je t'aime plus qu'hier moins que demain

Playing: Young Blood-Birdy
Reading: The Tempest by William Shakespeare

It's been six months, or half a year, since I was in Paris yet I still miss it tremendously. Rarely do I miss people or places, so the fact that I miss Paris so much is still a strange sensation for me (and comforting to my parents that I do in fact have human emotions). I miss waking up to a magnificent view of La Tour Eiffel, starting off the day with a buttery croissant, and walking along the River Seine. I expected Paris to be completely overrated, but I found myself to be completely in love with the city more so than other places I have visited. Other than San Francisco and New York, Paris is the only other city that I have visited that I would like to live in one day. Ideally, I would like to go back to Paris as soon as possible, but without knowing which college I will be attending in the fall, I am currently unable to purchase plain tickets there. Until then, I will continue to oggle over Rumi Neely's Paris photo diaries and wish that I was back in the city of lights.

Paris Day IX

Playing: Step-Vampire Weekend (Love the 18th century ball sound to it!)
Reading: 1984 by George Orwell

To start off our last day in Paris, my family and I visited the Musée de l'Orangerie to see Monet's lilies before stopping off at the Palais de Tokyo. The Palais de Tokyo is known for its avant garde exhibits and for showcasing up and coming artists. The collection was rather limited, but I enjoyed what they had and how many of their pieces felt like a whimsical childhood gone by.

Right behind the Palais de Tokyo on Saturdays is a farmers market that has everything from fresh produce to flowers to food stands to vintage clothing boutiques. At Gerard&Evelyne, you can order delicious crepes for low prices. The Brocéliande, which I ordered, is stuffed with savory cheese, mushrooms, and ham inside a whole grain crepe. It was surprisingly good and probably the best crepe I've ever gotten off a stand.

After lunch, we wandered aimlessly through Paris before heading back to the Champes-Élysées to visit the Louis Vuitton store. Even though it was huge inside and offered a wide selection, I found it demeaning to have to wait in line just to get in. There were many purses inside that I liked, but I found that the prices in the states are significantly better and couldn't justify buying anything. However, since we were near Ladurée, I was able to grab another box of macarons to bring home.

For our last meal, we just ate at a restaurant near out hotel called Le Bistro Marbeuf. The Escalope de Veau à la Crème de Champignons avec Riz was rather good. The veal was tender and the sauce was very creamy just as I had hoped.

The dessert was the most interesting. Our Île Flottante avec Crème Anglaise was a large puff of meringue topped with caramel, sitting in a pool of custard. It was light and airy, but flavorful and definitely something you should try if a restaurant offers it. Overall, my trip to Paris was one of my favorites. I had been warned several times that the French were rude and standoffish, but everyone was nice towards me and two boys even offered to take me around Paris. The food was good, the city was beautiful, and I got to experience once in a lifetime moments like talking to Karl Lagerfeld, Grace Coddington, and Sylvia Venturini Fendi. I would definitely like to go back there to study one day.

Paris Day VIII

Playing: Finding Something To Do-Hellogoodbye
Reading: Crown Jewels of Europe by Prince Michael of Greece

For breakfast, I went back to Ladurée with my family to get Le Pain Perdu Tiède Ladurée again because it was that good, only this time I ordered some chantilly cream with it. Instead of hot chocolate, I ordered Le Mélange Spécial Ladurée Thè, which I can't remember much about other than that it was enjoyable enough for my brother and I to finish off the pot of tea.

Since I witnessed The Glory of Water opening party, I decided to go back and check the exhibit after breakfast. The exhibit itself was only there for 10 days and was a collection of Karl Lagerfeld's photographs of various fountains that Fendi had helped pay to restore in Rome. I was able to to grab a booklet with the photos in it along with a sketch from Karl.

For the last two days of my trip, I injured my knee from tromping around in my heels across cobble stone, so I didn't visit as many sites as the previous days. Le Jardin des Plantes was a lovely place to walk around in and one of the stops for the Batobus, so getting there was really easy. Quite a few groups of people were there having picnics or playing soccer there.

After exploring the area for awhile, we hopped back onto the Batobus for lunch and headed to Le Marais, which is definitely an area I want to explore more next time I'm in Paris. Before leaving Paris, I wanted to try a Croque Madame and Feria Café offered a tasty option, where fortunately, the yolk was still runny.

We visited the Carnavalet Museum before stopping at Amorino for gelato to bring to Le Place des Vosges, which is the oldest planned square in Paris. It apparently hosted some jousting competitions and is right by Victor Hugo's home. As for the gelato, I got the speculoos and straciatella. The gelato there was very good and if you get the gelato in a cone, it's sculpted to look like a flower. 

My brother knows that I'm a huge fan of the movie, Moulin Rouge, so he purchased tickets ahead of time for our parents and us to go see one of the live shows. Each party was served a bottle of champagne and the show has tons of dancers, animals, and costumes, so I understand where the money from my (very expensive) ticket went. However, I couldn't help but feel a tad disappointed in the show. Moulin Rouge was cheesy and I expected that, but there was nothing that differentiated itself from being a Las Vegas show. 

Paris Day VII

Playing: When It's Time-Green Day
Rereading: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

On the seventh day of my vacation to France with my family, we started out at the Place Vendôme. For some reason, everyone there was lined up along the corners in a checkerboard fashion, so I decided to blend in and stand in one of the empty corners with them. Afterwards, I walked along La Rue de Faubourg Saint-Honoré to look at all the designer stores that I don't have in California along with taking a side trip to the most famous Chanel store on Rue Cambon.

The Palais Garniére is fairly close by and since I'm a fan of Phantom of the Opera, we decided to visit it before finding lunch. It's absolutely splendid inside and the building is very intricate with its internal decorations. Like Versailles, it would be a complete dream to have a huge ball here with everyone going about in their ball gowns and tuxedos. Even though it was hard for us to find a time when the opera house was open, I highly recommend checking up on it whenever you walk by because it's really something you should see.

Since the Galeries Lafayette was close by, we stopped there for lunch at the cafe, which had a lovely view of the city. Out of all the restaurants I had been to, this cafe offered the widest arrange of drinks including Blood Orange Orangina, which I have never seen before. Both the Tarte aux Fraises and the Pates au Carbonara were good, but pretty standard. It was extremely filling and if you like bacon, the carbonara is probably something you'd love.

Next on our trip was the Centre Pompidou and just for the record, the area around this museum is kind of sketchy and smells like weed. However, the museum itself is a lot of fun and is like one big fun house only you can't touch anything...It's definitely a place that focuses on fun art and modern stuff that my parents usually interpret as "bullshit," so it may not be your cup of tea. I loved it though and would highly recommend this to people interested in all that's quirky, fun, and a bit wonky.

Despite the general no touch rules in most museums, the Centre Pompidou had some interactive art that you could literally walk into. This one from Jean Dubuffet called "Le Jardin d'Hiver" was a particular favorite of mine. With uneven, black and white surfaces, it felt like you were in some cave meant for a Tim Burton film.

While walking back to our hotel, we ended up in the general area of all the designer stores we had visited that morning and decided to get dinner at Cuisine&Confidences. Unfortunately, the menu was kind of vague, so I ordered something from the portion titled "You Can't Go Wrong" and got La Grande Zaza. It was described as roasted chicken with marinated peppers, cheese, and prosciutto with a side of fennel scented pickled vegetables. I was expecting an actual chicken breast or something topped with cheese and peppers, but it ended up being more like a deli plate. This was probably the only mediocre meal I had in France unfortunately.

Since I was still hungry after the deli plate for dinner, I stopped by a deli to grab some pate baked within bread, which was surprisingly good. I tried some pate breads from several places and for the most part, they all tasted the same with the exception of some jam in the middle of some, while others had nuts mixed in. It would've been nice if the bread was more evenly mixed throughout it, so that it was a roll because the center portion of pate was very rich on its own.

PS I'm wearing an Ann Taylor LOFT tank top, an Ann Taylor LOFT sweater, a Marc Jacobs necklace, Converse Sneakers, silence+noise shorts,Givenchy earrings, and a Coach purse.

Paris Day VI

Playing: Long Hair-The Drowners
Reading: The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde

First stop on our sixth day was the Musée d'Orsay. Out of all the museums, this museum proved to be the most manageable, meaning I was able to see everything in the museum within two or three hours. The collection was amazing and they had lots of Van Gogh there. I enjoyed looking at the interior design of the museum and the giant clock inside made me feel like Hugo. However, we had to leave a tad sooner than we would have liked to for our lunch reservations.

A patient of my dad has many relatives in Paris, so they told us all of their favorite restaurants including Les Bouquinistes. Guy Savoy, a world renown chef, teamed up with this restaurant to make the menu. For starters, I had the Accras de Caubillaud avec Tartare Sauce. They were little, fluffy pieces of fried fish served with caper tartare sauce. It was definitely some of the best fried fish I've had in awhile.

For the main course, I ordered the Onglet de Veau Rôti, which came with a glass of red wine. The veal was tender, while the mushrooms had a rich earthy flavor to them that soaked up the au jus very well. The addition of mashed taro was nice too, since it was denser and quite filling. This was an exceptional dish and I really wish I could get it in the states.

If you wanted dessert, it only cost €3 more for the fixed price menu, so I figured why not? I'm glad I ordered the Glaces et Sorbets because each ice cream and sorbet were incredibly flavorful and fluffy. It felt almost like eating air and the flavors were interesting too. I'm guessing they were chai latte, speculoos, and apricot. I highly recommend Les Bouqinistes because it exceeded all my requirements for vacation eateries: non-touristy, good food, quick service, preferably surrounded by locals, and efficient service with no creepy waiters.

Afterwards, we visited Sainte-Chapelle and Cathedrale de Notre-Dame, which are both worth visiting. Saint-Chapelle was completely over the top with its painted walls and stained glass windows, while Notre-Dame is worth visiting because Van Helsing jumped off of it. (Just kidding, I know Notre-Dame is historically important.) There's a beautiful flower market around the area that was really quaint. It had aisles and aisles of these gorgeous flower shops and it's definitely worth looking at, if you're in the area.

Also located nearby is Berthillon, which Katrina and my tour book recommended. I didn't know the two that I ordered,  Rhubarbe and Fraise et Rhum, would be sorbets, so I was kind of disappointed. It was good for sorbet, but I was just expecting ice cream from a place known for their ice cream. However, if you go, you have to try the Lait d'Amande, which was amazing!

For dinner, we stopped off in Le Quartier Latin for a fairly inexpensive dinner at Le Village Ronsard, where I ordered the Magret de Canard au Miel avec Haricot Verts Frais et Pommes Sautées and some escargots. Even though the escargots (not pictured) had a texture disturbingly like mussels, I'm glad I tried it, since it's a famous French dish. However, the duck breast was very tender and the honey sauce was sweet without being overly so. Be warned, the service here was very brusque.

Oh, and here's the highlight of my trip. I got the chance to talk to Karl Lagerfeld, Grace Coddington, and Sylvia Venturini Fendi. I saw that a Karl Lagerfeld/Fendi party was going to take place by the Pont Alexandre, so every night I checked the location. I spotted so many models, bloggers, and other fashion people there on the night of the event, but I ditched as soon as Karl did. I walked with him over to the Petit Palais and this is the only time I'll ever be part of his entourage. I have some other photos of the people by themselves, but this is the only one of us together. It was drizzling all over my lens and my mum was being told to get out of the way by the paparazzi, so this is the best I have.

PS Sorry about this post being so food heavy, but I didn't take many photos of Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle, so I mainly have food and flower photos only from that day. Also, do you prefer the large photos or the smaller ones?

Paris Day V

Playing: Good News For People That Love Bad News (Full Album)-Modest Mouse
Reading: World War Z by Max Brooks

My family and I took a day trip to the Palace of Versailles, which is surprisingly easy to do. All you have to do is buy a ticket for the SNCF and stay on the train until the last stop. The Paris Pass worked for Versailles too, but you had to stand in line for around two hours anyway, since everyone buys their ticket ahead of time. The palace itself is splendid and there are many incredible works of art inside. However, there are only two food options inside: an expensive cafe and a cheap sandwich place. Therefore, I suggest getting through the palace before lunch and eating in the gardens.

The garden was my favorite part of Versailles. Normally, the Paris Pass covers this too, but during the summer, they play classical music, so you have to pay. The garden itself is beautiful and very well kept. It made me feel like I was in Pride and Prejudice or in Anna Karenina, so basically, I felt like I was in a very wonderful Keira Knightley film. I heard that there is a masquerade ball held yearly at Versailles, so any boy that is willing to take me to it is welcome. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is the type of place that makes you want a huge ball gown.

Within walking distance from the gardens are Marie-Antoinette's Estate and the Grand Trianon (pictured above). I'm not sure how much it costs to go inside of them, but I got in for free because of the Paris Pass again. I wouldn't recommend visiting Marie-Antoinette's Estate, if you have to pay because the estate is pretty much empty and it's just like a cement block. I do recommend eating crepes by the lake though. The Grand Trianon however is worth visiting, since it's decorated nicely and the gardens are beautifully done. Also, the checkered floor reminds me of Mr. Darcy's home in Joe Wright's version of Pride and Prejudice.

Before heading back, I stopped by a McDonald's and French McCafe is so much better than what I have in the states. Their McCafe serves lemon tarts, caneles, crème brûlées, cheese cakes, molten chocolate cakes, and of course, macarons. Since they were fairly inexpensive, I got two of each flavor: vanille, framboise, pistache, chocolat, fraise, and what I believe to be pistache chocolat. I actually got a box before my trip to Ladurée and thought they were rather good, but after the Ladurée ones, I found the ones from McCafe to be a bit chewy and heavy. The insides were either strongly flavored jams or overly whipped and fluffy creams. However, they're still better than a majority of the macarons I've had in California.

For dinner, we ate like total tourists along the Champs-Elyseés at Café di Roma, where I ordered the Thon et Asperges. Overall, the pizza was completely average, but I give them credit for trying different toppings from your common pepperoni and cheese. The tuna was stronger than all the rest of the flavors, so that you didn't taste the asparagus, dried tomatoes, or pesto very much. However, the Orangina made up for everything. There was a boy around my age drinking wine and he reminded me that I could legally drink there, so from then on, I started ordering beers and wines. Note to self: champagne is the most tolerable.

Paris Day IV

Playing: Perfect Situation-Weezer 
Reading: Vogue August 2013

Beginning our day early, my family and I walked down to the docks of Bateaux-Mouches, which we unfortunately mistook for the Batobus. We ended up on a Bateaux-Mouches hour long tour along the River Seine. No one listened to the tour or rather I didn't listen to the tour because a hoard of Chinese tourists were surrounding me and I couldn't hear anything that well. I was also confused as to how I lost my family and became one with a tour group. Even though it was a mistake, the tour made me realize that it would be really nice to live in Paris and study there for maybe a summer or a semester.

After the tour, we actually made it to the Batobus. During the walk there, I saw these adorable boats that people live on. I haven't read Little Bo in France for along time, so correct me if I'm mistaken, but I think Bo and her owner lived in one of these. Living on one of these boats seems like such a charming way to live, but it's probably been highly romanticized by books and sad movies just like having a tragic artist for a boyfriend has been romanticized...

The main reason we took the Batobu was because Le Quartier Latin was too far away from our hotel to walk to. Before we explored countless churches including, but not limited to, St. Severune, Le Pantheon, and St. Sulpiche, we grabbed lunch at a small cafe called Le Twickenham, where I ordered Le Fricassée de Volaille Sauce Normande Tagliatelles. There was nothing particularly French about this dish and it tasted just like Thanksgiving turkey with gravy over the pasta. It wasn't an astounding meal, but it was good enough and the service was friendly.

We also went through Le Quartier de Luxembourg to visit the Luxembourg Palace and gardens. The gardens were beautiful and you could rent little, wooden sail boats to sail in the fountains. It's a fun area to hang out in and the Medici fountain is very pretty. It's right down the street from Le Pantheon and super easy to find just like everything else in Paris. (Paris was a very navigable city.)

The churches took hours to go through and if you've been to one or two of these small, European churches, you've pretty much seen them all. Trust me, I've been to dozens of these churches since I was in elementary school and it doesn't matter if it's Italy, England, Ireland, Spain, or France, they're all the same and blend in after awhile. Go see the ridiculously famous ones like Notre Dame and Sagrada Familia, but skip the small ones. One of the noticeable bridges that we walked past while heading back to the Batobus is the Pont de l'Archeveche, which is famous for its "love locks." It's one of the things that makes Paris super romantic and if I ever come here with a boy friend/fiancee/husband, I'll probably do this.

When we got back to our hotel at the end of the day, we decided to try Chez André. It always had a long line, so we assumed it had to be good. When in France, you have to try their French onion soup, right? Even though this is the most expensive French onion soup I have ever had, it was also probably the best French onion soup I've ever had. The broth was incredibly creamy from what I'm guessing is marrow, while the cheese's tangy flavors helped to make the dish less heavy.

Along with the French onion soup, I ordered the Avocado Tartare with Crab and Grapefruit Segments. This was also really good, but it would've been better if it was served with some bread to use as a sort of spread or dip. I found the avocado to be very liquid-y and hard to eat without using a spoon. However, they gave you a fair amount of crab and the sourness of the grapefruit helped to cut down the richness of the creamy avocado. I'm hoping to get out a non-Paris related post out soon about a concert I'm going to or possibly a haul that way I don't overwhelm you with my trip.

Paris Day III

Playing: Oxford Comma-Vampire Weekend
Reading: Atonement by Ian McEwan

Before going on the trip, I made breakfast reservations at Ladurée, which were rather unnecessary. If you want to eat in the cafe part of Ladurée, you can pretty much walk right in and they have a table ready. I ordered Le Pain Perdu Tiède Ladurée with the Chocolat Chaud Ladurée. Le Pain Perdu Tiède Ladurée was some of the best French toast I've ever had. It was light and fluffy without being too sweet. Originally, I was skeptical of its plain appearance, but I highly recommend it. The hot chocolate is intensely rich and worth trying, but by my second cup, it was too much. 

Of course, I had to order some macarons at Ladurée before leaving. I ordered the Framboise, Marie Antoinette, Citron, Petal de Rose, Sel du Caramel, Fruit Rouge, Cafe, Vanille, Chocolat de Ghana, Fraise Menthe, Pistache, and Melon. Vanille was by far the best macaron I have ever had, but the Citron is very good too. After having a macaron at Ladurée, I have to admit that all the macarons I have ever had just don't even come close and I find it hard to eat macarons in California now.

After breakfast, my family and I walked to Le Petit Palais, which was absolutely incredible. The building itself was beautiful and completely lit by natural light, while the inside housed some lovely paintings, pottery, and sculptures. Inside the courtyard is quite pretty and would make an amazing area to sit around in for afternoon tea.

Afterwards, we visited Les Invalides, which had a very impressive WWII exhibit. My brother and dad have been subjecting me to war museums all my life, so it's gotten to a point, where I'm rather content at one and actually enjoy it. Napoleon's tomb is right behind Les Invalides too, so you should definitely check that out. Le Musée Rodin is worth visiting, since it's so close to Les Invalides. Also, it's set up in an old hotel and surrounded by beautiful gardens. However, the museum has a really creepy sound track of people wailing and moaning going on at all times.

Recommended by my friend, Katrina, Cafe Constant was our next stop for a very late lunch. The waitress forgot to give our order to the chef, so we sat around for about 40 minutes before our meals even came. The Foie Gras was good, but considering how much we paid, I felt a bit ripped off that we only got one slice of it. The bread it was served on was buttery and fluffy, which was preferable to the plain toast we got at other restaurants.

Katrina recommended the Roasted Chicken with Herb Butter and Mashed Potatoes specifically, so I had to try it. I enjoyed the crispy skin on the chicken and it was nice having some fresh red onions and tarragon to top off the potatoes. The main problem I had with this place was the slow service, which was probably an abnormality on their part, and the small portions. The food was good though and they made up for the slow service by offering complimentary dessert.

We could see Le Tour Eiffel from Cafe Constant, so we just kept on walking towards it. It was so crowded at the base of Le Tour Eiffel that I quickly ran off to the park by it for better photos. Since it was so crowded, we decided against going up it. Afterwards, we walked around the River Seine and by then it was close to dinner time, so we started to look around for a place to eat.

We ended up at Le Wilson, where I ordered the Quiche Avec Legumes et Saumon. Somehow Le Wilson managed to get a ridiculously creamy texture out of the broccoli they put in their quiche and I don't even like broccoli, but this was really good. I liked how every bite of the quiche came with a large chunk of salmon too. Overall, a great day and I wish I could go back to Paris right away.