Dijon, France: Visiting the Mustard Capital of the World

Perhaps one of the lesser known cities in France is the town of Dijon. And as you guessed it, it is where Dijon mustard originated! In my friend group one of the guys is a "foodie" and insisted that we go. After train tickets to Bordeaux proved to be a little pricey, I thought "porqui pas?" or "why not?" 

We left first thing in the morning last Saturday and arrived in Dijon around lunch. We randomly chose a cafe and I had one of the best meals since moving to France! After lunch we walked around and within a couple hours knew our way around everywhere. Unlike Paris, there is a small town feel and somewhat of a Swiss/German architectural influence. We got really lucky with the weather on the first day, but unfortunately had some rain on Sunday before heading back. 

It was a lovely, calm weekend with great friends seeing that there is more to French culture than just Paris!

Town square with the Girls

                              

Mustard Tasting- I took home some Traditional Dijon, Rosemary & Maple, and Balsamic Honey

 Fantastic Lunch outside

       

The mascot of Dijon, "La Chouette" or the owl. The statue is located outside of the largest Cathedral. No one really know why it is there but you are supposed to touch it with your left hand and make a wish. It is pretty worn from so many people touching it, but the city has historical markers with the owl around town that lead you to different tourist destinations. What a cute idea!

Inside the Cathedral

Hanging out with the locals, the closest I have come to escargot

Picturesque train ride home, complete with wind turbines

The Parisian Path Less Followed

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." -Dortothy Parker

Wow! What an amazing weekend in Paris doing less traditional "Parisian things" packed with colors, music, soccer, and priceless people watching.

I live in an area of Paris called, La Defense. It is located on perhaps the easiest metro/subway line I have ever had the pleasure of riding. It is one of the biggest financial hubs in Europe and plays hosts to the Grande Arche. The Grande Arche mirrors the Ard de Triumph in Paris's city center. It is a wonderful area Monday-Friday and hosts students and business people alike eating lunch on the steps and in the park, but can be somewhat of a ghost town in the evenings and on the weekend.

But back to the weekend....as usual we did our Friday picnic. But this time we had it in our neighborhod. We were a little sceptical but packed our blanket and snacks and truged onward. To our first surprise there were a ton of people there! Families and young people alike. We were lucky enough to get a seat right in the center. Then the best fireworks show of my life started. It was conducted as a tour around the world complete with indigenous music to each area. I don't really have a lot of words to describe it, but Disney should take notes.

Then on Saturday we went to a music festival called Holi One modeled after the Indian Holi day were you celebrate by throwing colorful paint/powder in the air. The music was great and the colors were beautiful.....right up until it rained. At first it was pinks, and purples, and oranges, but eventually everything blended to brown. Everyone powered (or should I say powdered?) through, until the second rain storm a few hours later. :)

Then on Sunday I went to my first professional soccer game, Paris St Germain vs. Lyon. PSG plays at Parc des Princes that seats about 50,000 people. As most people know, futbol(soccer) fans can be quite...uhmm...passionate. But what I didn't realize before the game is how there is literally a different cheer for every.single.moment. of the game. The only one I could catch onto was to the tune of the sports classic, "dut dut duh duh duh, dut dut dah duh, let's go!" that was replaced by "allez Paris!" at the end. They even had a cheer for when the goalie from the other team was hurt. Although it was in French, I did catch onto the fact that it included the word "hospital". I guess sportsman like conduct isn't as universal as I may have perviously thought. 

Although it wasn't the Louvre or the Eiffel tower it was a fantastic weekend with friends and doing unique activities. Still feeling a little bit more Parisian everyday!

Bubbly 101

This past weekend myself and three of my friends (Marita & Maija from Finland and Maria from Spain) traveled an hour on the train to Reims, France. Reims is charming town in the heart of the French providence Champagne and where we took a few classes in Bubbly 101. Which might just might be my favorite course yet!

We toured a couple champagne houses to learn about the process of making, bottling, and (of course) tasting champagne. Who knew that champagne is first bottled with a traditional bottle cap and the key to the taste is the sediment that gathers? It is much more of an art than a science.

I don't think I will becoming a champagne sommelier anytime soon, but the next time I open a bottle in celebration I will have a new appreciation for all the work that went into that signature "pop". Even if it is only Andre :)

We had a fantastic trip and that we all passed Bubbly 101 with flying colors!

Celebrating 2 Weeks!

Yesterday I celebrated my first two weeks in Paris, hard to believe time is flying by so quickly! The first two weeks were full of getting lost on accident, filling out paper work, finalizing my class schedule, trying to find wifi, filling out paper work, getting lost on purpose, and filling out more paper work. I am very lucky to live right on Metro Line 1 that has direct access to all of the most well known attractions in Paris. In about 20 minutes I can be virtually anywhere!

 Did I mention filling out more paperwork?

La Tour Eiffel 

Notre Dame

I could never tire of this architecture

Crepe & Espresso in Luxembourg Gardens

Clemson colors at Luxembourg Gardens

 Classic Metro stop

Pont des Arts

The technical term for the size of the Louvre is "ginormous"

Sometimes you just have to play tourist

Paris is a city much like Charleston, Savannah, NYC, Boston, etc. in that it is best explored on foot with a paper map. Perhaps my favorite part of exploring the most "touristy" areas was finding different side streets,stores, and art galleries along the way. The more I see, the more I realize how much I have left to see! Au revoir for now, I hope to share more on the art of wandering and/or the public parks in my next post. 

C'est la vie

Bienvenue my blog!

Originally my blog started out as "Piedmont2Paris", and but sometimes life intervenes and offers better ideas. While strolling around Paris ( I will go into the wonder of strolling later) I happen to pass a small vintage book  & magazine vendor on the Seine (among hundreds) that had "Caroline in Europe" at the front of his display.

Hello serendipity, nice to meet you! Not only do I share my namesake to his kismet title but it is also a children's book. Although the details of her voyages are still above my current level of french, from the pictures it looks like she has misadventures that grow into life lessons as she travels. We won't hold it against her that she is blonde.

In my travels I plan to take this "mini me" along for the ride. Before it is all said and done, I may even be able to read it.

CBA