Taking a step back

Monday, June 13th, 2011
     Today has been relaxing thus far. After class, I went over to the Jewish District. I've not been let down by the food yet in that area. After passing too many good smelling boulingeries with challah, macarons, tartes, pains chocolate, etc., we couldn't make it past this jam packed little restaurant. Sarah, Max, and I could barely read anything on the menu, so we knew it had to be good, especially after observing the freshly prepared meals around us. Lots of loaded scrambled eggs, hefty slides of quiche, croissants, and massive meringue pies, just to say the least. The tea selection was exquisite and smelt very citrusy and fresh. It has to be good tea when you're given a strainer to pour the tea still brewing when you're given it in the pot. I don't know what they did to make the eggs so good, but the scrambled eggs I ordered were probably the best I've ever ordered. They had the perfect texture, not too dry and crispy, nor slimy or too wet. There was a perfect ratio of artichokes and parmesan in the eggs. As basic as the meals sounds, I can't wait to return there for brunch this Sunday. 

Jewish District

      These eggs are like something I've never tasted before! During our meal, we saw the 6 inch high lemon meringues pass us by far too many times that we were talked into dessert just through observation. None of us were into sharing, so we each had our own massive dessert tart. Mine was a blend of exotic fruits, on a buttery, flakey crust.

Exotic Fruit Tarte

Lemon Meringue Tarte

We probably devoured more than we ever expected to and will be recovering from our food comas by walking throughout Paris. This is when skipping the metro comes in handy..
     Everyone seemed to be exhausted after this meal, but I still wanted to check a few more things off of my list of things I need to see in Paris before departing, so I ventured over to the Musee national de Moyen Age/ Musee Cluny. It was a nice afternoon strolling through the museum by myself, not being held up by anyone else who seemed tired, bored, or hungry. It was all on my own time. It was one of the first times in Paris I set out to do something by myself. I really enjoyed the self reflection I was able to experience by not talking to nearly anyone for the three hours I was gone. I could also experience the city more completely as I eliminated the distraction of talking to whoever is next to you, rather than focusing on the art of the streets I was wandering. It's also nice to be able to discover the city on my own. I eventually ditched the map after a while as there wasn't another antsy person with me eager to reach our destination as quickly as possible. I remembered the advice I'd been given numerous times, especially by Dr. Maxim, reminding me:

"If you want to discover somewhere that has already 

been discovered, lose the map". And that I did.

     The museum was small, but I definitely think it was worth going to see the stone heads from Notre Dame. The 21 stone heads shown in one of the rooms was kind of disturbing to see at first. I then learned than the stone heads were of the Biblical kings of Judah that were once in front of Notre Dame until an angry mob of Revolutionaries mistook the kings of Judah for the kings of France and abused and decapitated the statues. Someone gathered the heads and buried them in his backyard near the present day Opera Garnier, where they remained for two centuries, until 1977, when some diggers came across them. The statues in front of Notre Dame are reconstructions. 

21 stone heads of the Biblical kings of Judah

     I really enjoy learning about history, especially when I'm in such a historical, famous area to do so. I'm not coming back to Paris any time soon, so I feel I need to learn as much as I can and visit as many museums as I can, with still making time to immerse myself into the Parisian culture. So far, I think I've done a pretty good job balancing the two.
     A parisian man came up to me today on the metro today and pointed at the scar from my ACL surgery on my knee. He started talking in French and I heard ACL, as it's the same abbreviation in French and English, and so I just said "wie," but he kept getting into too much detail where he was confused when I just kept responding with yes. I eventually caved in and said, "I don't speak French," with a half smile. He began responding in the little English he knew. It was nice to be mistaken for a Parisian, possibly by my outfit and my gaze focusing dead on one point in the distance on the metro the entire time until the man spoke to me. I've pretty much read both of my guide-books back to back a few times, and it's less interesting to me to read to places after I've already been to them. Kind of anti-climatic. I've started picking up the free metro newspapers in the morning, and though I can't read French, I can look at the pictures and the words I recognize, such as Bradley Cooper, and his appearances in Paris for the premiere of the, "Hangover 2," or "Very Bad Trip 2," as it's called here. I really regret not taking some sort of introductory French class before coming here. Like always, life (school) got in the way..