Scones for Peace

For this Veteran's Day/Armistice Day I baked up a batch of apple cinnamon scones for peace.

Who would want to fight when these fluffy, flakey scones are brought out of the oven? No one.

Well, except for my sister Maureen and friend Rocky, that is, if they had to pick sticks for the last one... But that's another story. So for those people, double the recipe!

D’laur’s Apple Cinnamon Scones

Note : Key to good scones, biscuits and pie doughs: Be careful to not over-handle the dough! Unlike doughs made with yeast, these are made with baking powder and require little to NO kneading.

Okay, so now that we have that covered, go out there and get your hands buttery!

Ingredients

2 ½ c cake flour

1 tsp pure vanilla extract ( or 15g sucre vanille)

2 1/8 tsp baking powder (11 g levure chimique)

1/3c sugar

1/3 cup (75 g) cold butter (I used salted, but non-salted works too with an addition of 1/4tsp, 2.5g salt)

1 small golden apple, peeled, cored and sliced into small pieces

1 lemon, squeezed ; 1 Tbsp juice

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2/3 c crème fraiche, heavy cream, or sour cream

1tsp cinnamon and 2 Tbsp sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Place rack in the middle of the oven. Butter and flour round biscuit pan.

Toss apple pieces with lemon to juice and set aside.

Blend flour, sugar, baking powder, (and salt). Cut butter into small pieces and cut into four mixture with 2 knives, a pastry cutter, or my preferable method, with your hands! Stir in apple pieces.

In another bowl, combine cream, beaten eggs and vanilla (if using extract). Set aside approx 2-3 tbsp of mixture for topping, then add the rest to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined. Do not over mix! Pat dough together just until a ball forms. Divide dough into 8 round balls and place in pan, again, be careful to not over-handle each portion. Don’t worry about perfection here, it’s all about the taste and flakiness in the end!

Top each scone with remaining cream and egg mixture and cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Bake 15-20 min. But check after 15min, perhaps they might be done! No? Thought so, why not go dance around your kitchen for the next 5 min? That’s right. Turn up that music, break a move and breath in those sugary fumes…

Don’t get too distracted there! Pop those scones out!

Cool in pan. But why wait? Burn your tongue, it’s worth it! Bon Appetite!

Vive la France!

Sorry for the lack in updates recently. I really have no other excuse than exhaustion from work, well, and maybe a little lazziness in between.

Last week was a very productive and eventful week as all decuvages were completed, and my parents came and went in a flash, and I attended the Confrerie des Chevaliers Chapitre dinner at the Clos de Vougeot.

So to start, I will fill you in on what a decuvage is by showing you some pictures..

First, we drain the tank of the fermented juice (red wine!) and pump it into a stainless steel tank for storage until Jean-Luc has time to move it into barrels with gravity flow. (SORRY, NOT PICTURED) And then the fun starts! A brave soul, such as myself, jumps into the tank of grape skins and seeds, shuvel in hand, and begins the decuvage. Shove-full by shovel-full, the grape remnants are tossed over the side of the tank and into the recieving cage.

As shown above in the picture, Mariette excellently shovels out her first (but not last!) tank.

After the cage is filled, it is carried over by the fork-lift, inserted into the Vertical Press machine and WAMO!

The fermented grape skins are pressed down into a thick dry cake as the lovely juice runs free and joins its juice counterparts in the steel tank.

So this physical activity was my work regime for the last two weeks, and now that we have 31 empty wooden tanks lying around, what better idea is there than to clean them all this week!?

So long story short, the red stains on my hands are washing off nicely as I scrub down these wooden surfaces with hot water, and then alcohol.

No complaints here though! Most 1.5 hour lunches include a nice glass of wine from the cellar :)

Now, back to the parental visit of last week.

My parents in front of the Palais des Ducs in Dijon

With strikes and manifests going on all around France over the pushed-back retirement age (60 to 62), my parents had an unfortunate encouter with the dissatisfied workers of this country. While they had a pleasant visit here in Paris and Dijon, they missed their flight home due to the train strikes and had to sleep in the Paris airport :( I am really sorry for their misfortunate event, and hope that this doesn't keep them from venturing to this country again. As my coworkers reminded me during our long and tiring day of work, not ALL French people are striking... exactly, just the people whom everyone else depends upon... train, bus, airlines, gasoline! But I guess wine is the more important item in this country anyways...

And to celebrate this fact! I attended the Confrerie des Chevaliers dinner two Saturday's ago!

Here at the Clos de Vougeot, this brotherhood of wine lovers in Burgundy served up a delicious 8 course meal for the brothers, their wives, and selected guests. During this 4-hour meal, songs, plays, and speeches were carried out, and everyone was waving their hands in the air to the Burgundy "lala lala lalala LA la" song in the end (for the 10th round).

It was definitely a night to remember, and thanks to my handy-camera, and my escortee for the evening, Pascal, I was able to capture some of the moments!

Caroline and I in the courtyard of the Clos de Vougeot during the dinner

Louis-Marc giving a speech on the mainstage where various speechs and acts were given throughout the dinner

Rob Keeney singing along with the other Confrerie men dressed as traditional Burgundian winemakers (Bourgogne vignerons)

Caroline, Rob, and Marcie swaying and singing to one of the many Confrerie songs of the night

Pascal and Arnaut happily waving their napkins in the air

And it wouldn't be right if I didn't show you at least one course of the dinner. This was poached eggs and bacon served in a Burgundy wine sauce over bruscetta. Yum!

Cheers!

10 Day Harvest in Burgundy

Wow, it's hard to believe that harvest has already come and gone!

I apologize for not updating my blog during the past two weeks but I had little time outside of work other than to eat, sleep and shower. On average I worked 12 hour days with 1 hour lunch in between, but occasionally we had our longer and shorter days. Thankfully, Vougeraie provided lunches for us, and I was able to refuel with a 3-4 course meal each day. Yeah, pretty incredible right? And this is why my coworkers joke I may gain weight rather than lose it during my internship here! I really hope I can prove them wrong.... But seeing as I won't have this luxurious meal after harvest, and will continue to have pumpovers, punchdowns and eventually decouvrages (shuveling out the grape remenants after fermentation and tossing them up and over the tanks), I should be alright!

La Mode de la vendage

Harvest fashion: my "waterproof" attire that I wore before climbing inside the press to clean it.

Starting on Monday, September 20th we received our first cases of fruit, and by the 30th all fruit was in. On the following day, the 1st of October, we finished sorting through the last bit of the Musigny Grand Cru grapes as Pierre Vincent, the winemaker, belted french songs from atop the wooden cuve as he worked on punchdowns. Ahhh... another Vive la France moment that I may never forget.

To give you an idea of harvest I will try to sum up the main processes that we carried out at Domaine de la Vougeraie:

All clusters were hand harvested and brought in by tractor to the winery, where each case was emptied out onto the sorting table and carefully scrutinized by the cellar crew and myself. Luckily we had some extra hands during the sorting process to keep the table running 12-14 hours each day.

The sorting process was quite demanding this year as there was a lot of mold on the grapes, beaucoup de pourri et oidium (grey Botrytis and Powdery Mildew), and most had to be removed by hand or with hand clippers. While the Pinot noir proved to be less affected by either fungus, the Chardonnay got hit hard this year so much attention was focused on the sorting table as the grapes came into the winery.

Mariette sorting fruit as Blandine dumps the fruit into the cuve, Jean-Luc guides her and Pierre stands by for moral support

After the sorting was through, all Pinot noir was directly destemmed and put into large wooden tanks, cuves, and kept at 12-13 degrees Celcius for a week. Since Burgundy is very appellation driven, each parcel of vineyards received its own cuve to carry out fermentation. Each cuve received a pumpover each day (by either myself of Mariette), and once the fermentation started up, punchdowns were carried out (by Thibault, Pierre, and myself on one occasion with the help of Ian, a retired Englishman who came to help out for the harvest).

The wooden cuve (with metal refridgeration cooling tube) before fruit

The cuve after the fruit was dumped in

For the Chardonnay, the grapes were pressed whole cluster in a bladder press and the juice was put into stainless steal tanks to be settled. The settling and racking of the whites were carried out for longer this year to encourage more of the oidium and Botrytis to settle out with the lees, bourbes.

The first Chardonnay pressing

All fermentations were natural and no yeast was added to any of the reds, and only one white wine appellation was innoculated (as the Botrytis was noticably higher on the fruit, and a natural fermentation was risky).

Now we have been seeing very fast and happy fermentations with both the reds and the whites, and Pierre seems to be quite pleased with the outcome. To recieve more aromatic character from the yeasts however, he has been prolonging the fermentations a few days by chapitilizing the Pinot noir cuves (adding sugar) just before the alcoholic fermentation completes. As strange and wrong as this sounds, it makes a lot of sense as the sugar content is lower this year and as the fermentations have been finishing in 5-7 days (which is 2X faster than the average fermentation.) The other question you might be asking yourself is "is that legal!?" And yeah, in Burgundy it is very much legal to add sugar to your must in order to achieve the right alcohol level (12.5-13% alc) but you must keep record of how much you use as the process is very much controlled!

Each day I continue to ask why, what, and when and have been jotting down notes left and right. By the end of this week I hope to do some grape stomping with my feet, and will no doubt share the photos with you all!

Wishing you all a very relaxing Sunday! Cheers!

Relax, Reflect, Refresh

This weekend finds me relaxing in lovely Dijon for the first time in awhile. Since Pascal and his son, my host family, are out of town this weekend I have the place all to myself. Wahoo! So I've gone completely wild by doing my laundry (I know!), shopping at the market, cleaning my room, and baking a fondant au chocolat (recipe given to me by my coworker, Mariette :) So, yeah, Pascal just might kick me out when he gets back...but anyways... I have a long list of other shenanigans to do too since this is my last free weekend before HARVEST on Monday!!

And apparently I forgot to bring the croissants to work on Friday, whoops. (Yeah, real smart relying on the girl with broken french to bring the goods at the end of the week!) But in any case I plan to make up for it on Monday, and maybe Friday if I have the energy..

So this past week at the winery involved a lot of water. And I've come to realize that there is NO way to stay dry when you play with water... which is the reason mouillee, wet, is now in Laura's french vocabulary. But now our cellar and all of the harvesting equipment are clean, and are ready for some major Chardonnay and Pinot noir processing!

However the grapes this vintage are not as prepared as we are since it has been a difficuly climatic season. With rain falling throughout August and September, the ripening period of the berries, Burgundy has been seeing a lot of pourriture, bad Botrytis, and odium, mildew. Which in other words means that the fruit is rotting on the vine. Not good. The Chardonnay especially has been hit hard, which means less good fruit is available for picking and that the expected volume of juice will be lower. And for me, as the harvest intern, this means my time on the sorting table will be quite lengthy and tiring (as I will have mal aux dos, pain in the back)

But dispite this difficulty, Domaine de la Vougeraie will trudge on, and I am excited to see how we process all of the different vineyard parcels (which are typically less than 1 hectare, or 2.5 acres). After visiting and sampling in our most southern most vineyards near Beaune, in Savigny Les Beaune and Corton-Charlemagne yesterday, and working in the more northern vineyards in July (Gevrey Chambertin and Vougeot) I now have a better understanding about where the fruit is coming in from, and how the appellation and terroir has an affect.

i.e. the reason I came to Burgundy :)

So now I must get back to my wild shenanigans of planning out my life after harvest. With a harvest position lined up at Vrede en Lust in South Africa in January, I am now working hard to find a suitable winery in New Zealand to take me afterwards in March/April. Hopefully all goes well and I can conquer exactly what I've set out to do!

First Impressions of Burgundy

I was asked recently what my first impressions of Burgundy have been, so I've mulled it over and this is what I've decided:

Burgundy is more than just a region of haughty wine and traditionalist winemakers. It is a culture proud of its fine food, wine and terroir; a culture that strives for the best quality in each of these categories and succeeds. From the prospective of a wine student from California, whose knowledge base of wine includes more science than experience, I entered Burgundy with a bias toward winemaking practices in California. However, not even two months into my internship and I believe I may be swayed toward the traditional, yet innovative practices utilized in Burgundy. Winemaking begins in the soil, moves through the plant to the fruit, and needs little to no intervention afterwards. This concept seems obvious here, but I believe that there is a disconnect sometimes between the land and the wine in other regions. In Burgundy, there is no disconnect. Here, there is a respect for the terroir and the vines which dig their roots into its soil. Quality wine is attained through great attention to the land, vine, and fruit. In the same way, quality food is attained through great attention to the local, fresh ingredients. In Burgundy, this is all understood and implemented. A good wine is just as easy to make as a good meal, you just have to know what elements to focus on. So perhaps a good life follows the same pattern, and Burgundy has attained the ultimate balance we all strive to attain.

In any case, writing this excerpt on the region was quite difficult for me. It made me really think about what I thought I knew about Burgundy, and what I think I've learned now. It made me ponder about what I have gained so far, and in what direction I'd like my career to head from here. My dreams went wild, and I couldn't find the words to express my desires. But then I realized that I might be confusing my dreams with my views of Burgundy...but maybe they were one in the same?

60th Tastevinage

So why am I in France? Well, because a fraternity of men here in Burgundy (known as the Confrérie des Chevaliers) are proud of their region and it's wine, and wanted to support students like me to come and experience the wine practices and the life in Burgundy.

And so I am, and have continued to do so every day since I landed in Paris on July 11th.

While I have seen much of France and Burgundy during my vacationing, not until last Friday, September 3rd, did I get a glimpse and taste of what this fraternity is so proud of.

Friday, 3 September 2010, marked the 60th Tastevinage for the Confrérie des Chevaliers at the Chateau Clos de Vougeot. Dressed in suits and ties, the men paraded into the castle with their red tastevins hung around their necks. With a little unease, Caroline and I tried to follow suit, but did as good a job as two zebras could do in a hurd of giraffes. Like sore thumbs, we stuck out as the only women under 25, in a crowd of 100 men and maybe 10 other females. But once the tasting began and our introductions were announced, we settled into our seats with ease and picked up our glasses with confidence.

The 18 wines that I tasted through with my table were non-appellation specific and were marked as either "Bourgogne" or "Bourgogne -Pinot noir", and a few roses from regions unbenounst to me. The red wines, I later found out, were unique for my table, as all of the other 15 tables were tasting wines from different, specific appellations in Burgundy. All wines were presented anonymously in sock sleeves so that the Domaines were unknown and no biases could be made, and were tasted in groups of three.

As judges, we were asked to rate the wines from 0-20, 0 being terrible and 20 being the best wine you have ever had. If the wine was rated as 13 or higher it was then considered to have the Confrerie des Chevaliers stamp of approval, which is a sign of quality and distinction for all wine consumers. Along with this rating we took notes of the good and bad qualities of each of the wines, and discussed amoung the table our preferences among the wines.

Following the tasting we were served an extravagant 4 course meal in another grand room in the castle. As an interesting contrast to the tasting where I was seated with all very Burgundian, French-speaking men, at lunch my table consisted of the only English speaking people present at the Tastevinage. Which all in all, may have been for the best, as I was able to meet a nice lady who lives in South Africa and happens to know about the winery I will be working for come January! Small world..

As a general appreciation for food, I thought I would share with you what I ate during the lunch. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph the main course as I develed into it very fast ;)

But this was the 1st course: La Canotiere de Cabillaud Confit aux Petits Coquillages

A delicious seafood chowder with oysters, scallops, and fish

If only we could live and dine like this every day...

It was definitely a day to remember, and a wonderful glimpse into the Chapitre dinner at the Clos de Vougeot which I will be going to in October!

Cheers!

Barrels and Pascal

Now that it is September I am back to work in the winery, and already I am beginning to feel pain in those little muscles I never knew I had... For the last few days the Domaine has been receiving many orders of barrels and we have been working hard to circulate the old barrels out and the new ones in. But by out, I really just mean outside to be washed, dried, and brought back in to be sanded down and then put back into the caves. All of this is surprisingly time consuming and tiring, but nevertheless fun and entertaining as I try to perfect my barrel-moving-skills (which is prooving difficult!) Thankfully, Mariette, Blandine, and Jean-Luc encourage me rather than laugh, though they do get a good giggle in once and awhile.

I can already tell that this is going to be a really great team for harvest as everyone here is very upbeat, positive, hardworking, and accomodating to my limited French. Mariette is another intern like myself, Blandine is the enologist, and Jean-Luc is the cellar master. Supposively we are going to get another intern for three weeks during harvest, but that may not be for awhile since harvest is delayed this year. Right now they are expecting harvest to start on the 25th of September, but if the weather stays cool like it is now, it may not be until October! This is almost 2 weeks later than the average harvest date! It will really be interesting to see how the Pinot noir grapes look when they come in as they already have thin skins, but on top of it are being handled in a Biodynamic way. With an extended rainy harvest season, this may just be bad news all around! Maybe my view of Biodynamic practices will change after this.. but we'll see...

In any case, it was announced today, and many times at work, that Pierre Vincent, our winemaker at Domaine de la Vougeraie was awarded Best Winemaker of the Year at the 2010 International Wine Challenge in London, England!! Super cool. I can't wait to see what tricks he has hidden up his sleeves this harvest... jk but I do feel as though I am in good hands!

So all in all work is dandy and I am happy to report that I have a (free) roof over my head in Dijon! Pascal, the Tastevin liason (for lack of a better title), has graciously opened up his home to me and given me a room to hang my hat in for the duration of the harvest. It is quite spacious and is in a wonderful location in downtown Dijon. I still feel like I am intruding a little on him and his son, so my use of the bathroom and kitchen are a little awkward still. But other than that I really enjoy getting to know Pascal better as he is a very generous and amusing person.

But as I look at the clock and see that it is 15 minutes past 9PM, I realize that my body is slowly but surely turning into a pumpkin. So I will update again soon to report about my experiences at the 60th Tastevinage at the Clos de Vougeot last Friday (Burgundy winetasting with rich men in a castle), and my camping trip to the Jura and Switzerland with Caroline!

Cheers and love,

D'laur

Tid-Bits I've Noted

When a German and an American attempt to converse in French it sounds a little bit like Portuguese.

Listening to The Beatles' "Look at all the Lonely People" doesn't really fit in France

Bob Marley is all the rage.

Vespas have their place.

Work just as much as you have to, then stop.

Spending money on good food is always worth it. Always.

If you have the luxury of owning a second home, put it in the south of France.

Listening to live jazz can put you in a state of euphoria.

So can rain.

Avignon Yesterday, Today Lyon

Over the weekend I visited the small town of Avignon in the South East of France. Situated on the Rhone River, it is near the better known village and appellation, Chateauneuf du Papes. Since my train ticket passed through this town on my way back to Dijon, I decided to stop off for a few days to see if this town was just as cute as I had remembered it to be. The result: mixed feelings, unfortunately.

Cute candy shop I remember from the 1st time around

Since I visited Avignon two summers ago with DEVO, the wine club at Davis, and had only spent fleeting moments on those cobbled stone streets (with beverage in hand), this time the town did not appear quite the same. Somehow I missed the tourist-infested streets and bums-lying-in-wait first time around, but took note of them this time. With the exception for these people (and a common foul stench of dog poop), Avignon was just the same as it was before: quaint and historical, with a little more edge this time.

The graffiti scene is awesome. This was on the outside wall of a bar.

The Pope's Palace is indeed not to be missed, and a few other hidden treasures I found second time around: the Cinema Utopia, a jazzy establishment which shows independent films non-stop 2-10pm daily

Cinema Utopia

And the African-influenced restaurant, L'Empreinte. At this restaurant I had the tajine de poulet et citron, which is a dish of chicken, olives and couscous prepared in a clay pot from Mahgreb (Northern Africa). While the food was definitely good, the reggae music playing in the background set a very peaceful and enjoyable atmosphere as I read my book outside on the cobblestone streets.

L'Empreinte patio

The only thing that could've made it better was the company of a friend. C'est la vie quelquefois.

Today I am in the larger, more northern city of Lyon! Here I am surrounded by Rhone varietals of Syrah, Syrah, Syrah, Marsanne, Roussane, did I say Syrah? Oh, and a lot of food, a lot of really good food.

Surprisingly Lyon started out as a village of silk weavers, and eventually morphed into the gastronomic city that it is today. Also, this city attracts many movie buffs as it is home to the first (first!) motion picture to be filmed, La Sortie des Usines Lumieres. So, long story short, Laura is definitely happy here.

As I've told my friends, I plan to eat my way through this city, known for its food, as it is within the very country, known for its food. But, unfortunately I cannot afford that Michelin rated restaurant... Le Bec, as the menu starts at 118 euros.

So today for lunch I settled for the cheaper menu of Boeuf Carpaccio, Dijon Vinagrette Salad, and Potatos au Gratin with a slice of Tart Chocolat for 12 euros. Miam Miam, as the French say!

In between meals, I spent my time in the Musee des Beaux Arts and the Musee des Miniatures et Decors du Cinema.

The Museum of Beautiful Art, was indeed just that, as it is home to many famous paintings and sculptures which date back to nearly 300 and 400 B.C.! Everything in between then and now was just as fascinating, and I throughly enjoyed the Egyptian exhibit on mummifying and the tiled paintings from the 1600's in Turkey. In one painting or another I came to think about a lot of my family and friends, and wished I could share these moments with them.

(Or somehow steal a vase or two to give to my grandmothers...)

Egyptian tombs (I left the mummified hand and head off the site for the precaution of squirmish readers :)

In the miniature cinematic museum I became greatly absorbed into each miniature recreation of cinematic themes, and the realistic appearances of them all. The detailed work that went into each masterpiece on display was astounding.

A recreation of the famous restaurant, Maxim's

The miniature scene used for the set of Jurassic Park

A Painter's boudoir

Also just as interesting, were the costumes (and face recreations) on display from famous films such as The Terminator, X-files, Being John Malcowich, and V for Vendetta!

The Jon Malcowich mask used by other actors in the film Being Jon Malcowich

After tasting a few Rhone wines at the nearby Wine shop in Old Lyon I climbed the hill to my hostel to regroup for the evening. As I hear there is jazz playing tonight near the Beaux Art Museum, I feel a nap (une sommeil or petit siest) is called for in the meantime.

Best wishes and love. D'laur signs out.

Cheers!

How the French Vacation

In everything I’ve done these past two weeks, the same question keeps surfacing, “why me?”

How can a family be so generous to open up their vacation home in the south of France to two American wine students for two weeks?

Our room attached to the main house

But not only that; lend them their winery jeep to take day-trips to the surrounding towns and cities, feed them breakfast and lunch during work days, take them on a day-tip of canoeing with their kids, invite them to dinner with their winemaking friends, include them in wine tasting excursions, and to top it off take them out to a four-course meal at a quaint French restaurant in a nearby historic village?

I am baffled, awestruck, and envious of this family, but do not have the words, even in English let alone French, to thank them enough for their hospitality and graciousness that they have shown.

Since we have arrived here we have gotten to see a lot of the surrounding towns and cities, and also still find a great amount of time for rest and relaxation. Since the warm weather and lakes are hard to come by in Burgundy, we chose to spend our last few days just relaxing by the water.

This was one of the most relaxing vacations I have ever taken. Now I am looking forward to one final week of traveling adventures before returning to Burgundy.

Cheers!

Paris For A Week

Paris, ah Paris.

It's a lot like D.C.: metro, metro, metro, and you get where you need to go - fast. Like any big city with underground transportation, really. Except you're surrounded with... 1000 more years of history? And the best food and drinks - if you have the carefreeness to splurge.

Cafe Viennoise at Les Deux Moulins (the cafe where the famous Amelie worked): 4 euro

As one exits a metro, it's almost like waking up from a dreamless night’s sleep. The sunlight hits your face and you realize you can start your activities for the day. As your eyes adjust to the bright sunlight, you walk up the stairs to the nearest street. Focusing in upon a nearby café, cobble stone walkway, or majestic restaurant sign you situate yourself at once. Sidewalks are congested with tourists and Parisians, so you must move fast, with confidence. Even when lost, walk fast. Don’t stop and look at a map – you’ll be a target. Local merchants and gypsies will pounce at once and other tourists will scoff (or maybe just mean ones like me).

The view from Pont Neuf (a bridge connecting the Island of the Cite to the mainland)

In this metro, which you will get to know well, everything functions like a well oiled machine, that is, if you follow suit. If you insist on using English – again, be prepared for the gypsies lying in wait. Luckily for me, I only fell victim once due to my own stupidity and lack of good judgment. Thinking a snapshot of the fellow metro boarder playing the accordion was necessary, I was promptly targeted by a little gypsy boy for money. Holding out his tambourine for any change, I stared back at him and replied, “non merci”. Oddly enough, I thought he was handing me the tambourine to play along, and I held back the temptation to take his instrument and shake the bells. Good call.

Accordion Player. Don't be fooled like me

My goal for Paris was to avoid the other tourists at the historical hotspots. On this account, I was successful, but did not escape the crowds of the Parisians at the 5 o’clock metro rush hour. Crammed into one car like sardines, I look around for a maximum occupancy sign and find none – boeuf. Caroline grasps my arm and whispers, “I’d like to know people’s names before getting this close” – but unfortunately I think it’s a little too late for that. Luckily we’re in and out in a jiffy, and onto our celebratory night of my 22^nd year of life. Yes!

Taking everything as it comes, my birthday went completely unplanned, and wonderfully executed. After meeting our new friend Will at the hostel the night before, an Irish man from Andorra, we invite him to follow Krystal and I in our adventures for the day (whatever they may be). Since Will was hitch-hiking his way from Andorra to Amsterdam, it was a treat to have him stay an extra day with us in Paris.

Surprised with a chocolate, maple custard crème puff at breakfast (with a candle in it), my blood sugar was high and ready for action! Since Caroline was only visiting for the day, I met up with her that afternoon at the Lafayette shopping mall, and we headed to the Luxembourg Gardens to rendez-vous with Krystal and Will. Relaxing in the summer sun and getting our fill of people watching, we concocted malicious schemes that we would only dream of executing. Though quite amusing, we resisted on acting on the pinpointed innocent civilian who needed to buy a belt, for the sake of all onlookers, and stop walking into Will’s photos. Though Will jokingly assured to pay Caroline 50 quid to tackle the man into the fountain, she knew better than to hold him to it. Ah, but how miraculous a sight that would have been, and how utterly confusing it would have been for this man. Enjoying his male companion’s company and then, BOOM tackled by an American who whispers “…butt crack..” and then bolts. Never again would he enter the beautiful garden, in fear of the butt-crack police who might lie in wait. That would definitely teach him for not dressing properly in Paris. So taboo.

The Luxembourg Gardens (sans butt-crack, photo-interrupting Parisian victim)

The night was kicked off with a great glass of Pinot from a Premier Cru of Domaine Tollot-Beaut, graciously donated by Caroline as we relaxed back at the hostel. Hearing that the Latin District is the place to go at night, we set out there with no specific location in mind for dinner. Luckily we stumbled upon a great restaurant offering a 3 course meal for a good deal, and settled in for a good two hour feast.

Will and Caroline with their 50cl of biere!

3rd course: Profiteroles aux chocolat!

Afterwards, we were all grins as we sauntered down the 1^st district streets to the Louvre. Arriving to this majestic sight at midnight was the best decision of the entire trip. In almost complete solitude we got to enjoy the structure, history, and grandness of this museum. Lit-up by the surrounding lights, it sparkled under the night’s sky.

Sitting among the flowing fountains and glass pyramids, we four toasted to this great night with a glass of Alsacian Pinot gris. Slightly sweet with honey, plastic, and green aromas, this wine had a distinct but subtle Botrytis flavor on the tongue. Delicious J

All was calm and peaceful as we continued to stare up, taking in the detailed architecture of the Louvre .

While our metro ride back to the hostel was disrupted by construction in our line, none of us hesitated in seeking out the next best mode of transportation: bikes! With rental bike locations dispersed throughout the city of Paris, we found the nearest site and rented out as few bikes as needed…which turned out to be 3 for our four people gang. Maybe two and two wasn’t put together? In any case, Will and Caroline had the bicycle built for two down pat by the time we made it home an hour or so later!

Taking an unintentional scenic tour of downtown Paris we twisted and turned down streets until the proper directions was pointed out by a local. With no complaints from Krystal and I, we followed behind the circus bikers, enjoying the moment and blissfulness of this late night ride. It was the perfect way to work off the heavy meal without wearing away at our feet, enjoying the city without the rest of the curious world-travelers, and let loose while not being stared down by Parisians.

C’est la vie!