Figaro et Fromage

I went for a walk in the Bois de Boulogne this morning, a park in western Paris that is 2.5 times the size of Central Park. I obviously did not see the entire park but I saw most of it. It is an absolutely beautiful day and there were tons out people out running and little kids riding bikes. Me and all the Parisians going for a Sunday morning walk in le bois (woods).

Yesterday I was like a ten year old in Paris. I went to Salon du Chocolat in the afternoon with friends and then we went to see the Petit Nicolas movie. The Salon du Chocolat was a huge chocolate expo in Paris’s big convention center complex. It was a little pricey to get in (12 euro) but every booth had free sample and taste tastings that it was definitely worth it. It also gave me an opportunity to bring back a little chocolate present for my host family. Lame and pathetic, yes, bribing my host family to like me better but I think it worked. It’s not that they don’t like me (as far as I can tell anyways…) but things are still a little awkward. I feel like I don’t know anything about them and they don’t know much about me. I got to know the Marlier’s a lot better in the two weeks I stayed with them than I have so far in the month and a half I have been with the D’Ussel’s. Chocolate is always a helpful step in the right direction….

Anyways, as the title of the post indicates, my two big events this week were my trip to the opéra and a dégustation de fromage (cheese tasting)! On Wednesday, I saw Le Barbier de Seville at L’Opéra de la Bastille. It was actually inaugurated on the 200th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille and is supposed to be the people’s opera house. Luckily, nobody did any storming and I had a great time at my first opera. We didn’t have to get super dressed up but I still felt very fancy and sophisticated putting on ma robe (dress) and going to the Opera. We saw le Barbier de Seville and it was in Italian but there were subtitles in French projected above the stage so it was easy enough to follow what was going on. It was kind of cool actually to be listening to the Italian but reading in French. They are really similar languages and I felt like I could understand the Italian better because I was reading in French. I definitely wouldn’t have had the same experience if I was reading the dialogue in English.

I am obviously an opera novice and I did not know the story of le Barbier de Seville before seeing the play but it was really good! I recognized the music (everybody would have) and I was very happy to get to hear “Figaro, Figaro, Figarooo.” As it turns out, Figaro, the barber of Seville, sings the famous line because he is lamenting the fact that everybody always wants something from him, saying Figaro this and Figaro that, always “Figaro, Figaro, Figarrooo.” So great.

After my swanky night at the opera, I got to go to une fromagerie for a dégustation de fromage the following night. Now I know why everybody makes fun of smelly French cheese. I was hoping to go out afterwards and meet up with friends but that did not happen. I smelled like le fromage…. tasty and wonderfully delicious fromage….. but still fromage….

Not only was the cheese very delicious, I learned so much! I tried to write everything down when I got home but I am going to have to look up a lot of the stuff again online. We got to taste all different types of regional French specialties (with du pain et du vin of course). I also got my most pressing French cheese questions answered by le fromageur himself (when do we eat la croûte, the crust/outside of the cheese, red or white wine…very important stuff) The most bizarre part of the evening was when right after Monsieur le fromageur told us how rosé isn’t real wine and shouldn’t be drank with good cheese, a man walked into the store and seeing a group of jeunes femmes, proceeded to buy us a bottle of rosé. The guy was trying to be flashy and act like he was wealthy (ie. making his purchase with cash that he pulled out of an envelope) and talking about how he had a great rosé one weekend in Switzerland. We saw right through him. Rosé…ptchhhh.

After my École du Vin in Bordeaux and now my dégustation de fromage here in Paris, my French education is pretty much complete!

Bonne soirée!