Why I love Le Jardin du Luxembourg

Paris is full of gorgeous gardens and parks and the Parisiens very much enjoy them.  My first experience in one of these gardens happened because of a case of bad luck.

I was traveling on the metro per usual and decided to get off at a new stop so that I could stroll and see a different section of Paris.  It was a beautiful Sunday and people were out and about enjoying the weather.  I found a table at a quaint sidewalk café and began looking at the menu.  I had just received money from my parents to cover all of my expenses for my stay in Paris and I had it all with me.  For some reason, I still decided to check my money prior to ordering.  That's when things went wrong.  I began digging through my purse and soon became aware that my wallet (a very big red wallet!) was missing.  How could this be?  Where could it have gone?  I was holding my purse the entire time on the metro, wasn't I?  I never let go of it at all, right?  Did I talk to anyone?  Did anyone bump into me?  Evidently, I must have looked away long enough for someone to have slipped into my purse, take my wallet, and walk away with all of my funds for the entire year, as well as my license and my emergency credit card.  I had nothing.  Not even any money for the metro ride home.  This was not good.

I began to walk.  Thoughts were flying through my head.  "How will I get home?"  "How will I call for help?"  "How am I going to break this news to my parents?"  Before I knew it, I was miles from that little café and was at the entrance to Le Jardin du Luxembourg.  I entered, sat down on a bench, and began to cry.  I soon realized that crying was not going to solve the problem.  And as I looked around on this beautiful day, I became aware that I was in a very special place.  Not only was there a palace here, but there were beautiful flowers, statues, fountains, and monuments.  There were children sailing model boats and older men playing boules and chess.  There was a vintage carousel and a puppet theater.  And the original model of la Statue de la Liberté (the Statue of Liberty) was here, too!  Time seemed to stand still and I was surrounded by beauty and happy, happy people.  How could I be sad?  Who needed money?  I was in Paris!

A nice woman sat next to me on the bench and offered money for my ride home.  Once home, I called my parents who, of course, wired new funds to me and canceled my credit card and license.  No big deal.  Life was good.

And do you want to know something a bit odd?  My wallet was mailed to me two days prior to me heading back to the United States.  I'm not sure how, after many months, it was miraculously sent to me, but it was.  My license, my credit card, my little notes and photos were all there.  The money was gone. 

So, here's a clip of one of my favorite places in the world.  I hope you get to enjoy a beautiful place like this someday, too!

Yes, Virginia...the Eiffel Tower IS in Paris!

Are you finding it odd that I haven't mentioned the Eiffel Tower yet?  I mean, it's Paris!  The Eiffel Tower (La Tour Eiffel, I should say) is what everybody in the world pictures when they think of Paris -- perhaps even when they picture France -- and yet I've not said a thing about it!  Sorry to disappoint you, but I won't be discussing it in this post, either!  Pourquoi?  Parce que...

You see, I became a Parisienne.  I did not necessarily always do the "tourist thing", but rather soaked in the daily life of Paris.  I'd stroll along the Seine and watch artists create their paintings; I'd sing with a group of musicians every Sunday outside of Le Centre Pompidou; I'd play cards with friends at a local cafe; I'd go to the flea market and bargain for items that I couldn't live without; I'd visit the local flower shop; I'd sit in the Luxembourg Gardens and watch men play "boules" and children float their model boats in the fountains; I'd go to the kiosques and discuss politics with the vendors -- life was good. 

Paris was so very interesting to me that I almost forgot that the Eiffel Tower was there.  I was fortunate to realize that I wasn't in France just to run around and snap pictures of famous buildings and monuments.  I was there to experience their way of life -- to really listen to their stories, their values, their beliefs.  I may not have seen the Eiffel Tower as early I as I would've thought, but I did meet very many interesting people along the way.  Guess that's what they mean by "taking time to smell the roses"...

So what should we discuss next?  My stolen wallet?  My train ride with bag pipers?  My singing with musicians?  My trip to the Loire Valley?  The Eiffel Tower?  So many stories, so little time...

"Paris" is in the word "pâtisserie", so...

And now I must confess.  My grammar class was next door to a pâtisserie.  A pâtisserie is a pastry shop and well, if you're going to eat a pastry, Paris is most definitely the place to do it!  While looking in the window of the pâtisserie one day, I made a little deal with myself.  I decided to make it my mission to try to eat every type of pastry served at this particular pâtisserie before I left France to return to the United States.  Now, this shop was known for having hundreds of types of pastries!  I did the math in my head and realized that at some point, I would be eating two pastries a day!  It seemed worth it to me, however.  Who knew when I'd ever return to Paris?  Wasn't I there to experience everything?  Wasn't Paris the pastry capital of the world?  (I had thought I heard that somewhere before...)   Wasn't it my duty to get as much as I could out of my time living in Paris?  And so I entered the pâtisserie one day and never looked back -- pain au chocolat, croissant, pain au raisin, macarón, napoléon, petits fours, éclair  -- these words rolled off of my tongue better than any words I ever had to pronounce in that grammar class of mine...and no one asked me to squish my cheeks!

Please note that I accomplished my goal.  Please also note that I walked a good ten miles every day because that's what many people do who live, work, and study in big cities.  Were there times that I tried a pastry and didn't finish it?  Oui.  Were there times when I tried a pastry and wanted five more of them?  Bien sûr!  But I did not do that.  I would order my one pastry a day (or two towards the end!) and that was that.  If I enjoyed it, I savored it.  If I didn't particularly care for it, I was still happy that I tried it.  I'm not saying that we should all start eating pastries every day in order to get the most out of life nor am I saying that we all must walk ten miles every time we want to treat ourselves to something.  What I simply mean is this: there are times in a person's life when he or she should just experience "joie de vivre" and this was one of my times.

I still cannot believe that I never took a picture of this special place, but I guess I was so caught up in the smells and wonder of the pastries, that I never once thought to take a photo.  Thanks to google images, however, you will be able to see all kinds of treats.  Simply type in "patisserie" and you'll be amazed with the photos!  And guess what?  I have a former French student who is studying to be a pastry chef!  Maybe I'll be visiting her pâtisserie one day soon...

Who needs a Tide stick?

 

I suppose you could say that I finally got used to walking along the Seine and passing Notre Dame everyday and that's when, while heading to grammar class one afternoon, I finally noticed something on the street that I simply had not noticed before...a street vendor that sold crêpes.  How had I missed this?!  If you've ever been to New York, Boston, Philadelphia or any big city, then you know about street vendors who sell pretzels, hot dogs, and perhaps roasted chestnuts.   In Paris, they sell crêpes!  And so, after a particularly difficult grammar class at which my professor kept telling me to grab my cheeks and squish my mouth towards the middle of my face so that I could make the "eu" sound,  I figured that squished mouth of mine deserved a break and I went to the vendor near Notre Dame and ordered a nutella crêpe.  The vendor cooked it in no time flat and then folded it and put it in paper!  What?  Pas d'assiette?  Pas de fourchette?  No plate?  No fork?  How was this going to work?  For this uncoordinated girl it didn't work so well, but wow,  was it "délicieux"!  Nutella was all down the front of me by the time I got to the metro station, but it was very much worth it and guess what?  I became quite experienced at eating those crêpes and only ruined two or three more shirts in the process.  Eating crepes on the streets of Paris while walking along the Seine with a stain on my shirt?  To me, that shows a sign of living the good life.  C'est la vie, non?

If you haven't already done so, please click on the video above to see how quickly they make these amazing treats!

Grammaire et Gargouilles (Grammar and Gargoyles)

I must clarify something about my grammar class because so many of you were very concerned about my "faceless teacher"!  I did, in fact, have "une prof" that would discuss grammar and work on writing skills with us, but then there was a separate part of the class at which time we would all put on headphones and listen to recordings and then repeat after the person on the tape.  This was to practice our pronunciation and if we didn't say something correctly or if we missed a section, all of a sudden a voice would appear in our ears telling us to "essayez autre fois" (try again).  I did not know that I was "attached" to another person, so the first time I heard someone all of a sudden speaking in my ears, I jumped!  I eventually got used to the routine, but it was a bit odd at the beginning, for sure.  Perhaps I should try that with you sometime?  We could all put headphones on and then I could go to another room while you repeat after a tape.  Would you jump, too, if all of a sudden you heard my voice but didn't see me?

Having someone that I couldn't see speak to me through headphones was odd, for sure, but walking along the Seine past Notre Dame everyday was even MORE of an out-of-body experience!  Here is a brief video of Notre Dame for you to learn just a bit more.  The stained glass windows are gorgeous and I was fortunate because I never had to stand in lines -- perhaps that's because I lived there and could visit anytime I felt like it!  Lucky me! And listen carefully for the part about the gargoyles...



In my next post, you will see that walking past Notre Dame was not the only bonus of heading to a grammar class at 5:00 everyday.  I also passed a patisserie.  Do you know what that is?  You will soon learn...and I know you will like it!

Que pensez-vous maintenant de ma classe de grammaire et de Notre Dame?  Et que pensez-vous des gargouilles (gargoyles)?

On my way to grammar class

I can see that we will be working on our map skills!  I will help you use my Plan de Paris this quarter and you will see how simple it is to use!  I believe in ALL of you and KNOW that you can get around a big city, no matter where it is located in the world!  We now know that an arrondisement is a section of Paris and that the Quartier latin is its' student/university section.  Some of you found out that it is called the Quartier latin because students used to only speak Latin when going to school -- remember, my university was founded in the twelth century!  Some of you also found out that "la Rive Gauche" means the Left Bank, but do you know what that means?  You're about to find out...

As I mentioned in my last post, I not only took classes at the Sorbonne, but also had a grammar class in another section of Paris found on "la Rive Gauche".  Paris is divided into two parts --  "la Rive Gauche" and "la Rive Droite" -- and this simply means "the Left Bank" and "the Right Bank" of the Seine River that flows through the city.  Fortunately for me, my grammar class was right around the corner from the Seine on la Rive Gauche.  I walked along the Seine everyday and everyday, it took me past Notre Dame.  Can you believe that?!  I walked past Notre Dame EVERYDAY.  Oui, tous les jours -- c'est vrai!  To me, I couldn't have felt more Parisien than this!

So, while I did not always enjoy my grammar class (we had to wear headphones and I never saw the face of the person who spoke to me), I always made sure to go to this class because I could walk along the Seine and see Notre Dame and well, there was that patisserie...stay tuned...

PS - Poisson d'avril!  If you haven't taped a fish to the back of a friend or a loved one yet, you still have time!  :-)

Une étudiante et son plan de Paris!

First, you'll note that I have added some French music to this blog.  I will be mentioning it in other posts, but for now, if you enjoy listening to it while you read, continue reading!  If you need to read in silence, go down to the bottom of this page and pause it.  I tried to pick music that matched the "retro pictures" that many of you have commented on and I also found a few more pics for you that will be in this post.  Enjoy!  Now, here's the latest post from me to you!

I received my schedule from Giles when I first arrived in Paris and neatly tucked it away.  I knew that I was enrolled in the Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne and would be studying French culture of the 19th century -- music, art, philosophy, and literature -- but did not know how to get to the university!  Now that my first class was going to be the very next morning, I dug out my schedule so that I could find the address and plan my commute.  I  noticed that the Sorbonne is located in the "Quartier latin" in the 5th arrondisement.  I was going to be on "la Rive Gauche"!  I would be studying in one of the oldest sections of Paris and I would be walking on the same streets that famous artists, philosophers, musicians, and writers once walked!  I would be studying at a university that was founded in the twelth century!  I then saw that I also was scheduled to take a grammar class and that this class was not in the same building.  It was on "rue de Fouarre" and so I quickly searched for that location, too, and made my plans for the following day.

How did I find my way around, you ask?  There were no cell phones, no iphones, no GPS applications, no laptops, so what did I do?  I used my "Plan de Paris" booklet given to me by Giles.  (I will show it to you in class.)   This was PRICELESS!  It had the metro map, the bus routes, listings of every street in Paris, as well as maps of each arrondisement and a large map of the entire city.  For a person who's weakest subject was geography (well, geometry wasn't my best one, either!), reading this book was quite the challenge, but I soon became very adept at using it and LOVED having it with me!

I will share more about my classes at the Sorbonne, as well as my grammar class.  For now, though, I have a few questions for you.  Can you tell me why Paris has a section called the "Quartier Latin" and also what it means to say that it's in "la Rive Gauche"?  And, do you know what an arrondisement is?  Lastly, would you like trying to learn how to get around a big city without modern technology?