la vie à paris: c'est la nuit

It's about 2:30 a.m. here in wine-and-cheese land and for some reason I am quite wired. Maybe it was that large bowl of French generic brand Special K cereal that I ate a couple hours ago. Mmmm...

(Remind me again of how I always end up writing about what I eat?)

Today I took my own advice and ventured into Paris world instead of staying holed up in my dorm room pretending to do homework. After sending out a brutally long Buzz email to my staff, I put on a perfectly fashiony outfit and decided to wander the Latin Quarter by myself and settle at a cafe to get some work done.

{beaucoup de pigeons}

I began my walk through the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Garden), which was such a wonderful experience and SO Parisian. I basically spent 20 minutes watching little kids run around in their cute little outfits chasing birds around the park. I then wandered down some main rues (streets) and passed the Panthéon and some gorgeous churches along the way. I eventually ended up at the Mosque de Paris, a stunning white building of classic Middle Eastern architecture, covered in thousands of little blue, green, brown and white tiles. I'm not sure if I was supposed to pay to get in, but I snuck around to get a peak and snap some photos before I headed back to the street to continue my afternoon stroll. At this point I was starving and couldn't find a suitable cafe, so when I passed a corner crêperie, I couldn't resist. More nutella and banana crêpes!! Wahhooo!!

{inside the mosquée de paris}

I finally hit the center of the Latin Quarter by 4:30 p.m., and after scoping out a view of Notre Dame and picking up a baguette for this week's sandwiches, I FINALLY found the perfect cafe. Located on Boulevard Saint Germain, it was the perfect people-watching spot. PLUS, it had heat lamps in the indoor-outdoor seating area AND WIFI!! SCOOORE!! Noticing that the WiFi was pretty fast, I ditched my plans to do homework and spend the rest of my computer's battery power on uploading my Israel pictures to Facebook. (Check 'em out!) I headed home once my computer died, but before leaving, my waiter made a point to tell me that he hopes to see me again soon. Ummmmm NO THANKS! Unfortunately, I really adore this cafe and plan to go back. I hope he doesn't recognize me!

Okay, so besides filling you all in on my lovely day of lone wandering and photo uploading, I am dedicating this post to writing up my list of THINGS I MUST DO WHILE I'M IN PARIS. As you've read, I've already done a ton since I've been here, but this is a huuuge city with more to see than humanly possible, so I still have a lot to go.

Here it is:

1. Casually linger around show venues during Couture and Prêt-à-Porter fashion weeks to scope out the fabulous show-goers and their fabulous-er outfits
2. Top of the Eiffel Tower
3. Coco Chanel's apartment
4a. Buy a hot pink plastic lizard
4b. Visit Jim Morrison's grave at Père Lachaise Cemetary and leave hot pink plastic lizard and note from moi
5. Tea time at Ladurée
6. Return to the Louvre and see as much as possible
7. Find a bar/lounge/club to call my spot
8. Musée d'Orsay (going on Wednesday!)
9. Centre Pompidou (going soon with Art History class!)
10. Major vintage shopping, including the store Kiliwatch, which has been recommended to me by various friends
11. Puce (flea market) off the Porte de Clignancourt metro stop, which is the biggest and most famous puce in the city
12. Have really yummy Indian/Middle Eastern/North African food
13. Learn to cook an authentic French meal, perhaps with Kosh meat from the Marais. Can someone say Boeuf Bourguignon?

Much more to be added to this list, as I am only doing this off the top of my head.

Ooohh shizz it's late! Before I call it a night, here's a short list of the trips I am planning for the semester:

1. LONDON - THIS WEEKEND!
2. AMSTERDAM - either end of February or Easter weekend
3. ITALY (Rome, Florence, Venice) - Spring Break/MY BIRTHDAY WEEK!
4. BERLIN - TBD?
5. SPAIN AND MOROCCO - Early May after the program

Sounds good to me!!!

By the way, I think I have night birds living by my building that were keeping me up last night. I actually thought it was someone playing a joke by blasting bird sounds out their window, but I think the birds are back. Maybe it's just my radiator...

Okay, I'm clearly going crazy so it's time to go to sleep. Bonne nuit my petits fromages! (Little cheeses? Oy.)

Paix, Amour et Néon,
Marisa