Foie Gras

Since being in Paris we have already indulged in many great French delicacies such as baguettes, French cheeses, French patisseries, Kebabs, duck, lamb, falafel (yes, I understand this is not French but I ate it for the first time in Paris so it counts) and yes, even Escargot. All of these treats were incredible, but, nothing can quite compare to our meal last night.
So this past weekend we had our good friend Landry from Lyon France visiting Paris and we were able to spend a good amount of time together. He finished his stay as we walked around the Paris canals eating gelato as I explained to everyone how one day Amy and I are going to live on a house boat where Amy would respond that she is terrified of water and that we will most certainly not! But that is beside the point. The point is that we spent a great time together and it was sad to see him go until we visit Lyon sometime in July.

As we were saying our goodbyes Landry reached into his bag and grabbed a gift for us. You should have seen it (and unfortunately you never will because we couldn't wait to open it to take a picture first)! It was wrapped in white paper with drawn on stripes of many colors and ribbon tied around it. Well, we opened it and, much to our suprise... we actually didn't know what it was. It was a jar of some yellowy buttery looking thing with a hint of a pink substance in it. Landry then explained that it was artisan foie gras, yes, that's right, straight from the farm, meaning "the good stuff." For those of you who don't know what foie gras is it liver fat from a force fed duck, a delicacy in France. I would like to apologize to any Pita members reading this and tell you that it was a gift, therefore we cannot be blamed. He gave us this gift with only one condition: If we don't like it to NOT throw it away but to give it to someone else because it was too good to go to waste.
On our way home that night we were sure to pick up a couple of baguettes and some brie to eat with it that night. Here is the proof via pictures and, just in case you were wondering, it was délicieux!

COVED

Well, since Amy told you a little bit about her stage (internship) in Paris I thought I would do the same. I am working for an environmental recycling company called COVED. They are a private company under the organization SAUR, which deals with most of the water distribution in France. COVED is responsible for 15% of all of the recycling in France, but only 4% in Paris. This is what my internship with them consists of: I am researching all of the other recycling companies in the Ile de France (Paris) area so that they can look into purchasing one or a couple of the smaller companies in the area, giving them a stronger presence in the Paris area. I am researching these companies based on geographical location as well as balance sheets, financial records, number of workers, along with many other things. Starting next week, I will be going around with the Director of the Paris area, who I am actually working directly under for my internship, looking at these companies and meeting with different people in them. His (the director's) goal for me is to work with him and personally take part in the acquisition of a company. It has been great so far and I have had a bunch of great experiences already. I have my own office and I am starting to get to know everyone there. Sorry if I bored you to death but hopefully that gives you a better idea of what I am doing out here in Paris.

Sacré Coeur

Outing #2: Like I said earlier (or at least I think I did) Clay and I try to go see something everyday (pretty much) after work. So after the eiffel tower, our second outing was the basillica of Sacré Coeur. As I was going around visiting people for my internship, I decided to start asking some of these old people who have lived in Paris their whole lives what I should see while I'm here. So, one lady told me that the Basillica was the best thing Paris had to offer (and its about a ten minute walk from where I work) so off we went to see it. We didn't really know where it was, but we could see some of the pointy parts on top, you know... I don't know what they are called... steeples? turrets? something like that. Anyway, we just started walking up the hill, and eventually found it. We bought a bagette and some brie on the way up, and when we finally reached the top, we just sat and looked out over all of paris, and enjoyed our delicious bagette and cheese. It was the perfect end to a not so perfect day for both of us. We had both been a little frustrated with France throughout the day, how dirty it is, how no one can seem to figure out how to put trash in the trash cans, etc. In fact we both mentioned to eachother that it would be nice to just pack up and go home, back to America where life is.... cleaner? I literally spent an entire day without being able to breath one breath of fresh air. Even walking down the street every breath I took was either full of cigarette smoke, or smelled like Urine. But sitting up on top of Montmarte, and looking around at the view, surrounded by tourists, I rediscovered my love for Paris. Here are a few photos to prove that we went there.

mon stage (my internship)

So, i arrived early this morning, so I figured I could take a few minutes and explain what it is that I am doing here in France. The association that I am working for is called Les Petits Freres des Pauvres, it actually exists in the states as well, Little Brothers-friends of the poor. Its a private organization, basically dedicated to making sure that everyone has access to their personal rights, etc. This organization works specifically with people over the age of 50, many of whom have no family; live off of a very small retirement, or government aid, and don't have the sort of family situation where they get help when its needed. About a third of the 160 clients of this office have at one point or another lived on the street, and our job is to help them get back on their feet and back to a more healthy lifestyle. Basically my job is to do whatever they ask me to do, which so far has consisted of going and visiting people who are lonely or sad, and just talking to them. Also, a few times I have run a few errands, such as delivering food stamps, picking up paperwork (I got to take a taxi for the very first time) and that pretty much sums it up. i get here around 9:30 a.m. and leave at about 4:30 every day. Fridays are short, I'm done around noon. So far, every day after work clay meets me in Paris, and we pick something, and go see it. we have been walking on average about 5 miles a day, seriously. Sometimes more. I'm just guessing on the mileage... so if 5 doesn't sound like a lot, then add some more to it until it sounds like a lot, and then tell yourself that we walk that far every day :) honestly our feet and our legs are just aching at the end of every day, so it must be lots.

La Tour Eiffel

Well, finally, some pics! We are stealing internet from a friend of a friend of a friend, so we are finally able to access the world wide web at home (as of about an hour ago). This first post is going to be dedicated to our first real tourist venture after getting to Paris. I'll start by giving a little background info. First of all, we left Tampa on friday night, hoping to arrive in Paris on saturday, in order to have some time to get situated before sunday. We didn't want to go grocery shopping, etc. on sunday, not only because its the sabbath, but also because its France, and NOTHING is open on sunday. So everything was well planned out, except for the weather which held us over, and we missed our flight in Miami. We ended up spending the night in the red roof inn, because it had a free shuttle from the airport, and also because it was the cheapest (yeah thats right, we are CHEAP!.

We of course didn't pack extra underwear or anything else of use in our carry-ons, even though we had mentioned it to each other numerous times while getting ready to leave. So that means that, by the time we got to Paris, what with spending the night in Miami, and then traveling all night long, etc. we had been in the same outfits for 3 days and 2 nights. We were tired, and stinky, to say the least. At least we had thought to bring some little face wipe things to clean up some

So we arrived in Paris, jumped on the metro, and ran around Paris for about 2-3 hours, first meeting up with andrew and lydia, getting our key, and then finding our appartment.

After a day of sleeping (literally a day, we took about 3 melatonin, and slept for about 14 hours straight). Monday we got up and ran some errands and then headed out to see the Eiffel tower. Like I said in a previous post, by the time we got there, we were too tired to actually enjoy it. Our feet hurt from walking at least 15 miles (at least) and we were hungry, and we didn't stay any longer than we had to. We snapped a few pics, and got out of there.

some things we've seen

So, we have been here about 4 days, and already we have seen a few things. But the first thing I need to mention, is that I forgot how much walking is included in the whole public transportation system. My feet are KILLING me, also I have somre sore muscles in my legs that I didn't know existed... somewhere between my ankles and my calves. Anyway, monday we saw the eiffel tower. Fun for me because it was the first time, but honestly by the time we got to it, we were so tired and hungry that we almost didn't enjoy it! Then, yesterday we went and saw the basilica Sacré Coeur. It was pretty beautiful, and we sat for a few minutes on the inside and listened to the nuns sing hymns. It was lovely. Afterwards, we met up with a friend of Clay's (and now a friend of mine) and sipped on some drinks in a cafe and snacked on some smoked salmon. That and walking through the luxembourg gardens were the perfect end to a long day.

some difficulties...

well, we don't have internet at the house, and probably won't for a few weeks... so that means our blog will be pretty uninteresting for a while... sorry guys.