Bing Trip Weekend: Bourgogne

Sur la mètro avec mes amis

The other great thing about being here that I should mention is being here with great people and meeting more great people.

Le Dejeuner Au Jardin du Luxembourg

It is definitely possible to eat for a reasonable price. We found une boulangerie with a formule (lunch combo special) that included one giant baguette sandwich and a pastry of your choice. C'est tellement genial!

Also, Le Jardin du Luxembourg really is as beautiful and grand as people say it is. It has these overarching trees that manage to look quite magnificent despite the lack of leaves, a playground that you apparently have to pay to get into (?), and many Parisiens running around in their posh spandex.

Sunset at Montmartre

Les choses belles et les choses qui ne sont pas si belles

The hallway of Hotel La BelleChasse

Walking down the Seine on an icy day

A deserted sofabed André and I found by the Notre Dame

The view from MIJE (hostel)

"Je viens à Paris pour le vin et la gastronomie."

French food really is as good as they say it is.

First of all, I get to eat amazing homemade food five times a week, prepared by my host mother.

Second of all, you pass all these boulangeries and patisseries and just salivate at one glance. Window shopping has never been better!

Some of the things I've eaten: quiche lorraine, une soupe des pommes de terre, des poires, et des carotes, les coquilles saint-jacques avec une sauce béchamel, galettes de rois, les cannelés, le falafel...

Third of all, the wine here is amazing. You can get a bottle of wine at the supermarket for five euro that is better than many $2o bottles in the US.

Je vais connaître Paris...petit à petit

Many of us share this sentiment of wanting to be able to orient ourselves anywhere we go around Paris, to know which stations are where just by recognizing street names and buildings, etc. We are impatient to get to know Paris, but are having so much fun stumbling around quand même.

LES SOLDES

Shopping in Paris is already so ridiculous, but the winter sales are beyond amazing. Les Galleries Lafayette kind of gives me a headache. It's like H&M on speed, if you can believe that. I prefer the small shops that sell fun design things or have kitschy displays. Here are a couple of my favorites so far.

1. Ballet shoes

2. Leather gloves

3. A piggy bank

4. A hybrid solar-powered phone charger

5. A cat cookie jar

I like things covered in snow

Everything here is very Parisian. To prove my point, look at the snow. Enough falls to coat the ground every so gracefully, but no more. It's chic, it's minimalist, it's Parisian.

The 16th Arrondissement--Where I will be living!

Gaya par Pierre Gagnaire

Tonight, my mom and I ate at Gaya, one of Pierre Gagnaire's smaller restaurants with a seafood focus. Pierre Gagnaire is one of the more eccentric haute cuisine chefs, I think, and that makes his food all the more exciting.

Here's what we ate:

Amuse Bouche

Fish (trout? not sure) tapenade spoon with crackers

Fried parmesan crisps

Endives, carrots, and celery with a wasabi miso mayo

Appetizer

Blonde fois gras accompanied by mushrooms rolled in grilled endive bathed in a spinach cream

Main Course

Langoustine, three ways

1. Langoustine mousseline with risotto

2. Grilled Langoustine and artichokes in olive oil

3. Cold langoustine and cauliflower salad

Dessert

Three cheeses -- Hot italian gorgonzola on toast, creamy cow-milk cheese with julienned green mango, and fresh goat cheese fried with a (basil?) crust

A quick comment on some of the highlights...The blonde fois gras was fluffy and creamy, and not like regular fois gras at all. It was perfect with the endive, which was seared to have a hint of charring, but not enough to put you off. The langoustine three ways was amazing. Especially the mousseline. I could have cut it with a glance, it was so creamy and soft.

To top it off, we had the best wine to accompany our food. With dinner, we had a 2008 Domaine Latour Chablis. I don't even like chablis, but this was amazing. I think of California chablis as tasting bland and watered down. This Chablis was crisp, dry, and full of green apple accents. It was perfect. I also had an amazing desert wine with my cheese plate. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name, but it evoked such a warm feeling--and not just because it was highly alcoholic. It tasted like honey with a smokey after taste. I bet it would be really good with a good saucisson, and it was perfect with the gorgonzola.

And all the while, I'm hearing waves crashing and children playing. Literally. That's what they overlay on top of the quirky folksy American music à la Prairie Home Companion. The walls lined with mirrors that cascade like fish scales and the tables and walls have dark grey and blue accents.

Needless to say, it was a good meal.

Je suis à Paris enfin

I made it to Paris after our flight was delayed 7 hours. It was welcoming to breathe in fresh, albeit very cold air after being on planes and in airports for almost 24 hours. I was also quite excited to see a light dusting of snow on the ground!