Morgan: 1, Pickpockets: 0

The weather outside has gotten insanely beautiful. I have shed my outer layers and tend to typically venture out in just a thin cardigan; the toms have come out for the season. It is incredible. I must say I really liked Paris before but now I am completely infatuated.

Due to the stunning weather, I find that I am spending more time outside, or trying to at least. Unfortunately, this typically corresponds to eating a lot. Nothing is quite as nice as picnic-ing out on the grass on a sunny day. And apparently, I'm not the only one that thinks so.

Last sunday, two friends and I ventured over to the vast lawns in front of the eiffel tower and camped out with some baguettes, goat cheese and pancetta for a lovely picnic. Besides the fact that I absolutely demolished the entire baguette (bad news bears), I was amazed at how many people there were outside doing the same as us. I would even venture to say that most of them were French and not just tourists. Though it is noticeably becoming much more touristy around these parts, which is somewhat unfortunate. Oh, look at the snob I have become. Don't even get me started on french pastries... A night picnic also occurred sometime last week, which was equally lovely but a little less crowded.

Besides all of that, I had what was easily my scariest moment of my time so far. I was making my way to the day picnic and was transferring trains in the metro. Now, I'm typically decently paranoid and avoid doing things like listening to my ipod etc. But seeing that it was 1 pm, I didn't think it could be harmful. I was walking along with two guys behind me heading up to the platform when suddenly my music clicked off. I thought my iPhone was maybe just changing songs, but I then noticed my headphones weren't connected to anything. I immediately checked my pockets and turned to the guys and told them to give me back my iphone. One guy continued on while the other stayed and took my abuse. I kept on in a similar fashion for a while. When I felt like it wasn't going anywhere I decided to jump ship and try to catch up with the other guy. I went up to him demanding he gave me my iphone back, etc. He kept saying he didn't have it so I simply explained to him that he was going to take me to his friend and get me back my iphone then. So he walked back down to the main hallway of the metro with me and on the way handed me back my iphone. I was so shocked, I'm pretty sure I actually thanked him... It was a pretty insane situation, but I guess my stubbornness (and slight stupidity) paid off.

Safe to say I will now be super paranoid, and won't ever listen to music on the metro again.

School is wrapping up pretty quickly though. I finished  most of my classes this week, only really having final presentations and finals ahead of me. I must say motivation to study is pretty hard to find when you are pass/failing a class and its 70 degrees and sunny. Plus I'm living in Paris. I mean come on, who could get themselves to do work?







So due to all of our work due in the near future, today after class we decided to find a nice lawn and "study" for a few hours... oops.

Part Deux!

Upon a second thought, I realized that one of the days we definitely also walked around my neighborhood/ Pere Lachaise / my school, but have no recollection of what day that was. So I could very well be lying about any of the activities that occurred.

Either way! On Wednesday Dusty and I headed to Versailles. It was the first time I had been and it definitely did not disappoint. It was a pretty incredible place. The opulence was pretty stunning. On the left is the famous Hall of Mirrors, which pretty nicely captures how absurd the whole building was. The tour was cool to do, but the whole time I was just wondering what was in the parts of the palace they weren't showing us! We probably only saw 1/5 of the palace (total guess) but either way it was absolutely massive, and we definitely didn't see a whole lot of it.

The palace itself was pretty cool, but I absolutely plan on going back just to visit the gardens. The gardens are insanely huge. I don't think you could walk all of them if you tried. I think google told us that the garden is 80,000 acres. It had tons of fountains and different pathways through incredibly cut hedges. I am excited for when the statues get uncovered and the plants are all green because I definitely plan to have an awesome picnic there. I can just picture it, after finals are done and the world will be a great place.

 Either way, Dusty and I toured the whole palace then wandered into the town of Versailles and stumbled upon some really awesome thai food for lunch. We then walked back to the palace picking up what turned out to probably be the best eclair I have ever had in my life. We took our snacks back to the gardens and probably just spent two or three hours enjoying the incredible weather and the gardens. I think this was one of the warmest days I've experienced so far. I was walking around in just my cardigan and was completely content! In fact, I believe this was the day where the high in Paris was higher than in LA. Which was a big success in my books.

 That was most of our wednesday, besides that I think we went home and cooked dinner. We spent the better part of thursday and friday in museums which was cool, but incredibly draining. I think by the end we were both going a little crazy, as the pictures will attest.

We went back to Musee d'Orsay, which I ensured was actually open this time. They had a temporary exhibit of Degas works which was pretty cool, but their permanent collection was pretty insane. I really had no clue all that they had! They had a lot of Monet's works as well as Van Gogh. It felt pretty crazy to be standing so close to paintings that are so famous and that you have seen in print so many times. Being able to actually observe the brush strokes and paint use in Van Gogh's self portrait was pretty bad ass.

After we finished at d'Orsay we made our way to Laduree to grab some famed macarons then found ourselves a little cafe to get coffee at and enjoy our delicacies. God damn are they good. I really am obsessed. I think I should get a job at Bottega Louie back home. They give discounts, right?

 We then proceeded to wander over towards the Georges Pompidou center and eventually to a really yummy steak dinner. It was this super great little restaurant where pretty much all you can order is steak and potatoes, so it was right up my alley. Afterwards we walked home through the Bastille and got Dusty his first crepe since being in Paris. I'm pretty sure it was my crepe, and I also have no clue how he went so long without getting one....

 The next day we spent at the Louvre which is daunting on its own, but after spending the previous day at d'Orsay it was just ridiculous. We were clearly a little stir crazy by this point...

We spent most of Saturday and Sunday just being lazy and lounging around. And eating. That is definitely something we did a whole lot of while Dusty was here. It was ridiculous how much awesome food we had.

On his last night we made our way to a restaurant that had been highly recommended to me by a friend and damn was it could. It was a super small restaurant that when we arrived there at 7, when it opened, it was already nearly full of people.  The food was awesome though.

Overall, it was a pretty amazing break and great excuse to get me to walk my butt all over Paris. Its really nice to have a reason to get out and about and see more of Paris. I really can't get enough of this place. It really felt like I was on spring break too! Funny how having classes only 3 days a week can make feel like a vacation.

Though it's clearly over now! Its kind of a complicated system but for most of my classes this is week 8/10 and I have a whole bunch of group projects that are due in week 10. I don't know how all of these French kids are so unfazed. I guess I will just have an insane week or two and then it'll all be over.

I mostly am finished with my obligations by mid-April (minus one final) so I am definitely looking forward to that!

A week in the city of love

I just don't even know where to begin! I suppose I should start with apologies for how long it's been since I've written, but I have been out enjoying the city instead of spending lots of time on my laptop, so that's a good excuse at least! Dusty arrived a week ago saturday and I think we walked around at least half of Paris... at least. And I've got the pictures to prove it! I think I have no choice but to write about my time with Dusty in 2 posts because I definitely took somewhere around 400 pictures in the past 10 days.

To start with! Dusty arrived on Saturday and to keep with the not going to sleep until 8 rule for surviving time change, we immediately went out walking. We started from my apartment and walked to the Bastille and then on to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was incredible, as always. It's interesting how you can go to the same place more than once, but get different things out of it each time you go. This time I was particularly struck by all the incredible stained glass. I think the first time I was more caught up in the architecture and magnitude of the whole church. However, the stained glass in the building is absolutely incredible! It was more intricate than one could conceivably think was possible. Nearly each panel is distinct from the others with different colors and patterns, but they are all so small. I've never seen stained glass quite like it.


Once we finished up seeing Notre Dame (which I continue to still say incorrectly) we wandered around the Saint Germain area. Just generally enjoying the city and each others company. By the time we had reached the very strange looking Institute du Monde Arab we were pretty exhausted and made our way back to my apartment. I'm pretty sure Dusty crashed before 8 pm and naturally woke up at 5 the next morning. We figured, what better way to celebrate being in Paris than to eat some really awesome pastries for breakfast.











With this thought in mind we made our ways to the famous (by Paris standards at least) restaurant/pastry shop Angelina's. They are traditionally known for their hot chocolate, but their pastries are damn good. We were both hungry, and knew how great the hot chocolate was so naturally we decided to each order hot chocolate and 4 pastries. This proved to be insane. I think this may be one of the few times in life where I couldn't finish something sweet. I have an incredible sweet tooth, but I was defeated. It was all incredible. So so so damn good, but it was way too much. Especially considering how little food there actually was. Either way, it proved to be a very respectable first meal.

We were both on the verge of an insulin induced coma and thought the only way to possible feel better was to walk, and walk for a damn long time. Angelina's is located near the jardin des tulieries, so we started our walk near there. We wandered around the garden some and ended up making our way down the champs elysees all the way to the Arc de Triumph. Please note the rock star photo; black and white never gets old.

We went home, napped (mistake) then rallied and found a band playing at a venue pretty close to my house. We started walking to the venue and I managed to get us lost, but it turned into a happy mistake! We ended up finding a cool little bar where they were having a jazz jam session. We hung out there and enjoyed the locals playing jazz then made our way over to the venue, which I eventually located. The band playing was this super bizarre band whose lead singer was rather moaning ethereally and playing the harp. It was truly very strange. But still a fun encounter over all.

The next day we figured would be a great day to go to the Musee D'orsay. It wasn't. I failed to notice that the museum was closed on Mondays. But since we were out and about with our day decided to walk around the area we were in. It was an incredible day in Paris, and one of the first days I would really classify as spring. I was wandering around in just a sweater and was perfectly content in life. I had never been to l'hotel des invalides but it was nearby so we headed there. We wandered around and ended up finding the Saint-Louise church, which I didn't know was in there.













 It was a really cool building and pretty church as well. The pretty weather really complemented the day as well.

 We continued walking and made our way to the eiffel tower and eventually stopped to grab lunch.






 After lunch we walked from the eiffel tower to the Church Saint Sulpice and then on to the Jardin des Luxembourg. I hadn't been to either place, and both were pretty awesome. We spent a while just relaxing in the gardens, which was pretty necessary. As best as I can tell, I think we walked about 10 km that day, just an estimation though! Either way it was a pretty whirlwind 3 days there! We saw a whole lot of the city in a little amount of time. On Tuesday, I had a full day of classes and we went to a really great dinner (and Amorino gelato) in the Latin Quarter. A great way to celebrate a long day of classes, for sure.

Barcelona!

 Since we had the week off school, I had decided to book a trip to Barcelona (and also because the flight was 30 euro). I conned Julia into coming with me. I say conned like it was difficult, but either way I had a partner for my adventures. But I had the whole week off and ended up in Barcelona on my own for a day. Which was by no means bad! I spent the day just wandering around checking out the architecture and enjoying the beautiful weather. It was so nice to be in warmth again. Though it must be said that I have definitely adapted to the weather change. I wandered all over Barcelona for 3 days and rarely wore more than a cardigan; it also never exceeded 60ish degrees. 

 Either way, Julia and I spent most of the time walking around and exploring, and I must say Barcelona is quite incredible. I didn't really think that I would enjoy it as much as I did. Not to say I thought I wouldn't like it, but I really loved it.

To start with, the whole place was pretty much a play thing for Gaudi. His architecture is absolutely incredible and it is all over the city. The first day Julia was there we did our own little walking tour of Gaudi's work. We started by taking the metro to Park Guell and just absorbed the artwork. It was insane what came out of his mind and how it was all executed. 
After a while, and many photos we walked from Park Guell to the great Basilica, the Sagrada Familia. Which was INSANE. I think it may go on my non-existent favorite places ever list.


The Sagrada Familia is still under construction and has been since the late 1800's, when Gaudi first started the project. When you see it too, you understand how it is still being built. It was so incredibly intricate. On the left is a picture of the passion side of the church, which is depicting the nativity scene in incredible detail.

As most of you probably know, I'm not a religious person at all, but this church was so powerful. The exterior is, of course, beautiful, but I could have easily spent hours sitting inside the structure.

The rest of the time in Barcelona was mostly spent wandering the narrow streets and just enjoying the culture. Great time over all!