La Plage {Paris}

Last weekend I passed through my beloved Paris for a day en route from Brittany to the south of France and as lovely as the countryside and beach are, I was reminded once again that first and foremost I’m an urban explorer. Ever summer for a month, the city of Paris transforms various areas around the city into urban beaches known as “Paris Plage” [plage = beach]. The program is in it’s 9th year and several other European cities have copied the idea. While many Parisians (including many of my friends) really are not fans of Paris Plage, I had to see it for myself. I don’t know if it was the simplicity, lack of corporate branding, or just the fact that it’s a public space that brings people of all kinds together, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching people in the space and how it came alive. The streets (closed to traffic for the month) become an urban playground with bocce, lounge chairs, activities and workshops for those who don’t leave the city for the summer. I checked out the “plage” that ran along the Seine in central Paris just north of Notre Dame. I know if I were in Paris for the rest of the summer, I’d definitely check out the other locations, as well as taking in a film at cinema en plein air at Park de la Vilette.

Bretagne = Brittany

The expression trop beau, trop tot (too nice, too early) is a popular expression in Brittany. You never know exactly what the weather will hold, and you may just have 4 different days in one. Weather is probably one of the biggest forces driving people to the south of France (where I'm headed this coming week) rather than north. Yet, the risk of weather is totally worth the escape to Brittany (despite a few brisk days, we got lucky). Never have I seen such amazing skies and clouds, beautiful views, and the ever refreshing complete lack of tourists. I stayed in what felt like a castle for the past week, not far from Saint Malo, with a quick trip to Dinan (a medieval feeling town) and Dinard (beautiful beaches). Brittany is also wonderful because it's the land of the stripped shirt, which feels oh so French!
Lots more pictures HERE!

Le 14 Juillet et le Bal des Pompiers!

I’ve always been a fan of art out of context, but now parties out of context are my new favorite thing. I learned this from the pompiers [firemen] of Paris earlier this week. Every 13 & 14th of July the pompiers open their doors for the annual Bal des Pompiers. While there’s a firehouse in each of the 20 arrondisements of Paris, each with their own personality and reputation - this year I ventured to the 6th, near St. Sulplice. My French friends had warned me to get there early, and they were right. By 9pm the line was around the block. But when you’re hanging out and catching up with friends, it’s worth the wait (however, next year we will be bringing out own 6 pack). It was one of those moments when we got to the entrance that we had no idea what to expect, and that’s what made it so magical. In the inner courtyard of the firehouse courtyard, the sky opened up with French flags and colorful lights overhead. Then there were bars all around where cute firemen sold us cold Heinken for 3 Euros a piece, and champagne for 5 Euros. All much cheaper than any night club or bar in Paris, and the price of entrance was by donation. After 5 minutes inside this quickly became one of my favorite days of the year. We danced and drank the night away and it was a complete blast watching the firemen let loose too (some too loose) in the magical setting that felt like we were in a different world. My only complaint was that there were only 5 port-a-potties for women. Clearly men were running this fete.


P.S. After tying up life in Paris, I’ve headed off to explore the rest of France until I return to the city in September. Internet has been harder to come by than expected, so look for sporadic posting this summer.

Visions of Paris from the iPhone

Finishing up my studies for the summer. My apologies for the silence, but enjoy the pretty pictures!

Allure of the Seas

Contest Details

I spent a semester on a ship traveling around the world. It was an incredible experience, but one of the least memorable aspects was the food (except the thrill of having PB&J on board). If only my friend - and UVA fellow rower - Wright had been chef on board. The other day Wright wrote me to tell me he was selected to be a finalist in the Allure of the Seas Culinary Challenge. It involves a two day cooking contest and interview for the position of Chef de Cuisine for 150 Central Park restaurant aboard the Royal Caribbean vessel Allure of the Seas. The competition included a video portion - which you can see here - and by voting, you can help Wright move up in the ranks. Good luck, Wright!

Hunting for Treasure {20eme}

I'm good at getting my friends into crazy adventures, and Saturday's La Chasse aux Tresors [Paris treasure hunt set up by the Mairie de Paris] did just that. I signed up for the 20th arrondisement, wanting to explore a side of Paris I don't get to often (part of the goal of the event). I must admit the most challenging part - besides testing our treasure hunting skills en francais - was finding the actual place to pick up the maps. But hey, it's France, so you can expect to have to run around in circles a bit.
After getting a bit hung up on the third clue, we eventually found our way (and so did others). This clue told us to find the funny birds.
Along the way we discovered lots of new places we never would have known about otherwise. (I want to go back to this restaurant now).
And charming little streets tucked away.
But before we got too comfortable neck and neck with other teams and feeding off each other, there were "road blocks" along the way which we had to participate in in order to get clues that would lead us to the final destination. At this stop we went to a marionette theater where we each got to try our skills out. It was great - I totally felt like I was on The Amazing Race.
The scenery around us constantly changed.
And we got to interact with locals in the area. (Here one of the clues took us to a hair salon where we had to guess the song to get our next special clue).
A lot of the time we didn't even feel like we were in Paris at all.
This is my team - Sarah, Lindsey, Marisa and Cedric as we entered Pere Lachaise cemetery for the final rounds.
Due to the massive storms in the morning, we got a late start and ended up finishing about 15 minutes after the deadline. Still it was great fun by all and we had a different adventure in the city for the day. Behind this wall there was a little party waiting for us all to celebrate the end of the chase.