Paris au printemps: Le Marais et La Nourriture dans le Marais

Oh la la, it's been a busy two days! Brace yourselves for a lot of photos. Yesterday was Mardi Gras and our Monuments class trip to Le Marais. We have been discussing the middle ages in class, and the Marais is one of the older districts and has many old nobles' mansions or hotels. Way back in the day, the area was a swamp, which is where its name comes from. Marais=swamp. It's not swampy anymore though! Now it's chic and trendy.

Hotel de Sens

very similar to the musee du Cluny...Hotel de Sens was built in 1475

It is now home to the Bibliotheque Forney, a library about the history of Paris.

Part of the old wall surrounding Paris during the time of Phillip Augustus. Yep, it's that old.

Public fountain, added to the district in 1872

Hotel de Beauvais, built from 1656-1660

Now it is an administrative justice building. I wish I lived here...

Decorative carvings of rams and lions

Mozart stayed here when he was in Paris in 1763!

The oldest houses in Paris! They've been around since Charles V was king in the late 1300s.

St. Gervais Church, across from.....

Hotel de Ville

(City Hall)

Time out for a "nuances of the French language" moment. There is an exhibition going on there now, and whenever I walk by the line is very long. When I mentioned the "exhibition" to my host family. I got some weird looks. Then they laughed. It turns out that the word doesn't translate well. L'exposition is what I should have said. L'exhibition is something you would see at the Moulin Rouge; it's entertainment of an adult nature....not exactly polite dinner conversation. Oops! Lesson learned.

Hotel de Soubise

Owned by a wealthy noble during the reign of Louis XIV. The big courtyard shows that he could afford to spend money on land in Paris.

Hotel de Lamoignon

Built for an illegitimate daughter of Henri II. She was called Diana, and she got to be a Princess anyway. The stone is carved with moons and deer to represent Diana, the Roman goddess.

I thought that many stores would be decorated in green, gold, and purple for the holiday but none were. The French celebrate the day before lent by eating crepes. I'm ok with that!I had a honey crepe with my friends before our tour, a savory ham, cheese and egg crepe (like a French Egg McMuffin!) for dinner, and a nutella crepe for dessert that I made myself. Fantastique. After dinner, I met up with Paul, my exchange student friend from Nancy. Paul and I last saw each other four years ago during the Moravian Academy French Exchange! Time flies. He was visiting his cousin in Paris during his vacation. It was great to catch up! I remember thinking during my stay at Paul's house in Nancy (which is in Lorraine) that I needed to come back to France and spend more time here. And I did!

Paul et moi

Today, after my lecture on Louis XIV, it was time to head over to my internship at La Cuisine Paris. After schmoozing with clients, we did a test run of the new sweets tour La Cuisine is working on. The tour will include several stops at various boulangeries, patisseries, and chocolatiers in the Marais. At the end of the tour, everyone will sample the treats bought along the way. I won't include all the stops here, you'll just have to take the tour when you're Paris.....

Praulines, a sweet bread with sugar coated almonds.

Translation: I'm leaving you.

If you have to say it, at least say it with chocolate!

Sorry about the glare on this picture....but I don't think I'll type out what the chocolate says on the bottom, I'm trying to keep my blog PG rated...it's less classy than "love me".