Musée Marmottan-Claude Monet

I went on a Sunday adventure to a small Monet and Impressionist museum in the 16th Arrondisement. I walked through a park with lots of families and a donkey ride (bizarre) to get to the tucked away museum. There was a long line of people in front of a white house with colorful flags, as I ventured closer, I realized that it was the Musée Marmottan- Monet. The outdoor line moved quickly and I was soon inside this gorgeous home in Paris. They have the rooms set up with furniture as if someone lived there, but hung on all of the walls are some of the greatest Monets. The rooms trace his career, his different styles, and scatter in a few other Impressionists, like Manet, Renoir, and Auguste Rodin. I was actually impressed by the house as much as the artwork. I moved into a hallway and gallarie that traced his paintings at Givery, then the Nympheas, then just paintings of scenery. Standing alone in a glass case was his actual paint palette!

The best part is that in my modern and contemporary art class, we just studied Impressionism. We studied Monet's Impression Soleil Levant, and it was right there!

In the basement, there was an exhibition on the Fauves and Expressionists. They have much more colorful and abstract painting than Monet but it was cool to see. When I got home, I started reading for my next Art History class and the chapter was called "Expressionisme et les Fauves". I was so excited because I had just seen some of the artwork! Studying art in Paris is really the best choice that I could have made. I miss my business classes but it's amazing to study something that is literally part of Paris.

Musée etiquette: The museum was crowded but the upstairs felt very open. It was cool to be a part of the Parisians, waltzing around discussing the artwork. But downstairs got a little pushy- a woman literally shoved me aside to read the name of a painting and then shoved me to the next one. I thought that museum etiquette would be more universal but I think the personal space limits are quite different in Europe. I tried as best as I could to move along from one painting to the next, in pace with my art-enthusiast friends.

Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau is in the Ile-de-France, 45 minutes outside of Paris by train. It is known for it's forest hiking (which we did not do) and it's royal chateaux, Fontainebleau. Lots of amazing kings, Louis', Empress', and Napoleon lived there. There are amazing tapetries that flow over all of the walls, every ceiling is painted, and it has close to a zillion chairs. The tour starts by taking you through the small apartments, which ironically are all sitting rooms. Kings must have done A LOT of sitting with A LOT of people. I loved the library because it had a giant globe in the middle of the room and 14,000 books.

We walked around and then decided that we were starving and we needed to get back to Paris. Marisa knew of a quirky place to get fondue, so 7 of us girls went. The fondue, "Refuge des fondues", place is tucked away a tiny side street in Montmartre. There is grafitti all over the walls and the tables are set up in two long rows with benches for seating. We were really early, but we heard that there is always a wait. Surprisingly, we were the first ones there and they set us up for beef fondue and cheese fondue (18 euro person). They served us wine is glass baby bottles (I said "quirky") and gave us endless baskets of bread (I think my side ate 6). By the time we starting eating, the place was packed (with English-speaking toursits). For dessert, we had...fruit. Chocolate fondue is not a French tradition, so they don't have it in France! AH!

Since we so stuffed, we decided to walk around the area (Montmartre) and see Sacre Coeur. We climbed all of the stairs to the top of the hill and looked out onto the city of lights.

Notre-Dame et Ile Saint-Louis

On the first sunny, beautiful afternoon in Paris, I went to Notre-Dame. As Frommer suggested, I waited until sunset to go inside so that I could get the full effect of the gorgeous stained glass windows and the West Rose Window. The church was beautiful and some of my friends went to international mass there on Sunday. It was definately the perfect afternoon trip in Paris and if I find myself near Notre-Dame again, I will climb the towers and visit the gargoyles.

*To stall some time before sunset, I walked across a small bridge to Ile Saint-Louis. It is a small shopping district with restaurants, cafes, ice cream, and antiques. I want to go back and try a little corner restaurant with dozens of ceramic cows (vanches) in the window. Also, I found fro-yo at "myberry", for those who thought it impossible to find fro-yo in Paris, ha! I will be returning when it is open for some delicious frozen yogurt.

Chocolat: Les Bon Bons

I broke down and bought a French candy bar. Not exactly from a chocolatiere-- actually it was the vending machine at school-- but it was really good. To discover their secret to making delicious candy bars, I examined the ingredients for any clues. Well the first ingredient is cocoa, followed by noisettes (hazlenuts), and some milk (lait). Amazing! Check the back of Hersheys- the first ingredient is NOT cocoa, nor almond for Hershey's Almond. Actually chocolate tends to be further down the list-
So the secret to good chocolate is, in fact, using chocolate. Hmm I'll stick to French chocolates from now on.

Les Marches

I've grown to love the farmer's markets in Boston, but a Parisian market is far superior. I had to visit three markets last week before I actually bought anything because I was so tongue tied. However, now I am a marchiere! The market near my house is open Sunday mornings and early afternoons so I stopped by after my run. Not only do they have fruits and vegetables but they also have meats, fish, pastries, clothes, jewelry, housewares, shoes, etc. I went to a self serve stand, gathered some carrots, sweet potatoes (potate douce), bananas, apples (pomme), and I even ordered a piece of salmon! Today however, I went to the market by school and successfully ordered a bag of almonds, pears (poire), bananas, carrots, and brussell sprouts (chou Bruxelles). Then I walked around with a friend, as we discovered cheese stands, candy stands, juice stands, and coffee stands. Of course I found a chocolate stand but I still have a bar left over from Sunday so I'll have to hold out to the next market. Everything was amazing and I plan to continue to shop at the markets twice a week for fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, and a different treat every time.

But becoming a marchiere wasn't easy. They markets are busy and filled with activity and pushy Parisians. The vendors don't have time to wait for my broken French/English orders and usually just hand me the bag to choose myself. Also, I haven't mastered my numbers yet. Think of how fast you can spit out numbers in your native tonuge, well French isn't native for me. Usually 1 euro 86 turns into a mumble of French jargon, so I've resulted to visiting vendors with receipts. At night, I've been practicing my numbers by watching Le Juxe Prix, The Price is Right. Furthermore, when I said they sell meat and fish, I mean entire chickens/ducks/rabbits and entire fish/shrimp/squid. Yuck!

My next market to conquer is the marches aux puces, flea markets. There are large flea markets Friday-Monday in the Northern arrondisement of Paris. I will venture soon- with lots of company for support!

La Bastille, Chateau de Versailles

As if we weren't exploring enough, BU has made sure to send us out into Paris to discover all of it's secrets.

Friday: Andrea and I were sent on a scavenger hunt of the 11th arrondisement and la Bastille. Hightlights from our 4 hour tour:

Port de L'Arsenal- It reminded me of Amsterdam with lots of long house boats that float through the Seine in the summer months. I got a beignet sucre at the carnival that was set up at the entrance to the Port.

L'Opera Bastille- It's a very unique and new looking building for the area. It has a round face with a glass front and large entrance stairs. It holds 2700 people in the music hall. We wanted to go inside and take a look, but we weren't allowed. Hopefully, we'll be back soon for an Opera or performance!

Boutiques- The streets are a maze of passages and small stone streets. Although we were supposed to find Passage de L'homme, we ended up in an amazing jewelry shop, Les Fleurs. They had beautiful necklaces and earrings and the place was crowded despite the deserted street. We ended our tour on the Rue de Lappe, which turned out to be our bar-hopping destination later that night.

Saturday: Chateau de Versailles

Friends and I met up early to explore Louis XIV's palace. Our student card got us in to see the 17 grand apartments and the Hall of Mirrors (actually a hall of chandeliers) for free. BU booked us a tram around the gardens, to Maire-Antoinette's Petit Trianon, and his marble castle "hideaway" across the lawn. The gardens would have been stunning in full bloom, however it was freezing, rainy, and muddy. We walked for a few hours around the gardens while our french teacher tried to paint the picture of it's beauty- nope, I just couldn't see it. We ran from the gardens, through the courtyard, and to the nearest cafe. Many student dropped into Starbucks and McDonalds, but I made it to an authentic cafe and order a "grand chocolat chaud", the most amazing hot chocolate one could image.

La gastronomie francaise

Today (Aujour'hui) we learned all about eating and culture in Paris, it's really one in the same. We all know that they love their wine (le vin) and cheese (le fromage), but honestly, the Parisians are more passionate about the bread (le pain). Une baguette is one of the most affordable (1 euro) and favorites of Parisians. The rules of the baguette are: 1) it must come from a boulangerie (bakery) 2) it must be made by an artisan du pain, 3) it must be fresh and have a strong crust, 4)you must eat it with anything, everything, or just by itself. Each person has their favorite boulangerie, it's almost like the most hardcore Starbucks drinker walking past a Dunkin Donuts, they scoff. I will start to explore the boulangeries near my house and my school, because the baguette will quickly become a staple in my diet.

At school, we sampled food from each region of France. Quickly my highlights-
Il de France (Paris):
LOVED: Chèvre (goat cheese)
"Je suis allergique aux rillettes (pork pâté- it seriously looked like Jack's food)" (It's very impolite to dislike something or refuse to try it, so I am allergic to Pâté for this trip.)

Franche-Comte
We had some dried meats and pastries, but I LOVED the wine, 2006 Chardonnay. As for red, they need to grow on me. The Bordeaux was too robust and the Côte du Rhône was too bitter.

Normandie
They make a lot with apples (des pommes) like Chausson aux pomme (pastries with apples) and Cidre brut (sparkling cider). Also, we tried pasterized Camembert from the grocery store (no, no, no) and Camembert fait a coeur from the Fromagerie (cheese shop), AMAZING!

Aquitaine
LOVED: Fourme d'Ambert- a bluer blue cheese
LOVED LOVED LOVED: My first, of many, chocolate eclairs.

La maison

I am living with a host, Madame Dubois and her dog (le chien), Chanele. She was very welcoming and understanding of my state of exhaustion. She set me up in a bedroom with my own bed, desk, television, and wardrobe. The television only has two channels and the wardrobe is half filled already, so there isn't much room. But so what! I am in Paris!

For our first evening, we went to Le Marche for some groceries and she made meat and vegetables. The kitchen is small, but hopefully I will get to make some awesome French food! We ate together and watched the news. France is quite upset about all of the snowfall they received last week. No one has a plow or any snow boots, so it's really taking a toll on people's ability to move around. It has also threatened the crops. I'm starting to believe that I brought the cold with me from Boston. It's freezing and windy, but luckily scarves are very fashionable.

I showed her the family pictures that I brought (yes, you are ALL in them) and she was very happy to see all of you. I told her that I love chocolate and I want to visit all of the famous chocolate shops. Excitedly, she ran to the kitchen and returned with two small chocolate cakes (les gateaux chocolats). Mmmmm.....ce sont delicieux.

Bonjour! Bienvenue a Paris

It's amazing all that has changed since my first letter of acceptance into the BU Paris Internship program. I have felt excitement, happiness, and frustration. I spent months preparing documents, and a week packing, just to lug 50kg of luggage to a stranger's doorstep. All of this, and I became the stranger (l'etrange) as soon as the shuttle dropped me off. I know I said this freshman year, but it feels like summer camp- like someone is going to pick me up in a few weeks and take me home. I'll have pictures and souvenirs, but it'll all just be one quick vacation, or not. Today was my first day of Orientation and the BU Staff introduced us to reality. This was school; we were here to take classes, intern and experience a roller coaster of culture in between.

For those who don't know me: I am Caitlin, a junior at BU. I fell in love with French in seventh grade and pursued it in high school. It took a backseat to business classes in college (@ Boston University), however I managed to squeeze in a 4th semester French class which made me eligible for BU's study abroad program in Paris. I will take 8 weeks of classes, and participate in an 8 week internship. BU Paris is located only 10 minutes from the Eiffel Tower (La Tour Eiffel)

I decided then to make my journey about something that you all know I love, chocolate. My journey through Paris, France, and Europe will be easily traced with wrappers from some of the most amazing chocolates in the world.

To start- the airplane (Air France) served wonderful chocolate pudding for dessert.