Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Je Suis Revenu!

In other words, I have returned! Bonjour, mes cheries! I have missed you all so much. As magical as Paris was, there is something so wonderfully cozy and familiar about sitting down to read all your blogs in my favorite armchair in my living room. And I can finally blog again! I missed it horribly. So, without further ado, the highlights of my month (in no sort of chronological order, sorry):



Just some pretty things I shot around town.

Yes, I climbed the forty zillion stairs up la butte Montmartre. It was hellish but so worth it. Did you know that Montmartre means "mountain of the martyr" and was named so because the patron saint of France was decapitated there? Crazy stuff.

Hah. Me and Jess in front of the Pantheon, where we explored the amazing underground crypts. Zola, Braille, Voltaire, Dumas, Hugo, and Marie Curie are buried there! I love tombs. The second photo is Notre-Dame.

Oooh, the food. Glorious beyond words. There was a gelato shop literally right around the block from school, and I probably went there almost every day. Yikes. And, of course, the French staples: café au lait and a croissant with jam.

Some slightly less French (but no less delicious) things: falafel and Moroccan pastries. The first I got in le Marais, the old Jewish quarter of the city. It's such a cozy, fashionable neighborhood and hands down my favorite part of Paris. I want to live there! My friend Emma turned seventeen during our trip and a few of us went out for Moroccan food to celebrate, and this was our massive dessert tray.

My first venture into the wonderful world of macarons was at Pierre Hermé. I got grapefruit and milk chocolate with passion fruit, and Jess got chocolate. They were pretty good, but not stunning.

Have to say, I did prefer Ladurée. The macarons are light and crispy, and the rose petal flavor is absolutely exquisite. Angelina was as decadent as I remembered it. The hot chocolate is just perfection.
Of course, I didn't spend all month waltzing through luxury dessert shops...

Behold, the juice aisle at Monoprix. Give me a moment to rhapsodize about the mecca that is Monoprix. It's like Target on steroids, plus a massive and totally classy grocery store. Thanks to Monoprix, we had many a delightful picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens.

One of my favorite events of the summer was attending the ballet at the Opéra Garnier. It's one of the most stunning places I've ever seen, and is the opera house upon which The Phantom of the Opera is based. We were sitting in very high seats.

As expected, I went to more museums than I can count. One of my favorites was Musée Rodin. I had been before, but I liked it much more the second time. The gardens are just beautiful, and the sculptures are really excellently arranged.

Another favorite, and possibly the favorite: Musée d'Orsay. Yes, I was a goober and wore my souvenir shirt there.

Two much smaller museums that I adored as well were the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Fragonard Perfume Museum. Arts Décoratifs had the most stunning exhibition of Madeleine Vionnet clothes and a gift shop library beyond belief. The perfume museum mostly just smelled delicious.

Another little museum that blew me away was the Musée Gustave Moreau. It used to be his house, and all the rooms downstairs are still preserved.
I set foot in my first mosque. It was incredibly beautiful and serene. I visited with my creative writing class, and we went to the attached restaurant afterward and drank really delicious mint tea.
I also visited Père Lachaise with my class, which I kind of expected to feel more significant. Oscar Wilde's grave is possibly the ugliest thing I have ever seen, which makes me so upset. I kissed it anyway, though. On the left is Jim Morrison's grave.

Also significantly depressing? The Moulin Rouge.

One of our fun outings was the Fête des Tuileries, a temporary carnival set up in the Jardins des Tuileries. We got really delicious churros and then sat by the big pond in the middle of the garden, it was lovely.


Quite a few of my favorite excursions were, sadly, not captured on film. Like the Bal des Pompiers (though perhaps that was better off remaining out of any pictures). On the night before Bastille Day, the firehouse in each arrondissement is basically turned into a giant outdoor party, and everyone in our program went to the one in our arrondissement. I expected it to be distinctly unfun, but it was such a blast; basically just a huge dance party. With firemen. Ahem.
Also, our last night was possibly one of the most excellent nights of my life. The program rented out a nightclub for all of us, so everyone got dressed up in posh things (or not so posh, I wore my notorious pink backless dress) and we pretty much partied all night long. It was amazing.
I could honestly go on and on all night about what a fantastic month I had, but I'll stop here because I'm exhausted and unshowered and definitely on the verge of a cold. As soon as the nasty weather stops here, I promise to do an outfit post! Because, erh, obviously I had to do a bit of shopping while I was there...
And of course I did a little shopping for you too... well, one of you. I'll be revealing a delightful giveaway in my next post that I honestly wish I could keep for myself, it's so fabulous.

Speak to you all soon, my lovelies. Je vous adore, and it's glorious to be back.

43 comments:

Lexie said...

you have chic travel style! and thank you for sharing your lovely photographs from your parisian adventure!

Hayley said...

wow, looks like you had an amazing time! seeing all these pictures on blogs and facebooks of people going to europe makes me insanely jealous... hhah

erin said...

yay you're back! what amazing pictures! the food looks amazing! i'm so jealous i have never been to paris.

erin

Laura Gerencser said...

Looks like you had a blast! Glad you're back! Great photos!!!!

Anonymous said...

loving this
makes me want to go back so bad
absolutely loving the photography, the food, the juice aisle
gorgeous!!!!

-cma
check out my blog @
cosmicaroline.blogspot.com

Crystal Ball said...

Lucky girl! It's good to hear you're back and the pictures make me want to go to France all that much more.

Anonymous said...

omg this sounds amazing! I am so jealous, you saw some of my favorite parts of Paris (Montematre is so ridiculously high up, I love how you can see it looming over Paris from the airport haha) and pere lachaise even if it wasn't your favorite...and ate heavenly macaroons, god I would kill for some angelina or laduree. but I really wish I could've gone to the opera house, phantom of the opera is my favorite musical

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

Wow. I've got travel envy and now I'm starving!

Sophia said...

This photography is amazing! It's very breathtaking, and now I want to go to Paris :)

Those desserts look absolutely scrumptious!

alexis said...

:) I'm going to Paris in a few months, I can't wait.

Sylvia said...

STUNNING STUNNING STUNNING. i nearly dropped my computer in delight when this came up on my bloglovin. YES. it is WONDERFUL. i love you in that striped shirt. i can't WAIT to see every single outfit. must. comment. on. every. individual. picture. MUST. REFRAIN. okay, so i love this! and i can't wait for more posts! exclamation point, exclamation point!

Sher said...

Beautiful pictures of Paris!

I was looking everywhere for Pierre Herme but I found Laduree instead! Such a blessing in disguise:)

Anna G said...

I'm glad you had so much fun!! what program did go on?
I must say that food in France is 1000000X better that where I live. Gosh I miss it so much.
Montmarte was my favorite place, some guys started playing music and my friends and I started to dance, the funny thing was that all the tourists stared, and tried to give us money.

WendyB said...

You saw everything there was to see! Good for you.

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you had fun!

Unknown said...

Sounds so lovely the food building experience!
XOXOXO
Libby
http://fashionconfectionairy.weebly.com

Helen said...

ahh it looks like you had a wonderful time! i wish i had longer in paris :(

Parapluie said...

Awesome! The photos captured it pretty well I think

Fashionisaparty.com (Suz) said...

looks so nice:)!

Isabel said...

Oh hell yes! One of the best things about Paris is definitely the food.

Kara said...

This post made me hungry, jealous, and want to go shopping. Welcome back!

Anonymous said...

i love all the pictures, but my favorites are the opera house one. the macaroons look so delicious! i like the picture of you looking out onto the lake/pond/whatever. the striped top is so cute and i love the flats.

Dodo said...

Ahw Paris, I miss you :3
Great photos. And you've found Jimmy. Easily or did it took some time? We did not had a map so we walked a really weird road. The second time we learned that, for visiting him, we should take a smaller entrance instead of the main entrance :P

Hélène Heath said...

ooooh your pics are making me so excited to leave!! I'll be in Paris in a week!!

I LOVE NEW FASHION said...

I love Paris, great post. I have a new post.....

Kisses.
Diana

Rosie Unknown said...

Glad to hear you had a good trip, and glad to have you back! I am insanely green with envy.

Sarah said...

These pictures and stories are insanely amazing. I love your sailor striped top! :)

this wheel's on fire said...

All of these photos simply take my breath away! But could we expect anything less from Paris? xoxo

Anonymous said...

looks like you made the most of your time, what great photos! hope you had the time of your life.

Vanessa said...

Aah! I was in Paris a little while ago too. Monoprix was my savior when I forgot to bring a few things over.
Paris is the best isn't it? I want to be able to live there someday!

Livie said...

gorgeous! all these pictures are making me hungry with lust for paris.

Amelia said...

This sounds and looks so amazing! Great pictures. I would kill to go to Paris.

Little Bo Peeep said...

I just can't got anymore jealous. I've been blogwalking today and there are maybe about 3 people who just came back to Paris! WOW :)

asunlitday said...

That looked like so much beautiful fun. Amazing pictures!

kknelson2 said...

jealous jealous jealous!!!!!
I can't say that enough!

Erika said...

I'm dying to visit Paris. Lucky girl!

Rachel said...

That looks like so much fun! I so want to visit paris again someday. I never really figured out what people like so much about the moulin rouge - the exterior that it. I mean, I'm sure it all happens inside and that it's absolutely wonderful there, but the outside is really not that pretty.

Iris said...

Ahhh, Pareee :-) How I miss Monoprix, and baguettes, and the crazy selection of mineral waters!

Emma said...

Omg its looks like had an amazing trip!! All the pictures are so great! Wasn't the Opéra Garnier's ceiling amazing? So colourful, and I'm sure the ballet was great too lol!

xoxo

Ruxandra said...

so glad you're back.amazing picture, and it sounds like a more than amazing month.just one question, how exactlly did you get there?i mean, you mention about your class.was it like a summer camp or what?:)

Ruxandra said...

hi again.about the oxbridge program, i saw there, on their site, that it costed like 1000$.that's how much it was?or there were other things to pay for?and, were the tickets to museums and everything included in this?thanks.i think i have more questions but i can't find your mail adress on the blog:)

Anonymous said...

WOW! It looks like you had an amazing time! Gorgeous photos! Completely jealous!

xoxo
J

www.talkprettytome.blogspot.com

Carol Jeandel said...

So relaxing trip !! I`m in love with it . I love paris too !! But if i can live there andthen i will choose to live at town (like provencal )That i only think ...What every !! How much i love it PARIS also it almost person want to ?! Right....