xc and park tanning 101

As I hoped, the good weather decided to grace us with her presence the entire weekend and today was another beautiful sunny day in Paris. So after a good brunch of croissant aux amandes and day old baguette with pate we decided to stop being lazy and go out to make the most out of the sunny day. And where do the Parisians go in times like these? Why the park of course!!

We packed our handy sarong, a bottle of water and took the tram from Porte de Versailles to Montsouris, where one of the public parks of Paris is. Parc Montsouris is 15 hectares in area and is designed like an English garden. Napolean III had it created to make Paris a greener city.

I bet that when he had it made he didn't think that a hundred years later Parisians would be lying on the grass on a Sunday half naked.

When we arrived at the park there were people everywhere. And I mean everywhere!! Like the Place des Vosges the other day, this park too was full of people tanning on the grass. There was no beach in sight but there were girls in bikinis lounging like they were in their own gardens.

I found it odd at first but it looked like they were really having fun. And when you can't beat 'em, join them!

Park tanning 101:


1. Find a nice sunny spot on the grass.
2. Lay down blanket, kick of shoes and
3. Enjoy

Just don't forget your sunscreen. G had to put some on twice!

Parc Montsouris
Tram 3 - stop Montsouris/Cite Universite
RER B - stop Cite Universite

We stayed there for about 2-3 hours but I didn't even tan at all. G though came out pink like newly cooked shrimp.



peace, luv, & happy start of summer,
xc

xc and the weekend escapade 1: Provins

Provins is a small medieval town south east of Paris. It became a UNESCO world heritage site in 2001. The medieval part of the town is quite small but well preserved. The walls are still there and you can go up and get a good view of the city from there. Be careful not to touch the walls though because it's full of bird poop. There are 3 walking tours you can take around the medieval village. Just make sure that if you get 2 (or more) maps of the village from the tourism office, they are of the same language/country. We got punked that way. G had a french map and I had an english one. The color coding system for the walks are different and not all spots are marked on the english one. So when we both said we were going to take the blue walk, I was talking of a different blue walk than he was.

We first thought of staying the night in Provins but the town is really small that we were able to do everything in 1 day and still had the time to return to some sites we liked. So we ended up going back to Paris on the last train.

Here are some tips for a nice stress-free trip to Provins.

TRAIN (1h24mins):
Take the Transilien from Gare de l'Est to Provins. Provins is in zone 6 so from Paris, so unless you have a pass for 6 zones, the fare is 10.10 Euros.

For train times, check www.transilien.com. Also make sure that you check the times for the day you go. Some trains don't run on weekends.

HOTEL:
We were supposed to stay at this little bed and breakfast: La Maison Rose Aux Volets Verts. The prices are reasonable and the decor is really quaint and comfy.

RESTAURANT:
Most boulangeries and shops close at 1pm and re-open at around 5pm. We didn't know this when we arrived. We we arrived we saw a lot of restaurants and boulangeries that we thought we wouldn't have a problem finding food later. But no!!!
Luckily we were able to find this really good restaurant that has a lunch menu for only 11.50 Euros. For that we had an entree, the main dish, and a dessert. Not bad at all!
Les Quat' Saisons

SMART TIP:
If you want to visit all 4 monuments in Provins, it's better to get the Pass Provins for 9.50 Euros. If not, the entrance fee for each monument is around 3.60 per person.

For more information on the monuments and shows, click here.

the town's plaza, view from the tour cesar

Happy day trip!


peace and luv,
xc

xc, the fire, and the labor day weekend

I know it's supposed to be spring already but it's been raining ugly since Monday (I heard it's been raining in Manila too..mwaha!). It has been cold too...and there I was storing most of my bulky clothes and pulling out my favorite summer dresses. Hopefully the weather cooperates with us this weekend. Oh how I *heart* long weekends.

The whole group will go to L's house in Brittany. Apparently there's a micro climate there where it's nice and sunny while the rest of Brittany is dreary. We have to get supplies here since supermarkets will be closed tomorrow for Labor Day. We'll be leaving tonight along with most Parisians itching to make most of the 3-day weekend (orange alert on the autoroute) to endure a 4 hour drive up north. Boo for the traffic but yay for big cars and good company while in traffic.

Speed baked creamcheese brownies last night to bring for the trip. We never find Philly cream cheese in normal supermarkets here so I used one of those St. Moret type fromage a tartiner stuff. The cheesecake mix turned out a bit runny thus not forming the marble swirls on top of the chocolate mix but it still tastes like cheesecake...so, yummy! G thinks it's too sticky...I say it's fudgy! No more brownies for G tonight, I decided.

In other more interesting news...

There was a fire in our office building yesterday!!! The second one in a month.

The alarm sounded but I thought it was only a drill so I didn't reallly care and went back to work (the last time there was a fire there was no alarm...just a funny burnt smell and there were suddenly hunky firemen at the reception area). But this time it was real and they asked all of us to evacuate the building (I was all alone at the office). The fire started at the basement parking but the smoke already reached the 7th floor (where we were). So while the firemen and policement cordonned off the building and checked everything out, there was already a huge crowd gathering around. Ey, we are on the Champs Elysees after all.

And instead of just standing there waiting, I of course went window shopping. By the time I got back, they were already letting people back in the building. Catastrophie averted. Back to work!

So there. Am I glad we will be moving offices next week! New adventures at the Place de Vosges!




And now I'll just wait until the clock strikes 6pm and I'm off to a happy long (but not long enough) weekend!


peace & luv,
xc