french hours of operation...

so monday was a BEAUTIFUL fall day in gay paris... idyllic, one might say. so i figured i'd head up to versailles again to check out the jeff koons exhibition. which i was tooootally stoked about. this is the sidewalk on the way to versailles. pretty freaking adorable, i know.

there weren't very many people and i wasn't sure where to go to get a ticket, as the first time i had a museum pass and got to skip the gigantic line.

a statue in the garden:

i guess the lack of people milling about should have told me something, but i just figured it was past tourist season...

the chateau as seen from the garden:

mais non, the place was freakin' CLOSED!!! duuuhhhh erin. nearly every museum is closed on monday!!! grrrrr... of course, i even looked up the times, but somehow missed the whole "closed on monday" part.

this is me shooting myself in the head bc i am extremely annoyed...

so i just got to take two really nice, long train rides for a little walk in the park. derrrrr...

the prettiest day ever and other notable notables...

this is my mini quiche lorraine. i just wanted to take a pic of it bc ya just don't carry around quiche in the states... it was DELISH and i ate it while i was waiting for the train! :)

this is just a cute little courtyard i always pass. i just love the gate, all the greenery, and the stone walkway. how charming!

i applied to the certificate program at parsons paris. cross your fingers for me!!!

this is the door to the building, just as it looked when they showed it on project runway! lol. 

i couldn't get up the courage to ask someone to take my pic in front of the door.

maybe if i get accepted...

i think this was from wednesday. i met moo for a late lunch, which kinda turned in to dinner too! we were sitting there a looong time! lol. then linda and madona joined us later. this is moo enjoying her sorbet. i had a delicious salad and chocolate cake!!! mmmm... so good.

it was kind of ugly that day. grey all day and rainy! bah!

i passed by this furniture store and it was pretty much all of the most amazing things i have seen. and when i say amazing, i mean ridiculous!

do you see the chandelier??? it is MARABOU!!! 

i actually like the turquoise couch a lot. the colors were pretty, but it was sooo much all together! but man! that chandelier... lol.

this is a cool pic bc you can see the reflection of the building across the street which looks classically french with the ultra-modern chandelier in the store. it was really huge and amazing too. that store was so fun, but i'm sure you'd have to promise your first born.

 it looked so expensive!

last night (thursday) i went with elia to bonheur des dames. it was a cute club and i got to DANCE!!! FINALLY!!! i missed dancing!!! we went with elia's sister and michel, her friend. 

it was such a good time!

this is me striking a pose on the dance floor!

ahh, today... today was a GORGEOUS fall day in paris. i woke up late (i did party hard last night...) and met mylene for brunch. i ordered a very traditional french breakfast of hot chocolate, breads and spreads, plain yogurt and oeuf a la coque with mouillettes (little strips of bread that you dip in the yolk of a soft-boiled egg!). 

me eating my mouillettes. delish! it was so warm and gorgeous. we sat there for forever!

then we walked up rue moufftard in search of a hat for moo.

HUGE CRABS!!! there are stores all along moufftard.

so, we didn't get a hat, but we did find moo's dream coat. it was perfect for her style. 

i could not have designed it better myself!

moo was getting a little emotional trying it on, so we knew she had to have it.

then we went a were lazy at her apt. moo had an appt to go to, so i got a ride on SCOOTERPOO! my fave! it was all part of my awesome day! then i walked back towards home. on the way i walked through the jardin des plantes (as seen in previous post in august). it was as beautiful the second time as it was the first. it was soooo sunny and gorgeous! i think i appreciated the day even more since it's been rainy and grey this week. i need SUUUUUNNN!!!

i was silly and forgot to check what these flowers were called, but i LOVE them.

LOVE.

i didn't check these either... oops. these ones are super-awesome though bc they are so sculptural and perfect! the color is great too.

me under the big tree. i am happy for such a gorgeous day. :)

this is the greenhouse. i caught the light through the window at just the right moment.

so cool.

after that, i walked home and bought myself a ridiculous pastry. i will miss the pastries... i don't have them too often (i still fit in my pants!) but every once in a while, they are heaven.

so that was my awesome day. paris was a lady in her wedding dress today, 

never looked prettier. it was like a dream. 

in the grey winter days to come, i'll think of today and hope for spring. 

au revoir madame de brioche et tes enfants...

so, more sad goodbyes last week... my dear natasha had to go back to greece and julian left for germany and everyone else from school left too, except a select few. we had going-away celebrations on the pont des arts which is the pedestrian bridge that crosses the seine from the left bank to the louvre. it was actually quite a party! 

i had no idea so many people hung out on this bridge on a friday night! lol

then we walked to a bar near the sorbonne and what do we see in the little plaza area? all these awesome balloons! they spelled out names of songs (we don't know why they were there... maybe some sort of orientation fun). there was "rock me amadeus" and some others too that i can't remember now... i had the german stand in front of "99 luftballons" lol...

way to be a good sport, julian! :) 

then we went to this bar called the mead maker, which had a sea-faring pirate-ish type theme.

it was cool, but we were all kinda tired and so it was a pretty early night.

this is a super-cute pic of natasha and julian and my cheek. :)

last saturday, i was baby-sitting ella and we went to the garde républicaine for their open house. it was pretty neat, actually. most of our time was spent looking at different horsies, ella's favorite. i didn't mind standing here for fifteen minutes bc the gendarme was really cute. hehe. the uniform was really working for me.

we walked alllllll around, saw more horsies, looked at the little museum of uniforms and stuff, ran around with some other kids and then we went to see the motorcyclists do their tricks and listen to the band play. all in all, a very interesting and busy day!

but it wasn't over yet... we walked a little while in my efforts to get ella to fall asleep in her stroller, but then we heard music playing, so we went to investigate! there was an anti-landmine rally being held by handicap international and they had music and exhibits and everything. it was very cool. this bad was pretty good too. so we sat and listened for a few songs and then explored some more.

we heard drums a little ways away and went to check it out. it was this awesome drum group called mulê ketu bringing attention to the rally. i really wanna be one of those drummers! it looked like a lot of fun. very energetic. ella finally started falling asleep in the middle of the drum performance (HOW??? idk... it was LOUD!).

on friday night, leoni (a friend that i met in the bois, see previous post) and i went to this event at le 66 showroom on the champs elysées. it was a party that wove through some stores in what can best be described as a high-class mall. there were "cointreau-politans", a dj, hair and make-up stations, photographers, all sorts of stuff. leoni and i decided to get a little make-over. haha, here are our results below, photo by one of the event photographers. i had a little "faux-hawk", very punk rock, with black cat-eyes and bright pink lips. leoni had the glamazon look going on with the jessica rabbit hair and smokey eyes. it was a fun little girls outing. i was sad that i wasn't feeling 100% and didn't have anywhere more exciting to go to than my bed... oh well.

these last pics are from yesterday at luxembourg garden. it was a chilly october day, but it was sunny with bright blue skies and fluffy clouds, just how i like it.

this is a little statue and mirror pool by the entrance we usually use that somehow i never noticed. it's so pretty and feels like it should be hidden somewhere in a secret garden (like the movie), but it's only 10 steps back from the sidewalk! so very charming.

i did not feel like taking my hair down friday night (sooooo much hairspray!) plus i thought ella might get a kick out of my crazy 'do, so i just slept on it. still looked crazy the 2nd day too! lol.

i kinda liked it actually, with the headband and the shades. very interesting, that's for sure!!!

these are just some extra flowers that nicole (ella's maman) had and gave to me. they are sooo pretty and cheerful! i love flowers, but i am toooo broke to buy any! haha.

so that is all for now. i am a little sniffly and i was worried it was getting worse last night, but i think i will be ok. this is kinda normal for october... eeeeverybody has the sniffles!

i don't know what to title this post...

hi! i haven't been very exciting lately... sorry.

i've been continuing with my french class at the sorbonne, which is going well. i am actually learning some good stuff, so hopefully i am improving...

other than that, i've just been hanging out, 

which doesn't really make for an interesting blog post...

this is pic is of moo and andre seen from the apt.

i just liked how they glowed in the bright sunlight, with moo's blonde hair and andre's bright white shirt.

i saw this cool old-fashioned rail car yesterday! i was totally jealous that it was going the other way! i wanted to ride it!!! :) apparently they use these when they are performing maintenance on the regular cars. and it's just cool.

i am baby-sitting now! fun! this is my little cutie-patootie ella!

yesterday, we went to luxembourg garden and had tons of fun. 

ella rode the horsies and then we went to the playground.

andre played with us too! ella loved it when i sat behind her on one side of the see-saw and andre was on the other side. she kept saying "faster! faster!" we got some air on that thing! :)

then we tried every slide available. i got on one too, which of course is comical bc i am 5'10" and those toys aren't exactly made for someone that size... but i had fun anyways. 

ella has such a fun laugh.

after we'd exhausted every game at the playground, we got in the poussette (stroller- i learned a new word!) and walked back out through the garden.

it was a really beautiful day: the flowers were in bloom, the sun was shining, a nice mild temperature. perfect park day.

we stopped to watch the boats for a little bit. ella wanted to do that too, but it was time to go.

so we walked home and she was fast asleep before we were half way there.

i met moo and madona for a juice since we hadn't hung out in a while. then just watched a movie and passed out. i was WORN OUT! haha, guess i played to hard at the park too...

american diner and bois de boulogne

hi all! i started my french class at the sorbonne last week. it was a HUGE hassle registering and taking multiple placement exams and whatnot. i also had to change courses, once bc they cancelled without letting me know and the second time bc the class that they put me in totally sucked. :) so now i am in a new class which will hopefully be just what i need!

so, as i was out and about i found this ridiculously cute kitty!!! she was just bounding around, chasing leaves, being a wild jungle animal. if i weren't allergic to most cats, i might have taken her home!!! i hope she has an owner... so cute!

in other animal news, i saw the most adorable woman and her dog on the metro. i tried to take a pic of her, but i was trying to be sly, so this one is the best i could do. tons of make-up and jewelry, big chiffon flower on her crocheted sweater, a big pink knitted headband. 

she was amazing. i kinda wanna be just like her when i am old.

and naturally, she carries her chien around in a basket, like dorothy from wizard of oz.

amazing...

so, as i was searching the fusac magazine for an apartment, what do i see but an ad for an american diner!!! and it is RIGHT down the street! it's called breakfast in america and it was started by a guy who used to work in hollywood, so a lot of the decor is movie memorabilia. 

it's very cute and very american. 

here is my hot chocolate with real whipped cream, straight from the can.

andre and i may have ordered too much, but it was amazing. blueberry pancakes, french toast and a cheddar omelet with home-style potatoes!

yessss!!!

andre about to experience his first american diner blueberry pancakes...

oh the anticipation... lol.

i am soooooo stoked! :)

we went back for dinner too (not on the same day... that would be excessive!) and it was also amazing. a real chocolate milkshake, grilled chicken sandwich, cheeseburger, and french fries... mmm... i am getting hungry just remembering it! i'd nearly forgotten what bbq sauce and ranch dressing taste like... heaven.

on saturday, i met up with natasha and her friends from school and we went to bois de boulogne. it's just a big, wooded park for those of you who don't know what a "bois" is (and why would you really?). it was a gorgeous day, so we trekked about to find a nice spot for our picnic!

this is natasha and me eating "porridge" as she says they call that flower in russia. they eat clovers too... weird. but not too bad. i mean, if i HAD to eat it...

julian was hiding from the tiniest raindrops you've ever seen. but it was cute and funny so we took a pic. :)

natasha communing with nature. she says she is always trying to find the source of waterfalls (note our waterfall in the pic) but she never finds it and always ends up back where she started. we think freud would have something to say about this... lol.

so yeah, it was a really great day and we had tons of laughs and if i tried to explain it to you, you'd think we were all certifiable... ;-p

another gorgeous sunset.

y'all know how i love clouds and pretty colors... 

yeah, so that is all for today. i hafta pack my stuff and also study!!!!!

also, remember september 11th and say a special prayer today.

xoxo