1er Arrondissement: Gardens

Here are some gardens to get you through your weekly case of the Mondays. If you are on the east coast, enjoy these not-as-ominous-looking skies and stay safe!

There are 2 gardens in the 1st - the Palais Royal gardens + the Tuileries gardens. As you gaze through these beauuuuutiful images, take note of the garden design. The French are known for displaying order/control over nature in their gardens (much different than English. DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT THIS? To my mom and aunts, this is for you/you already know this I've seen your coffee table books....)

1er Arrondissement: Sights

Okay guys, blog slacker party of one over here. I know I KNOW. School is in full swing now, so I am playing my famous disappearing act from society. Seriously though, I've been getting home from studio and I'm just too tired to be witty and put together blog posts.

Good news: You will not be able to get rid of this blog and its constat updates (and meeeeeeeeeee!) starting at the end of January.
Bad news: I'll be in and out of here sporadically for the next 3 1/2 months. Sorry, but this girl's gotta graduate!

So, we left off last time with the arrondissement thing. That starts now!

The 1st arrondissement is one of the oldest arrondissements (weird right?!) in Paris. It's also one of the smallest, with a significant portion containing the Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens. Aside from that, it's main functions are dedicated to business/administration and things like tourism, dining, shopping, etc. Even though it's small, the 1st is packed with things to do/see, so I've broken it down into a few different sections. Today I'll show you some of the sights (built ones - AKA gardens are another day).

What is an Arrondissement?

An arron-WHAT? Yes, an arrondissement. Paris has 20 of them. It is how the city is organized. I know what you're thinking, "Lauren I really don't care why are you telling me this?" Well, read on.

Before I left, I was talking with a previous professor of mine who spent quite a bit of time in Paris and southern France many moons ago. He said that while he was in Paris, he explored the city by arrondissement, and I was like, "Hey that sounds like a great idea!" and now here we are. So I am going to start exploring and blogging about each arrondissement. I'm pretty sure by the end of my time here, you're going to be ready to pack your bags for Paris and you'll be like, "OH MAN I'm so happy Lauren blogged so much I feel even more prepared for this fabulous impending trip!" 

What are those letters next to the numbers? Well we say "First" (1st), "Second" (2nd), and so on. The French say Premier (1er), Deuxième (2e), etc.

Foodie Friday

OKAY so apparently I can only blog about food and on Fridays. Those who know me best know my strong affinity for themes (and outrageous ability to rock them), so that's why I developed FFs buuuut  I know you're just waiting to read about other things. SO hang tight for early next week. Until then, I have a little two-birds-with-one-stone post for you. On Wednesday night, a few friends and I took a cooking class, and it was so fun. It was organized through our program, so we met some other American students as well, which was nice. Now, we by no means learned anything new (we basically peeled and chopped things), but I like a good activity that mixes things up. There were three groups, and each made two dishes. We made Nicoise salad and tarte tatin.

It also solidified the fact that I actually do want to take real cooking classes, and that is what I am asking for next Christmas (cough cough FAMILY cough cough). Okay, without further ado, here are some preeeetty bad pictures documenting the evening. Sorry in advance.