Back with a Vengeance

Well let me begin by apologizing for my terrible lack of posts recently, but hopefully this monster will make up for it. As I mentioned in my last posting (July 19th, I know, I know) I had come down with a bit of a stomach flu two weeks ago. While the worst of it passed within the week, I was still feeling farily lethargic as of last weekend, and the double threat/treat of the Harry Potter movie and the final Harry Potter book did little to induce much physical activity. So, on Friday I went to my first movie here in France, careful to select the Version Originale, as I had little desire to test my French comprehension on such an important movie. After very much enjoying the movie, my persistent longing to join the wizarding community (who really can prove it doesn't exist, right?) was rekindled and I was immensely glad to have the book to provide some degree of immediate satisfaction. Therefore, on Saturday afternoon, I peddaled my way over to the English bookstore, as we had finally figured out how to get the new bike centers to work, where I had reserved my copy over a month ago. After getting yelled at (sternly warned at least) by an off-duty and rather grumpy gendarme (police man) for riding my bike instead of walking it while crossing the street at a pedestrian walkway, I arrived giddy with anticipation and quickly got my precious copy of the book, shoved it in my bag, and headed back to the apartment. Emerging only for food and a trip to the market (where I procured delicious, ruby red strawberries), I finished it Monday morning around 3am, very content, despite the sadness of knowing that I had completed the series. I apologize for the unnecessarily detailed description of getting and reading a book, but I'm trying to make up for my lack of recent content :)

Anyway, work continues to be interesting as I'm working on some fun projects at the moment. I made several skin jewelry butterflies (see practice pieces in picture and then imagine them with crystals as well as glitter) for a pop star on Monday and Tuesday and more recently began to work on another project that is quite exciting. Unfortunately, I believe it is proprietary so I don't think I should discuss much in depth, but essentially I've been designing and creating ideas for various press pieces for a HUGE French fashion house and there is a good chance that something I design and/or make will be presented to the designer himself! We also moved to a new location this past weekend which is much bigger, so I'm excited to see it and enjoy the extra room. Additionally, getting settled proved to require a bit more than just a weekend, so I had an unexpected day off today which I spent lounging, discovering absolutely wonderful new pastries, and doing some of my own sketching. It was especially nice to have a free day since my weekend was fairly packed with activity, all of which will be described below.

Friday evening I went to a nice dinner in the 14th arrondissement with Katerina and a group of new acquaintances whom I met through a rather bizarre series of events. Apparently an expat living in Vienna named Chris decided to create a blog with the purpose of finding the best steak tartare in Paris, and as I had mentioned my encounter with the French specialty of ground up raw meat and seasonings in one of my early entries, he asked me to review the restaurant and the dish on his blog. After a few emails exchanged, he invited me and my roommate, a steak tartare virgin, to come to dinner with him and his wife and their two friends living in Paris. As I hadn't really gone out to a nice meal yet in Paris and had managed to save a little of my pay while I was sick, I decided to splurge a bit and enjoyed a very nice meal at a little restaurant called Le Severo. The only downside to the meal, which was admittedly a rather large downside, was that the restaurant was out of steak tartare when we arrived. The owner/chef, like many Parisians, takes the month of August off and therefore he didn't have his full selection of stock on Friday since he was leaving on vacation the next day. I still enjoyed a hearty steak and frites though, along with some excellent red wine and very pleasant company.

The next day was the real highlight of the weekend though, if not my time in France thus far. After seeing several posters on the subway for spectacles at Versailles, including the English National Ballet perfoming Swan Lake, I decided I should check out the website. Upon discovering that Swan Lake would actually be performed outside in the gardens on a stage IN the Basin of Neptune, I decided I had to see it, and my roommates should also. Therefore, I bought four tickets online, each about $40, and hoped that they would be as excited as I was. Fortunately two of the other roommates did want to go, as well as a friend of the other, so I didn't take any financial hit on the impulse. We decided to make a day of the outing as well by going to see the actual palace and grounds during the day. After some stealthy online research, I found out that students of art in any form (art history, architecture, industrial design, studio art) get into Versailles for free. Now normally I don't mind paying to get into museums that much, but Versailles lacked a normal student discount and also cost 15 Euros! Therefore, I decided to email the Versailles information desk to find out if I qualified for the discount, and if so, how I should prove it. I was informed that I did qualify, but apparently French student cards list the student's concentration, which my Dartmouth card does not, and nor does the Harvard card. Therefore, I decided to fix up a little supplementary ID page with the help of Photoshop and some Dartmouth websites. As the Harvard kids are all on a budget as well, despite not being art majors, they also made some supplementary ID pages which we then printed out at an internet cafe. To our luck, the IDs worked perfectly, allowing us to both bypass the long line and enter for free! As I am a legitimate art student, I feel no remorse, but the Harvard kids better all take an art class before they graduate.

Although I'd visited Versailles last time I was in Paris, it's a much more impressive sight when in full bloom. As with last time, I wasn't immensely impressed by the interior exhibition portion, although it's clear that it would have been absolutely stunning in its day. Perhaps its the mobs of slow moving people, but much of the interior isn't furnished other than beautiful tables and numerous paintings. The newly restored Hall of Mirrors was gorgeous though and must have been spectacular when populated by ornately dressed members of the royal court. The grounds were gorgeous though, and I think the most impressive and awesome part of Versailles is the sheer size of it. Viewed from a distance with the rows of neatly manicured hedges, grass, and flowers, the effect is truly stunning. Having packed picnics, we all decided to enjoy the effect by lounging at the side of the grand canal and watching the people struggling to effectively row the rented boats.

About an hour before the perfomance, we packed up our picnic, did a quick tour of the bit of city around the chateau, used the bathroom, and then returned to the gardens for Swan Lake. Upon viewing the stage in the large fountain, I knew I would not be disappointed. The stage was literally in the fountain, with the statue of Neptune rising from the water behind the stage, and the enormous Chateau provided a lovely background, joined later by a full moon. Additionally, a row of fountains went up the path behind the fountain toward the Chateau and could be heard cascading down whenever there was quiter part in the music. The performance itself was absolutely wonderful as well - lavish, absurd, and utterly beautiful - just as ballet should be in my opinion. There was no pretension or striving to be anything deeper than a lovely fairy tale performed by some very talented leads. The only moderate complaint was that the music was recorded (I guess you can't fit an orchestra and a stage in the fountain), but even that dissipated. As Michael pointed out, the emphasis was really on the spectacle of the stage and the dancers and the performance. It was simply delightful.

Sunday consisted of the weekly trip to the market, followed by a relatively brief viewing of the final stage of the Tour de France. Since we don't have a TV, nor a legitimate American contender, my normally close attention to the Tour waned significantly this year and I can't say I really cared about who won. There was so much scandal and drama this year, that the win seems somehow tainted. I still wanted to see it in some form though, and was glad that it passed very close to our appartment. Therefore, we all went down to the Rue de Rivoli, waited for about an hour, and then saw each group of bicyclists pass within about 5 minutes. It was fun to see, but I wish good old Lance had been leading the pack and thus made the experience a bit more memorable. After the Tour, I went to Northern Paris to meet my French friend Sonia and her boyfriend at the Bassin de la Villette where the Paris Plage organization had set up various water/sand based activities along the sides of the Canal. Unfortunately the weather wasn't particularly good, but it was still fun to see and a definite possibility for future sunny days. We had a nice time chatting over coffee and dinner though, and then saw The Simpsons Movie since the outdoor movie we had hoped to see was cancelled due to the weather.

Sooooo, that's pretty much it for now. I'm obviously feeling much better and am looking forward to seeing some visitors from home this week in the form of Jared and my Dartmouth friend, Lauren. I'm also seeing another ballet by the Cuban National Ballet tomorrow at the Grand Palais, to which I've never been, so that ought to be enjoyable, although my standard have been set quite high.

La Fete Nationale

The past weekend was Bastille Day, effectively the beginning of the French Revolution. Just like American Independence Day, the French celebrate with parades, although there's are a bit more military in nature, and fireworks. As I mentioned in my last post however, their celebration also includes huge free dance parties put on my local fire houses - one of the best ideas the French have ever had. After a bizarre evening during which four kids from Yale showed up, despite my roommate only having invited one, Katerina and I decided to see what these Firefighters' Balls were all about. Upon arrival at supposedly the "most reputable" of the 8 or so Firefighters' Balls (near the church Saint Sulpice and the Jardin de Luxembourg) we were immediately greeted by a line three to four people wide that snaked along for about two blocks . Figuring this could only be a good sign (along with the thumping music and uniform clad firefighters on crowd control), we decided to wait, and as chance would have it, I ran into the new intern from work, an Irish girl, about mid-way through the line, saving us at least a half an hour of wait time. After about 45 minutes in line, we were finally allowed through the entrance into a large courtyard packed with people, four bars, and a stage. Although the music was surprisingly good (not ALL euro-techno-trash)- it was the staggeringly attractive people - particularly the men - who really made the evening fun: the dancing was great, the people weren't seedy, and everything was run very smoothly and safely (thanks pompiers). Katerina and I were absolutely stunned by the quality of the crowd but upon reflection on our 20 minute walk home at 4 am later that "evening", we decided there was a very reasonable explanation for the handsome crowd. The smart men realize that tons of women (such as Katerina and myself) will likely show up at a dance put on by a firestation with the hopes of running into a few firefighters. However, there will obviously be more women than firefighters, and thus the remaining women will be open to other options. We also each only spend 2.50 euros the entire night, so it was incredibly cheap as well!

After dancing till the wee hours of the morning Friday, we (two roommates and some other Harvard aquaintences) decided to recover on Saturday by having a lovely pic nic at the Place des Voges in Le Marais. We spent about five hours lounging in the shade and feeling truly Parisian as we sipped our cheap red wine, ate tons of chesse and baguettes, and shared fresh fruit from the market. I can't imagine a more pleasant afternoon. In fact, it was so enjoyable that Katerina, Matt and myself (the last of the pic-nicers) lost track of time and didn't get back to the apartment until around 9:30. Then, after eating dinner, we almost completely forgot about the fireworks and only made it out in time to see the finale. Although it would have been nice to see them, I was comforted to learn that even people who made a legtimate effort and went out to the various bridges had a very difficult time seeing them as they were very low.

Despite another late evening chatting with Harvard kids at the apartment, we decided to get up early and go to the market again - now a weekly ritual. Upon returning with our bounty, we realized that the new free city bike system was debuting that day and thus decided to take a bike tour in the afternoon. After spending lunch plotting our potential route and generally getting very excited about the prospect of biking through Paris on a gorgeous summer day, we were extremely disappointed to find out that our U.S. credit cards are not yet accepted at the little stations, so that we were unable to fulfill our grand plan. Not to be deterred however, Katerina and I decided to assuage our disappointment by walking to the Ile Saint Louis and buying ice cream. I had recalled that the Ile was particularly famous for ice cream, and as we walked around, the name Berthillon rang a bell (and the 20 person line concurred). After waiting in line for about 15 minutes and deliberating over flavor options from wild strawberry to salted butter caramel, we were finally allowed to choose our flavors. In true American fashion however, when asked whether we wanted one scoop or two, we both responded "Un quadruple s'il vous plait." Now these weren't exactly Baskin and Robbin's size scoops, so don't get too concerned, but definitely a good amount and allowed us to make fewer difficult flavor choices. The ice cream was absolutely divine and could only have been improved by the absence of the topless, thong-wearing 60 year old woman sun bathing near our bench. After finishing, we proceeded to walk about 8 miles through Paris with stops at a pet market (and a serious consideration of the plausibility of buying and housing a bunny for the summer), Notre Dame, les Jardin des Plantes, and the Pantheon.

Monday through today have not been quite as exciting as the weekend, as my body seems to have decided that I needed to rest, and thus I've been stricken with some sort of mild stomach flu. While the worst of it was Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon, I've still felt weak and achey for the past several days, and thankfully J has been very understanding, allowing me to go home early Tuesday and Wednesday and insisting that I take today off. After sleeping for about 12 hours yesterday, I'm definitely feeling better. Other than the aches and an occasional stomach cramp, my appetite has returned and I have more energy, and I plan to return to work tomorrow, so don't y'all worry about me! I plan a fairly relaxing weekend as well, including time at Paris Plage and possibly attending a midnight Harry Potter party at an English Language bookshop where I've already reserved my copy. Sunday will be spent reading Harry Potter with as little human interaction as possible.

More Social Life = Less Blogging

As you all may have noticed (since you check this blog religiously, I assume) I haven't posted much lately, but fortunately that's not for lack of activity over here. Instead, I've recently had quite a lively little social life going for myself, especially on account of the roommates, so that (unfortunately) blogging has taken a bit of a back seat.

Last weekend I went out with one of my roommates and several of her friends on Friday night, only to be overwhelmed by the variety and quantity of bars in the area near the Bastille. We realized we need some guidance, so Katerina and I intend to solicit recommendations for future endeavors from our various French acquaintances. It was still an enjoyable evening though, and it made us appreciate our location in central Paris even more, as the metro stops running around 1am and our other friends faced a looooonng walk home.

However, I had a wonderfully successful Saturday in many ways. I began by visiting Pierre Herme, supposedly the home of one of the best croissants, if not THE best, in Paris. Although it was a wonderful croissant - crispy through the top layers, but light and flaky below with a good allotment of dark chocolate - I have sampled at least 15 different bakeries' croissants by now and I can not say that theirs was truly head and shoulders above several of the others, and especially not for the extra 40 centimes! Conveniently however, Pierre Herme was on the way to the Musee de Luxembourg, my legitimate destination for the afternoon. On the recommendation of my boss, I went to the museum to see an exhibit on the late 19th, early 20th century jewlery and glass designer Rene Lalique. How I had never heard of him prior to this is amazing, because his work was absolutely breathtaking. The variety, craftsmanship, and ingenuity of each of the pieces was stunning, and the accompanying sketches were also very interesting to see as a small time designer myself. I left the exhibit completely overwhelmed but also full of ideas for future projects. I also bought two books from the exhibit (a bit of a splurge) as design references. Oh! And one other cool conincidence is that Lalique's first shop/atelier was located about a block away from my current apartment on Rue Therese!

After Lalique, I wandered around the wonderful area of St. Germain de Pres and enjoyed a rare bit of Parisian sun (see photo). The weatehr has been pretty terrible thus far, hovering in the mid 60s with sprinkles to showers almost every day I've been here. Supposedly it's going to be in the 80s this weekend, and hopefully will remain that way for a while. In the evening, I went out to Indian food with my two French buddies, Laurent and Farid. The Indian food was pretty good, and once again I had a nice chance to practice my French with two patient friends.

Sunday, I brought two of the roommates to my favorite market near the Bastille to pick up some cheap produce and cheese for the following week. They were very impressed and we all came away with quite a haul. After that, Katerina and I decided to flex our culture muscles and hit up two free classical music concerts. The first one was a Romanian celloist who played pieces by Chopin and Grieg, and the second was an organ concert featuring Bach. Although I know virtually nothing about classical music, they were both very enjoyable and seemed to be generally solid performances - and even more so for being completely free and in Paris.

Thus far this week, we've had people over three of the four nights, including a large dinner party for the birthday of one of Katerina's friends from Harvard. Maintaining my role as official Dartmouth ambassador, I prepared most of the meal (pasta, salad, cheese tray and brownies) and had quite an enjoyable time with all the Harvard kids - about 7 in total. The one big difference I've discerned thus far between Harvard kids and Dartmouth kids is that about 80% of the Harvard kids smoke! Given that it's very rare and socially disdained (in general) at Dartmouth, I was a bit surprised.

This weekend is Bastille Day (or wannabe Independence Day) and I'm hoping to see the Fireworks on Saturday and generally enjoy the first truly hot day of the summer! Apparently all of the fire houses have parties in the evening as well, so Katerina and I are definitely considering checking that out, as the average attractiveness level of French firefighters is far greater than those of the U.S. Many are of ambiguous sexual orientation, but we figure it's worth a look at least, haha.

One final note, if anyone needs to or wants to contact me, my address through August 31st is:

Alix Toothman

15 Rue Therese

75001 Paris, France

Creative property?

Apparently I arrived in Paris at a rather hectic part of the creative cycle and thus spent my first two weeks at work making detailed crystal motifs (prototypes, essentially) that we recently sent off to a factory in Hong Kong for mass production. Although not the most difficult work in the world, it was incredibly tedious and I was quite happy when we finished the motifs and began actual design work! At first it sounded like I would be working primarily on two projects more related to product design (at least in J's mind): a commission for Vidal Sassoon's fashion week hair show (but for clothing) and another involving designing a compact for a British cosmetics company. However, J. discovered that I "am quite a good drawer" (her words) and thus I have instead spent the last two and half days drawing detailed designs for her next women's collection. Overall it's been pretty enjoyable and she's been very happy with what I've produced, but after two days of drawing in the same general style, I'll be happy to do something else soon! Below are some pictures of what I drew and which will be sent to India on Friday to be translated into beads and sequins. On the one hand it's pretty cool to think that something I drew will be fabricated and sold, but on the other hand it's a little weird that I won't get any credit for it! I guess it's the way fashion works in general (Ralph Lauren, Versace, Galliano - none do it alone) but it's kind of bizarre for me since generally I make things that I wear or give to people - so it's always accredited to me. Oh well.

The first picture is of a large piece that will run up the front of a dress (right) and the other will become either (or both) a piece of skin jewelry or an embellishment around a neck line. The second is a close up of the skin jewelry necklace, and the third is a close up of the large dress piece. I've also sketched some smaller designs that we will use as patches, as well as a design for a purse.

Flea Markets in Paris aren't so Flea-ey

Last Sunday I went to the Marche de Puce on the recommendation of my boss and some guidebooks, expecting an enormous flea market full of amazing treasures just waiting for someone willing to dig a little. Unfortunately, I found instead a giant flea market filled with thousand euro antique furniture, 150 euro bunt pans, and 80 euros dresses! The market was in fact about 12 smaller markets (both in and outdoors) spread over a huge area in northern Paris and contained tons of beautiful pieces, although I was disappointed that I didn't find more clothing vendors. The majority of the markets consisted of beautiful antique furniture or cheap modern goods a la Canal St. in NYC, so although it was definitely a worthwhile outing, it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for. Perhaps I'll return when I'm looking to furnish my chateau in the French countryside.


I did find one great deal though: a crepe filled with cheese, egg, mustard, and a sausage - all for 4.50 euros. Very delicious and very fulfilling after hours of walking.

Who says the French are rude?

As I've alluded to in some previous posts, I've had some success in meeting a few French people, despite living and working with Anglophones. My first point of contact was the little picnic under the Eiffel Tour with the group Pour Vous Paris, and through that meeting I arranged a language buddy named Laurent, and possibly another named Alice. Laurent is a very amiable, Vietnamese French man in his late 20s, and very patient with my attempts at explaining myself in French. We had a lovely dinner at a Japanese Restaurant on the Left Bank and then met up with one of his friends at a cafe - also very funny and pleasant. It was not the most exciting evening, but it was very French, and very enjoyable - just shooting the shit with two nice French guys. AND to top off our first meeting, Laurent demonstrated his extreme good manners by offering to help me move into my new apartment the next day, thus saving me about 20 euros for a taxi!

We are planning to do something again this weekend (possibly free salsa dancing on one of the bridges over the Seine) and one of my new roommates might join us as she's also hoping to practice her French. I'm also meeting the young woman I met through the 3 Colorado boys tomorrow for coffee/drink after work, so hopefully that will go well and I'll have another friend!

Shopping and Gay Pride?

Aside from moving into my new apartment, I had a very enjoyable and active weekend. On Saturday I decided to walk around the area known as Le Marais and filled with some of my favorite boutiques (that I've discovered so far). Although I'm a fan of window shopping in general, "Les Soldes" are on right now, so there was a chance I might actually buy something. Les Soldes happen twice a year throughout France and appear to be organized by either the government or some businness group, for literally every single shop in Paris (and in Lyon last winter) puts a good deal of their stock on sale. Generally, the discounts are significant - from 30-60% and often it includes stuff from the current season.

However, despite my excitement at the concept of a city wide clothing sale in arguably the fashion capital of the world, I quickly tired of the chaos. Nearly every store I walked into was filled with people and looking through the racks resembled a shoving match. In addition, the dollar is currently being stomped on by the euro, so I soon realized that an item discounted by 35% in Euros, was essentially full price in dollars - rather disheartening. I still plan to keep my eyes out, for Les Soldes continue through August, but the first week required a bit too much physicality for my shopping enjoyment.

Thankfully, however, I stumbled upon an enormous gay pride rally right as I was beginning to feel particularly tired of shopping. There is nothing like emerging from a quiet, residential street onto a large avenue filled with thumping European techno music, flares, rainbow flags, and scantily clad men (although sadly, the majority of attendees seemed to be hipster French youth) to pick up one's spirits! Although confused and a little scared at first due to police sirens and the flares, I realized I had no choice but to walk past the crowd, as they had gathered at the Place de la Bastille, right near my former apartment. I didn't particularly feel like gyrating to the music, but it was certainly a site to behold and a nice topper to my long day of "lecher les vitrines" (the French equivalent of window shopping, literally meaning "to lick the windows").

I'm no longer a nomad!

So after two weeks of apartment hunting and waiting, I have finally moved into a wonderful apartment and will be here for the next two months! As you may have discerned from my previous posts, I arrived in Paris a bit naive of the difficulties of finding an appartment. In retrospect, I was probably lucky to have only spent a week living in the hostels (meeting some very nice travellers along the way) and the past week was spent very comfortably renting my own bedroom from an older British woman near the Bastille.

However, all that is done with and I am now situating myself in a four bedroom apartment in the heart of Paris (about three minutes from the Louvre). Although I was initially reluctant to live with other Americans, I realized that a certain degree of familiarity is actually very nice when otherwise surrounded by a fairly foreign environment. Thus, I am living with three girls from Harvard and I think we'll do quite well together. All three of them will be working (like me) and all three speak some degree of French and are looking to improve (also like me), so I'm hoping that we'll all make our own contacts (through work, etc) and then introduce them to each other. That might be an idealistic hope, but so far I've had some luck in meeting Parisians, so perhaps it will be the same for them.

As far as the actual location goes, the apartment is located on the 5th floor (no elevator!!) of a traditional old Parisian building. We each have our own large rooms, along with a decent sized kitchen, two bathrooms, and a living room. The only downside to this situation is that for some reason, the girls we are renting from decided to take all of their linens with them, so I just had to go buy sheets and pillows (incredibly cheap, low thread count ones, of course). Otherwise, I am quite happy and glad that I held out during those first two weeks. The neighboorhood is known to be a bit stuffy because it is generally home to wealthy older Parisians, but it's about five minutes from a bunch of bars and restaurants near the Opera Garnier and the Marais district. We are also about two minutes (or less) from Palais Royal, a HUGE old building of sorts that encloses a beautiful garden. Other than a few small, non descript entrances, it's very easy to pass right by the garden without ever knowing it. The entrance to the Palais Royal is right across the street from the Louvre, so I also intend to take advantage of its free Friday evenings at least a few times during my stay.

When I clean my room up a bit and actually unpack, I'll post some pictures. For now though, I'm just happy to know where I'm going to live for the next two months. And, after a fair amount of difficulty with Bank of America and their French partner bank, I've managed to pay for the two months of rent up front, so I that burden has been eliminated as well!

Le Marche Aligre

As I mentioned, I spent the last week living near the Bastille with an older English woman. The Bastille is a pretty lively area full of shops, restaurants and a variety of people. While the actual Bastille of Revoultion fame was demolished in the 1800s (I believe under Napoleon...) there is a large "place" in its former place and it serves as the round about for about 5 large avenues. Anyway, I was living on one of those Avenues called the Blvd. Faubourg - Saint Antoine and it just so happened that the apartment was about a block away from the cheapest farmers' market in Paris. Supposedly, hundreds of years ago, a church/mission/convent (something religious) needed money and decided to sell off a piece of their land to local merchants. However, they sold it on the condition that the merchants charge as little as possible for their goods, and thus the market is still the cheapest in Paris, while maintaining very good quality.

As you all know, I love food and love to cook, so a farmer's market right outside my door was amazing. Every morning I would walk through the stands and buy some fruits and vegetables for my breakfast and lunch - usually coming away with something like 2 peaches, 2 bananas, cherry tomatoes, a round of goat chesse, a croissant and a demi-baguette for less than 5 euros! Despite living farther away now, I plan to go during the weekends and stock up on fresh fruit for the week, because the prices really can't be beat.