An American in Paris

Once Eric spent 20 minutes in the salad dressing aisle trying to decide which kind of ranch dressing to buy. We were replicating potato tacos from Taco Bell which have a delicious chipotle ranch sauce. Today I had a ranch dressing moment in the yogurt aisles (yes aisles) of La Grande Épicerie de Paris. So. Much. Yogurt. I was so overwhelmed that I left with no yogurt. 

I also discovered that this is the type of food the French assume us Americans like (found in the USA aisle):

Pop tarts, Marshmallow fluff, Peanut Butter, hot sauce, ranch dressing, microwave popcorn.... Yummy! I resisted buying a tub of marshmallow fluff and calling it a night; instead I made my way to another American favorite...chipotle! Special thanks to Eric for finding this gem for me!

Heaven.

Great view on the walk home too!

  

Struggles of the Solo Traveler!

There are two ways I could tell you about my morning yesterday. 

The first way: "I woke up slowly, bought a delicious quiche at a charming local bakery and enjoyed a lovely day in Aix-en-Provence!"  

Here is the real way:  I woke up later than I wanted because I was up until 2am imagining the fly in my room would fly into my nostril and up into my brain while I was sleeping.  

It was too late to have breakfast on the terrace at my hotel so I was forced to find a bakery. I then felt guilty about how late it was so I hastily bought my ticket to Aix-en-Provence.  Then I decided to see how far away the train station was from the shopping area my wonderful friend Kerry had suggested (Note the error in order of operations here). Ah yes, 3 hours walking.  I bought the wrong ticket!  Ok, no need to panic I will just explain this to the person at the train station. She probably speaks fluent English. We'll have a good laugh about it!  I even imagined a scenario in which she was an American like me.  She probably decided one day, "I'm moving to France!" And got a job as a ticket person at the train station.  

Turns out she didn't speak one word of English. Wonderful. Ok well, still no need to panic, the ticket cost $20 so worst case scenario, I'll just buy a new ticket and call it a $20 mistake.  I've had worse. I go to the ticket machine only to find they only take cards with security chips in them. I do not have a card with a security chip. My credit card company considers me insecure as it is. Cue tears starting to fill eyes.  Again though, no need to panic the absolute worst case scenario is I don't go to a town in Provence that I wanted to go to. It's about as first world as a problem can be.  

After standing around helplessly for several minutes I found an English speaking tourist information person who told me to just get on the train anyways and get off where I want. No one will notice or care. So I did.  

Also I got to see a really cool McDonalds at the station where you place your order from giant touch screens. 

I ordered a delicious vegetarian goat cheese wrap. Unbelievable. Why can't we have McDonalds like these in the US?? 

My delightful day in Aix-en-Provence deserves it's own post so stay tuned for part 2!

Provence

Yesterday I arrived in Arles France. A town in Provence recommended by fellow travel aficionado, Rick Steves. It has many great things to offer including €2 glasses of rose. Don't mind if I do!

The train ride here was gorgeous. I snapped some pics in between watching Master Chef Canada which was perplexing to the French man sitting next to me. 

So many cows. If my Dad were here he would make a loud and realistic moo sound and it would be embarrassing. 

After I arrived I confidently walked from the train station to my hotel. I only fell flat on my face once.  The only victim are my favorite J.Crew pants who have a hole in the knee. THAT is why I brought them in every color Evan George. 

Finally I made it to my adorable Hotel. It was a great deal too!  I would highly reccomend it to anyone coming here. 

Hotel Du Forum

View from my window

For dinner I dined alone. It wasn't terrible.  

Arles is the town Van Gogh lived in after Paris.  A lot of his famous paintings were done here. 

I'm also pretty sure it's the town Belle grew up in....

"There must be more than this provincial life!"

Fashion and Farmers Markets!

Today was free museum day in Paris so I decided to check out Palais Gallera, the fashion museum of Paris. 

I could only snap this one mediocre picture of the sign outside because they were pretty insistent about no pictures. I figured I would sneak one when I saw someone else doing it, but no one ever did it! Instead they were all sketching pictures of the clothes... It's a real bummer too because the clothes were sooo gorgeous. They also had vintage patterns and fashion magazines on display... I was in heaven. 

This was my favorite (from the brochure I bought):

After the museum I stumbled on a farmers market. I would say "farmers market" is an in understatement because they have everything....and it's incredibly overwhelming! Especially when you barely speak any French and you keep mixing up the two words you DO know... Man holds open door at metro station and I gratefully exclaim "Bonjour!" Oops. Well at least I'm trying! 

The entrance...

Booth after booth of flowers

Le Fruit

Fromage!!!!

Paella

Uh shrimp like things?

 

Lots and lots of fresh herbs...

I lingered at le pâtisserie counter for too long probably...

I learned on my first day that miel means honey.  It's easy to pronounce too. When in doubt just order miel. 

Geese??? 

In the end I just bought a cheese quiche and ate it on a bench above the Eiffel tower.  Life is pretty good!

First Day in Paris

Today was my first full day in Paris and it was le meilleur! My amazing host family had fresh bread and jelly waiting for me (and didn't even give me a hard time for sleeping in until 10:30!) I then ran some errands and ate lunch.  I've been on the "eating every hour plan" since I got here because why not? I almost have enough miles to buy an extra seat on the way home so all should be fine. 

I then made my way over to a little thing I like to call the Eiffel Tower. 

 

There I saw these guys using a specialized selfie device..... (Not judging)

After taking several pictures of the couple taking pictures of themselves I made my way to my favorite museum: Muse d'Orsay.  It's the only museum I've paid to go to twice. 

I snuck a pic of Starry Night Over the Rhone by van Gogh. Everyone was doing it!

Next I headed over to Pont de l'Archeveche, commonly known as "love lock bridge" and took pics of other peoples love locks. Nothin to see here just a girl takin selfies alone on a lovers bridge.

From now on I'm going to call Eric "Breck."

Finally I made my way over to Le BHV which is pretty much the best department store ever. It goes something like first floor: beautiful clothes, second floor: beautiful clothes, third floor: art supplies and paper stuff, fourth floor: candy, beer and cooking supplies, fifth floor: bedding. There is also a hardware store in there but I couldn't be bothered.

Other highlights from my fun day:

Girls judging me for taking a pic of this great crepe take away counter.

So many locks...

BHV is so awesome it actually has an anthropologie inside of it!

I <3 this poncho!! Now taking donations to raise £345.

Window inside of Muse d'Orday.

Eiffel Tower!!