I'm really annoyed that my name isn't April, or else I could have named this blog "April in Paris" and it would have been perfect, like the Sinatra song. I'll have to leave that one to my friend April.
For now I am the Paris-ite! Absorbing all the culture, language and crepes of Paris at the city's expense. Well, not really. But you get the idea.
Here's the deal about this blog. When I post (I can't promise that'll be consistent), I'll try and do a bit about the day and I'll finish with some tidbits about Paris. And hopefully, at the end, you'll not only have the in on my Paris experience, you'll ALSO have an idea of what to expect in Paris, what to do, and how to do it.
To start, I just ate Moroccan cookies courtesy of an awesome new friend (my roommate's pal, Aliya) and they were delicious. The first Paris advice I will give you: Try the food, especially the baked goods.
Yeah I know, especially us Americans, all we think about (and perhaps all we're often thought of for) is our weight. The weight-battle, the counting of calories, the work-out plan of the hour, and the half-their-size magazine articles. But you're in Paris. You WILL walk it off; you'll have to just getting around the city. Maybe you'll even work it off at a Parisian gym or yoga studio. Or maybe you'll just eat a French salad later on in the day (just as delicious as anything else).
So try the food. Buy a freakin' baguette, because there are NO bad baguettes in Paris (although I did find a stale one once). Get some cheese, and don't forget the wine (because you can buy some really good, really CHEAP wine in Paris). If you go out, make sure you have some French fries. When are you going to be in France again? You're in the BIRTHPLACE of French fries, and let me tell you, they are delicious. In fact, maybe I'm insane, but almost everything tastes better here. The fruits and veggies, the yogurt, definitely the bread...even the McDonald's, which I'm ashamed to say I've eaten here.* I got it "a emporter" (which is "to go" in French) and took it into the Jardin du Luxembourg to eat; both Mcdonald's and the Jardin are right near where I live.
If you're in Paris for say, a week, and want to have most of your meals in restaurants...or even if you're in Paris for say, 4 months, and you want all of your restaurant meals to be relatively cheap and moins cher...you can find meals for 10 euros. Full meals, and they're still pretty good. Two of the things I really like about Paris is that menus are almost always outside of restaurants and cafes so that you can see what they have to offer before you go inside AND there's usually some sort of "formule" or "menu" attached to a price. As in, a restaurant has "Menu a 12 euros: entree et plat ou plat et dessert," and then you can get an appetizer and dinner for 12 or dinner and dessert. If you're looking for all three, well, I haven't been around long enough to give you tons of restaurant names, BUT I can give you an area.
Blvd St Michel and Blvd St Germain are both good places to find almost anything, clothes, food, comic books, banks, various metro stops, etc, and near the corner of the two boulevards is, oh look, another Mcdonald's, AND a touristy little pathway through some cafes and boutiques. If you walk through here you can find tons of crepes, paninis and gyros (all standard Paris street food...well, maybe not the gyro), and all kinds of different restaurants and bars to choose from. Whether you're in the mood for French, Japanese, or Italian cuisine, you can find it here, and you can find it cheap. You can even find, for 10 euros, entree, plat and dessert. I'll let you know which restaurants are my favorites as I find them. For the time being, I recommend the creme brulee for dessert.
And last but not least, if you are staying in Paris for a while, you'll notice that there are crepes every ten feet. Don't worry, after you've eaten like 40 within the first three days of being here, they'll become far less tempting and may even lose their appeal. But still, you know they'll always be there if you need them after a long day of wandering the streets of Paris.
*The food at "McDo" isn't that different here, but yes, a quarter pounder with cheese is indeed "le royal cheese," (if you don't know what I'm talking about go watch Pulp Fiction please) and I was really excited to order "le Big Mac avec les frites and le coca zero." They have yummy sauce for the fries AND they gave me a bendy straw. Bendy straws, as we all know, are superior, and therefore Paris McDo is superior.
No comments:
Post a Comment