My Birthday in Champagne!

NOTE:  As of January 17, 2012, I have moved my blog to my new website:  www.onegirlsadventures.com

I will still be doing duplicate posts on this website for the next 6 months or so, but plan to close it down after that.  Please go to my new website and subscribe!!

MERCI BEAUCOUP!

****

In July and August, Parisianers pack their suitcases and head out of the city for the all important vacance.  The metros and rues are now full of Frenchies dragging wheeled suitcases in full anticipation of their beach time in Spain, Corisica or Morocco (and this year more than others people are extra excited to exit Paris since we have seen NOTHING but clouds and rain this summer!). This past weekend I didn't have a 4 week vacation on the horizon, but I did have a birthday...so I did as my fellow city dwellers, I packed all my favorite sun dresses and headed to the region that is famous world wide for one celebratory beverage...champagne, bien sur!

Well, I didn't need my sundresses, but even with a few clouds overhead the fabled champagne vineyards caused me to bubble over just like an overflowing glass of its fermented juices. 

Champagne prodominately produces3 kinds of grapes or les cépages: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier

I became a big fan of both the Pinot champagnes durning this short trip.

I couldn't help but giggle everytime I saw the name of this tiny town (population 1,692)...check out the name on the bottom right corner of this sign...Yep, you read it correct!  Dizy!  I didn't get dizzy on champagne is this quaint town...but I am sure many others before me have....although I doubt if as many got as a big a kick out of the ironic name :) as me!

Oh, s'il vous plait Monsieur Pérignon....can you you just pour me one little degustation??!!

Here I am at Moët & Chandon in Epernay!

Seeing the house where Dom Pérignon is made was a bit like bumping into Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie...I think I got a little too excited and lost all composure :). Ah, I exaggerate, but it was a thrill to be there....although we opted out of the tour because all the locals had said it wasn't worth the price of admission.

Fun fact about Moët & Chandon, they have a Royal Warrant to supply champagne to Elizabeth II...so I guess we know now what she was drinking the night of Prince William and Kate's wedding!

Life is full of terrific surprises!

Last year I drank a bottle of Perrier Jouët on my birthday...this year on my birthday I, uh, visited the house where it is made!

Although the locals steered us clear of Moët & Chandon for a tour, they all heartily recommended we tour the Mercier Caves (founded in 1858).  The experience was a bit like a Disneyland ride, but well worth the over top elevator ride a 30 mètres sous terre.

This picture is of the champagne being automatically "riddled" by these big cages.

The bottles are slowly turned over a period of time to get all the yeast sediment to settle in the neck of the bottle so it can be expelled before corking.

Back in the day all this turning was done by hand...ugh.

Monsieur Mercier wanted his caves to be beautiful for his workers so he carved beautiful reliefs into the walls of the caves.  This is just one that I snapped from my laser guided train tour through a portion of the 18 km of caves.

Here is the website to this champagne house: http://www.champagnemercier.fr/en/

Their pictures are much better than mine :)

At the end of the exhausting elevator and train ride, we quenched our thirst with a beautiful glass of the Mercier product.  The idea behind Mercier champagne when it started back in the 1800s was to make champagne affordable to the masses.  I was able to buy a lovely bottle for 21 Euro...so the tradition still exists today.

In Reims, the capital of Champagne, there is a beautiful gothic cathedral named Notre-Dame de Reims...through October they do this projected light show on the front of the cathedral when it becomes dark...it was probably one of the most beautiful and breathtaking things I have seen in my life.

I am cuddling a bunch of grapes that may be used in a 2011 vintage of DP :).

With all the love I am giving it, I am certain it will be one of their best vintages yet!

A tasting in Hautevillers of different champagnes by some of the local producers.  Hautevillers is an itty bitty town, but home to Dom Pérignon's Abbey where he was the cellier until his death in 1715.

"Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!" - quote attributed to DP 

And I did drink the stars all weekend...it was wonderful!

Just a glimpse of the beautiful, little town of Hautevillers....and me!

The tomb of Dom Pierre Pérignon.

Something else cool in the Abbey was a relic of St. Helene (the mother of Emperor Constantine!).

This country seems to always be amazing me.

Two thumbs up!  

That was my verdict after the great weekend!

The only hitch had been at our hotel when we decided to check-in early (11am-ish).  The owner just kept repeating how tôt, tôt, tôt we were...and that we should have come after 2pm.  I didn't quite understand her frustration as we weren't demanding our room, we just wanted to leave our bags and get a map...but she was all in a tizzy.  Getting that map was like pulling teeth!  

A fresh, crusty baguette from the local boulangerie and fresh chevre from a local farm helped erase the memory of the testy hotel owner.

However, when we came back after 2pm for our room she was as pleasant as punch...go figure...

Auvoir Hauteville, Champagne....

...and being 36!

(oh, I couldn't get enough of those vineyards!)

Bastille Day and Beyond!

NOTE:  As of January 17, 2012, I have moved my blog to my new website:  www.onegirlsadventures.com

I will still be doing duplicate posts on this website for the next 6 months or so, but plan to close it down after that.  Please go to my new website and subscribe!!

MERCI BEAUCOUP!

****

Why does time seem to elapse even faster in Paris??? At my advancing age (I turn a year older on Sunday! Yikes...and Yay!), this isn't a good thing :)!  Well, I guess we should just all get use to the fact that I will continue to miss my personal goal of posting once a week....however, if two weeks feels like one week in Paris and I post every two weeks (or a week in Paris time), does that mean I still am making my goal?  Does a tree make a sound when it falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it?

Bastille day or le quatorze juillet was parfait!  Since I missed all the US festivities for July 4th, I was bound and determined to take part in France's national holiday that marks the uprising of common people against the royal monarch back in 1789.  I skipped class in the morning (first time ever in my entire life!) to witness the oldest and largest military parade down the famous Champs Elysees!  After one hour of standing on my tip toes I saw the below horses who were escorting non-other than Monsieur Sarkozy!!  I was thrilled!  However, I found my enthusiasm was lost on any French person I told the sighting about...apparently Sarkozy isn't very popular right now despite his wife being pregnant with a little garcon (ah, it is almost a sport for me to bring up Carla Bruni with French friends....they are so impassioned with dislike for her!!).

There were over 240 horses in this group escorting the President of France.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Mr. Sarkozy because the Russian guy in front of me decided to wave at him (arm dead center in front of my camera) right as I snapped the picture...C'est la vie. :(

I wasn't the only one at the parade...although I wish I would have been because the view would have been better...but here is a fun glimpse of how people 10 rows deep were trying to see the soldiers, horses and President.  The periscopes were hysterical, but I found it particularly amazing that some folks had the wherewithal to bring ladders to the occasion.  Apparently they had done this before.

Had I had some political connections, I would have had a nice box seat right along the Champs Elysees.  I noticed most of those woman invitees were dressed to kill with their Christian Louboutin heels and Chanel purses.

The best part of the day was when I headed to my Brazilian girlfriend's house, Andrea (she is in the middle), to drink wine, eat cheese and baguettes and go see the fireworks. She hosted a small party with a few French friends who quickly became my friends too.  One of my new adorable friends is above...her name is Lily.  The iconic Eiffel Tower is majestic behind us....we watched the fireworks on one of the quais near the tower and the Champs de Mars.

No picture is actually like being there, but this is a shot of some of the fireworks during the finale with the Eiffel Tower sparkling to the right. We were all mesmerized for those 20 minutes.

Afterwards we became part of the sea of people trying to get to their next destination.

Thankfully we didn't have to take a metro as all the stations in the vicinity were completely bondée!

The police were directing people to other, less packed stations...which I think probably became just as over-crowded.  Our group just walked 3 blocks back to Andrea's apartment and resumed our cheese eating.

It was a wonderful evening...which for me ended 24 hours later as I spent the day after Bastille day with Andrea just café hopping, shopping and then making dinner at her apartment.  Un fête inoubliable et parfait!

I have 2 more days of class left before I take a summer break (gotta do as the Parisians and do some traveling during the month of August...and September)....which means I will have to say good-bye to yet more friends....that seems to be the life of an ex-pat, always meeting and then having to say good-bye to wonderful people.  Two people from this 4 week session I will particularly miss are the vibrant, intelligent and fun girls from Venezuelans!  Carmen and Maria!!  Today we took a little excursion to Paris' first taqueria.  

YES!  I ate Mexican in Paris! And it was wonderful!

Here we are at the Paris' best and smallest Mexican restaurant, El Nopel (Maria is in the middle and Carmen is on the right).  I ordered the 3 tacos (2 poulet and 1 boeuf) and the girls got the "Burron" (a burrito larger than their heads!).

Everything was made fresh and in front of us...including the handmade tortillas that the owner rolled out and grilled on the spot.

Here is the Mexican owner, Alejandro, cutting tomatos for his wonderful salsa or guacamole.  The service was friendly and in 3 languages (Spanish, French and English)...I will definitely be going back to this delightful hole in the wall along the Saint Martin canal in the 10th.  It was a jewel! 

Well, this will be my last blog post at my current age (my Brazilian girlfriend has taught me to be a bit more quiet about my age :) )...but perhaps in my next post I will be much wiser as I will indeed be a year older :).

One can only pray! So stayed tuned, my next post just may change your life. Ha!...and since I am headed to the Champagne region to celebrate, who knows what pearls of wisdom several glasses of champagne will inspire!

In the meantime, I leave with you with some wisdom from a French proverb:

Il est bon d'avoir des amis partout.

It is good to have friends everywhere.

Bienvenue a 7eme Arrondissement!

NOTE:  As of January 17, 2012, I have moved my blog to my new website:  www.onegirlsadventures.com

I will still be doing duplicate posts on this website for the next 6 months or so, but plan to close it down after that.  Please go to my new website and subscribe!!

MERCI BEAUCOUP!

****

In The Toronto Star Weekly on February 4th, 1922, Ernest Hemingway wrote an article about living in Paris on $1,000 a year. In it he celebrates the robust exchange rate of the Canandian and US dollar compared to the franc...12.5 francs = 1 dollar.  His hotel cost 12 francs a day, his breakfast cost 2 francs and a trip on the metro a mere 4 cents.  In his words, "Exchange is a wonderful thing!"  Ah, how times have changed! :).  In fact here in Paris, I only have 2 rules for myself; I do not talk about the dollar to euro exchange rate nor the US stock market.  Both could probably cause me panic attacks if I kept too close a tabs on either...so my simple rule in both cases is ignorance is bliss! :)

Good News! J'ai déménagé last Saturday! I am now in a total different world on the Left bank of the Seine. Gone is my Paris of old with the diverse neighborhood of the West and North Africans (where I stood out like a sore thumb!) and where my Malian neighbors yelled (lovingly) at each other at the Mangrove Bar and gambled cards on the hoods of cars until late at night. Now I am in the glamorous et très parisian 7eme arrondissement. It is amazing how quickly I adapted to my previous neighborhood because I was quite shocked to see SOOOO many white people over here. :) The chic shopping street next to my apartment is dotted with men and women wearing striped tops and yellow or pink bottoms. Their hair is shiny and slick and their cars are Audis or Maseratis.  In fact my neighbor just a few blocks down is the Prime Minister of this great nation.  I am going through culture shock and I only moved a 15 minute cab ride away!  However, I am quite certain I will adapt just fine (probably too well) to my new uppercrust quartier.  I have already grown a bit too attached to a few of the boutiques.

This is the salon in my new apartment! Très beau, oui!?

I was lucky to find through mutual friends an American woman who works for Microsoft that was looking for a roommate!  I now get to spend my next 10 months in a beautiful (and Italian decorated!) Haussmannian style Parisian apartment with a dynamic, French-speaking expat named Paula. The apartment is truly amazing and I think my new roomie and I will get on like 2 pees in a pod!

The fleurs on the table are from a local florist/flirt named Tony.

This frommagerie, touted as one of the best in Paris, is a quick 5 minute jaunt from my new front door.  It is the size of a shoebox, but houses over 200 cheeses.  Every inch is covered with different raw milk camemberts, compté, beaufort  and these adorably stuffed little goats :).  It is icebox cold when you walk in and the women inside definitely know their stuff.  I particularly enjoyed during my visit that no english was spoken....so I had to reach deep into my French vocab to ask what was best to pair with a Cote de Provence rosé I was serving that night.  The recommendation of 3 different chèvres was exceptional!

As a note, it is SOLDES season here in France!!

Twice a year Parisians indulge in a tradition that we Americans get to treat ourselves to every weekend (especially now with the down economy)...sales up to 70% off the retail price.  Believe it or not, the French government doesn't allow items to be discounted (without penalty) outside one of these 2 month long sale periods.  So up until the 26th of July one can expect all the stores to be in complete disarray, lines to be long to the fitting room, and manners to be disregarded as women and men dig through sale racks. I have been elbowed, feet stomped on and shoved without one "pardon" from the offending patron...but I shrug it off.  I understand their appetite for the sale...especially with such a drought in between opportunities.

This is a tame scene from a Zara clothing store near my new apartment.  When I see such chaos I usually walk in and then walk out.  So far the soldes have yielded me 3 robes (dresses) and 1 manteau (coat).

I think I will mourn a bit when they are over....as I imagine all of Paris will do.

Escargot!

My new walk to school involves walking down the boutique lined Rue de Bac, accross the Pont Royal (build by Louis XIV during his reign in the late 1600s), through the Louvre (I walk through the Porte de Lions every morning...how insane is that!) and then towards the Opera on my way to  L'Atelier 9. A cafe I pass by both morning and night, named Cafe St. Germain, is alway packed with well-heeled folks drinking champagne and eating salads. I figured with all those people it had to be good, oui? Last night I was able to sample their plat du jour (beouf bourguignon) and try these tasty yet hard to extract :) morsels with a group of friends. 

I experienced what the fuss was about.

I am looking forward to further discovering all the 7eme has to offer...I think we will be a good match!  I leave you with one fun discovery that happened yesterday on the metro....



A boy with a bird! 

I witnessed this duo on the Metro from my stop at Sevres-Babylone to Concorde!  It was the cutest and darndest thing!

He, the bird, just sat perched on the little can of food between the legs of the garcon while the garcon drew pictures of dragons. The bird would pop his head in and out of the can to grab some seeds and then deposit the little shells all over the train floor.

I could only stare (and take 2 pictures)...at one point I was staring so much the gentleman friend I was with said, "Jen, I am over here."

Yeah, but the adorable little boy and bird is over there :).