The most significant piece of news is that there is currently no heat in my house. Let’s just say it’s not the most ideal of circumstances.
However, with the help of twice as many blankets, two sweaters, and a hot water bottle I spent an adequately comfortable night. My landlords predict that they will have someone in to fix the heat on Friday morning. Or maybe it was Monday- I may have misunderstood the French. Suffice it to say, I’m hoping for Monday.
The second most significant piece of news is that it’s 26 days until my flight back to Boston- WOOOO!
And how am I spending the interim, besides being unreasonably cold?
Yesterday:
- I revisited the Petit Palais for the new exhibition, Les Hollandais a Paris. It was absolutely gorgeous, well set-up, and interesting. Highly recommend if you’re in Paris. My only regret is not having waited to see the pastel exhibition until now so I could have gotten the joint ticket and saved a few euros.
The exhibit is a collection of the work of Dutch artists who have studied and worked in Paris, showcased along with the work of their friends and contemporaries. It’s arranged chronologically and really demonstrates how artists inspire one another, fads for different subject matter come and go, and styles change over time. Covering the period from 1789 (French Revolution) to 1914 (WWI), you get to see the procession from very detailed and lifelike floral still lives to realistic landscapes to impressionism to gritty realism to fauvism to cubism and cubist-inspired pieces. Unfortunately pictures weren’t allowed but I wrote down the names of my favorite works for future reference. - Post Petit Palais I went to lunch at Happiz, a completely vegetarian pizza restaurant (with vegan options, including vegan cheese) located in Les Sablons. I did a build-your-own-pizza thing (the large was 12 euros, a steal for everything I’ve ever wanted in a vegan pizza- vegan mozzarella, peppers, zucchini, eggplant, and vegan chorizo). They also offer gluten free pizzas. It was an absolute mess (my pizza did try valiantly to stand up to the heaps of toppings I ordered, but did cave under the pressure a few times) but the restaurant (a pretty small place) was quiet when I got there around 2 pm, very casual and very welcoming and personal.
I’m pondering the right way to post about my favorite restaurants (vegan of course) in Paris, and whether it’s better to do a big lump post (which would probably be overwhelming for both you and me) or to divide it into manageable ‘types of cuisines’ bite -sized chunks (pardon the pun)- like best lunch sandwich places, best pizza places, etc. And how to handle the places I haven’t gone yet? - After pizza, I rounded out my day with yet another activity beginning with the letter P- protest (the theme was unintentional, I assure you). I visited the March for Our Lives protest, Paris edition, in the Place du Trocadero, just across the river from the Tour Eiffel. Lots of Americans and lots of French who feel strongly about kids being shot up at institutions of learning. Can’t understand it.
It was a great way to feel connected to America. I’ve followed politics fairly closely but it’s hard not to feel pretty impotent from here. - My second to last stop was Citypharma, maybe the most famous (and most crowded) pharmacy in Paris. They have pretty much everything (but were unfortunately out of the Sensibiafine baume visage that I was looking for). I’ll just have to stop back another weekend.
- Lastly, I swung by another eatery called Brasserie 2eme Art to check out their menu, which isn’t available online. It’s a bit expensive for me (pretty much everything is still under 20 euros, but a fair amount is over 13, which is my arbitrary cut off). Still, it looks like there could be some more great vegan pizza there- so maybe that will be in my pizza round up. Except lord knows I’m more interested in getting the banana split. 😉
Today, Sunday, is a grocery shopping and cooking day, and I also need to do some studying as we have two exams this week. Unfortunately that’s very difficult when your hands are freezing. Whatever- it’s all bout doing your best, isn’t it?
In terms of future blog plans- not now, but over the summer, I’m considering doing themed weeks to organize my thoughts more around what content I want to be posting. possible topics include nostalgia, food, films, reading material, perfume, etc.
List Mimsy 