Where in the world is Val?

Friday, 20 June 2008 Last Friday was a day filled with new experiences. For breakfast, I stopped in one of my corner bakery and got a new pastry, an ouranet , which is a pastry with two halves of apricots on each end of an oval, and cream between the folds of pastry dough. I still prefer their fondant au chocolat . For lunch, I visited la rue des rosiers, which might be my favorite street in Paris. It is cobblestoned, and located in the heart of the Marais. It is lined with small boutiques, Kosher bakeries, and falafel vendors. It is also where Le Loir dans le Théière is. There is a row of flower boxes that runs between the sidewalk and street - which is usually more filled with people and cars - that I assume gives the street its name. Or is there because of its name. Or something. After having seen the falafel shops, always with a line down the street, I decided to visit one. I am glad I did! It was delicious. And pretty much all vegetables so it must have been really healt

Tuesday - Thursday, 17-19 June These were not the best days of my trip... The cold that I had begun to catch over the weekend became a real cold, complete with serious congestion and fatigue. So that was fun. Eric could see I was a little slow Tuesday and let me go an hour early, which was nice of him. That evening was dinner with my host family again, as usual for Tuesdays. Catherine was clearly excited for dinner - they got out a bottle of wine (the only other time they had done this was my birthday) and she told us we were having a " grand repas " - a big/significant meal. I asked her if there was a reason, and she said that it was because had gotten a magazine with a bunch of new recipes, and she tried a few new ones that evening. So we had salad, as usual, and then our main course was an omelette that was wrapped in some kind of flat bread and baked with peppers and two kinds of spinach and almonds and probably more ingredients, but I don't remember what. Very

Saturday, 14 June As usual for Saturdays, as the gallery was open, I had to work. However, when I arrived, Eric told me I could leave around 2 or 3, which is pretty wonderful as I only start working at 11. It's kind of amazing to me, even if I am going to leave at 2 and I start at 11, when 1:00 rolls around, it's lunch time! I visited a little park I had discovered earlier in the week, along with a baguette, and studied for an hour before leaving around 2:30. A little later, I met up with a classmate for a project for our class. The class I am taking looks at trends in French Literature between 1750-1950, and how Paris and said literature kind of developed together throughout this epoque. Our passage came from Breton's Nadja , which takes place all within a block of rue La Fayette in the 10e arrondissement. I took pictures for the project, but I don't think I will put any up of the actual sites where the short passage takes place, because the point of the text is

After my perhaps dry and certainly unillustrated description of the last week, here is an entry to make up for that! I again visited the Marché de la Bastille on Sunday. I believe it is open every Sunday and Thursday, so perhaps I will also try to visit on Thursday this week because I just love it. So here is a very illustrated, small example of what you can find at the market: Of course, there are dozens of vendors with produce. Most either specialize in vegetables: Or fruits: You can tell strawberries are going out of season, and cherries are at their peak! Suddenly, strawberries are much harder to find than a few weeks ago, and more expensive. Cherries at the market were again at amazing prices. At the supermarkets, finding cherries for under 6E/kilo is a steal, but at the market they are about 2,5 E/kilo! I got a half kilo of cherries, a half kilo of strawberries, and 4 large, delicious peaches from the vendor seen above, from this great man: It was hard to take a good pict

I have been rather negligent in updating on the daily happenings in my life for the last week... I think this is mostly because the last week was more about settling into a schedule rather than going out and doing exciting things for which I would take a lot of pictures. starting work at 11 AM sounds late enough that I could get out and do exciting things before work, but this doesn't happen very often... for one, I like sleeping, and for two... I always seem to find something to occupy me at the apartment. Anyway, here is a brief summary of what happened during the week, which will probably be more for my own posterity than the edification of anyone else so if you are bored, I am sorry. Tuesday, June 10 In the morning, I went for a run. I went down to the Place de la République, and then took Blvd Saint Martin and followed 'it' (the street changes names a lot of times, so I guess I don't know exactly what street/s I was on...) until the HUGE store Printemps, in the

Happy Father's Day, dad!!!! In case you suddenly decide you need to come visit me (of course you do!!) there will be some old friends here waiting for you..... On the little ledge just outside my window: At Radu's bar (in la Butte aux Cailles): And this ad was in the metro: So see? You better come the 5th of July to see the band! Love you, dad. I tried to mail home some Pierre Hermé macarons to celebrate, but they don't ship to the states! hélas. Oh well, you would probably be just as happy with Jello, anyway. A bientôt,