Christmas Tree in Opera Garnier
Audrey Telfer, Sciences Po Exchange, Fall 2014
As my flight back to the States draws closer (less than a week!), I’ve been trying to “profite-bien” or make the most of my last few days in Europe. I have to say, I think I’ve done a rather good job. As I write this, I’m sitting on a high-speed train headed to Amsterdam for a weekend of museums and canals with some friends from Sciences Po. When I get back from Amsterdam, I have my last two days in Paris booked up by paying homage to all my favorite places, my way of saying au revoir to this wonderful city.
With these plans in mind, the day before I left for Amsterdam was dedicated to living like a Parisian. And of course the most Parisian thing I could have done was spend half the day on the metro. It was mostly line 3, with a quick trip on line 5, and then a long ride home on line A. Despite all the metro-ing, I still managed to walk a ton, also in typical Parisian fashion. I started off at Galerie Vivienne to admire the old shopping halls and gorgeous Christmas lights. From there I wandered down a road I picked at random and found a wonderful pedestrian street packed with fromageries, charcuteries, boulangeries, and patisseries. I decided to return to the street for lunch after my yoga class.
I took my last opportunity to take a yoga class in French (so maybe this was a typical Parisian yogi day!) on Rue de la République. After a quick lunch back on that marvelous pedestrian street, I hopped on the metro, once again, and in search of a legendary bakery, Du Pain et Des Idées. I picked up a pain au chocolat (as a point of reference to measure the real valor of this bakery) and an escargot des fruits rouges (spiraling pastry with dried berries). I returned to the metro and after three line changes I found myself on the steps of Opéra Garnier eating my pain au chocolat, watching the people pass by.
When I finally got back to my house, I crashed on the couch and watched the evening news with my host family. It was perfect.