Translation: Happy new year (In French, again! I'm still very confused about what language I should be speaking. I was in a cafe speaking English with Simone, and then the waiter came and I started to order in Spanish, and they both started laughing at me...)
Comida del día: Trout
Specifically this trout:
Which was served to me in a restaurant the other day. Needless to say, I was a bit shocked when I looked at my food and found it staring right back at me.
Foto del día:
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| A view looking back at Versaille after a long walk in the beautiful gardens there. I was lucky to go on my one day in Paris when it didn't rain! |
Last week, I cheated on my beloved city of Granada through a rapid and passionate love affair with Paris. I just couldn't resist its charm, its romantic cafes, its precious small streets, its gorgeous art and regal architecture, and its appreciation for everything cultural. Unfortunately our romance had to end and I am now back in the ever-cloudy English speaking world that is London, but I left Paris knowing that I would return (hopefully in warm weather, and hopefully soon!)
I was surprised that almost everything I had heard about the city were completely true. Everywhere I went, there were small cafes with spiral staircases, cute boutiques, beautiful and fashionable women, and great art and music. I was pleasantly surprised to find that bars with live jazz are alive and well. and even the musicians in the subway stations were top notch - I even found myself giving them money a few times!
I had been warned that Parisians tend to be unfriendly to tourists, and I was pleasantly surprised to find exactly the opposite: within our first 10 minutes in the city, a nice man saw us with our suitcases studying a map and kindly pointed us in the right direction. Another night, a man in a restaurant heard us struggling to read the French-only menu and proceeded to translate everything on it for us. This was the same restaurant in which I was served the fish with eyes (see above), so I'm wondering if he left out some important details for his own entertainment: he laughed pretty hard at my reaction when my food came!
My favorite evening in Paris was, not surprisingly, a night filled with music. I was on my way to explore the Sainte Chappelle cathedral, which is known for its stained glass, only to learn that it was closed for a string quintet concert of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Half an hour later I had succesfully obtained a last-minute student priced ticket and was sitting in the cathedral enjoying its excellent acoustics. I then concert-hopped to the Sunset Jazz Club where Simone and I enjoyed the Paco Sery group's eclectic mix of jazz with electronic, funk, African influences and even one song from Vietnam. We ended up sitting in the front row literally two feet from the keyboard player. The group enjoyed performing so much that they played three sets, the concert lasted for three and half hours, and by the end everyone in the audience was on their feet dancing.
While we thoroughly enjoyed the music and food, we also spent a lot of time admiring Paris' vast collection of fine art. My favorite museum was the L'Orangerie museum, whose main attraction is two rooms in which Monet's water lily paintings surround you on all sides. Although we had to wait for an hour and a half in the rain to get in, it was worth it, and in general we were extremely lucky that despite throngs of tourists, this was pretty much the only horrible line we had to wait in the whole trip.
A few more photos:
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| View of Paris from the top of the Eiffel tower |
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| The delicious dinner that Simone and I put together on New Year's Eve. It was a pleasant way to avoid crowds and rainy weather! |
I'll leave you with some words of wisdom from Regina Spektor, specifically at 2:38 when she says, "I love Paris in the rain."
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