A Biologists Journey Through Fashion Design School: January 2010

So sorry for not updating while I was on my Christmas Holiday, but up until the last week there wasn’t much to write about other than I was getting more plump from all the eating I was doing. Well in short I spent most of my Christmas Holiday with my flat mate Hannah’s family in North London, side note from the same town as Amy Winehouse. Her family is absolutely mad in all the best ways, there was never a dull moment. For Christmas, while I missed all my friends and family back home, I had an awesome time! It was really interesting to see how others celebrate the holidays and I got to eat a bunch of new things such as: goose, Christmas pudding, mince pies, and potatoes roasted in goose fat. So all in all my break was fun and interesting with out being too eventful, that is until the last week.

While I haven’t invited many of my friends to come and visit me here in London, only one has actually taken the offer my friend Eddie. Since this was his first time here, we planned to visit all those touristy spots in London, which I haven’t seen even though I’ve been here for over 4 months now. Here is the list of places we visited: British Museum (has all the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman artifacts), Tower of London (Crown jewels are located here), Tower Bridge, Big Ben/House of Parliament, London Eye (though it was closed due to bad weather), Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, Marble Arch, Harrods, and of course Oxford Street for a little shopping. Take in mind we saw all of these places in 3 DAYS! Kinda crazy I know, but everything in London is so close it is possible. I also had him try some great English cuisine such as: kebabs and chips, full English breakfast (including black pudding), bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes), meat pies, and my favorite STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING!!!!!

Eddie and I posing with the Pharaoh at the British Museum

And now to the main point PARIS!!!!! We planned a 2 ½ day trip to Paris, we though might as well since he already come half way across the world, and what’s a train ride in comparison. Well some might have heard of all the problems Eurostar was having over the holidays due to the snow, and how there were delays and cancellations because of it Well of course it had to snow before we went to Paris so our train was canceled and we had to go at a different time, but in all the hustle and bustle we some how were upgraded to first class on the ride there. This included bigger, more comfy seats, a nice breakfast and plenty of tea and coffee, so why complain, right? We arrived in Paris, hopped onto the Metro and found our hotel with ease, settled in for a few seconds, got our bearing and were off to explore! We decided to venture to the Museum d’Orsay, home of many of the great and famous impressionists paintings from artists including Degas and his ballerinas, Monet with his water lilies, Van Gough, Renoir, Manet, Cassat, Cezanne, and many more! It was truly amazing seeing all those magnificent paintings in person! After the museum, we wondered around the area looking for a place to eat, well in extreme hunger we chose to eat at Brassiere du Louvre, which was to say a bit expensive, but well worth it! I had a superb braised veal shank with spring veggies, and Eddie had skewers of swordfish and king prawns, que RICO!!!

The next day consisted of walking down the Champs Elysees down to the Arc du Triomphe. On our way towards the Louvre we stopped and had a sweet lunch at the famous Laduree, which is known for it’s French macaroons and pastries! Yummy nummy in my tummy is all I have to say about that! After finishing we wandered around the Louvre, which for those of you who have not visited is like walking a marathon! The Louvre consisted of 4 floors with artwork spanning from Ancient Egypt to the Classics, among this are some of the worlds famous pieces consisting of, but not limited to: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Liberty leading the People, and the Coronation of Napoleon. After our marathon run through the Louvre we decided to walk to Notre Dame cathedral, which mind you it was freezing outside. Then we hopped onto the Metro and headed towards Tour Eiffel! At night the Eiffel Tower is even more astounding than during the day, when lit up it stands as an immense beacon in the night drawing everyone’s eyes to it. We were really lucky, because every hour on the hour they have a light show, where the Eiffel Tower twinkles like a flawless diamond in the night sky. After taking the elevator up to the second tier on the tower and looking out over the illuminated city, we were forced by our grumbling stomachs to go to dinner.

Ok dinner deserves to be told in full, it was that awesome! To start off, we were recommended to eat at this famous traditional French restaurant, Boullion Chartier, by one of Eddie’s coworkers. When we got there we understood why it was recommended, the place was completely PACKED! And this isn’t any small place, it was huge and every table was filled, and you were seated at any available place sitting with complete strangers at your table. The waiter brought over our menus, which were completely in French, no English what so ever, and the waiter spoke very little English as well. We didn’t want to be complete American A-holes so we just blindly chose a meal. For starters we both had 6 escargot each, which were AMAZING! For our mains Eddie chose something off the recommended list, which ended up being a whole grilled fish, but I on the other hand tried to make an educated guess on what I was ordering and chose what looked like “adouille” grille frites, knowing that andouille was a sausage, I thought “sounds safe”, haha further from the truth. When I received my plate I was presented with a sausage and I was very thankful, but it wasn’t until I took the first bite that I noticed what it was stuffed with…… PORK INTESTINES!!!! Not even ground intestines, they were full on, unaltered intestines! The first bite was ok, the second a bit dodgy, by the third bite the full flavor started hit me when both the smell and taste were combining to what can only be described as a the aromatic taste of a pig farm, oh yummmmm! While Eddie was eating I was drinking our wine bottle, giving him a splash here and there, while topping off mine. By the time he was almost finished I was a little tipsy to say in the least, so I decided what the heck might as well try fish eyes while I’m at it. As I gouged out one of fish eye off of Eddie’s plate, I didn’t notice but I had an audience from the other three at our table. As I ate it I heard a few “eewwws” from the peanut gallery, as I had just broken the ice we started to talk to them, there was an Englishman and a French couple dinning together, I ask the French lady what exactly I just ate a moment earlier, and she replied “it’s very special and very French”, LOL great special and French! We chit chatted about things and while talking with the Englishman he told me that there was also a CALF’S HEAD on the menu, and I thought “well thanks God I didn’t accidentally pick that one!”. They helped us choose desserts, which were awesome, and then we headed back to the hotel where we picked up a bottle of champagne and so snacks and just vegged for the rest of the night.

Our last day I set the alarm for the wrong time, and because of this we didn’t have any time to do anything other than pack and head to the train station. Bye bye Paris, we had fun, see you soon!