Family Outings

Here are a couple of things that have happened in my absence from this blog:

Parents came to visit, attended a cooking class, went to Madrid, sister and her boyfriend visited, got my late night public drank on by the Pantheon, saw a dance performance, took a day trip to Giverny, sang karaoke, picnicked by the canal (3 times in 10 days...), met Jared Leto, went to London.

But to ensure that you're not overwhelmed (or, more likely, bored), I'll cover the visits from my family and I'll get to the rest of that junk later.

Wednesday, March 27:

After my third class of the day was finally over, I met my parents at their hotel and spent some quality time doing all that cheesy stuff families do when they reunite (hugging, smiling, crying, reminiscing, etc). Then things got even cheesier at the restaurant. But for real though, it was Italian. It was their first night in Paris, and we ate at an Italian restaurant. Whatever, it was delish, no regrets. Plus, they sure as hell got their fill of French food for the rest of their stay. Oh, before I continue, I should let you know that their visit was essentially a food tour. As was the visit from my sister. Hence my last post "This is why I'm fat hot". And I'm pretty sure that post covers 92% of what we did during both visits... So, since I'm cutting out some of the food, this shall be an abbrev'd post. Anyway, our first night together was a success. After dinner, we drank Monacos (those pink looking drinks) on an outside terrace, enjoyed the view of the sparkling Eiffel Tower, and when we were too stuffed to fit anything else in our stomachs, we called it a night.

Thursday:

Okay, I lied. I'm talking about food. But it's for a good reason, I promise. For lunch the next day, we discovered the most amazing creperie in all of Paris: La Creperie de Josselin. We didn't find out until after we ate there that it's actually recommended by my mom's guide book as one of the places you should eat in Paris. These crepes were so good that we may or may not have eaten there twice in one week. But like it was totally justified, look:

Alright, back on track with the non-food related stuff, I had to run to class for a hot minute, so my parents spent time roaming around the Luxembourg gardens, and settled in at a cafe where I met up with them after class. After spending about 3 hours there, we headed back to my area, walked along the canal, and found a peniche, (which is essentially a stationary boat where you can watch performances or grab a drink or whatever). The show was a group of really cool hip looking jazz performers playing the absolute worst jazz I've ever heard in my entire life. But since we're American, it's totally acceptable that we left during the intermission because we "didn't know there was a second half". It was an experience, nonetheless. We continued to walk along the canal until we stumbled upon a bar/restaurant called le Valmy where we spent the rest of the night until about 12:30. I was so proud of my parents, they were out past 10:00, aw.

Friday was my favorite day we spent together. We started out in the Jewish quarter where we drank hot chocolate, ate falafels, walked around, shopped, drank coffee. Then, as we got closer to Notre Dame, we found a family of Americans to take this lovely picture of us (a personal fave):

Then we crossed the bridge, watched a street performer, admired Notre Dame (from afar, even though I'm sure it would have been lovely swimming through the sea of tourists), and finally we ended up by St. Michel, where we once again stopped in somewhere to eat something because why the hell not. We had fondue. And it was to die for. We then went our separate ways so my parents could take a break at their hotel, and I went back to help Ariane prepare some food for a night of insanity--that being, the night my parents and my host family met. 

Not gonna lie, before they showed up I was all omg wtf why am i nervous, but then by the end I was all:

In fact, it went better than better. It was an absolutely fantastic night. Lucky for the Waldmans, we spoke in English, and everyone got along really really ridiculously well. There were nothing other than good times had. Except for food and wine, we had those too. It was truly incredible how quickly everything came together and what chemistry everyone had. Not only through words and story sharing, but through music as well. After the meal, my dad whipped out the guitar, Yves joined in on the harmonica, and Ariane played the piano alongside. It doesn't matter where you come from or what language you speak; music is universal. It was amazing to see that play into action.

Right okay so and then this happened and I don't know why but we're just gonna go with it...

And that about sums up the evening.

Saturday:

We got a later start the next day, because my parents didn't leave until after 3:00am. But no time was wasted. We went to the Marche aux Puces de Saint-Ouen which is a ginormous flea market at the northern tip of Paris. It was full of neat antique things! But when we got lured into a restaurant by its live music, which was cool and all until we got to the bathroom. I shall describe the scene for you: You enter into what I will call the sink room. It separates the two stalls on either side of it. If you wish to use the toilets and they are occupied, you must wait inside the sink room, which is about 7 square feet tops, and consists of a sink and a urinal. And if you are a woman waiting to use one of the two occupied toilets, and a man walks in, expect that he's gonna go ahead and use that urinal 2 feet away from you. Needless to say, it was a very uncomfortable bathroom experience.

Finally, after my mom and I finished dying of laughter due to the awkward bathroom experience, the three of us made our way over to Montmartre. We walked through the small cobblestone roads watching street performers, and enjoying the sun. We spent the rest of the evening there, hopping from restaurant to restaurant. First we got coffee at the infamously touristy Place de Tertres, then we got Irish coffee at Cafe Deux Moulins, then we finally decided to stay put at our final restaurant where we had drinks and dinner and a damn good time.

Sunday, we brunched at the famous Angelina's, followed by a visit to Musee d'Orsay, which is my absolute favorite museum. The Impressionist exhibition is stunning, and for all three of us, very moving. Degas, Renoir, Monet, Manet... I honestly could spend hours in that museum. But alas, we finished with a lunch just upstairs in the charming Cafe Campana, and then made our way to the Pont des Arts, that bridge you see in all those cheesy Paris movies where the lovers will put a padlock and throw the key into the Seine. Yes it's cheesy, but it's kind of adorable. Back story: When I studied in London two years ago and came to Paris for the weekend, I put a padlock on the bridge with my parents names, took a picture, and gave them the framed photograph. Yes I'm cheesy, but I'm kind of adorable. Soooo after we took some lovely pictures on the bridge, we decided to be lame and take naps back at their hotel. But well deserved ones of course, because we were busy being tourists all day. After dinner, we took the recommendation from the very nice and charming concierge to eat at La Societe; a restaurant in the Latin Quarter where the atmosphere is chic, the food is delicious, and all of the waitresses have amazing legs that make you want to not eat the delicious food they've just put in front of you. Real talk doe'.

Kay, so then it was Monday. Normally, I would have had class, but, it was Easter weekend, and thus, I had no class. So to deal with my disappointment, I settled on the next best thing; like grabbing breakfast at a cafe with my parents, going on a boat tour of the Seine, admiring the Eiffel Tower, cafe hopping, and shopping on the Champs-Elysees. Ugh, I so wish I had class instead. Buuuut, that night was my parents' anniversary, so while they enjoyed a nice romantic night out in Paris, I was fortunate enough to be stuck inside doing my homework. Awyis. Here, enjoy some disgustingly adorable pictures of my parents:

Tuesday:

We met for crepes at la Creperie de Josselin one last time, and then spent our last hour together in a patisserie called Art Macaron, where we enjoyed macarons and the most sinfully delicious hot chocolate in the entire world. We certainly ended on the perfect note. It was sad to have to say goodbye after such a short visit, but it really was an absolutely fantastic week :')

¡¿¡¿insert Madrid here?!?!

And then it was Ilana and Josh's turn to visit...

It worked out nicely that they booked their hotel just a short walk away from my house, because I had the opportunity to meet with them at their hotel before I headed to my class. We hugged and rejoiced and caught up over a carb-filled breakfast. Then, while widdle Josh decided to take a widdle nap (lol sry josh), Ilana and I claimed a bench by the canal and had some much needed sister bonding, which unfortunately had to be cut short due to the fact that my classes are still a thing that exist. But, whilst I was in class, they hit up the Eiffel Tower, and I met up with them just after in a cafe just around the corner. There, I actually got the chance to be a translator, which has never happened to me before! The French waiter and an English speaking customer were having trouble communicating, so they asked me to translate for them! And not to toot my own horn or anything, but I totally nailed it. Anyway, I'd asked Ariane for dinner suggestions for the evening, and after narrowing it down to a few, Ilana, Josh, and I finally decided on a restaurant called Le Laumiere, solely based on its close proximity to the hotel. As we got nearer the address, we began to find ourselves in a rather sketchy area, and I started to question where the hell Ariane was sending us........but low and behold, the second we walked through the entrance, we were faced with the most unexpected (but without a doubt pleasant) surprise. The place was beautifully decorated with lots of greens and yellows, a courtyard garden, and an overall light and elegant feel to it. We were greeted by the friendliest group of servers I've ever encountered, oh and don't even get my started on the food. They didn't hold back on portions at all, and they made sure to make the dishes look like a work of art--not too much, though, that it stopped us from devouring them, that's for sure. I can't speak for Ilana and Josh, but I for one slept like a baby that night.

We set off to get our fill of Jewish stuff and falafels by starting our day off in the Marais, like I'd done with my parents. (So I'm an unoriginal tour guide, sue me). Here's a lovely picture of Ilana enjoying her falafel:

Before we made it to the Notre Dame, however, we stumbled upon the cutest cafe, called Cafeotheque. Did we have room in our stomachs for coffee? Absolutely not. Did we go in anyway? Obviously. The cafe was broken up into a few very different rooms. One was very bar-like, with leather and cowhide furniture and no windows, another had a bunch of couches and pillows, plenty of natural light, and filled with students on laptops, and yet another, (my fave), was composed of colorful, yet slightly used-looking wooden furniture, cushions made of coffee sacs, and plants everywhere; including an entire wall of plants. The atmosphere was very cozy (and I'm pleased to inform you that I have indeed been back there since).

Then we reached the Notre Dame, where I finally had the opportunity to climb the 400 some steps up the bell tower. My legs may have been jello afterwards, but the view was fantastic. The gargoyles were pretty cool, too.

We walked around Saint Michel, lined with bar after bar, which we conveniently reached the moment it started torrential down pouring. We took that to mean we were destined to stop for a couple drinks by the window and watch the poor soaking pedestrians scatter. So we did just that. It decided to be sunny again soon after, so we set out to explore more of the Latin Quarter, and more specifically Rue Mouffetard. We ended up at a corner café soaking up the sun and enjoying the beautiful aftermath of the downpour, in the form of a rainbow. We did dinner at le Valmy that night, whose food, thanks to the dinner we’d been spoiled with the night before, now seems mediocre. Although I wouldn’t be one to ever turn down their Camembert and honey fondue…

So since I’ve failed miserably at avoiding talking about food, I’m just gonna stick with it. Ilana and Josh came over the next morning to meet the fam. We all had breakfast together, and Ilana and Josh were introduced to the infamous oeuf a la coque. I cannot wait to make that a thing in the states, so get the eff ready. The morning was once again a success, and it was so great to be able to share one very important part of my life with another. Breakfast lasted for about 2 hours, and it was nothing short of entertaining. Finally, after a fantastic rendezvous, we headed out to pay the good ol’ Creperie de Josselin a visit, and after stuffing ourselves full of buttery-amazingness, we found a bus to take us to the Louvre. There, we did our thing, took our pics, and hit up Pont des Arts afterward so the two of them could be horribly adorable and put a lock on the bridge. Then we walked back to the louvre, through les jardins des Tuileries, and all the way up the Champs Elysees to l’Arc du Triomph. It was a rather exhausting trek, but a great way to become further acquainted with Paris. And for their last night on the town, we made our way over to Montmartre, which, I must say, is enchanting no matter what the weather is like. So despite the light rain, we enjoyed its charm, (and its beers and its food), and called it a night.

We met up once more the next morning before they had to catch their train to London. We sat outside a café terrace overlooking the canal drinking coffee and eating warm croissants. The weather was perfect, the coffee and croissants were just right…and the company wasn’t half bad, either. :P  Once again, it was sad to have to say goodbye after such a short visit, but we definitely enjoyed ourselves and made the absolute most of it. 

This is why I'm hot

When in Paris, do as the Parisians do

These past couple of weeks have been nothing short of a long string of cultural experiences. If I'd ever at any point expressed concern regarding the lack of culture I'd be exposed to here, it has certainly been annulled, and here's why:

Markets:
Jordyn and I have begun to explore the infamous market scene in Paris. We've only just started, but last Friday marked the second time we went to the Oberkampf market to observe, participate, and of course buy our weekly dose of fresh fruits, produce, cheese, you name it. We're finally starting to get the hang of how this whole market thing works--who to avoid, who gives out samples, who will make fun of your accent, who is unjustifiably overpriced, whose produce is the tastiest, who will trick you into buying really smelly cheese...all that good stuff. I find that simply walking through and observing the market is an entirely different experience than actually participating in the madness. It's definitely one of the best things you can do to to experience life as a local here.

Macarons:
In case you haven't caught on by now, Jordyn and I love food. Like, probably a little too much. It's one of those things where we know we shouldn't be saying yes to every offer, but the word no doesn't seem to exist when food is involved. It's kind of like: "How many kilos of cheese do you want in your crepe?" Yes. "Do you want extra sugar in your Super Large American Mocha Latte?" Obviously. "Do you want some more butter on your butter?" Why not. So when we were offered the chance to attend a macaron making workshop, no doubt we answered yes before the question was even finished being asked...

Lucky for us (not), the workshop was taught in Super Speedy French. So instead of expending our energy trying to understand what on earth was being said, Jordyn and I were more concentrated on sneaking more spoonfuls of the pistachio, and/or Speculoos, and/or Nutella, and/or chocolate filling into our gluttonous American mouths. Well worth it, folks. We discovered that while making macarons is fun, it's also time consuming, complicated, loud, exhausting, and kind of insane, and that we'd much rather just be lazy and buy some from a Patisserie whenever we damn well please. In any case, it was an absolutely fantastic and culturally enriching experience, not to mention delicious :)

Me time:
I'm happy to say that I've really been taking advantage of my surroundings and taking every chance I get to discover the hidden treasures of Paris, just me, myself and iPod. And that could mean a multitude of things: Taking the metro to a random stop and exploring the area, finding a concentrated area of thrift shops and hopping from one to another, walking around aimlessly until I have no idea where I am or how I ended up there, people watching along the canal, spontaneously grabbing a cup of coffee at a cafe... It's really a peaceful experience, exploring Paris on my own. There's so much to see, so much to discover. I find that when I go out and do these things on my own, I'm able to experience Paris in its purest form. 

Parisian Parties:
So a while back, I made a post expressing my concern that I was clearly partying with the wrong people in Paris, because I'm usually fast asleep by the time my host parents come home from their soirees on the weekends... Well it just so happened that my host mom, Ariane, and her friend Fatma threw a joint birthday party here the other night, and I sure as hell wasn't gonna miss that. Obviously I had no idea what to expect going into this. All I knew was that there were going to be a bunch of middle aged Parisians in a room with music and wine. Little did I know, I was going to be attending a rager until 5:00 AM.......... Everyone was drinking, everyone was dancing. I met some really interesting people, too. Plus there was this one lady on I don't even know what, but she was hardcore interpretive dancing the entire night. Oh, and parsley. She was eating parsley... Anyway, at one point my host dad, Yves, walks in the front door with a suitcase he'd found on the side of the road (like what?) and we open it up to discover a bunch of random costumes. So naturally, everyone grabs something, puts on their respective piece of garment, and continues going about their night. Meanwhile, my friends and I are exhausted and the rest of the crowd is still partying hard like you wouldn't believe. Especially parsley lady. So 4:30 AM rolls around, Bob Marley is blasting, and coffee is starting to be served. Yes, coffee...at the end of the party...at 4:30 AM. I'm telling you, it was the most bizarre experience, and I loved every second of it!!! It was absolutely fantastic.

Ariane and Fatma blowing out their candles :)

(And on a more touching note, Fatma told me that she's going to be really sad when I leave because I'm like a sister to her. Tears. I had tears. <3)

Passover in Paris:
Lastly, I had the chance to attend Passover services and a seder here. Ariane is technically Jewish, but she doesn't practice, however she introduced me to Martine, a cousin of hers at the party who does practice. They extended the offer to have me join Martine and her family at services and their friends' seder. Without hesitation, I accepted. It was so nice of Ariane to think of me, and such a kind gesture of the two of them to arrange something for me.

So, come Monday, I met Martine's 19 year old daughter, Charlotte, near my school and we took the metro to get to their synagogue. It was nothing like the services I'm used to attending at home, but at the same time it was comforting just to be in the presence of other Jews. I recognized some of the melodies, and then there were others that I'd never heard of before. And it was funny to hear Hebrew being spoken with a French accent. The main difference I noticed, however, was the uniformity in the songs and in the readings. Back home, when the congregation reads texts aloud, everyone reads at the same pace, pauses at the same time, and speaks with the same intonations. Here, however, it was almost like a free-for-all. It threw me off at first, but then I began to appreciate it in the sense that it allowed everyone to have their own moment with the prayers and not worry about the pace at which they should speak it. I think both ways are meaningful, it just made it slightly more difficult to follow... Especially considering that it wasn't even in English to begin with. Having a prayer book written in only French and Hebrew was certainly a challenge. I did, however, understand the Rabbi's sermon, surprisingly. He was speaking of the 4 questions we ask during Passover, and why we ask them. But he explained that the importance is not that we answer the questions, but that we continue to ask them year after year. I liked everything he had to say, and overall I really enjoyed the service.

After the service was over, Martine drove Charlotte and myself to their friends' place just outside of Paris where the seder took place. Everyone was very nice and welcomed me with open arms. And as it turns out there were at least 7 other people my age there, so I had plenty of people to talk to. It was very interesting to participate in a seder that is not my family's, and not to mention one that is Parisian. Like my family's seder, it was very playful, and there were a million different things going on at once, but at the same time the readings were still getting read, rituals were still being done, and fun was certainly being had.

I'm so grateful to have been given this opportunity--it was a really neat experience :)

Et voila. There you have some culturally enriching events I've been partaking in lately. You know what they say, "When in Rome Paris, do as the Parisians do". And so it was decreed...

And tomorrow my parents will be here!!! :')

À bientôt, mes amis
Bis xo

Sud de France (I hope you like pictures)

Marseille:

As you might already know, I went on a trip to the South of France last week. It was a free trip organized by the school, so obviously I was all up on that. Our first destination was Marseille, on the southeast coast of France. It was absolutely stunning there. The weather was beautiful; it was sunny, it was warm...aka nothing like Paris. I love Paris and all, but this weather was very much needed. We walked around, basked in the sun, grabbed a nice lunch, then took a leisurely stroll up to the very tippy top of Marseille. And by leisurely stroll I mean extremely exhausting hike. (Lead by our program directer, Audrey, who has more energy than all of us put together). Right, so we hiked up to that super high up cathedral looking thing you see in the following pictures, called Notre Dame de la Garde.

It was actually a beautiful hike, and extremely rewarding. At first, we were like not having it, given that we were walking up all those roads people pass by and think "I feel bad for those unfortunate souls that have to walk up that"....only we were those unfortunate souls. Numerous times. But we began to really appreciate the walk when we started seeing sights like this:

And finally, when we reached the very top, we were seeing this:

Pretty cool, right? After we walked around the cathedral and took lots of pictures, we took a bus all the way back down to the main part of town so we could make the boat tour we were supposed to have. Well, it turns out the river was too high or something, so the boats weren't running that day. It was a shame, but we took advantage of our surroundings and enjoyed some free time out on the town. We grabbed some ice cream, and set out to find the beach. I'm not entirely sure why it took us so long to find a beach, but it did... You would think the
beaches would be clearly marked, but apparently you just have to know where the beaches are. Damn hipsters. In any case, we found one eventually, and took much pleasure in dipping our feet in the Mediterranean ocean. (Freezing or not, that was some nice ass water). And to make the experience all the more rewarding, we had the chance to watch the sun set over the ocean. 

 

We went out for dinner, and given that A. we were all exhausted, and B. it was a Monday night, not much was going on around town. So we bought some bottles of wine and enjoyed the evening from the inside of our hotel room :)

The next day we woke up early, had a wonderfully calorific breakfast complete with pain au chocolat, then headed out to tour Hotel le Corbusier, which is a hotel built by famous architect, Le Corbusier in 1952 (as shown to the right). I don't happen to be a huge fan of Le Corbu, but it was still neat to see one of his buildings, seeing that I'd learned about him before. The whole thing would have probably been a bit more enjoyable had the wind not been blowing us all over the place. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that walking in a straight line was nearly impossible. At one point we were up on the roof terrace and doing everything in our power to not be blown right off. Alas, in the end, we all came out alive and well. Minus our hair, which was nothing short of a lost cause.

After that, we took a brief tour of the oldest part of the city of Marseille, which dates back to as far as 600 BCE. It's the oldest city in France, no big deal. But the best part about this tour was the food. We had bread, goat cheese, tapenades, wine, fougasse (which is olive bread typical of southeastern France), and lastly gelato. Oh, and can we just talk about the size of this fougasse? Yeah... I ate the whole thing.

Right, so then we gathered our stuff and hiked up a mountain and a half to get to the train station where we headed off to Nice.



Nice:

When we got to Nice, we took our time settling in at the hotel, took a group nap (we're adorable, I know), then hit the town to find ourselves a nice spot for dinner. It was unfortunately raining the entire time we were in Nice, so we didn't really feel like leaving the main stretch of road to find a restaurant, but as it turned out we found a nice little Spanish restaurant with a friendly staff, great food, and naturally, karaoke. We'd considered going out after, but then we all remembered that sleep was a thing and so it was decided.

Wednesday was my favorite day of the trip. We began by taking a tour of the old village of Nice, which was absolutely beautiful, despite the rainy weather. There was everything from small shops and restaurants to Baroque churches to markets...you name it. All of the roads were narrow cobble stone streets lined on either side with tall pastel-colored buildings. I couldn't help but fall in love with the town. It was just so charming.

Our next stop was the Musee d'Art Modern et d'Art Contemperain. I'm not even a fan of modern art, but I loved almost everything I saw in this museum. Plus they had a Keith Haring painting and I'm alllll about my boy Keith <3

Keith Haring <3

After that, we stopped at a corner food vendor where we had the choice of many typical Nicoise foods. I shared amongst friends the following: Socca, which is a crepe-type dish made with chickpeas, fried scalion puff thingies, and lastly, a dessert called Tourte de Blettes, which is a delicious pastry filled with...wait for it....Swiss chard. I kid you not. Swiss chard, pine nuts, raisins, apples, all baked into a pastry topped with powdered sugar. It was SUPER tasty. All of it. :)

Then we caught a bus to Cap Ferrat which is about a 30 minute drive from Nice. Also, as stated in the Wiki page, it is the second most expensive residential location in the world. Aaaaaand here's why:

So if anyone wants to find Dana a rich husband who will buy her a house in Cap Ferrat, I'm all ears :) Anyway, we visited the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, built for Beatrice Rothschild, a member of the extremely wealthy Rothschild family. I don't think I could have added more "Rothschild"s in that sentence if I tried. This is the estate from the back with a beautiful view of the main garden.

But wait, there's more! Seriously, there are 9 more gardens. Who needs 9 gardens? Dana needs 9 gardens. Dana needs a Florentine garden, a Spanish garden, a French garden, an exotic garden, a stone garden, a Japanese garden, a rose garden, and a garden de Sevres. 

Once we were back in Nice, we shopped, we chilled, and later that night, we walked around in the pouring rain in search of a restaurant. And boy did we find one. It was a cute little restaurant on the same street as our hotel. The place wasn't too big and there were only two tables at which people were sitting. One, a group of stylish young adults (I'm assuming Parisian), the other, a group of 4 happy middle aged artists. There was one woman that seemed to be running the whole place and when we were told that we'd have to wait about 20 minutes to be served we considered just finding another spot. While we were discussing amongst ourselves, one of the ladies at the happy middle aged artists table strongly encouraged us to stay, telling us the food is fantastic and that the place in general was two thumbs up. We took her word for it thinking that waiting for a little was better than walking around in the rain to find us a place that would serve us right away (we're such Americans). Let me just tell you, it was the best decision we've ever made. 

Whilst sipping our wine, we were brought free aperitifs (as pictured to the right) which was carrot, tomato, avocado, and tuna on a spear of endive. The free bread was pretty damn tasty, too. When the waitress came around to take our orders, I had no idea what I was doing, but I thought I was ordering something vegetarian. Turns out I need to brush up on my French, because "daurade" is not a manner of cooking nor is it a type of pastry...it is a fish. Had I been smart enough to check what that word meant, I wouldn't have been so surprised when they brought me fish. In any case, it was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten. I also want to clarify that yes, I am a vegetarian, and no I do not eat fish. But, I'm living by Drake's philosophy, "you only live once". #yolo. (I'm actually extremely embarrassed that I just wrote that, but I'm keeping it in as punishment for typing it in the first place). In all seriousness though, I'm in Paris, and I want to enjoy every second of it. I think it's important to experience every aspect of the culture, and I don't want to deprive myself of trying things. That being said, I enjoyed every bite. I'd never experienced such flavors before--it was absolutely incredible. The crazy part was that in total, our meal lasted three and a half hours. And by the time we left, both tables that were there when we sat down were still there, because dining in France is not about settling for convenience or simply grabbing a bite to eat. It's about the atmosphere, the company, the tastes, the smells, the culture, the conversation, the wine... I've learned to truly appreciate the value of sharing a meal, and I hope I'll be able to bring that mindset back to the states.

After our meal, we decided to find a beach to walk on despite the rainy weather. We figured if we were in the south of France, we were finding a beach and that was that. We finally gave up on trying to stay dry, and ditched our umbrellas. It was so nice just letting loose and not caring. We danced in the rain, we sang in the rain, we ate chocolate and speculoos cookies in the rain... It's the simple things in life :)

The next day was unfortunately our last day of the trip. We took a bus into Antibes where we visited the Musee Picasso, the former workshop of Pablo Picasso. It was really neat getting to see a so much of his work in his very own workshop.                                                                   Also I have no idea how this picture got onto my camera because pictures were forbidden and I would never in a million years think to take pictures when no one was looking that's just bizarre...

So after we left Picasso's crib, we took a bus up to Saint-Paul-de-Vence, which is one of the oldest medieval towns on the coast of southeast France. The village itself is picture perfect. Stone everything, very narrow streets, small shops and galleries hidden within the numerous arched doorways... In a way, it was very surreal. It was one of those places you'd never expect to actually exist. I'd even venture to say it was magical :)

Finally, we ventured far and wide, up the hills, through the woods, until we ended up at yet another hidden treasure, the Fondation Maeght. It's a museum of modern art located in the middle of nowhere with a pretty neat collection of art, and the most amazing sculpture gardens. None of it made much sense as it was all very abstract, but given that these sculptures were so large and abstract on top of being placed randomly amongst trees and stone walls, it was very easy to get lost in one's own thoughts and imagination. We spent lots of time wandering, climbing, exploring, discovering... I felt that the gardens brought me back to a state of innocence--a state of childhood naivety. It both a playful and moving experience for us all.

And then, unfortunately, it was time to make our way to the airport to catch our plane. It was very difficult saying goodbye to the south of France, but alas, it's good to be back in Paris. 

A toute a l'heure, sud de la France <3