What a good couple of days I had this past weekend. I rented a bass for a couple from a small artisan shopped called Paris Contrebass and played music on Friday with a couple guys, Samuel and Zack. I discovered a room in Jacques house, which was his son's room before he moved out. In this room are nearly as many musical instruments as in a symphony. Mostly keyboards. There is fortunately a piano. We played the blues and tried out a little jazz and I hope to play some more later on. Friday night we wound up at a club called Le Pop In, which was populated by a finer quality of studyabroaders. Many were from England I believe. We danced to the rock music they played there until 1 or so and took the night bus home.
Saturday started off well and got better. Crêpes were my breakfast that morning. I went with Nutella, a smooth, delightful chocolately spread and a few slices of banana to attempt something healthy. It wasn't really, but it was tastey. After a few french pancakes I sped down the street to find Vanessa at the Gara St. Lazare, one of Paris's many train stations. She had come to Paris for Valentine's day. I waited in St. Lazare, painting my own impression of the dirty, oil-scented station, slightly more clean and clear than the series by Monet. Her train sizzled in with a few sparks jumping off the powerlines above. It's less romantic now than in the soot-filled days of Monet.
We checked into the grandiose (no, not really at all) Hôtel de Paris, directly across the street from Chez Jacques to drop off her things, then we hit the streets. I pointed out a lot of my favorite places around town, like the Café au petit poucet and a couple boulangeries. We strolled through the pleasant Parc Monceau. We passed by the Grand Palais, over the Pont Alexandre III, slid alongside Les Invalides, and stared, with enjoyment, for a few long minutes at the Eiffel Tower in the Champs de Mars.
We watched a young charlatan try to fool unknowing tourists with a little slight of hand and a ring he pretends to find on the ground in front of you. I can't really imagine how it would fool someone or how he would end up getting any money out of it.
From there we took the metro to rue Daguerre to see my school building, but mostly to get a hearty Salade Speck that I was craving. Bacon-like ham, cheese, potatoes, lettuce...mmm, and a café. We found our way over to Shakespeare & Co., that beloved island of the English language within Paris. By now it was getting close to 5:30 and we were still hungry for much more that evening, but we needed to style out first.
Before going to eat, we stepped our way past the lively Moulin Rouge and up the steps to Sacré-Coeur-- possibly one of the more romantic place to many young french kids to work on their french kissing techniques. We looked out over the city, steeped in love, on this St. Valentine's Day, I laid one on her, and we took off to the metro in search of the illustrious, quintessentially Parisian resto, La Coupole.
To say that our dining experience there was anything less than marvelous and unique would be wrong. I've never eaten at such a fine establishment. We walkedin, a little timidly, "On est deux" I said. I was told that it would be about one hour then instead of giving them my name, they gave me one. What a great idea to have a recognizable, a pronounible name of famous artists or composers. Much better than hearing "Staler" all the time. We chatted and waited in the bar of the immense room.
While waiting a server stopped by to joke around with us. "Honeymoon?" he asked in his foreign accent. "When are you going to ask her?" he pressured me. We laughed as he stopped by several other times to talk. Waiters were dressed to the nines in tuxedos or vests porting trays above their shoulders and lighting fire to various plates of food. Not just good food, but good presentation as well.
I ordered the escargots (snails), bar (sea bass), and crème brulée (crème brulée). Vanessa had a well-seared salmon and something like a chocolate muffin filled with fudge for dessert. We had a bottle of white wine and finished off the event with a café. Woah... so good. Delicious. Fun. Flames -- two of the three plates I received were set aflame just far enough in advance of being set down in front of me to not sear my eye brows. Our server, who happened to be the same man who was joking with up before kept up our laughter throughout the meal as he prompted us to get the camera ready, kiss each other, and enjoy the meal. The bill came after our marathon 3 hour meal and we graciously thanked the server for improving our meal and returned to place de clichy.
It will be tough to trump that evening, but we tried the following day on Sunday. We ate a french breakfast at au Petit Poucet, 1/4 of a baguette with butter, croissant, jus d'orange, and un café. And you don't think I get enough protein in my breakfasts at home, Mom. We visited a nearby cemetary in hopes of seeing a few famous graves only to be slightly disappointed to find that most of the cool people are underground somewhere else. So we wandered around in the direction of the Louvre. I couldn't imagine living in such a massive palace as that. Then we cut towards the Salon de Thé, Angelina.
A lustful drink called Le Chocolat Africain is, as Rick Steves adroitly stated, almost think enough to stand a spoon in. And he doesn't lie. The drink is think and rich. Imagine drinking a bowlful of dark chocolate chips that have spend the afternoon basking in the sun. Pour in into your teacup and add fresh, dense whipped cream and then rink another, and that's pretty much it. Its just good enough not to suffocate your palate. We had enough for 2 fair-sized cups each and we split a Mont Blanc as well -- merengue, shipped creme, and what is basically cake frosting. The smooth, refreshingly cleansing water didn't last long.
For the rest of the afternoon we walked around. She left around 5 and I hustled home for some more crêpes with Fraçoise, one of Jacque's neighbors. Good stuff.
This week has been relatively uneventful. I went out with a few guys on Tuesday night and then last night I spent a good amount of time sipping some café and surfing the web. Today I planned several trips for the future. Tomorrow my housemate Stephen and I are busing to Brussels in Belgium. It will be a tour of waffles and a sampling of there more than 500 varieties of beer. Then at the end of March, I'm headed to London for the weekend. I'm working on spring break plans which look like might wind me up in Sardina, a small italian island in the Med, and also another weekend trip to Krakow, in Poland, perhaps. I've heard that's one of the places that's more off the map, but growing in popularity. That's all for now!
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