here comes the sun

the weather was UNBELIEVABLY beautiful today. the sun was out and gloomy winter was forgotten. i forced myself to get up early so i can study for my mid-term and have breakfast before my architecture walk. i can proudly say i followed my plan!
the meeting point for the walk was right outside luxembourg so i decided to go to "le rostand". i got a perfect seat under the shades and view of luxembourg. i was so glad it wasn't as busy as the last couple of times i was there. i read through my notes with a croissant and cafe creme. guess what? i caught my food on camera before eating it this time.

the architecture walk today was definitely one of the best. i actually learned a lot and miraculously remembered plenty of random details. this class is almost a training for tour guides. i have tons of historical background info of paris and stories of different King Louis in my head now....oh yeah, i can also analyze the architecture style and tell you the names of different little parts of the structure (thanks to my architecture dictionary).

central access of Palace de Luxembourg of Marie d'Medici

Church of Sorbonne- originally built by Richelieu
but the plaques with his name are all destroyed during revolution.

finally, Val de Grace- commissioned by Ann of Austria
dedicated to the birth of Louis XIV
the initials AL are shown everywhere, like in the last photo

im still amazed at the amount of history behind each and every one of the buildings. we started in medieval paris and now we're on to 17th century...the city has grew and expanded& the architectural styles have changed drastically and so much more. oh Paris...

gerard mulot

i really should have put this up last week because that was when eileen and i bought...6 cakes from this place. i wasn't fast enough on getting pictures (we finished them before we knew it, pastries go really fast when eileen and i are in the room) but i thought you all deserve more than just a couple of lines about it so i remembered to take pictures after i got more (shhh...3) for myself yesterday..DON'T WORRY, i didn't eat all of them at once. the strawberry tart is still in the fridge.

strawberry tart

caramel pear cake

delice de ninon- eileen's pick. i've had 2 and still dont really know what its REALLY made of. tastes like custard whipped cream/mousse in a really crunchy tart. whatever, all that matters is its GOOD.

my sunday afternoon.

my attempt at une apres midi parisienne.
big surprise- i woke up early this morning but uh...i had nothing to do. one thing i've learned from my past two months here that sunday is NOT a good time to visit museums. so museum was definitely out of the question.
on the other hand, im always up for food and coffee, so i packed a book and headed to "les editeurs" at the carrefour d'odeon. odeon is always busy, today was no exception. i love the cafe, well.. everything but the scruffy old dude on my left. he sat there forever and only ordered a coffee while sneaking out his own snack from his hobo backpack. but my biggest problem with him might be the fact that he reminded me of my neighbors. personally, i refer to them as the epitome of arrogant cheap old french couple. (im sure many have heard me complain in person/on phone or had even experienced the unreasonable wrath in person- soooo sorry. basically, long story short, they are an old grumpy french couple who owns two little dogs that barks in the day and makes me want to play american football with them, yep i want to literally chuck them out the window. oh and the two old people? they KNOCK on my wall at night when they can't sleep. they are evil. and when i knock back? they come running at my door, ringing the doorbell and banging on the door. im still amazed by their body strength- i was too scared to open the door. ask me about it in summer, im sure i'll have more stories by then.)
anyway, les editeurs. its literally a cafe in a library. feel free to take the books off the shelves and read it with coffee. the area i was sitting in had a wall full of travel books. the girl beside me started going through a tour guide of rome when she had enough of her own work. i pulled out one on Lyon but as soon as i opened i realized there weren't any pictures so it was back onto the shelve in no time.

my book for architecture class blended in pretty well

crepe? OUI!

my friends and family all know that im a helpless snacker (just spend a day or two with me and you'll see). im always hungry and munching on something. hence, my fridge is never empty. i have a decent-size fridge here in the appartment, its slightly bigger than the mini fridge in dorms. since im really not a big fan of cleaning up a greasy or stinky kitchen, i've been making really simple food. i stock up my fridge with my favorite snacks once or twice a week. in addition to fruits and veggies, i have a variety of snacks as well as a fridge door of chocolates. hm...oh yeah theres also grapefruit juice and water.

clockwise from top left: vanilla yogurt, pudding, apple sauce, apple&pear sauce, pear sauce, apples, crepes and nutella.

ever since crepe addict eileen came to visit, i've lost track of the number of crepes i ate. we found these packs of delicious pre-made crepes in the supermarket. just reheat, and add whatever you want on it.

with pear sauce

fold it and sprinkle sugar on top

with my first french starbucks- camomille tea

marie a's home

looks just like another disneyland (but intensely gold-plated) with the tour buses and cars out front

the chateau （俗夠有力）

mirror mirror on the wall

the chapel

Apollo's fountain

Latona's fountain

here comes the best part. eileen's goal of the day: RENT A BOAT! we were the only two girls crazy enough to row in the cold. we tried to attack the ducks and swans- didn't really work out that well because we were too slow. it was definitely the highlight of the day as versailles isn't as glamourous as it seems. its been remodeled way too many times and still super crowded.

our boat!

hard at work

view from the middle of the lake. it took us a while to actually turn the boat&get these photos.

new friends we met on the way back: mouton!

louvred it again

eileen and i went to that huge museum in the center of paris on wednesday night.

strictly tourist

watch it, the clip says it all. simply love the Paris in Funny Face.
FINALLY, i saw the Eiffel Tower up-close/in person today. somehow, in the past two months, i've never had the urge to visit even though aup is just 10 minutes away from it. so today, since my dear Eileen is here visiting (yes, i feel loved that someone actually was bothered enough to come see me), an obligatory tourist stop was necessary. thank goodness the weather was nice. we had a ton of fun trying to take pictures of/with it.

find eileen.

now look for me.

turn around and voila! theres the montparnasse building and ecole militaire

of course we stopped by the other Parisian gem as well. Laduree:

eileen's sorbet framboise+4 mini macarons

saint-honore rose-framboise deliciousness
(coco, we'll have your macarons for you!)