Une liste: la partie finale!

Fin. Finished. End. Caput. No more. 

My time in Paris is at an end! Ten months down the line, my year abroad is drawing to a close (but is not ended just yet, for reasons I shall mention at the end of this post...). I packed up my bags and left my lovely apartment for the last time on Saturday just gone, and now I am temporarily (again, see end of this post) back in Blighty and getting all reminiscent. I tried to do a 'Paris in numbers' post, but it would have been boring, because I couldn't put an actual number on most of the things I came up with, and it would have gone something like this: "Many, many crêpes, Many more croissants, Even more carnets for the Metro..."

Which is boring. 

Instead, I've finally been through and updated my 'Paris things to do/bucket list', crossing off everything I managed to get done in my final few weeks in the French capital. 

Voilà.

1. Visit the Versailles Palace

2. Go to Notre Dame Cathedral

3. Visit Les Catacombs

4. Indulge in la cuisine, including croissants, macaroons, snails, frogs legs, seafood, and everything else French and/or Parisian. (On the seafood side of things, La Bar a Huitres is the place that I went for my birthday, and it really was delicious. There's several of them in Paris - I went to the one in Montparnasse. They've got a menu that ranges from massive seafood platters costing a few hundreds of euros, to a nice fixed menu for 44 euros, which was much better for my poor student budget)

5. Go to see the Pantheon

6. Spend time in La Jardin du Luxembourg

The next three I didn't do, and I always knew I wouldn't actually be able to do them this year - the first and second because I'm elsewhere at the time they happen; the third because I spent it at home. But I'm keeping them on my list because they're three things which really ought to be done in Paris, and though I won't be doing them this year, I'll be making sure to do them at some point!

7. View the Bastille Day Parade

8. Finale of the Tour de France

9. Spend NYE in Paris

10. Go to the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa! I have well and truly done the Louvre. I think I went there at least six times, covering pretty much every wing they've got in that place, and it's massive. To people going to the Louvre - see the Mona Lisa if you want, although she's pretty underwhelming, but make sure to do Napoleon's apartments too, in the Richelieu wing.

11. Go to Disneyland Paris. Disclaimer: I've actually been here before, so I count it as done. I wasn't going to include it on my list at all, but my "little" (he's 16) brother insisted that I include it, which was blatantly a not very subtle hint that I should take him.

12. Go to Sacré Coeur.

13. Stroll down the Champs-Élysées, and end up in the Place de la Concord

14. Rue Mouffetard - home of my favourite place to get a crêpe, Au P'tit Grec.

15. Go to the Palais Garnier

16. Visit Monet's garden at Giverny - I tried to do this, but on the metro heading to the train station realised that I would leave myself properly, PROPERLY skint if I went, which didn't seem wise.

17. Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower AND go see the Eiffel Tower at night

18. Visit at least 3 other European Countries. I did manage to visit Berlin in Germany, and I was intending to go to Brussels, but I just couldn't afford it, so sadly, this didn't going to happen.

19. Go to the Christmas Market in Strasbourg

20. Spend the day at Parc Asterix :) - another one for which I ran out of time and money!

21. Go to Bercy Shopping Village - because, really, what's Paris without some retail therapy?

22. Les Invalides

23. Moulin Rouge - It costs a fortune to actually see a show, but I've seen the outside and that will do for now!

24. Spend a few days on the South Coast and maybe in Monaco - this was another one that ended up being unrealistic.

25. La Marais and Place des Vosges

26. La Conciergerie

27. Visit St- Sulpice

28. Go to the roof at Galleries Lafayette - incidentally, I really loved the interior of this store. It's gorgeous!

29. Go the Musée de l'Orangerie

30. Go over to the Arc de Triomphe

31. Visit some other French Towns. I've been to Strasbourg (see no. 19 on the list) and also to Dijon.

32. Go for a walk along the Canal St Martin

33. Bois du Boulogne

34. See some jazz of some kind while I'm here!

35. Visit Le Château de Fontainebleau

36. Go to Musee d'Orsay

37. See an exhibition at the Grand Palais - Parisa and I went to see the Cartier exhibition back in January.

38. Go to Musee Marmottan.

39. Go to the French Open

40. Take a photo of Kilometre Zero, which is right outside Notre Dame (Km Zero is the point to which distances are measured to in Paris)

41. Find the most famous graves at Père Lachaise cemetery. (In case you're wondering, Edith Piaf and Oscar Wilde are just two of several famous names buried there)

42. Parc des Buttes Chaumont

43. Visit La Sainte-Chapelle

44. Browse the shelves at the bookshop, Shakespeare and Co

30 out of 44 things done. Not bad, even if I do say so myself. I'll be adding everything I didn't do to my mainstream bucket list, which I keep in the back of my journal. I'll cross everything off of it at some point, be it next year or in the next ten!

The next part of my year abroad is completely un-Erasmus related and it is all down to a company called Projects Abroad - http://www.projects-abroad.co.uk/ - who offer lots of volunteering projects in countries all over the world. I remembered them all the way back from the Gap Year fair at my Sixth Form College, and now I'm finally off on my Project, having got here rather in a rather convoluted fashion.

I'm going to be working for a month in a law firm in Chengdu, China, which is super exciting, and I'm jetting off again in about a week - so watch this space!

Vicky xx

Une visite: ma meilleure amie est ici!

The weekend just gone was one of the loveliest weekends of the year so far, because my best friend from Uni back in London, Akeelah, came out to spend the weekend with me. It was so good to see her - for the first time since she turned up at my house to surprise me for my 21st birthday back in October, and although we FaceTime quite a lot, there's nothing that can quite match the pleasure of catching up with your bestie over a cup of tea and a biscuit. 

She managed to catch a really early train on Friday morning, so we were able to spend most of Friday, all of Saturday, and most of Sunday together. Friday was a repeat of your average tourist activities, really. We headed to a Cafe near the Pantheon for a crepe, before doing the Jardin du Luxembourg, the Louvre, and the Champs-Elysees.

Then we spent the evening back at my apartment, literally just catching up, eating baguettes and Coq au Vin, which is a meal I've made twice now and I think it's going to become my french specialty - because really, I feel like I should be able to cook something native to my temporarily adopted home country.

Saturday, for me, was exciting because we headed to a part of Paris that I've not actually done yet, which is the Canal Saint Martin in North-eastern Paris, and which anybody who's seen the film Amélie really ought to recognise.

It's very scenic, and it just screams 'Classic Paris' with lots of pretty arched pedestrian footbridges, locks and cobbled walkways. Saturday was not exactly the sunniest of days - which was a shame, because we've had a lot of beautiful sunshine here lately - but I can just imagine that the Canal would be a brilliant place to go in the summer for pedestrians and roller skaters; tourists and Parisian's alike. I'll be making plans to go back there once Spring/Summer kicks in. 

After that, we headed to Galeries Lafayette, which I've now done numerous times, but which I particularly enjoyed this time because it had Akeelah's name written all over it, and as I predicted, she was enthusing that whole way around that 'this place sh*ts on Harrods'. 

And of course, we went up to the roof, which has resulted in yet another 'I'm-standing-on-the-roof-looking-at-a-view-of-Paris-but-this-time-it's-in-black-and-white' photo. 

Tadah. 

Sunday; we did Montmartre. I was only there a couple of weeks ago, with my Mum and brother, but this time we went in the daylight, and the sun had finally deigned to make an appearance, which really put a whole new spin on the place.

We took the obligatory photos of the view; had a proper walk around and look inside the Sacre-Coeur itself, and went behind to find the pretty cobbled streets full of Portrait-drawers and little shops crammed wall to wall with beautiful canvas paintings that I wish I could buy and take home with me

Then we went back to Au P'tit Grec [which I mentioned back in November as being a brilliant place for a gallette or, as I have since found out, crepes], and Akeelah headed back to London. Sad times! :(

I've not, in my earlier posts, made a secret of the fact that I prefer London to Paris as a city.

Spurred on, no doubt, by a touch of homesickness, the French Capital, probably rather unfairly, paled in comparison (in my eyes at least) to the city where I've spent my university life so far. 

Without a doubt, I still prefer London - there's just something about it that speaks to me. The reasons for that could probably make up a whole blog post on their own, so I won't go into them now. But this weekend, I really realised for the first time what a beautiful city I am lucky enough to be living in.

Why I'm realising this only now, I don't know. I've been living here for nearly six months now, and while I've always admired Paris - there's a reason it is one of the most visited cities in the world, after all - I think I've still been looking at it as if I were a tourist, going to sights because, well, that's what you do when you visit.

I'm going to put it down, I think, to a well phrased question from Akeelah, who asked me after a comment I made in passing, to describe the difference between living in London and living in Paris. Not the differences between the two cities, the differences between living in them. 

Forcing myself to become less detached and think more like a citizen, I tried to come up with a decent response to her question. After babbling for a few minutes and undeniably not making much sense, I finished, rather lamely, by saying 'it's difficult to explain unless you've lived it yourself'.

No, it's not the most eloquent of responses, but it's a true one - and one I would bring up in recommending a year abroad to anyone (which I absolutely do!) To understand the world around you; to experience the differences between regions; countries and continents, sometimes visiting isn't enough. 

Sometimes, you just have to live it.

And this weekend, looking out over Paris from the sun drenched hills of Montmartre; wandering the cobbled streets near the Sacre Coeur, and crossing the pretty iron bridges of Saint-Martin - taking in all those things with the mindset I have just attempted, rather poorly, to explain, as opposed to the attitude I've taken so far - Paris finally captured a little piece of my heart.

And with that little nugget of sentimentality, I'll sign off. Until next time...

Vicky xx

Plusieurs crêpes, et le commencement de Noël

So the past two posts haven't been wonderful and 'year abroady', I'll admit. The first time I posted in November, I basically just whinged for 905 words about how stressed I was etc etc [and really, they weren't exactly third world problems], and the second time was just an update to my things to do list.

But, I hear you all cry, 'what have I actually been doing?'

Well, read on, dear friends, because I shall keep you in suspense no more.

To start with? My mum tells me that my extended family are all under the impression, presumably from my Facebook account, that all I do out here is eat. That's not true, although this post is going to do a horrendous job at proving my point!

So: Mention of food #1: Pretty early on in November, we had one of the other QM/Paris girls and her boyfriend over to stay in our apartment for a while, and while they were around we found our way for the first time to Paris' Chinatown in the 13th Arrondissement near where we live, and had a very nice, very reasonably priced Chinese.

Mention of food #2: Also while they were staying with us, and also on the food front, we went to Rue Mouffetard in the 5th and bought a savoury crêpe each at a little place called 'Au P'tit Grec'. It had some pretty good reviews when we googled it and quite a line in front of it, which usually suggests good food, and it didn't disappoint! I can't remember what the others had, but I had a 'Bolognaise Gallette'. It was really very good, although I only managed to eat about a third of it - they're not expensive, but they don't skimp either, and the crêpes are very big, very filling, and absolutely laden with cheese. 

Au P'tit Grec, in the 5th Arrondissement. It doesn't look like much, but don't let appearances deceive you.

Really good food, and its really reasonably priced too :)

People visiting Paris, if you get a chance, I strongly recommend it. I'm personally waiting for a change to go back so I can try their Chocolate Orange crêpe with Grand Marnier. I'm drooling at the very thought of it...

Mention of food #3: Continuing with the crêperie theme, I also had a crêpe at Le Terroir, which is near Les Gobelins in the 13th Arrondissement. 

Crepe St Michel

Also very good, also very reasonably priced. This one is called "St Michel" and basically consists of Apples, Sorbet and Calvados (Apple Brandy) which was very strong (I felt like my tongue had been anaesthetised) but very moreish, and there were several other crêpes on their menu which are just begging for me to go back and try them!

(In the interests of full disclosure on the food (Mention #4) front, I also feel compelled to mention at this point that in addition to the sudden influx of crêpes, I seem to have taken up sampling the croissants of one or two local patisseries, on occasion, to see the difference between them. All on a purely scientific basis, of course. Not just because I happen to pass said patisseries and develop a sudden instantaneous pastry craving. Not at all.) 

***

What else? Well tonight, I trekked over to the Champs-Élysées where the 'illuminations' (read: Christmas Lights) were being turned on. It didn't happen until nearly 45 minutes after the advertised time, and I'm fairly certain that I'm going to lose all my fingers from frostbite as a result. The lights were pretty, though.

The moment the lights were turned on, we were all covered in silver confetti :) I have to admit, it looked gorgeous!

Looking towards the Arc de Triomphe; there were loads of people on the top [of the Arc] watching the lights get turned on. I wish I'd thought of that - I bet it was really spectacular watching the whole avenue light up at once!

I love this picture. Makes me think of a proper winter wonderland..

Not sure they were pretty enough to justify my losing all my fingers from sheer cold, but still very pretty! :)

After that, I decided, with my cold addled brain, not to go to the closest tube station and therefore perhaps save at least my thumbs, if not my index fingers,  which would have been the sensible thing to do, but instead to wonder down towards Place de la Concorde where a Christmas market has set up camp (which admittedly, was the more fun thing to do). 

Christmas Market on the Champs Élysées

There, (prepare for mention of food #5), I decided to buy myself some Churros, which I was introduced to when on French exchange back in 2010 and which I now cannot resist on the rare occasion I see them for sale!

Churros are so so bad for you, but mmmm. Roll them in sugar and they're so so good!

There were some beautiful things that I was dying to stop and buy, but a) I was on the point of hypothermia, b) I'm a student on a very tight budget, and c) I'm going to be seeing a lot more of Christmas markets in the next month or so and it seemed a shame to blow out on the first one I came across.

So I didn't buy anything. But I may have to go back before the end of the year!

So that's most of my November in a nutshell. We've got guests again this weekend, but with my budget running rather low, I doubt I'll be doing anything terribly out of the ordinary or blogworthy, so this post will probably be the last for this month, although I will of course post if something terribly exciting happens, like I meet the président or something. Unlikely, but there we go. 

And with that, I realise that now we're nearly into December, and Christmas is really starting to feel close! My lovely mum sent me out an advent calendar and lots of chocolate (does this count as mention of food #6?) in the post, haha (and actually did it some weeks ago, so I've been well prepared for a while). 

My December is going to be awesome - I've got a lot of fun things on, so expect loads of blogging from me next month. Specifically, other than going home for Christmas, which I am so excited about, in the next few weeks I have two things planned which I'm particularly looking forward to, and there should be loads of pictures, which always makes a blog nicer to read!

Until then -

Vicky xx

PS. Despite the numerous mentions of food in this post, I am sticking by my earlier claim that I don't actually eat all that much, outside of regular mealtimes. November just seems to have been a bit of a blip...