Tuesday, July 3, 2012

June 16-17, 2012: Paris and our first night in Cluny!


Due to limited internet access during my time abroad, I was unfortunately unable to blog while I was on my trip to Cluny. However, now that I'm home, I am going to post what I wrote while I was on the trip. 

On Saturday night, the girls and I went to a little bistro on the corner by our hotel. I had pave de boeuf with pomme frites, which was very good. For dessert, we had Crème brulee and brioche with almond ice cream.
 

 


 
We finished dinner at about 10, which surprised us all very much—the sun was just starting to set! So, we decided to hold off on doing some sight seeing until the next morning. We decided instead to experience a Parisian bar (which had great music!) and had an after dinner drink. We then went to the hotel and slept for the rest of the evening.

We woke up the next morning at around 7:30, and left at about 8. We stopped at a patisserie, and I had a chocolate almond pastry and an Orangina. C’est bon!




We walked about 40 minutes along the Seine to Notre Dame, which was absolutely gorgeous. The weather was absolutely perfect, too, so walking there was no problem. Since we went so early on a Sunday to Notre Dame, we saw mass happening. The music there was beautiful! The organ and the singing were lovely, and it was such a wonderful experience. 





We then walked about 20 minutes to the Louvre, and there surprisingly was not a long wait.


Saying that the Louvre is a big museum is a huge understatement. It’s quite overwhelming!  One could spend days, or weeks even, in Paris just seeing the Louvre.  It was quite interesting though—even though it’s such a large museum, we managed to run into Dr. Haggblom there! Even though we did not have too much time to spend at the Louvre, we still saw a lot. Here were some of my favorites from the Louvre!





After the Louvre, we stopped for some lunch at a café owned by Miss Lunch--I'm not kidding. Her and her cafe were adorable! We then walked back to our hotel to pick up our luggage to go to Gare de Lyon, where we would all meet as a class. When we finally made it, after struggling and literally dragging my luggage on my way there (because the wheels decided to fall apart), we went on the TGV to Macon Loche. It was such a fast train and the views outside were absolutely stunning. We then took the bus to Cluny, and arrived at the Cluny Sejour Hostel. We then had our first meal and wine tasting at Cellier de l’Abbaye, which was delicious! 

 Setting up for our tasting. White wine was served first, and the little balls in the basket are cheese puffs made with Gruyere cheese called Gougéres.
 Duck paté is in the center, and surrounding it is a type of ham with parsley jelly.
 Carrot salad, seasoned with spices such as carraway and corander.
 Chicken paté wrapped in puff pastry
 Paté with black currants

 Goat cheese!
Brioche Aux Praline
 
After dinner, I decided to hang out with the girls for a bit, and then read some of the material that was given to us for class. Overall, it was a lovely way to start such a fabulous experience!

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