Musee Carnevalet (sp?), Bridget in the foreground reading map. This is a pretty green and peaceful place in 16th century (pretty sure) "hotel." It is a museum of daily parisian life and is separated by siecles, kings, and revolutions (all rolled in to one). A must see. There is a ring with Marie Antoinette's hair woven together with her best friend's hair (Mme Lamballe- who was gruesomley killed, her head paraded on a pike after they took it to have the hair done at a barber (because it was all bloody and messed up) for the mob to show Marie Antoinette her favorite through the tower's windows). Umm, yeah, well, it's a pretty place with room furnished in the approprite eras. quite impressive (really). some huge rooms and staircases, and ancient furniture. 

early summer (paris, FRANCE)

Bon jour : )
Here I am, still, thankfully. Only two weeks of intermediate level to go! written exams and practicals. I hope I don't ruin my life by not passing intermediate, BECAUSE we're going to get our certificates in a fancy Parisian place and I want to go. I got an invitation for Lisa Martino too. Plus, it would be good to advance to the superior level I think.
I'm really happy with the intermediate wine course I just completed last week. I learned about the French wine making regions and their varietals. It has always been a mystery, now it's cracked! We had a great instructor, who was formerly the master sommelier at the Ritz-- oooh la la! And what a rich vocabulary he had for the wines we tasted. We had approx 5 wines per tasting, and each tasting was about a specific region. (I would highly recommend this course if you ever have the opportunity to be in Paris for 6 weeks.)
I used my newfound wine knowledge at Pierre Gagnier...a three star resto!!...last week. The sommelier there was very pleasant and guided me just gently enough. I would have never felt up to the task, had it not been for my overstudying of french wine varietals and their regions for the final quiz. This doesn't mean you have to take a wine class to talk to a French Sommelier. They are quite pleasant and helpful, not demeaning at all, and it seems like most of them speak English. You only need to tell them what you like, I know, that's a challenge for some of us (me). If you like just ask them to choose something for you in a certain price range, of a certain color and sweetness or richness. So...yes, wine is beautiful.
I'm finding that although I prefer some wines, all of the time. Most all wines can be enjoyed depending on the time, the mood and what you're eating (even Merlot, but that's stretching it a little). ha ha.
Um...summer in Paris, yes, it's warm, muggy, but even the people in the TV ads seem happier these days. People are more relaxed and the vacationers wander around with dreams in their heads of the mysteries of Paris, fantasies of vacation romances, new parisian shoes and blouses. Maybe a free drink from a waiter and a wink. It's funny, but I think little human things, like a waiter or an old lady on the bus, make Paris nice. Sure, there are a lot of monuments, history and museums. I think when I arrived I was nervous about things and I couldn't see the sweetness of people. Now that I'm more relaxed and not waiting to be ripped off, I'm enjoying the people here and the monuments, museums and history seem even better. Paris is no longer a big breasted proud woman looking down her nose at me, she's more like a generous and wise woman with a twinkle in her eye and a cute little boy by her side.
So...whew...I think I just poeticized myself out of this blog entry. More later. Happy summer. I'm looking forward to my sis visiting, cyndee visiting, and of course Dad, Ruth Ann and Alex coming to live across the street from me for a week!
xoxox, Dominique

Paris Plage....what will they think of next, these happy little frenchies? They're having fun pretending like they're in California. There's also a beach on the Seine, just to the right of this place. It feels like vacation here. Smiling faces of volleyball players, kids having fun, bicycle rentals, souvenirs, ice cream, feet washing fountains. Is all we need are seagulls to eat our potatoe chips (and an ocean).  

I took this one on a hot night when I was thinking of one day not living in an apartment, being able to work in a garden and sit around at twighlight in the warm weather eating tomato and basil sald with a lot of stars overhead. 

my very own little jardin. I need to get them a bigger box though. the thyme is okay w/ the heat all day, but I take in the basil, primrose and tarragon in at 4pm when they get direct sun. 

Well, this is lightning. It's hard to get a good picture you know. This is the view, sitting on my bed of the lightning storms we've had recently. There was a LOUD one last week, maybe it was this one, can't remember. Anyway, I thought the world was going to come to an end. really! when Carey was here we had a pretty one with some rain. I feel safer during these storms than at home because there are no trees to fall on me and I'm in a fortress-like building. I think my building is at least 100 years old. it's cozy. 

Carey comes to visit! My friend Carey came to visit for a few days. Thankfully, she's small so we both fit in my apt. She and Terry are coming back to Paris on August 2nd, after they go to the ROLLING STONES CONCERT IN AMSTERDAM! 

bye...! Carey is on the RER train to CDG airport to pick up her rental car. She drove to Beaune, with many detours...never made it to Chartres ; ( 

Place de la Bastille, deserted on bastille day. the parade is over (and I missed it : ( 

Bastillle metro stop. 

bastille day! 

Pre fireworks picnic (Susan). 

see my feet? they're in paris on our picnic blankie 

Aaaaahhhh 

oooh 

pink! 

eiffel tower looking sexy 

kaboom! 

All dressed up and ready to go out. Here we are at Sergio's apartment before the student dinner. Ashley, Bridget (lying down) Tse, Susan and me! 

At the restaurant! Passiflore (a two star restaurant in Paris for those who want to know:) Ashley, Dominique and Tse.  

Metro stop at school. I took this picture because it has Boris Diaw (phoenix suns fame) in it (he's on the far right). There was a much larger version of this ad campaign in the metro tunnels. The posters were somethig like the size of my apartment. alas, I kept forgetting my camera, so I didn't get a shot of that. the next cool ad campaign I'll take some photos. 

This market is such a nice funky one for being in the middle of Paris. You can find anything you need here. Pajamas, underwear, shoes, bags, food, toys, tools, knives, foie gras, flowers, herbs, tablecloths, sheets. I like that they have unsophisticated stuff. All of the ladies (me too) show up with their wheeled carts. Peaches, apricots and plums are hitting the market now. There are some yummy melons, but I haven't noticed where they're coming from. Still lots of strawberries : )  

making dinner. since Bridget, Sergio and I all live on the right bank, we usually end up having dinner together at Bridget's. This is a typically small Parisian kitchen (with a washer!). Actually, this kitchen is huge compared to mine. 

at bridget's with our trainer sergio. you can see that we're working really hard building up our liquor tolerance. bridget is hard to get a picture of as she moves around too much. 

This is us, my group. This picture was taken after we completed our first week of class way back in basic days.  

me holding my bavaroise, which turned out quite well. it looks a little wobbly here, prob cause I'm holding it up. This cake has milk choco, dark chocolate and vanilla mousses. I don't remember if this one is separated by a jaconde cake, or if we just froze it btwn layers. the chocolate glazing on the top is the most difficult part of this cake. I'm feeling rather confident with my mousses these days. This lovely little number went to the guys washing the floors that night (we finished at 9:00pm).