The Ulizio's do Paris!

My brother visited Paris the weekend of November 5 to Monday, November 8th. He was able to stay with me at my host mother's apartment for the weekend, which was so wonderful. It would have been difficult to get in touch with him to meet up for the day had he stayed at a hotel or hostel. We spent Friday afternoon in Montmartre and had a great lunch then, then had a little walk through the Luxembourg Gardens before he had to turn in for a pre-dinner/going out nap. It was a lovely, warm fall day, and it was great catching up after so long. Saturday we met up with his friends from his semester in Munich to see a very strange modern art exhibit at the Palais de Tokyo. We then went out on Rue Mouffetard at a great pub called the Mayflower for Belgian beer (usually anywhere from 9% to 12% alcohol...good stuff!) We grabbed falafel sandwiches across the street then went to an apartment party with his Parisian friends for a bit. I got to practice my French a good amount, and it was the FIRST time I was at a Parisian's apartment of someone close to my age. We had been drinking since about 5 pm, so it was nice to turn in a bit earlier that night (1 am to be exact.) Sunday we walked to the Eiffel Tower after having lunch with Cathy and Courtney in the 7eme arrondissement, then we dined at home with Béatrix. She was taken aback by how much we look alike and how handsome he was. She couldn't stop commenting about his smile and how he looked like he had just flown in from Milan.
This past week my mom, dad, and sister Sarah were in Paris. We met up everyday after my classes, walked around and toured the city, then had dinner out on the town and drank quite a bit of white wine. It was so wonderful to be surrounded by people I feel totally comfortable with, showing them a place I have grown to be so fond of. They seemed to really like Paris, although I think the city living was really throwing them for a loop, as it did for me the first month or so that I was here. The first few days in such a busy city are truly exhausting, and being a tour guide also takes its toll on you, so by the end of the day, we were all beat and ready to turn in for a nice relaxing meal with a bottle of wine, great conversation, and delectable cuisine. My parents and sister, being the foodies that I can identify very much with, were astounded by the food here. It's an art form all its own, and being able to experience it was something I know they are very thankful for.
It was interesting to have them visit because I realized with them here just how comfortable I am in Paris. I know my way around, I speak the language, and I know how to get just about everywhere (after a quick consultation of metro map or city map, of course.) I realized that I could definitely see myself returning to Paris to work or study again.
I stayed with my parents and sister in the Latin Quarter about two minutes away from the St. Michel metro stop, at 37 Rue St. Andre des Arts. It was nice to get away for a while from my routine and to live in a different arrondissement of Paris. We got fresh croissants and coffee from a boulangerie down the street every morning for breakfast and there were tons of great restaurants literally right next door to the apartment. The location could not have been more perfect to give my family a taste of what Paris is all about.
They saw all the major attractions...Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Panthéon, the Marais, Invalides, the Champs Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe...and a whole lot more. On Sunday I took my mom and my sister to the Marais to eat falafel and walk around. Monday we walked from St. Michel, through St. Germain des Prés, had a pitstop at LaDurée to sample Paris' finest patisseries, then continued to Invalides, then to the Eiffel Tower, then to the Champs Elysées! Phew! Quelle journée! We walked from about 1 pm until 8 pm, and I was BEAT! We grabbed falafel sandwiches and shwarma sandwiches right next door for dinner then turned in to watch Amélie and Billy Elliot back at the apartment. We had probably walked at least 4 miles that day, so we needed a nice relaxing evening.
I left the apartment around 10:30 Tuesday morning for class just as they were about to catch a taxi to the airport for their flight back home at 2 pm. It was sad having to part with them after having spent an amazing nine days with them in Paris. They got in safely last night and are now preparing for Thanksgiving dinner (tomorrow!)
I'm planning on getting up semi-early tomorrow morning to go grocery shopping and start preparing the cornbread for tomorrow night's Thanksgiving dinner chez Viviane (my language professor) in Montparnasse. I was falling asleep in Science Po today, so I think I need to call it an early night. Also went for a run for about an hour this morning to the Jardin du Luxembourg. It was so tranquil there early in the morning, usually its full of people but it was quiet and empty save for early-morning runners. Great way to start the day!
Definitely looking forward to the Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night with all the girls and my professors!

Better late than never. ONE MONTH LEFT?!?!

Today marks the four-week countdown until I sadly have to return back to the US. Each day I spend here in Paris is different, more stimulating, more exciting than the day before. I came here thinking that four months was a long time to be away from my comfort zone, which rendered me terribly anxious before departing and also terribly excited. But four months is flying by. It feels like just yesterday I was SHOCKED that the month of September, my first month in Paris, was over. It is now November 23, 2010, two days before all my family and friends back home in the states will be celebrating Thanksgiving. And it is just four weeks until I’ll be finding my way to the Charles de Gaulle airport to head back to Pittsburgh.

            This experience has definitely, thus far, been the best four months of my life. I have made some of  the closest girl friends on this trip that I have found in the past five years of my life. I have seen the most extraordinary, remarkable, breathtaking buildings, monuments, neighborhoods, paintings, cathedrales, vineyards, châteaux, streets, alleys, shops, clothing, people…I have tasted the most decadent cake at LaDurée (yesterday, in fact, with my mom and my sister for their last day in Paris; I ordered the Saint-Honoré Rose-Framboise cake, which is puff pastry with rose whipped cream, rose frosting, and raspberry filling. Truly the most extravagant and mouth-watering dessert I’ve ever bitten into. I felt as if I had bitten into a delicate, just-blossomed pink rose!), the most delicious white wine (Sancerre), the BEST dark beer in Berlin and Prague, the best cheese (Comté) and the best, crustiest, freshly-baked baguettes smothered in delicious French mayonnaise (yes, it IS better than American mayonnaise) and generously piled with cheese and jambon.

            I have spoken French every day for the past three months, and I surprised myself when my parents spent the week in Paris with how comfortable I felt showing them around the city, ordering food for them, translating for them, and asking questions for them. I had blogged one day when I felt particularly unnerved with the brutality of city living. But now, having played tour guide for the past nine days or so, I can honestly say that I enjoy city living. I love the feeling that I never know what I will see or who I will see. I love knowing that just around the corner there is something new for me to discover. I love never feeling bored, something I am unfortunately very familiar with oftentimes at school in Newark or home in Pittsburgh. I love walking everywhere and relying on my sense of direction to get me somewhere, although admittedly sometimes that has taken me on some very unnecessarily long walks or round-about routes. Nevertheless, I have discovered neighborhoods all over the city. Montparnasse, Montmartre, the Marais, St. Germain des-Prés, Vaugirard, the Latin Quarter, the Eiffel Tower quarter. But I know I haven’t seen everything, and I can’t believe it! I still haven’t been to the top of the Eiffel Tower, still haven’t seen the unrivaled Versailles Palace, still haven’t been to countless museums and exhibits, still haven’t seen even 1/60 of the Louvre…

            My unfinished list, as pressed as I feel to fit in as much as I can in my last month in Paris, is a good thing, the way I see it. I have reason to come back to the city of lights. I have a reason to come back and try a new dessert at LaDurée, a new route to the Marais, a new café to visit in the Latin Quarter, a beautiful painting or sculpture at the Louvre. No, this will not be my last time here in Paris.

            One of the things I am just astounded by, day to day, is the absolute richness of the culture here. Paris is engulfed and dripping with haute couture, with five-star cuisine, with the detail and luxury of the apartments lining the busy pedestrian and vehicle-filled streets. Just tonight, my first night back at Béatrix’s apartment in more than a week (I had been staying at the apartment in St. Michel my mother found for her, my dad, and my sister, since last Sunday night), I was welcomed back to the apartment with my favorite meal, a tartiflette, salade with avocadoes, and a bottle of red wine.  A tartiflette is a gratin of potatoes, reblochon cheese, ham, and onions, typical of western France. But I haven’t even mentioned the dessert.

            While I was staying at the apartment in St. Michel, Béatrix welcomed a Turkish woman (her name escapes me at the moment) who had stayed with her two years ago back into her apartment for the next month or so. She is following an intensive five-week word-famous Cordon Bleu culinary program, more specifically in pastries. Comme nous avons de la chance! She will be bringing home everything she makes in class to the apartment! Tonight we had Opéra cake (rich, dense chocolate cake with multiple layers), and chocolates filled with praline and muscadine (praline flavored with Grand Marnier, no big deal.) Um, hello bigger pant size! I can’t believe that for the next month I’ll be eating dessert like this whenever I want!

            Goal for the next month: continue living each moment in Paris as if it were my last. Continue seeking out the most out-of-my-routine-experience, continue relishing each part of my day, from waking up in my apartment in the 15^th arrondissement, to drinking coffee with my host mom or by myself in silence in the morning, to my metro ride to school, to my classes in French, to spending my afternoon in the city, to dinner with my host family, to spending a relaxing evening at home or going out with friends. Life is too short, but I intend to make my last month in Paris as memorable as possible. And, for this last month, I will force myself to blog as much as possible.