Paris Day 4: Le Bleu & More Death
Listening: Celebrate we will. Because life is short but sweet for certain. We’re climbing two by two to be sure these days continue.
When I woke up on the morning of the 17th, I was still sleeping in the bed above the French-Canadian girl. I hadn't talked to her yet upon opening my eyes, and bag man was doing his thing on the sole single bed in the room. When I got out of bed and showered, bag man was doing his thing, one of the Aussies from last night was passed out in his bed, and the two others (the French-Canadian included) were grabbing breakfast in the kitchen downstairs.
When I got out of the shower, bag man was packing up and everyone else came back to the room to get ready for the day. Fortunately, bag man was packing his stuff to high tail it out of the city. After he left, I nabbed his single bed and started organizing my stuff. It was laundry day and I sat on my new bed organizing.
After a few minutes, I struck up a conversation with an Indian-Candian girl who had the other top bunk in my room. It turned out that she was a cook as well in Toronto. She worked at an Italian restaurant called Luce on the fish station. I was delighted to find another cook on the road and we instantly started talking about food and what's going on in the scene and such. She had been on the road for a month and a half and, same as me, had two more weeks before returning home to her restaurant and her boyfriend, the sous chef. It was during that conversation that we decided to meet up for dinner that night. During the conversation, I also formally met Anne, the French-Candadian, who I had been sleeping above for the last couple of nights. So, before I headed off to do laundry and the two girls headed off to see Paris, Michelle, the cook from Toronto, and I agreed to meet back at the hostel at half past six.
Laundry was, well, laundry. Luckily, I was able to get it all done before the lockout and was able to hang it in my room. I think that the gorgeous receptionist at the hostel would have let me go up to put it away even if I had been a little bit late. Good GOD was she gorgeous.
After I had all of my laundry settled and hung, I headed off to the Metro to go cross town where Le Cordon Bleu is. Instead of going to my normal stops of either Anvers or Barbes Rochechouart, I headed to the Pigalle station, a little bit west of Anvers and Barbes Rochechouart in order to get right on the 12 train to get off at Vaugirard Station.
The night before as I had been talking with the Aussies and the German, they informed me that we were staying right near the red light district of Paris. Now, I knew that there was the Moulin Rouge and all that, but I didn't think that there was really a red light district of Paris. Had I completely missed it? Well, I certainly found it when I walked to the Pigalle station. It was right in the middle of all of the cabarets, porn shops and erotic movie theaters. I was thoroughly amused by it. Me, of all people, missed the porn for the first three days that I was in Paris. Weird.
Anyways, I headed off to Le Cordon Bleu. It was tough trying to get there. I got lost a couple of times. To tell you the truth, it wasn't until I got to Strasbourg that I decided to go check out Le Cordon Bleu, and even when I got to Paris, I kept pushing it off in lieu of doing other things. But, being my last full day in Paris, I figured I should go check it out.
I went in there without calling or anything and arrived there around one in the afternoon, a time when shops are on siesta and people are generally out of the office. It was just a bad time. But when I got there, the reception bent over backwards to see what she could do. At first, I just got some info on the school and was told that I could try to call the school around three or so to see if there was anyone available to show me around. But after a bit of confusion and running around and explaining that this was my last day in Paris, she found one of the admissions directors who was free.
Before I knew it, the two of us sat down to talk about why I was there and how I could apply. I found out how much everything cost and what kind of paperwork I would need to be able to go to school there. After that discussion, she took me around the school and I observed about a half a dozen classes. It was pretty cool. There were a lot of Asians running around the place. I was surprised. I could tell that there were some Americans in the crowd too. I saw mostly beginner culinary classes and some advanced pastry classes. I spent a good two hours checking out Le Cordon Bleu and decided, walking out, that it was a place that I could definitely see myself at. As I thought about it for the rest of the day, I decided that I'm going to do it. I'm going to save up the thirty thousand euro or the $36,600 to pay for Le Grand Diplome which covers both the Culinary and the Pastry programs. The kicker is that the advanced classes in each of the programs are all taught in French only. This means that I would need to learn French. I think that being in Paris and immersed in the language, I could probably do it. Maybe I would have to start dating a French girl too, something I have no problem with.
Le Cordon Bleu
By the time I finished at Le Cordon Bleu, it was well past lunch time. I was hungry as hell. On my way to see Le Cordon Bleu, I saw a charcutrie that looked like it had some pretty good eats, so I stopped in to pick up some picnic items. It happened to be another leek quiche and a creamy cucumber salad. Further down the street, I picked up a water and a Canadian apple. I had seen these Canadian apples all over France, and they looked like Asian pears, so I wanted to try one just to see if I was right.
With my picnic in tow, I headed over to Les Invalides to eat. It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining and it was very warm. I walked around in a t-shirt and jeans and was still warm. With my jacket was packed into my bag and the sunglasses on my ugly mug, I sat in the garden and ate. The quiche seemed pretty standard as I compared it to the one I had in Strasbourg. It was still better than anything that I have had in the States, but I was amazed by how everywhere made these little quiches just as good as everywhere else in France. The cucumber salad was perfectly devine. It was very simply made with yogurt, dill, salt and pepper. Delicious. There's something about European yogurt as well. It's just different from the stuff that we get in the States. The apple, on the other hand, was disgusting. It was nothing like an Asian pear. Instead, it was very mealy and not crisp at all. My teeth just sank right through it, not ripping off a chunk as what happens with some of my favorite other apples when bought at peak ripeness. I was thoroughly disappointed. I couldn't even finish the whole thing. It was just too mealy. Yuck.
After lunch, I decided to take advantage of the sunshine. So, I finished reading On Rue Tatin and wrote postcards in the garden by Les Invalides for a good hour or so. After that I kind of felt like I needed to get something touristy done, so I headed off into Les Invalides and checked out Napoleon's tomb.
Napoleon's tomb was altogether pretty impressive. He was encased in abour four coffins of different materials and surrounded by other family members and French milirary greats. Also, with the price of admission into Napoleon's tomb, I got an audio guide to the tomb included. So for the first and only time on my journey, I walked around a historic building with a phone looking thing pressed up to my melon. It was kind of amusing. I never thought that I would ever willingly look like one of these idiots with audio guides up to their ears, but I guess I'll do it if it comes free with admission.
Napoleon In His Series Of Coffins
Napoleon's Nephew's Tomb
The Alter At Napoleon's Tomb
The Invalides Courtyard
By the time that I finished at Les Invalides, it was getting pretty late. I think it must have been around five or so. I knew that if I went back to the hostel, I would be just sitting around waiting for Michelle. So, I headed off to the metro to get to the Jardin des Plantes. From Les Invalides, to get to the Jarden des Plantes, you have to take the RER, which is another branch of the metro. I find the RER the most confusing subway ever. There are only a few stops and only a few lines, but it seems like a brain teaser when you try to figure out where you're supposed to go. There was only one line of the RER that went through the station that I got on at, but there were all sorts of signs and boards with flipping words and what not, so I didn't quite know where to go. I'm sure that I could have asked someone, but alas, I just decided to return to the hostel. Yes, I let a subway get the best of me.
When I got back to the hostel, I sat down at the computer for a bit to see if I could pin down some accomodations for Lyon. I had been trying for days, but everything seemed to be filled up. I checked hostels and budget hotels, all to no avail. Finally, just as I had given up on the RER, I gave up on trying to find accomodations. On my way back up to my hostel room, I noticed that Jade was outside smoking a butt, so I went out to say hi.
The little going over to say hi turned into a little walk around the block and we just started talking. She had some stuff going on in her noggin and needed to bounce it off of someone, so I obliged her. By the time we had walked up to the staircase leading to the Sacre Coere and walked back, it was time to meet up with Michelle.
I left Jade in the common room while I went to go check to see if Michelle was in the hostel room. Sure enough, Michelle was there with Anne. Originally, we were supposed to go out to try to find some fantastic food, but when I got to the room, I was asked if a change of plans would be okay. I was pretty accomodating, so instead, we went on a picnic.
On our way to go grab the foodstuffs, I saw Jade mulling over her issue and I invited her out for the picnic. At first she was reluctant, but I wasn't about to let her just mull away in the lobby of a dingy little hostel. I don't care how beautiful the receptionist is. Eventually, she relented and off we went to the grocery store to pick up wine, cheese, baguette, tomato, chorizo, chocolate and an apple tart.
Cheese, Glorious Cheese!
The four of us took the Metro to the Trocadero stop and had our picnic as they lit up the Eiffel Tower and made it sparkle. It was a fun time, but somehow I felt a bit disconnected from the two canucks. Jade kind of felt it too. I think Jade felt it a little bit more than I did.
After our picnic, the two canucks decided to go to sleep, while Jade and I sat around on the patio chatting with each other. I learned quite a bit about her life and about how she deals with things.
Meeting Jade was a very interesting part of my trip, because from the moment she opened her mouth, she reminded me of Steph (the one that wrecked me, not the cool one in CT). She's a Chinese-Australian, so she's got the Chinese look with a British based accent. When she started talking, the first thing I thought was , "Oh, boy, I'm in trouble." The thing was that I wasn't at all attracted to her. I was just concerned about the idea that there was a girl who reminded me a little bit of Steph. As I talked to Jade at length that night, I really saw even more similarities between the two, but I was okay with it. I was surprised. I didn't think that I would be. Instead of running away, we really opened up to each other and got to be pretty good friends in the span of a day. I was pretty psyched.
It was after one in the morning when I went to sleep. Jade and I made plans to grab breakfast together before I jetted off to Lyon.
I did get up early the next morning. I had a lot of crap to pack up. As I packed up, I got to say goodbye to Anne and chatted for a bit with Michelle. I left my packed backpack on my bed while I went out to meet Jade. When I got out to the patio, she was already there smoking a butt. Michelle followed behind me and we all chatted for a bit and took some pictures before Michelle headed out for the day and Jade and I set out for coffee.
Michelle & I
After Jade and I secured our coffee, I grabbed the three quarters of an apple tart that we had left over from last night and we chawed for a bit on it in the lobby.
The beautiful receptionist knew that I was leaving that day, so when I went back up to my room to get my backpack adn to drop off the remaining half an apple tart for Michelle to have, she asked me if I had finished the tart. I told her no and asked her if she wanted some. She said she did, so I went back up and cut pieces for her and the rest of the staff. Jade knew about my little crush on the receptionist and I totally think that she was chuckling about it behind my back.
After appeasing the beautiful receptionist, I strapped on my backpack and Jade walked with me to Gare de l'Est on her way to Republique and my way to Gare de Lyon. We hugged our goodbyes and I wished her well on the little adventure that she was about to embark on. I caught the eleven o'clock out of Gare de Lyon to Lyon Part Dieu.
My Train to Lyon
When I woke up on the morning of the 17th, I was still sleeping in the bed above the French-Canadian girl. I hadn't talked to her yet upon opening my eyes, and bag man was doing his thing on the sole single bed in the room. When I got out of bed and showered, bag man was doing his thing, one of the Aussies from last night was passed out in his bed, and the two others (the French-Canadian included) were grabbing breakfast in the kitchen downstairs.
When I got out of the shower, bag man was packing up and everyone else came back to the room to get ready for the day. Fortunately, bag man was packing his stuff to high tail it out of the city. After he left, I nabbed his single bed and started organizing my stuff. It was laundry day and I sat on my new bed organizing.
After a few minutes, I struck up a conversation with an Indian-Candian girl who had the other top bunk in my room. It turned out that she was a cook as well in Toronto. She worked at an Italian restaurant called Luce on the fish station. I was delighted to find another cook on the road and we instantly started talking about food and what's going on in the scene and such. She had been on the road for a month and a half and, same as me, had two more weeks before returning home to her restaurant and her boyfriend, the sous chef. It was during that conversation that we decided to meet up for dinner that night. During the conversation, I also formally met Anne, the French-Candadian, who I had been sleeping above for the last couple of nights. So, before I headed off to do laundry and the two girls headed off to see Paris, Michelle, the cook from Toronto, and I agreed to meet back at the hostel at half past six.
Laundry was, well, laundry. Luckily, I was able to get it all done before the lockout and was able to hang it in my room. I think that the gorgeous receptionist at the hostel would have let me go up to put it away even if I had been a little bit late. Good GOD was she gorgeous.
After I had all of my laundry settled and hung, I headed off to the Metro to go cross town where Le Cordon Bleu is. Instead of going to my normal stops of either Anvers or Barbes Rochechouart, I headed to the Pigalle station, a little bit west of Anvers and Barbes Rochechouart in order to get right on the 12 train to get off at Vaugirard Station.
The night before as I had been talking with the Aussies and the German, they informed me that we were staying right near the red light district of Paris. Now, I knew that there was the Moulin Rouge and all that, but I didn't think that there was really a red light district of Paris. Had I completely missed it? Well, I certainly found it when I walked to the Pigalle station. It was right in the middle of all of the cabarets, porn shops and erotic movie theaters. I was thoroughly amused by it. Me, of all people, missed the porn for the first three days that I was in Paris. Weird.
Anyways, I headed off to Le Cordon Bleu. It was tough trying to get there. I got lost a couple of times. To tell you the truth, it wasn't until I got to Strasbourg that I decided to go check out Le Cordon Bleu, and even when I got to Paris, I kept pushing it off in lieu of doing other things. But, being my last full day in Paris, I figured I should go check it out.
I went in there without calling or anything and arrived there around one in the afternoon, a time when shops are on siesta and people are generally out of the office. It was just a bad time. But when I got there, the reception bent over backwards to see what she could do. At first, I just got some info on the school and was told that I could try to call the school around three or so to see if there was anyone available to show me around. But after a bit of confusion and running around and explaining that this was my last day in Paris, she found one of the admissions directors who was free.
Before I knew it, the two of us sat down to talk about why I was there and how I could apply. I found out how much everything cost and what kind of paperwork I would need to be able to go to school there. After that discussion, she took me around the school and I observed about a half a dozen classes. It was pretty cool. There were a lot of Asians running around the place. I was surprised. I could tell that there were some Americans in the crowd too. I saw mostly beginner culinary classes and some advanced pastry classes. I spent a good two hours checking out Le Cordon Bleu and decided, walking out, that it was a place that I could definitely see myself at. As I thought about it for the rest of the day, I decided that I'm going to do it. I'm going to save up the thirty thousand euro or the $36,600 to pay for Le Grand Diplome which covers both the Culinary and the Pastry programs. The kicker is that the advanced classes in each of the programs are all taught in French only. This means that I would need to learn French. I think that being in Paris and immersed in the language, I could probably do it. Maybe I would have to start dating a French girl too, something I have no problem with.
Le Cordon Bleu
By the time I finished at Le Cordon Bleu, it was well past lunch time. I was hungry as hell. On my way to see Le Cordon Bleu, I saw a charcutrie that looked like it had some pretty good eats, so I stopped in to pick up some picnic items. It happened to be another leek quiche and a creamy cucumber salad. Further down the street, I picked up a water and a Canadian apple. I had seen these Canadian apples all over France, and they looked like Asian pears, so I wanted to try one just to see if I was right.
With my picnic in tow, I headed over to Les Invalides to eat. It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining and it was very warm. I walked around in a t-shirt and jeans and was still warm. With my jacket was packed into my bag and the sunglasses on my ugly mug, I sat in the garden and ate. The quiche seemed pretty standard as I compared it to the one I had in Strasbourg. It was still better than anything that I have had in the States, but I was amazed by how everywhere made these little quiches just as good as everywhere else in France. The cucumber salad was perfectly devine. It was very simply made with yogurt, dill, salt and pepper. Delicious. There's something about European yogurt as well. It's just different from the stuff that we get in the States. The apple, on the other hand, was disgusting. It was nothing like an Asian pear. Instead, it was very mealy and not crisp at all. My teeth just sank right through it, not ripping off a chunk as what happens with some of my favorite other apples when bought at peak ripeness. I was thoroughly disappointed. I couldn't even finish the whole thing. It was just too mealy. Yuck.
After lunch, I decided to take advantage of the sunshine. So, I finished reading On Rue Tatin and wrote postcards in the garden by Les Invalides for a good hour or so. After that I kind of felt like I needed to get something touristy done, so I headed off into Les Invalides and checked out Napoleon's tomb.
Napoleon's tomb was altogether pretty impressive. He was encased in abour four coffins of different materials and surrounded by other family members and French milirary greats. Also, with the price of admission into Napoleon's tomb, I got an audio guide to the tomb included. So for the first and only time on my journey, I walked around a historic building with a phone looking thing pressed up to my melon. It was kind of amusing. I never thought that I would ever willingly look like one of these idiots with audio guides up to their ears, but I guess I'll do it if it comes free with admission.
Napoleon In His Series Of Coffins
Napoleon's Nephew's Tomb
The Alter At Napoleon's Tomb
The Invalides Courtyard
By the time that I finished at Les Invalides, it was getting pretty late. I think it must have been around five or so. I knew that if I went back to the hostel, I would be just sitting around waiting for Michelle. So, I headed off to the metro to get to the Jardin des Plantes. From Les Invalides, to get to the Jarden des Plantes, you have to take the RER, which is another branch of the metro. I find the RER the most confusing subway ever. There are only a few stops and only a few lines, but it seems like a brain teaser when you try to figure out where you're supposed to go. There was only one line of the RER that went through the station that I got on at, but there were all sorts of signs and boards with flipping words and what not, so I didn't quite know where to go. I'm sure that I could have asked someone, but alas, I just decided to return to the hostel. Yes, I let a subway get the best of me.
When I got back to the hostel, I sat down at the computer for a bit to see if I could pin down some accomodations for Lyon. I had been trying for days, but everything seemed to be filled up. I checked hostels and budget hotels, all to no avail. Finally, just as I had given up on the RER, I gave up on trying to find accomodations. On my way back up to my hostel room, I noticed that Jade was outside smoking a butt, so I went out to say hi.
The little going over to say hi turned into a little walk around the block and we just started talking. She had some stuff going on in her noggin and needed to bounce it off of someone, so I obliged her. By the time we had walked up to the staircase leading to the Sacre Coere and walked back, it was time to meet up with Michelle.
I left Jade in the common room while I went to go check to see if Michelle was in the hostel room. Sure enough, Michelle was there with Anne. Originally, we were supposed to go out to try to find some fantastic food, but when I got to the room, I was asked if a change of plans would be okay. I was pretty accomodating, so instead, we went on a picnic.
On our way to go grab the foodstuffs, I saw Jade mulling over her issue and I invited her out for the picnic. At first she was reluctant, but I wasn't about to let her just mull away in the lobby of a dingy little hostel. I don't care how beautiful the receptionist is. Eventually, she relented and off we went to the grocery store to pick up wine, cheese, baguette, tomato, chorizo, chocolate and an apple tart.
Cheese, Glorious Cheese!
The four of us took the Metro to the Trocadero stop and had our picnic as they lit up the Eiffel Tower and made it sparkle. It was a fun time, but somehow I felt a bit disconnected from the two canucks. Jade kind of felt it too. I think Jade felt it a little bit more than I did.
After our picnic, the two canucks decided to go to sleep, while Jade and I sat around on the patio chatting with each other. I learned quite a bit about her life and about how she deals with things.
Meeting Jade was a very interesting part of my trip, because from the moment she opened her mouth, she reminded me of Steph (the one that wrecked me, not the cool one in CT). She's a Chinese-Australian, so she's got the Chinese look with a British based accent. When she started talking, the first thing I thought was , "Oh, boy, I'm in trouble." The thing was that I wasn't at all attracted to her. I was just concerned about the idea that there was a girl who reminded me a little bit of Steph. As I talked to Jade at length that night, I really saw even more similarities between the two, but I was okay with it. I was surprised. I didn't think that I would be. Instead of running away, we really opened up to each other and got to be pretty good friends in the span of a day. I was pretty psyched.
It was after one in the morning when I went to sleep. Jade and I made plans to grab breakfast together before I jetted off to Lyon.
I did get up early the next morning. I had a lot of crap to pack up. As I packed up, I got to say goodbye to Anne and chatted for a bit with Michelle. I left my packed backpack on my bed while I went out to meet Jade. When I got out to the patio, she was already there smoking a butt. Michelle followed behind me and we all chatted for a bit and took some pictures before Michelle headed out for the day and Jade and I set out for coffee.
Michelle & I
After Jade and I secured our coffee, I grabbed the three quarters of an apple tart that we had left over from last night and we chawed for a bit on it in the lobby.
The beautiful receptionist knew that I was leaving that day, so when I went back up to my room to get my backpack adn to drop off the remaining half an apple tart for Michelle to have, she asked me if I had finished the tart. I told her no and asked her if she wanted some. She said she did, so I went back up and cut pieces for her and the rest of the staff. Jade knew about my little crush on the receptionist and I totally think that she was chuckling about it behind my back.
After appeasing the beautiful receptionist, I strapped on my backpack and Jade walked with me to Gare de l'Est on her way to Republique and my way to Gare de Lyon. We hugged our goodbyes and I wished her well on the little adventure that she was about to embark on. I caught the eleven o'clock out of Gare de Lyon to Lyon Part Dieu.
My Train to Lyon
posted by ZEN!!! | 11:14
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