I have been traveling in Spain and France for the past three weeks or so, and I thought I’d make a few posts about traveling, since Eurotrip is an essential experience for anyone who is studying abroad in Europe!
My first stop after Oxford was Paris, France.
A Moveable Feast, a set of Hemingway’s memoirs on his years as a young writer in Paris, begins with the following quote: "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." Despite having spent five delightful days in Paris, I would like to somberly point out that Paris during these days is a feast only if you are prepared to shell out exorbitant sums of money on foods and drinks of miniscule portion. While walking along Boulevard Saint-Germain on the way of Eiffel Tower, my friend and I walked into an innocuous looking café and ordered cappuccinos to warm ourselves up— one cup of cappuccino cost 7.50 euros, which felt out of this world, and I’ve lived at Georgetown! Such financial woes aside, however, Paris truly is a gastronomic delight! My vice, above all, was pan au chocolat, a cuboid-shaped puff pastry with chocolate pieces in the middle. I ended up having at least two pan au chocolat each day because 1) Paris has so many bakeries 2) they all display the baked goods by their windows so I would see them as I walked by and feel compelled to walk in(which must be their intention).
I also went a little crazy with crêpes—I’ve had crêpes before, but the difference was that the ones in Paris were much lighter and almost wafer-thin. My favorite flavor, hands-down, would be nutella and banana—which probably is not traditional, but they were a heavenly combination.
Check out some pictures and you may see why I sound obsessed.
Oh, and just in case anyone was wondering, I did go to the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, and many other things that did not involve eating pastries or crêpes.
On my third day, Paris got five inches of real, fluffy snow! My friends and I got freshly made tapenade at an open-air food market on Boulevard Raspail and climbed up to the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, which is the highest point in Paris. Paris was covered all in white and looked magical! At a bakery called Coquelicot at the foot of the Sacre-Coeur area, we bought an enormous loaf of plain bread just as it was coming out of the oven, and ate it with the tapenade we bought. It was heavenly. Ah, I find myself going on and on about food again, but I think anyone who’s been to Paris would sympathize with me!
Below are pictures of Paris in snow:
Three great friends that made the trip so much fun!
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