring Normandy!

We unpacked and headed out to explore the highlights of Bayeux— food & tapestry. We visited some pastry shops, a tapestry museum, and a café. The tapestry museum held an original French tapestry which told the story of a king…blah blah blah. I’m not too fond of rugs. We found a wonderful bistro and made reservations for our St. Valentin’s diner.

We freshened up at the hotel and walked to Le Pommier for dinner. It was absolutely delicious-- three courses of fish, cheese, wine, and French delicacies! I had Coquilles St. Jacques (Scallops).

Sunday was quiet since all of the shops were closed, but we hired a private car tour of the beaches of Normandy. Our guide picked us up at the hotel and took us on the route that the Americans had conquered the beaches. It was amazing to still see the craters that the bombs left in the ground and the steep cliffs that the soldiers had to climb. Our tour guide said that we were on of the small groups of tourists that got to see the beaches, covered in snow! We stopped at three landmarks before heading to the American Cemetery. It was beautiful, the way they designed the tombstones and landscape. It overlooked the vast ocean and blue sky. It felt as if I was back in Washington DC, between the American signs, inscriptions, and architecture.

On our way back, we stopped at a local fishing village, near Caen. We picked up fresh camembert cheese, calvados liqueur, cidre douce, and fruit & nut bread—all specialties of the region. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the hotel and relaxing afternoon, before our early departure to Paris, Monday morning.

Joyeuse Saint-Valentin

Valentine’s Day is really all about love—love of chocolate. The window displays went up weeks before the coveted event. It made me feel welcome in Paris, like the Tour du Chocolat was really kicking off. It didn’t matter that it was the coldest winter that Paris could remember; I was filled with warmth as I passed by beautiful displays of chocolate hearts.

Since Valentine’s Day fell on a Sunday, I received a very surprising package on the Thursday before. I was hanging around school between classes when someone came to tell me that a package was delivered for me. Everyone was excited and followed me upstairs—I literally mean everyone, since we were all at school and it was a common break for all of the classes. I opened a large box, containing roses and chocolats—from Matt; wonderful, thoughtful, missing me from America, Matt. The ladies swooned. It was ironic how the most romantic happenings at BU Paris had been my delivery from America.

The next day, I decided to visit two chocolat shops on my list and pick up gifts for my mom and Pam, as they were my visiting Valentines. I started on rue St-Honoré, off of Tulieries and peeled left. I had to reach 231 and 201, rue St-Honoré. I must have been distracted my the boutiques of Chanel, Prada, and Gucci because the street seemed to change to rue Faubourg St-Honoré. The numbers were still climbing so, not knowing what Faubourg meant, I continued to walk—for an hour! I was freezing and when I finally reached 199, rue Faubourg St-Honoré, it was the wrong chocolat shop! (I’m not complaining because it was another Patrick Roger, but I was deceived by the New York Times.) I pushed forward to 225, Le Maison du Chocolat—wrong again! I was confused. Why would there be chocolate shops one number away from the NYT listing and what was Faubourg? I was too cold to keep looking and went home but not without arms full of Valentine’s chocolates—hey, they might not have been on the list but they were chocolate shops nonetheless.

At home, I discovered A) Faubourg means “working class area”, B) I had walked in the wrong direction, and C) rue St- Honoré and rue Faubourg St- Honoré are the same street but cross different Arrondisements. The real addresses:

Patrick Roger (199, rue Faubourg St- Honoré)
Maison du Chocolat (225, rue Faubourg St- Honoré)

Michel Cluizel (201, rue St.-Honoré)
Jean-Paul Hévin (231, rue St-Honoré)

The actual Valentine’s Day was spent with my lovely two ladies in Normandie. We had a delicious meal of everything wonderful and French.

D'où êtes-vous allé? Que voyez-vous? Où irez-vous?

Dear Readers,

Paris has swept me off my feet. It's been a whirlwind month of traveling, sight seeing, visitors, and school work- of course. I have so much to tell you, but so little time to write. I am dedicating this week to updating my missing month of blogs, so stay tuned...

Affectueusement,
Caitlin

Photographie

I am no master behind the lens of digital cameras and I feel like pictures never capture the right ambiance of a place. However, I was determined to come home from my semester abroad with stunning photos and meaningful shots that capture more than just the post-card monument. I don’t know if it was my new digital camera, with tons of outdoor settings and a wide angle lens or the striking beauty of Europe- but I took amazing photos around every corner! BU offered a photography elective with one of the staff members. We spent one afternoon winding through Paris, watching the city through our lens. We started at the Louvre- trying to see it unlike any other Tourist and then we hit the streets, capturing the “trucs” and quirks that make Paris unique.



Since it was such a cold afternoon, we stopped at the infamous Angelina's for African Hot Chocolate. It was a delicious cup of a thick, rich, chocolate liquid topped with fresh whipped cream. They serve it to you in a small pot with a huge bowl of whipped cream. Angelina's is a small, cozy cafe and if you're fabulous and in Paris, then you want to be spotted in Angelina's!

Museé du Vin

At BU we have to take a few French culture electives on Fridays and what is moreFrench than wine! I visited the Museum of Wine with a bunch of the other students. We all sat down at a long table in a wine cellar while one of the staff taught us about wine. She started with the basics, the grapes and worked her way through the wine making process and all of the flavors of wine. We did a formal tasting of 3 reds and 3 whites, with and without cheese and bread. We had to swish the wine in the glass before smelling and then swish it in our mouths before tasting. I liked the drier whites, with almost a flowery-oaky taste and I liked the Bordeaux but only with the cheese. I like that now I know enough about wine to order or buy a wine that I am sure that I will like, and do it in French!

Chocolat: Chocolat Glace

Italien Gelato, watch out! I was strolling around Notre Dame one evening and I got a bit of a sweet tooth. Knowing that the Ile-Saint-Louis was just behind Notre Dame, I decided to head back that way. A friend had told me that Bertillon on Ile-Saint-Louis was known for having the best ice cream in all of Paris so, naturally, I was dying to go back. I ordered a simple (1) scoop of Chocolat Noir (Dark Chocolate). OH my goodness! It tastes like dark chocolate fudge-cake-brownie-batter-melting-in-your-mouth. I literally enjoyed it too much to take a picture. As I was crossing Le Petit Pont, a woman came up to me and asked if I was Parsienne. "Non, désolé, je suis Americaine," I replied but I told her that I had a map if she needed. She explained that was looking for Notre Dame. I laughed and pointed at the buildings ahead. "It's right there," I replied, "behind those buildings. Continue to cross the bridge." (Of course this conversation was in French.) But, its the first time that I helped a tourist! In French! I guess that I've learned a lot in my first month here!

To avoid the Tourist Trap in the summer months-- Bertillon supplies most of the ice cream to the other cafes on the island. To skip the lines, just walk up to another window to order your treat-- it'll taste just as delicious.

Chocolat: Patrick Roger

My Tour du Chocolat began with a New York Times article of a biking tour of Paris via chocolate shops. When I was arrived, I was a little disappointed to learn that it is impossible to rent bikes here without a French bank account (which the article fails to mention). I decided to keep the list of chocolate shops on me and visit each individually or while exploring.

The first sunny friday after midterms, I found myself taking the train directly to the Arc de Triomphe to visit the first of my chocolate shops. The chocolate shop is located in the 16th arrondisement on the Rue de Victor Hugo. This area of Paris is known to be a chic and wealthy neighborhood, so I was excited to window shop on my way.

I found the first stop, Patrick Roger with ease. The interior has illuminated walls with a forest motif and two rows of chocolates in the middle. They also have chocolate sculptures along the wall. When I visited they were displaying large naked chocolate women, strange but amazingly crafted. I asked the chocotier for his suggestions of the best chocolat noir. I got a choco-passion, chocolat-citron, chocolat-prailine, with a free added chocolat-pistache. The two ones with nuts were delicious; they had flavored marzipan interiors and a nut on top. The citron chocolate (lime) was surprisingly refreshing and a great flavor combination. As for the chocolat-passion, I have developed an even deeper love for chocolate. This bon bon was absolutely, undoubtably, the most amazing chocolate that I have ever eaten in my life. (Very similar flavor combination as the Langham Hotel's Chocolate Passionfruit Mousse at their Chocolate Buffet in Boston- also highly recommended). I checked the article, which confirmed my findings; it said to try the most outstanding passion fruit chocolats at Patrick Roger's in Paris.

After my first experience, I am very excited to try the rest of the New York Times Chocolate Shop list. I also shared the article with some other sweet-tooths here. Paris is soon to have lots of sugar-high Boston students running around on Valentine's Day!!

Film Etrirable

I detest French saran wrap. It is everything that one could hate about saran. It clings to itself- and only itself, doesn't protect food, falls off, falls out of the box, doesn't rip or breaks. Glad has a really good market opportunity over here...

L'entretien

The second part of my study abroad program is an internship in Paris. We have a separate company, EUSA, set up the internships for BU students. I met with EUSA representatives in November and told them that I wanted a marketing internship for the semester. I received an email with an interview appointment at Martine Leherpeur Conseils in Paris. After researching the company and reading previous student's reports, I was really excited about my interview. I had a mock interview with one of the EUSA representatives and practiced my french up until the Friday morning interview.

I got to the office without a problem while remaining fairly dry in the rain. After waiting a few minutes in reception, I met my interviewer and she offered me coffee or tea. Knowing it was rude to refuse, I asked for tea. We sat in her office and she placed three cups in front of me. One mug with the tea bag in it, which she poured hot water into. Another smaller cup was next to the mug and finally, a bowl with three sugar cubes. I had NO IDEA which cup to drink from. I politely asked which cup I should use and she waved to all three. Usually the French drink tea from large bowl-like cups, but there was too much sugar in bowl to be correct. So after debating in my head, I poured the tea from the mug into the smaller cup. Of course, I spilled all over the table. She started laughing and told me that I put it in the wrong cup. Mordified, I realized that the little cup was for the tea bag- ah ha. Instead of repouring eveything back into the mag, I dropped the sugar cube in a took a sip. Oops. Next time- I'll ask for coffee.

The rest of the interview continued with the same uneasiness as before the tea incident. She spoke in English but I responded in French and I told her about my work experience. When she asked about my future plans, she seemed disappointed when I told her "consumer and market research". She said that this position is really about finding images and not about "hard numbers and research". My role would be to search databases for images that reflect a theme or product. We looked at some past projects and I asked some follow up questions. She told me that they would get back to me in February- not too encouraging. I sent a lovely follow up email as soon as I got home and we'll see what happens next!


Update: I got the internship! I will be interning at Martine Leherpeur Conseils from mid-march to mid-May.

Grenoble & Les2Alpes

This was my first solo travel experience in Europe; not “solo” alone but planned, organized, and executed by me. My friend Danielle, a native Vermont skier, and I decided to conquer the Alpes. We knew that BU had a program in Grenoble and a lot of students skied the Alps close to there so we decided to head to the east. It was a 3 hour train ride to Grenoble and when we got off, we searched for our hostel. No luck, so we called the front desk who informed us that we had to take another train to reach our hotel. We bought tickets and boarded the train to Voiron. After a few stops we heard an announcement a jumped off. Since we didn’t see any signs or signs of life for that matter, we went inside to ask the information booth. The woman laughed and explained that we were in Moiron, which is not Voiron (these words are almost impossible to distinguish in French). So we boarded another train to Voiron and then asked another person how to get to our hotel, which was around the tracks, down the stairs, around the grocery store, and down the street. We made it, finally, and checked into a nice hotel. We had frog’s legs for dinner and got up super early to catch a bus to the Alpes!
Which also posed a travel problem- the bus station, which was full the night before, was empty at 7:45am. We waited until 8:15 and called the bus service line. She told us that we had to go back to Grenoble to catch the bus. So we boarded another train and made it to Grenoble to catch the 9am bus to Chamrousse. Chamrousse is the mountain in the Alps that we decided to go to. We asked everyone that we met in Voiron to suggest a mountain in the Alps to ski since there are so many. Chamrousse was the second biggest and the second closest, so we thought that would be the best one. However, when we went to buy tickets for the bus, we couldn’t. There was no explaination, just no. So we asked about the next available bus, which was to Les2Alpes, another bigger, farther mountain. It would leave at 10am. We told the woman that we wanted to take the bus to ski and then come back the same day. But apparently this was more difficult than we thought, or our French was really terrible, because she had to have another person translate. To travel via bus, one needs: aller ticket (to go), retour ticket (to return), and the ski pass (to ski). We had all three and boarded the bus.
We drove for an hour and a half as the bus climbed further up into the mountains. We asked some other skiers where the best place to get off the bus for rentals and the chair lifts. They pointed us in the right direction and warned us that if we didn’t reserve our seats for the return bus, we wouldn’t be able to get back. (Thanks bus driver and ticket sales woman, for omitting that advice.) So we exchanged our ski voucher, reserved our seats for the last bus back to Grenoble and snagged half day rentals.

All geared up, we boarded the first gondola up to the top. We were determined to start all the way at the top and work our way down. The gondola took us to another gondola, and we made it from bottom to top in thirty minutes! That’s the longest gondola ride that I’ve ever been in, and the highest that I’ve ever skied. When we got off, the view was absolutely incredible. We were ABOVE the clouds and the other mountains. We couldn’t even see the bottom of the mountain, or the middle for that matter. So we took 1,000 pictures and set off in some direction. The snow was perfect, fluffy, crisp, and there was tons of it. Each trail was better than the one before and we took almost every chair lift from the middle back up. It was the best skiing that I think I’ve ever experienced. We stopped for some hot wine and a break just before heading down the bottom. Yes, we needed a break before attempting to find the bottom of the Alps. The last run down was the best of the day. The sun was shining, the wine was keeping us warm, and the snow was packed and soft and just perfect. I can’t stress enough that the conditions were absolutely perfect!
After we returned our rentals, we walked through the ski town and stopped in some shops. I picked up chocolate for the ride home. We board the last bus and talked, napped, and snacked all the way back to Grenoble. We ate in Grenoble before heading over the Voiron. At the hotel were passed out and enjoyed a leisurely Sunday of packing and traveling back to Paris (with a lot less confusion).

Moral: Ski the Alps, it’s better than Out West

Musée d'Orsay

The best part about taking Histoire de L'art in Paris is that most of the actual paintings are in Paris! We took a field trip to the Musée d'Orsay to see some of the paintings that we had been learning about in class. Our professor guided us through the first floor of the museum, starting with the Realisme movement and Jean-Francais Millet's Les Glaneuses. It was interesting to see the actual size of the paintings because he always mentions them in class. Also, he showed us the progression through each movement. We covered Realisme, Impressionisme, Post-Impressionisme, Neo-Impressionisme, Fauvisme, and Expressionisme. We saw works by Manet, Gauguin, VanGogh, Monet, Renoir, Degas,and many others. It was a 2 1/2 hour personal tour of the museum in French. I really enjoyed the Pointilisme and Fauvisme works because you could see each individual brushstroke. After class, I stayed to look at the Psychodelic Exhibit on the second floor. It was all artwork from the 60s; album covers, furniture, and posters in French. Unfortunately the other floors are closed, including the Impressionist's floor, so I didn't get to see all of the paintings that we learned about. But the actual museum is amazing to see because it is in an old train station (gare) and free for students! We have 2 more museum visits with class to other museums in Paris. I'm looking forward to them.

They also have an exhibit in the back of the Musée that is a model of the old Opera house. Under a glass floor display, they have a replica of the Paris city streets and open model of the Opera house. You can see all of the stage equipment. It's definitely worth taking a trip to the back of the museum.

Les Macarons

If you pass buy a chocolatiere or boulangerie in Paris, it is likely that you will find these cute little desserts in the window. Macarons come in lots of sizes, flavors, and colors. Unlike American coconut macaroons, these are little cookie-like sandwiches that come in many different flavors. Encouraged by macaron lovers at BU, I sampled these little treats for the first time. Skeptical at first because they looked like hard, chalky sandwiches; I learned that these are rather soft and tastey. I tried coffee, vanilla, and chocolate (which I wasn't impressed with). The outside is slightly crunchy with a chewy soft center. It's really a unique dessert. Since I wasn't won over by the three that I had, my macaron-crazed friends promise to take me to Paris' best macaron shop for to try the pistachio flavored one.

Laduree
http://www.laduree.fr/index_fr.htm

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