Salut Juin

I had in my head that the market next to our house was on Saturdays and Wednesdays so I got up really early, very excited to get more food. Alas! it is only on Saturday mornings. But food was had anyway. Sam and I walked over to Rue Cler, a pedestrian only street full of patisseries, boulangeries, bucheries, etc. So I finally got to try out my new cart. I felt pretty awesome, and very French walking around with a baguette sticking out of my cart. After breakfast it was time for class. We are slowly working our way through neo-classical and romantic art. Yesterday we visited the Musee Delacroix, and Saint Sulpice. The museum is where Delacroix lived at the end of his life, working on his last commision: Saint Sulpice. It was pretty cool, though his work isn't my favorite I like him as a person. For lunch a few of us went to get some Greek food, BUT walking to get lunch we happened to walk right by Laduree!!! For those who don't know, Laduree is one of the most famous patisseries in all of Paris (and France, and the world) because not only are their pastries to die for, they INVENTED the macaron! Which just happens to be the very confection that I had for the first time in Seattle years and years ago, which opened my eyes to the world of French pastry and made me first want to be a pastry chef (aka. my favorite dessert in the whole world). So I basically had a heart attack. They were the best macarons I've ever had, hands down. So after my moment in pastry mecca we went and had lunch and spent some time at the Pompidou. The center was really cool and I really need to go back to see all of their collection. We only were there for about an hour, when it deserves a whole day. But we had to go meet everyone at the Louvre for round two. Today was a French national holiday, so almost everything is closed. I woke up really early and decided to go check out one of the many parks in Paris. I spent most of the day and Butte Chaumont. It was absolutely stunning. The park is very hilly, with the center featuring a lake, in which is a island topped with a temple. There are also waterfalls, and beautiful places to sit and rest. The rest of the day will be devoted to giving my poor feet a break and getting some reading done.

Me and my cart

Pastries at Laduree

View of the city from the top of the island

The waterfall grotto

The temple