Time to be Tourists

Due to this past week being our last full week in Paris, Cara and I finally decided to check a few touristy sites off of our list. After four weeks, it was finally time to use our museum passes and see the history behind the beautiful city of Paris.

Monday night we had yet another phenomenal dinner with more Memphis families that were kind enough to take us out during their trips to Paris.  We had reservations at Georges, which is a funky, modern restaurant on the top of the Pompidou Center. The restaurant is not only known for their food, but for their amazing 300 degree view of the city through their glass walls. We watched the sun set on the city while we ate a delicious meal with friends- what could be better?

Unfortunately, while in Paris, we have had to attend a little thing called class.  Tuesday morning we had presentations in class and after class we had a scheduled visit at the European Commission, which was very intriguing.  Later that night, one of our professors took our entire class to the famous L'As du Fallafel in the Marais to pick up dinner.  We all took our dinner to the Seine to eat, drink wine and watch the sunset by the river.

Wednesday's class period flew by because we all knew we had a five day weekend ahead of us!  We got out of class and decided to treat ourselves to the best vegetable tart and seafood salad at bread & roses.  Once again, another restaurant that I highly recommend (we have yet to eat at a bad restaurant).  After lunch and wondering into a few nearby shops, we went to visit our friends Mona and Nike at the Luvre.  We figured it would be less crowded on a random Wednesday afternoon, but boy were we wrong.  Mona was a lot smaller than I expected... in fact, she's tiny.  Walking through crowds of tourists for hours made us hungry again, so for dinner we found ourselves back in the Marais for some fondue.  I think I ate six loafs of bread and 3 lbs. of cheese...

After eating so much fondue, we decided to wake up Thursday morning and walk a few miles to the Bastille Marche, the outdoor market at Place de Bastille.  We found lots of goodies- butter and sugar crepes, cherries and English peas!  Cara's parents arrived a few hours later so we met them at their hotel and set out for a day full of activities.  Dinner was at Le Square Gardette and was phenomenal, yet again.  When we arrived to the empty restaurant for our 8:00 reservations, we were concerned about our restaurant choice.  Apparently eating at 8:00 in France is equivalent to the 5:30 crowd in the U.S.  By 9:30, as we were getting our second course, the place was full of people.  The vibe of the restaurant and food was eclectic and funky, but made us feel like we were at home in Texas.  It was a great ending to a great day!

Weekend Getaway: Bordeaux

Sometimes you just need a little vacation from your vacation, right?

When we decided to spend our weekends traveling, we knew we wanted to take some time to visit the south of France.  Many places were too far south to travel to for just 48 hours, but then we discovered Bordeaux.  Bordeaux is only a few hours away by train and just so happens to be famous for their wines. Jackpot.  Cara's parents were coming into Paris for a few days, so we thought, why not take a little vacation with them? They arrived on Thursday afternoon, and Friday morning we got on the train and headed to get our wine on.

We arrived in Bordeaux starving, and in need of some good food, per usual, so we got maps from the hotel and walked until we found the city center. On our walk we found cute gardens, tons of cafés, and rows of wonderful shops. With Cara being the foodie that she is, we read about 10 different menus before finally settled on Le Brasserie Bordelaise, an amazing wine bar and restaurant. Luckily, Cara's dad had done some research before the trip and had list of the top sites to see in the city. With the help of our map and talking to some very nice locals, we got to see The Place de la Bourse, the Notre-Dame church, and The Grand Theatre.

After a long day of exploring the city of Bordeaux, we went back to the hotel to freshen up and enjoy a glass of Israeli wine for "Shabbat" with Rabbi Greenstein. Dinner, of course, was one of the few things we actually had planned before coming on the trip. We ate at L' Oiseau Bleu, a fancy little boutique restaurant that presented us with works of art rather than food. Each course was so gorgeous and so delicious, and we would have never guessed what ingredients were in each dish if we hasn't known before hand.

Saturday morning we had some some girl time to drink coffee at a cafe and shop. These massive French sales are really killing us. If you are unfamiliar with these sales, they happen every year at the end of June and go on for a month. Every store has a sale (including all the designers) and most things go from 30% to 70% off. I promise I did not know about these sales when I chose to spend my summer in Paris! Needless to say we each left with a little "souvenir" from Bordeaux. For lunch we grabbed a cheese plate and cold gazpacho from Le Brasserie Bordelaise (yes, it was that good), and made our way to the tourism office for our wine tour!

We spent the rest of our day in the wine country in Saint-Emilion, tasting wines, visiting chateaus, and learning about Bordeaux wines. Rough life, I know. We all surprisingly learned a lot, and it's now safe to say that Cara and I are pretty much wine connoisseurs. We got to see two very different types of chateaus, a small family run vineyard and a large corporate vineyard. Chateau Mauvezin is winery that has been in the family for 400 years. We got to taste their three different blends of red wines, which is what the region specializes in. Chateau Soutard is a large, gorgeous chateau where we tried three more red wines. To our surprise, the wine tour also included a quick tour of the city of Saint-Emilion. We got to visit the largest underground church in Europe, which was carved out of a single stone, and is located underneath part of the city center. Our guide also taught us about Saint Emilion himself and showed us his place of meditation and the catacombs in which he was buried. The whole city is truly amazing because it is built on so much history, and has so much more to offer than just their wine.

Thanks to our food research that we did before the trip, we found the best little brunch spot in the city. We enjoyed our Sunday brunch at Plume Small Kitchen.  This place has such great reviews for a reason. It was a set price for a set meal, so we had a gorgeous feast before our train ride back to Paris. Our plate included yogurt with granola and fruit, a scone, cheese slices, strawberry jam, a lemon poppyseed muffin, a vegetarian scrambled egg sandwich, beans, and more. For anyone traveling to Bordeaux, this little place is very highly recommended, but make sure you have a very empty stomach!

Judging by the food, the wine, and the historical sites, Bordeaux was a huge success!

A Week of Day Trips: Giverny & Versailles

If you are given the opportunity to explore Giverny, take it.

I have never seen something as beautiful and breathtaking as Monet's gardens.  I have also never seen so many flowers and plants in one garden.  It is truly amazing.   After a long trek out to Vernon, we got to explore Monet's home, garden, lily pond and everything that inspired him.  We chose a great day to go because the weather was sunny and hot, and the lines were not outrageous.  

Saying that everything in France is breath taking is an understatement, even though I know I am being repetitive.  Everything is breathtaking in its own sense- Monet's gardens were a quiet and relaxing kind of breathtaking, while Versailles was phenomenal in an architectural and conceptual sense.  Anyone who knows me knows that I ask a lot of questions, many of which remain unanswered.  So here are my questions that my mind could not grasp about Versailles...

How did someone build Versailles?  How much work and money went into it?  How did Louis XIV justify spending all of the people's tax money on such a palace?  Why did Marie Antoinette need her own "mini Versailles" down the road (which was gorgeous, by the way)?  And lastly... Who needs gardens that go on forever?

All I can say is that Versailles is absolutely a sight to see.  Even though there was a torrential downpour on our long walk through the garden's to Marie Antoinette's estate, we still enjoyed every second of it.  Anyone who travels to Europe should set a day aside to visit Versailles. 

And of course we go to Versailles and find the food.  We had a nice little afternoon snack at Angelina, and by afternoon snack I mean their famous iced hot chocolate, a fruit tart and a carmel and creme pastry.

Exploring Saint Germain des Prés & Saint Michel

Wednesday was another day filled with amazing and fascinating adventures.  It just blows my mind how much there is to see and do in this city.  After a quick glimpse into the life and culture of the Saint Germain and Saint Michel area, we decided we had to go back to explore some more.

We got out of class early enough to plan a little "picnic" in the Luxembourg Gardens.  We picked up two little flatbread pizzas covered with tomatoes, olives and arugula.  The six of us lined up our chairs along the garden to eat and enjoy the view.  On our way out we just so happened to run into Cara's family friends again- how ironic?  And they gave us this amazing map book of the city... our new bible.

From the gardens we walked to the famous Café de Flore for their specialty hot chocolate.  The hot chocolate here is not your typical, American, watered down hot chocolate, it is real hot chocolate that tastes more like a melted chocolate bar.

We used our new bible to take Rue de Seine all the way to the Seine to find the Lovers Lock Bridge.  Luckily, we found the exact bridge we were looking for.  For those of you who are not familiar with the Lovers Lock Bridge, it is a bridge over the Seine that has thousands and thousands of locks on it.  Couples from all over the world visit the bridge to hang their lock with their names, initials, anniversaries, etc.  You then throw the key to the lock over the edge and into the Seine.  Since Ron and Alex (Cara's beau) were not with us to partake in this lovely (you might say... cheesy) tradition, we decided to do it ourselves.

The off to the The Smith's Bakery for a little something sweet.

Weekend Getaway: Normandy, France

When I think about France, I almost immediately picture the Eiffel Tower, delicious French food and cute little Parisians walking around.  What I have not thought about are all of the other amazing cities in France, outside of Paris.  This weekend I experienced something that I never would have experienced if I was not on an organized study abroad trip.  Our trip organizers and liaisons organized a trip for us to Normandy, a region of northern France well-known for D-Day during World War II.

We began our journey on a three hour bus ride to Caen where we spent a few hours going through the exhibits of the Caen Memorial, a D-Day museum.  After taking in an overwhelming amount of information, we visited the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.  I have to say this is one of the most beautiful and well thought out cemeteries/memorials I have ever seen.  Each soldier is remembered with a marble headstone shaped like a cross or a star of david, all facing the direction of the U.S.  We then visited the German Cemetery and many of the different beaches involved in the events of D-Day.

Late last night we finally made it to our little (tiny) hotel (if it can even be called that) to set our things down before we went on a long walk to see the Château de Caen, built by William the Conquerer.  The center of the city is built around the Château, so we walked down a few small streets to find ourselves in the heart of what seemed to be their little restaurant district.  There were a ton of cute restaurants and brasseries to choose from, and it obviously took us an hour to decide, but we finally chose a cute Italian restaurant where we polished off a vegetarian pizza and a bottle of wine (like I said... It is cheaper than water).  Of course we had to end the night with something sweet, so why not Nutella crepes with real vanilla ice cream?

This morning we woke up early to drive to Honfleur, the cutest little city I have ever seen.  The architecture and design of the houses and buildings were out of this world.  Cara and I are considering purchasing a vacation home- why not?  We were given a few hours to roam around the fishing port, picturesque streets and museums.  Our first stop was the Eugéne Boudin Museum, which was filled with art from many different impressionist artists.  For lunch we ate with a group of girls at a tiny little restaurant in the harbor.  It was nice being able to enjoy the view while we ate.  We spent the rest of our time visiting cute little shops where I purchased a bottle of fresh strawberry jam, a bag of caramel candy and a bag of assorted dried fruits.  Clearly my life revolves around food.

From Honfleur we drove to the small city of Deauville, famous for its marinas, seaside resorts. race course and international film festivals.  We only had an hour here, but we used our time wisely.