Research Paper

My Research Paper is 100% FINISHED! I have to present it on Friday, but it is SO nice to not have to worry about it anymore!

Here is a brief idea of what it is about:

During WWII in France, Otto Abetz (the German ambassador) essentially controlled the Occupied Zone. A lot of what he did was propaganda and censorship to control the exchange of ideas in France. The French were none too pleased, so a series of clandestine/underground publishing houses popped up during the Occupation. One such publishing house, the Editions de Minuit, was started by an author named Vercors (Jean Bruller). Vercors wrote a book called Le Silence de la mer (Silence of the Sea), as well as other short stories. My paper talks about how he started the publishing house, as well as his value as an author in addition to being a figure of the literary resistance. How do I manage to explain all of those things in 29 pages? I'm not sure...


Anyway, if you can get your hands on a copy, Silence of the Sea is a really moving book (and a quick read, only 40-something pages), as are the other essays that usually come with it. I highly recommend it! It is also a movie, though I've yet to see it... maybe this summer!

Gros Bisous,
Jaimie

JP in Paris (Friday-Sunday)

On Friday, JP and I met Soso for lunch by Saint Germain. We wandered the neighborhood, then went to Pierre Hermé to get croissants and macaroons before I took JP on a surprise trip: To the Ménagerie in the Jardin des Plantes! If you know JP and myself, you know that we LOVE zoos (almost as much as aquariums), so it was a great, off the beaten path way to spend an afternoon in Paris in the sun!

We saw TONS of animals, from jaguars to camels to orangutans to red pandas! We have tried to see red pandas at all the zoos we've been to, but they have always been hiding or asleep. This time, they were wide awake and in plain sight! I'm sure some of the parents were surprised to see two twenty-somethings so excited about red pandas! Of course, our trip also included a Pierre Hermé pain-au-chocolat break in the Jardin des Plantes labyrinth!





After the zoo, we went to Ile St. Louis to get Berthillon ice cream. We had chocolate, caramel, currant, and fraises de bois, it was SO delicious!


Our next stop: Pont des Arts. Like some other famous bridges around Europe, there is a really sweet (or cheesy) tradition for couples to carve their names or initials on a lock and lock it on to the bridge, then throw the key into the Seine. Of course, JP and I could not resist a moment of mushiness! We counted posts and found the middle of the bridge, and took tons of pictures so that we can find it again later.



After locking the lock and tossing the key, we headed to the Pantheon to go to Han Lim, a Korean restaurant. It was absolutely delicious, though not quite as good as Shanghai Mong in Koreatown in NY, or JP's mom's Korean BBQ! We finished the night by opening the bottle of Champagne that my mom brought me for my 21st birthday. It's such a cool bottle, with pictures of Paris monuments on it. It was great to get to celebrate our "birthdays" together in Paris!



Saturday, we wandered around Paris and enjoyed the sunlight. We rented Velib's, which are bikes stationed around Paris that you can rent using your Metro pass. There are hundreds of stations all over Paris, so you can pick up bikes and drop them off wherever you want. We rode all over the city, and made our way to our final major destination for the trip: the Museum of Magic! We saw a magic show, learned about famous French magicians, and saw all sorts of magic artifacts!



We kept riding around, and then went to the market to get bread, cheese, and salami. We rode bikes from my neighborhood to the neighborhood where we were staying, all the way across Paris! We stopped at Bastille to see the breakdancers (and find out if JP knew any of them!). He recognized a few, and knew people that they dance with, but didn't know any of them personally.


Sunday morning, before JP's flight home, we met Nikki, her boyfriend Mike, and her friend Alli for brunch in the Marais. We stopped into Pylones (and proceeded to leave after getting in trouble for taking pictures!), then checked out of our apartment and got on the train to go to the airport. It was sad saying goodbye to JP after such a great week, but nice to know that I would be seeing him again much sooner than the last time we said goodbye!


And there you have it, my Spring Break!

Gros Bisous,
Jaimie

JP in Paris! (Tuesday-Thursday)

On Tuesday, JP and I took the train from Saint-Lazare to Vernon to visit Monet's house at Giverny.


Once off the train, we rented bikes at the cafe by the train station and were off on yet another adventure! We followed a bike path through the countryside, passing quaint little houses, cows, and TONS of honeysuckle. We even saw the Seine, though not in Paris. It is much prettier outside of the city!

Once at Monet's house, we had some ice cream and then visited the house and gardens. I forgot how pretty his house is, with all the brightly colored rooms.


My favorite was his huge bright yellow kitchen. We wandered through his flower garden to go to see the water lilies. The water lilies hadn't bloomed yet, but almost every other flower on the property had! I'm surprised JP made it, with his allergies and all, but he was a trooper. I can understand why Monet spent so much time painting his garden, it is absolutely incredible.





After Monet's house, we went to the Museum of Impressionism to see some of Monet's paintings. The Museum of American Art doesn't seem to be open anymore, so we couldn't see the huge water lily paintings that Monet left to his son. We hopped back on our bikes and made our way back to Vernon, where we discovered that we had missed the train by about 10 minutes. Thankfully, it was beautiful outside, so we had a drink on the patio of the café by the train station while we waited. Once back in Paris, we went to Chez Omar for Moroccan food. The couscous was so good, and they serve dessert on HUGE trays where you get to help yourself and pay per piece. Amazing!!! After dinner, we met up with Lily at Footsie, then headed to Harry's Bar for fries. It was great to introduce JP to some of my friends!

Wednesday, we slept in, then went to Cinéaqua, the Aquarium by Trocadéro. Cinéaqua is both an aquarium and a movie museum! We saw sharks and sea anemones and clown fish, and then watched part of Petit Nicholas.





However, it was so beautiful outside that we couldn't waste it! After the aquarium, we bought the biggest cotton candy (barbe à papa!) that I've ever seen, and walked around Trocadéro. We watched the roller bladers and bikers and soaked up the sun!




After, we walked over to the Champs Elysées, looking for some things for JP to bring home. We didn't find much, but we did discover that you have to ask the doorman if you want to go into Cartier, and if you don't look like you can afford it, they will ignore you the whole time you're in the store! We got out of there pretty quickly, but not before ogling at the incredible watches!

For dinner, we went to Ozu, which is the Japanese restaurant at Cinéaqua. One wall of the restaurant is the aquarium's shark tank! The food was fantastic, and you don't feel so badly about eating sushi when there are sharks swimming around next to you! After dinner, we headed toward the Eiffel Tower. We managed to be on the bridge between Trocadéro and the Eiffel Tower just as the lights started to flash! It was absolutely gorgeous! We took a few pictures, then went back to Trocadéro to take in the view.




Thursday began with a trip to Vaucresson, the town where JP lived with his family when he was little. We found his favorite bakery and these adorable pastries that are decorated with fondant to look like little pigs! We found his old house, then hopped back on the train to visit his school. Unfortunately, Île de France was on Spring Break as well, so the school was closed, but it was so cool to see the place he called home!

Back in Paris, we had lunch, then went to Galleries Lafayette. Again, no purchases, but so many pretty things to look at! We went to Rue Saint Anne to get ramen for dinner, then met Erwan and Geraldine for drinks/dancing at the Murano Hotel. Chef William's smoked foie gras changed my life before, and it changed JP's that night!!!

For the final leg of our Paris adventures, see my entry about Friday-Sunday!

Gros Bisous,
Jaimie

JP in Paris! (Saturday-Monday)

For the second week of Spring break, JP took a week off from work to come and visit me. It was so awesome to get to explore Paris with one of my favorite people, with no need to see ALL the tourist attractions or plan every minute of a short stay. We had 8 1/2 days to fill however we wanted. We did a few touristy things, but also just wandered neighborhoods and visited anywhere that tickled our fancy. From Monet's house at Giverny to the Ménagerie de Paris, no corner of the city was left undiscovered!

After meeting JP at the airport, the first thing we did was get chocolate croissants. Pierre Hermé wasn't open yet so we improvised, but it was the perfect way to start our trip! We rented an adorable little apartment near République, and set out to the supermarket to stock up for breakfast the next day.




After exploring the neighborhood, we went for a walk and ended up in Saint Germain. We were both hungry, and jet lag was catching up with JP, so we stopped for dinner and then went home to watch a movie and plan the rest of our week.

On Sunday, we went to visit the Madeleine, which I had never been inside of before. It was during mass, so we couldn't tour the whole building, but it was beautiful! After, we walked by the Louvre, and wandered until we found a little supermarket, then got some bread, saucisson, and cheese, and went to the park by Châtelet for a picnic. It was absolutely beautiful out, and it kind of felt like Columbia on the ONE day when it is sunny and they actually let you out on the lawns: people EVERYWHERE benefiting from the weather.





Some cool graffiti :)


After lunch, we walked to Notre Dame and discovered that they were in the middle of afternoon mass. For two non-Catholics, we seemed to be attending a lot of church services! I have to say, it was breathtaking to see the church full of people, to smell the incense, and to hear the organ playing.



We made our way back to our apartment, cooked dinner, and then went toward the Eiffel Tower to go on a Bateaux-Mouches ride at dusk. It is always so cool to see Paris lit up at night! We were surrounded by a rowdy tour group of Italian high-schoolers, who yelled under every bridge to hear the echo. Not a typical Bateaux-Mouches ride, but definitely entertaining! After, we wandered toward the Champs Elysées, found an open crêpe stand (which is hard at 11pm on a Sunday!), and then decided to go back to the apartment. If we wanted to climb Notre Dame the next morning, we needed to get up early!





When we got to Notre Dame on Monday morning (after stopping for pastries at the bakery on the corner of our street), I was shocked to only see 10 or 15 people in line... apparently tourists aren't active before 11am! We got in line, and only waited for about 20 minutes before going inside to climb the towers. By using my Sorbonne Student ID instead of my Barnard ID (and letting JP talk... so nice to not have to do all the French-speaking!), I managed to get in for free (a gift reserved for EU residents between 16 and 25, as well as anyone under 16). We climbed what seemed to be thousands of spiral stairs (it is really about 400 steps to the top) and arrived at the first level, the platform at the base of the two towers.


We saw tons of gargoyles and the huge bell in South tower, named Emmanuel. This is the bell that marks the hours. The smaller bells play songs during holy festivals and services.



We then faced another spiral staircase (smaller and steeper than before!) and made our way to the top of the South tower. The view was breathtaking! You can see the 12 apostles at the transept (beneath the spire), the stones in the plaza marking the church that stood before Notre Dame was built, and basically every major building in Paris. Those golden domes are way shinier now that they are clean!



We made our way back down the stairs and out of Notre Dame, pausing whenever we found a window to check out the view (and attempt to un-dizzy ourselves!). We went into the Cathedral once more, to see the whole thing since our visit was limited when we stumbled upon Mass on Sunday. I don't know how many times I've been in Notre Dame (at least 10 since I've been here this semester), but I just LOVE seeing the Rose Windows! We got lunch nearby, then walked to the Luxembourg gardens. We watched kids playing with boats in the fountain, and the old men playing Pétanque.



From there, we went to the Tuileries (why go inside when it was so gorgeous out?), took silly pictures with the statues and by Place de la Concorde, and found dinner. After all the walking, we definitely needed a rest!




**Check the next blog post for what we did Tuesday-Thursday!**

Gros Bisous,
Jaimie