Middle Ages Museum before the Children Invade

 This morning, I took Trixie on a walk towards a bakery in our neighborhood that LOOKS fancy and MIGHT have bread. I had noticed all their delicious looking cakes for days. Lucky for us, they had plenty of baguettes in the back that they make themselves. Their choquettes are the best!

 I have become very french (Aaron's joke) by eating the tip off before I even get home.

 After breakfast, I headed off to the Musee de Cluny, the middle ages museum. I've never been here in the 3 other times I've visited and I'm starting to look for things that I missed or passed over. I liked that this museum wasn't too large and that everything on exhibit had plenty of space. Some of the stained glass is from 1180! The most important pieces there are probably the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries.

 They have 6 tapestries total in this dimly lit room and the audio guide said that 5 of them represent the 5 senses, and that the last one just represents something having to do with giving up what you love. I loved the last one because there's a Trixie and a Luna weaved in there. Also, I loved this lion's face on the 4th one. It is definitely an example of what reminds me of my sister Kat. Stupid face!

 I felt like 8 euros was a good price for the museum and it included the audio guide! I walked to Monop and bought some makeup remover towels and I was SO HAPPY because I could read everything on the package. (I showed it to Aaron afterwards and he was totally lost)

 I also did some clothes window shopping+trying on because the HUGE sale starts on Wednesday. I have yet to buy a single piece of clothing here because I know everything will be on sale in less than a week. Naf Naf had a lot of cute stuff.

 Will showed up with his 2 kids and wife, and they were just so excited to meet their new friend Trixie (Trixie was unaware of the betrothal, lol). We walked to the park so Trix could get some play time and the kids could "walk" her. We had dinner at some Italian place that was playing the world cup. I hate soccer, but the excitement surrounding the games is definitely contagious!

Cooking with eggplant, French, and Ballet

This morning was slow and lovely. I slept in and ate some bread for breakfast before Aaron and I headed over towards the Eiffel Tower for a cooking lesson with a girl named Fleur. She lived next door to an open air market so we were able to buy all our ingredients there, and she even had an amazing boulongerie (so jealous) We were going to cook whitefish, eggplant dip(WHAT?!), and a yummy salad. When we walked up her stairs, we saw her teeny apartment with great view overlooking the street. We cooked on one burner with no spatula, no counter space, pretty much college kitchen cooking. It was still fun but I am SO thankful we have more space and supplies to cook with.

 After cooking, I biked to french class for my 2nd lesson. I'm still lost in what he wants me to do at times, but we are working on subjontif and for the most part we are only speaking in French. After class, I got a merengue and biked home to spend half an hour with Trixie at a brocante.

 Why are the French overpricing all antiques? I found a pretty parasol and it was 120 euros. Way more than it is worth. I did like looking at everything and all the vendors were nice to Trixie.

Then sped off via bike to ballet and I tried my barre warm up on pointe. My left toe was not happy as I tried to wear less padding than I usually do. Big mistake. I may try it again while I'm here but if M. Casati is teaching, I'll stick with flats. I don't want to get yelled at.

"You Used ALL Your Metro Tickets today?!"

 Today I showed up for my last class at Lutece. We talked about food (frozen, bio, etc) It was fun, but I'm glad I'm done with it. (The fact that people were looking at at like they didn't understand me when I said "partager" was baffling. The word is EVERYWHERE in France) After class, I headed to Montmartre for some REAL vintage shopping. I stopped into a place called Mamie's, and it was a mess. Very small hole in the wall and the old man in charge is knowledgable and apologizes for the mess, but you really do have to climb over stuff, dig, etc. (Also a cute dog) I found some amazing 40's white shoes similar to my aris allens but they were half a size too small and the price wasn't MIND BOGGLING. I did find this bakelite thing (I have no clue what it is or what it's for) with 2 Trixies on it. But it was 35 euros. For 35, it better be a really cool comb, hold a cigar, light up, etc.

 This dress was also 35 Euros. The pricing on 20's-50's vintage is ridiculous. It's almost as if the store owner went through their inventory and said "well, I LIKE that one more than this one, even though it's not as rare. Let's raise its price to an obscene amount." It was too small anyway.

 I then had to walk to some other store in the 17th which was about a 45 minute walk, but I knew it was in the shade and pretty flat, so off I went. Sacre Coeur decided to say hi from between 2 buildings. Maybe sometime soon I'll pay her a visit.

 I walked through Pigalle. Such a funny place. One street will have a phonograph museum and the next will be sex city! I was having a great time just strolling. I arrived at the next place and couldn't find it, so I asked a random store owner where it was and in French, she told me that it hadn't been there for at least 3 years. Normally, I'd be pretty peeved, but since I didn't have anywhere to be and I heard it all in French, I was pretty stoked. I then took the train to the 20th to one last store, a place that only had 2 40's dresses and they wanted 89 euros for the one I liked (I LIKED it, not LOVED) so I passed.

 I was starving so I stopped into a Monop and picked up a mini sandwich pack. It came with 2 little sandwiches for a little over 2 euros. And it tasted really good! Took a picture just to remember it. The sandwich pack tore apart so you could share it with a friend.

I went home for dinner which was boiled microwaved meals (Aaron had some chicken and rice thing that he said was better than some of the bistrot food we've been eating and I had a pork thing that tasted like hot dogs. Meh. I went to a swing dance practice. I have never been to one so I didn't know that once you get there, you're responsible for bringing your own practice material. I didn't have anything off the top of my head except the tranky doo, but with no mirror, it made for a pretty crappy practice. Andrius was there so we worked on some things for him, but for me it was mostly just dancing.

Americans hate Mondays, do the French hate Tuesdays?

 I showed up for class this morning at Lutece, and since I hadn't signed up for it, the class was full. They accommodated me in letting me stay. Class was once again enjoyable, adding 2 new students to our class. We talked today about "colocation" or roommates and renting apartments together. We talked about the pros and cons, asked each other questions about living together, etc.

After school, I went grocery shopping for things that could be made with boiling water or with no cooking....I bought a bunch of microwavable meals that would instead be dumped into water for about 10 minutes and would be cooked. Today for lunch I ate potato and bacon concoction. It wasn't bad!

I then had my first private lesson in French with a new teacher at his house. It was exhausting because it was 2 hours on top of what I had already done. In 2 hours, we went over Imparfait, Conditionnel, Passe, and a little bit of Subjunctive. He also had me read the wikipedia page for the King and I in French because it's playing in town.

I went home and had a snack. While munching, the doorbell rang, and a plain clothes cop was there with a woman who was trying to find a sleuth. I had to talk only in French and I wasn't sure what exactly was being said, but it was very scary and I texted Aaron to come home quick so our stuff wouldn't be alone. It left me very stressed.

I then went to buy tickets for "Le Roi et Moi" I'm pretty excited about it. I've never seen it on stage before....just segments.

After purchasing my tickets, I discovered that I had lost my precious Velib card. I called Aaron in near tears about how my day was the worst. I decided to skip my ballet class for the 2nd day in a row to instead walk my entire bike route back to the start to see if I had dropped it on the ground. I never found it. Instead, I called the company, and they were very easy to deal with in replacing it. I bought a new card for 5 euros, and then called them back up to switch all my fees over. Thank God something was easy today.

We finished this hard day by eating at Le Relais Odeon, a restaurant nearby that Voon had mentioned on his fb page. It was ok. We saw a swing band on the sidewalk playing (second time) and tried to dance, but they stopped mid song (Aaron now says that we should not dance to them because it is the second time we've tried and the second time it hasn't worked)

Malifique!

 I went to my French class in the morning. It was significantly better than last week (though some of the people who can't speak are still there) The class was more enjoyable and we started learning about tâches menages, household chores. After school, I hurried home, took Trixie for a walk, and we went a different way, getting lunch at a creperie and then chilling in the park as I ate on a bench. We got in trouble by the park men (I am guessing because Trixie is apparently not allowed on the grass....what is the point of this park?!) We passed by some "poupee" stores, AKA baby doll and toy stores, all of them vintage and antiques.

I also stopped into St. Sulpice. I couldn't tell you anything about this church but that it was very understated and is still in working order, having service all the time. It was very different from Notre Dame, just down the road.

I also went for a run! Holy hell I was fast. I don't know how I did it, but I have managed to knock off 5 minutes from the first time I ran this 4 mile run. I must've been trucking pretty slow. I ran so I didn't have to go to ballet. 

Aaron finally returned home from Norway and we decided to celebrate/relax by going to see Malifique. The wording in the subtitles was a little strange (a lot of imparfait because it was story telling and a fairy tale) but I really enjoyed it overall. I didn't like a lot of the changes, specifically how stupid the fairies became, but we can't win everything.

Nothing's Open Except in the Marais

 Good morning Sunday! (This little monster decided to wake me up real nice because it was Father's Day and her dad wasn't here) Since I knew you were coming, I was well prepared and had food in the house to make breakfast (After many times, I think I realize that the French don't have big breakfasts. They prefer cigarettes and baguettes.) on my shitty little hot plate. The set up in the apartment isn't ideal. It takes about 4 times as long to make something than if you had a stove and 8 times as long if you had a microwave. Oh well. I'm cheap and not about to buy an appliance.

 Here's my awesome brioche french toast. Made it with eggs that were on the counter and milk that wasn't refrigerated. So crazy! BTW

lait écrémé- skim milk

 Trix and I went for a morning walk in the park and tried to take in some culture....the live music, the statues, the art classes....

 There was an english art class going on, composed solely of old American women (I'm guessing it's a retired ladies' group) Some were very good, others were so so. This is a picture of the teacher's oil painting. It looked very therapeutic.

 I then rode my bike to get lunch with Andrius, the guy I met on the train last night. We talked for 2 hours about dancing and what it means to us. It was also nice to chat about similar people (we both have the same friends) and to get into the 11th. After lunch, I went vintage shopping near Place des Vosges. I came across this awesome shop called L'Elegance D'Autrefois, meaning literally "Elegance of Another Time." I saw they had a boater in the window along with delicious parasols and the best SHOES from the 20's. I tried on a gray pair with art deco detailing and it was a little snug but I wanted them so bad until I heard the price (500 euros!)

 The store owner was so nice and let me take a look at everything even though I couldn't afford a handkerchief in there. lol I knew my friends would've died if they went there.

And no stop to Place des Vosges is complete without a stop into Carette. I only got 3 macarons, but they were SO good. I savored them slowly.

Cherry

Cassis

Framboise

I DO think so this place is better than Lauduree, but don't really want it to get too popular because then I'll have to share. 

 I stopped at home to attend to Trix, and then was off to a swing dance in the middle of a park on the edge of Paris. This place had a HUGE disco ball in the center! A photographer caught me dancing with someone...not sure who. It was a great night. France was playing the World Cup so some were more interested in football than dancing...

Will it rain on my Paris?

 Morning 1 without Aaron. Trixie was nice enough to let me sleep in till 10! We went for our morning walk to get breakfast and I decided to splurge and get Quiche Lorraine. To bring my spirits up, I also treated myself to some hortensia (it was 6 euros for 1 stalk) to put in the apartment.

I was supposed to meet up with my friend Nicole but we agreed to a later time, which meant I had my early afternoon free. I went for a run...and my time went down by almost a minute and a half AGAIN! 4 miles in 34:48! Baller! I walked into the park after I was done and saw these beautiful statues. I love the woman on the right. She's full figured. Beautiful!

 I biked over to the D'Orsay to pick Nicole up, and then we headed to Pere Lachaise so she could "meet" Edith Piaf! On the way, we met Oscar Wilde, Moliere, Jim Morrison, and even Sacha's grandma. There was one tombstone that I saw last year and thought the inscription was so sad, but didn't take a picture of it....lo and behold. I found it. "RIP, My mom, she's all I had". How very sad and poetic.

I had never seen the lipstick marks on his grave until now. Last year, I remember seeing this with Allison and it was completely clean and bare. 

 Edith had a HUGE line to see her. We touched her grave to not only say hi but also get some good singing juju. Same thing with Sarah Berndhart's grave, getting acting vibes.

 After the graveyard, I came home and had some puppy cuddling time. She's been very sweet since we've let her sleep in the bed. She slept while I worked on actor submissions with singing clips. It was for a production of Cats in Texas. Maybe I'll get it, maybe I won't. It's a little insane that I'm making music clips on the other side of the world for jobs in the fall.

 Went for our evening walk and Trixie got some culture. The sun was setting and it was magical.

 After the walk, I headed to the 20th for a swing dance. And whoa, I ran into a fellow dancer that I've seen at numerous NY dances, but have never danced with or even met for that matter. We have a lot of mutual friends though. I got up, said hi, we talked, and strangest thing of all, he WASN'T going to the dance I was attending...he was just going home. What are the odds?

 The dance was fun, though as expected, I had to wait quite a while to dance. Once I got asked, it was like vomit...I never STOPPED dancing. I had some guy say "WOW" after dancing with me (it was not that interesting of a dance but I followed exactly what he wanted) and another who was wearing a sweaty NY shirt and asked me to be his last dance in that shirt because he wore it for me. (Am I supposed to be excited to rub up against your wet tee-shirt?!) What a good day!