so when you take a bite of a Pierre Hermé macaroon, you don't just taste it... you experience it. after touring the Musée de l'Orangerie (which we'll get to later, macaroons take priority), i stumbled upon this pastry shop i'd been hearing about from everyone. i ordered a set of 7 mini-macaroons, all different flavors, and headed on my merry way to the subway station where i planned to take my first bite. this was a bad plan of action... upon sinking my teeth into the delicate texture of a rose macaroon, i gave a little gasp and frantically looked around the metro car for someone who i thought might understand what i was going through. i was waiting for someone to look at me and nod his head, but i was never given this sort of comfort. i had to put the macaroons away until i got back to my dorm room--a more secure place to experience such a masterpiece of pastries.
once i arrived i took a bite of every other flavor i got-- cassis, chocolate, vanilla with olive, passion fruit with chocolate, mint, peach with safran and apricot, and finally... jasmine. jasmine was by far my favorite. you have not experienced a macaroon until you have tried this one. i WILL find a way to bring some home with me.. this kind of experience needs to be shared.
pop culture reference: in the last episode of season 2 of gossip girl, when chuck comes back from europe to bring blaire her favorite stockings from germany, her favorite macaroons from france... these are the macaroons he is talking about. i'm not joking. these macaroons are mentioned on gossip girl... they're THAT good.
so back to the l'orangerie... it's probably one of my favorite museums in paris. the top floor rooms consist of monet's massive water lily paintings, les nymphéas as they are called. the cool thing about these rooms is that they were designed according to monet's specifications. they're basically big ovular rooms with natural lighting, and the paintings form to the curve of the wall.... it's like monet in-the-round.
downstairs consists of more artists from around that era: gaugin, modigliani, rousseau, picasso, cezanne, matisse, renoir, soutine, utrillo, and sisley ... it had a lot of stuff for a relatively small museum--a high concentration of just... really good art. apparently, most of the art downstairs came from two really major art collectors-- Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume, and there were a few rooms dedicated to recreating how these collections looked in the homes of these two men. paul guillame's wife was fortunate enough to have posed for many of these famous artists.
since my final exam schedule is so crazy, i sat at a cafe near the bastille for dinner and studied for a little while. i have an oral exam tomorrow, a written final exam on wednesday, and an oral presentation thursday.... !!!! help. me. i shouldn't even be blogging right now. not going out tonight (four nights in a row would be a little excessive)... but i only have 4 days left! don't remind meeeeeeee :(
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