Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was absolutely wonderful. The sun was shining all weekend (such a treat in February) and the weather was perfect. Saturday morning I woke up early to take jog around Luxembourg Gardens before meeting Mom and the aunts at the hotel. We headed out immediately to start our day of shopping. We went to Galeries Lafayette, the largest department/everything store in Paris (France's version of Harrod's). It's enormous and beautiful and very high-end. We started off in the food store, and ate delicious macaroons (in France they are round with frosting in the middle). Next we headed to the women's store, where we spent most of our time on the first floor looking at bags and watches and perfumes. As a birthday gift, Mom bought me my first perfume (Coco Mademoiselle, by Chanel), so for as long as I remember to keep putting it on, I will smell nice. We ate a late lunch on a streetcorner cafe then returned home to rest a bit before our big dinner.

We ate at a super-nice, super-fancy French bistro called Benoit. The food was amazing, starting with the light cheese puffs that arrived immediately. As an appetizer I had smoked salmon (not something I usually eat, but it was the house specialty), and for my main course I had sole in a delicious cream sauce with shellfish on top (big night for my taste buds trying things). The dinner was excellent but the dessert was amazing. I had millefeuille, a cake like a delicate pastry filled with cream. After dessert little chocolates arrived. and as the finale, the waiter brought out a tray of madeleine's fresh from the oven. soooooooooooooooooo yummy.

After dinner I went out to Dan's appartment where a bunch of Middkids had gathered and hung around drinking wine and eating cheese and thinking we were so French.

Sunday morning, beautiful again, we walked along the Seine in search of the bird and flower market. We didn't find it, but we made it to the Bastille market where we bought clementines and flowers for my host mom. We then met Fred (Catherine's old au pair) and her baby (2 yr. old) Keyvan - so so so cute and well-mannered...a little gentleman, and Jasmine (stayed in Simsbury 4 summers ago) and Fred and Jaz's mother. We had a lovely lunch in a cafe overlooking the Centre Pompidou. Jasmine and Sahar (the girls who stayed with us in the summer) are both living in Paris, and I got both of their cell numbers, so hopefully I'll see them both soon.

After lunch we walked back to the hotel in the sun, then continued on to the Musee d'Orsay. It was free to get in b/c it was the first Sunday of the month. We explored an entire floor (the impressionists) and I got my first taste of the museum. We wandered home the long way, across the river and through the Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre. The roads along the Seine are closed to cars on Sunday afternoons, so there were tons of people out.

Sunday night we ate dinner with my host family. My host mom was very excited to cook for them and refused at help or to let them bring anything associated with the meal. We arrived at the appartment shortly after 8:30. I said our meals usually last 1-1.5 hours, probably a little longer with guests. We left the appartment at 12:15. We didn't make it to the table until almost ten, having sat in the salon with champagne chatting and looking at Mme. Beguin's knitting (clothes for the grandson). Dinner started with a salad topped with scallops. Mme. Beguin had forgotten that my mom was allergic and she felt awful, but luckily she forgot quickly. The main course was chicken in a yummy yummy sauce (all the chefs wanted the recipe) with rice. Mme. Beguin brought out five cheeses, all very tasty, and then for dessert, profiteroles (pastry puffs filled with ice cream and drenched in hot fudge). Very very delicious.

The meal went absolutely wonderfully. The Beguins spoke English most of the time, but more often than i would have imagined, they slipped back into French, and I'm pretty sure everyone understood perfectly (Mme. Beguin speaks very slowly and articulately). I got a kick out of having to translate occassionally (although I couldn't always do it). Everyone seemed very content at the end of the night. Mme. Beguin sent Pat home with a bottle of wine and some herbs she had been looking for and a list of wines and addresses for Catherine. She's such good hostess and it's so natural for her.

This morning we slept in a bit, ate lunch together near the Centre Madeleine, et puis, they left and I headed to class. In a two seconds I switched from my surreal family in Paris life back into my Parisian student life.