Yesterday I got a bit of a late start...I was supposed to meet some friends at Champs de Mars for a picnic and I didn't end up rolling in until 5pm. At first I wasn't really excited to go because I'd already been to other picnics at Champs de Mars, which has of late been flooded with tourists due to tourist season. I actually ended up having a great evening playing frisbee with my friends and waiting for the sun to set to watch the Eiffel Tower turn on. We waited another hour and we got to see the famous Eiffel Tower "sparkle". The best parts about that evening were just sitting and talking to my friends..people I've been hanging out with a lot in Paris and people that I had just met. I ended up having a really interesting conversation with another USC student who had just finished studying in Germany about China and it's relationship with the U.S. Later I went to dinner at an Indian restaurant in Saint Michel with two girls from Canada that I had met at Champs de Mars that afternoon and we talked about why we had come to study in France and the things we had learned from our experience here. As the semester comes to a close, I feel like things are coming full circle in a way. I started off as a tourist, then tried to transition to being a student and a resident of Paris, and now that I know the end is near I've started transitioning back to being a tourist, but this time with a more nostalgic slant.Watching the Eiffel Tower turn on and watching it sparkle from Champs de Mars wasn't something on my Paris bucket list, but it turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences yet, thanks in large part to the people I was there with.
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| Sparkling Eiffel Tower |
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Today, I accomplished yet another item on my Paris bucket list, going to an outdoor market. I went to the biggest and most famous market, marché Richard Lenoir near place de la Bastille in the 11th.
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| Parisians line dancing? Quick, someone grab a camera... |
This is the first time that I have ever been to an outdoor market in Europe and it was awesomeeee. Just watching the different types of people wandering down the rows of produce was a treat in itself. The market also had cheese stands, stalls selling live seafood, jewelry, clothes, fresh flowers, and mini restauraunts selling different types of prepared food like falafels and crepes. I was super happy not only because going to a market in itself is cool, but also because the produce was cheap enough that it was actually affordable to buy! In Paris, it's much cheaper to get food like baguettes and fancy cheeses than it is to get, say, a bag of clementines. Check my haul:
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| 2 heads of lettuce, a grapefruit, 5 peaches and a pack of strawberries for only 4.20 Euro! |
This weekend has been fun, but for now until Tuesday morning I have to lock in: my China in the World exam is that morning and I've got to make sure that I finish the semester strong!
This is the first time that I have ever been to an outdoor market in Europe and it was awesomeeee. Just watching the different types of people wandering down the rows of produce was a treat in itself. The market also had cheese stands, stalls selling live seafood, jewelry, clothes, fresh flowers, and mini restauraunts selling different types of prepared food like falafels and crepes. I was super happy not only because going to a market in itself is cool, but also because the produce was cheap enough that it was actually affordable to buy! In Paris, it's much cheaper to get food like baguettes and fancy cheeses than it is to get, say, a bag of clementines. Check my haul:
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