The Bell v. The Bunny: A Cultural Easter Battle for the Ages

Full disclosure: I have been waiting since October to post this video in my blog for Easter. Amelia introduced me to it when I went to Paris to visit her, and it has been making me laugh ever since. Also, the following update has not been proofed, so I apologize in advance for any typos and grammar errors--the perfectionist in me really wants to edit it, but it's bed time, and my desire for sleep is winning out.

My last Easter in Europe was spent fleeing Roman rain, sharing a train compartment with a crazy lady who spoke no French yet was going to move to Nice (and who got off in Monte Carlo, for some reason…I hope she made it to Nice eventually), and promptly taking a three hour nap upon arriving in Avignon after a sleepless night. It was time for some new European Easter memories.

The weekend started off early on Saturday morning, when Lauren and I headed to the Marché des Lices. I was determined to have my caramel muffins (they were out by the time I got there last week), so I sacrificed some sleep just to make sure of that. We went to grab some baguettes, and then hung out for a bit at Lauren’s. I was on a mission for cute French placemats (I have never before seen such adorable placemats as French ones) to bring back to the US with me, since those are about the easiest things imaginable to squeeze into a suitcase, so we stopped at a few stores, and then went to get coffee. I had been craving an iced latté, and thankfully Haricot Rouge (which satisfied my hot chocolate cravings all winter) has those. Maybe it was sitting in the sun with a cool drink, or maybe it was the caffeine (it was probably the caffeine…), but I found myself with lots more energy after that. Lauren and I spent most of the afternoon wandering around and stopping in lots of stores. Lauren wanted a new pair of shoes, and we all know how much self-restraint I have when it comes to shoes, so I ended up leaving with a new pair of shoes, as well. They’re pretty freaking cute, and I’m quite satisfied with my purchase. We finally found a store that had placemats that lived up to my exacting standards, and Lauren bought a cute mug set, so the afternoon was a success. I was supposed to go to an assistants’ party that evening, but my stomach was bothering me, so I ended up going home and sleeping.

I managed to get myself up early enough on Sunday morning to do some yoga before heading off to Lauren’s (wearing my lovely new shoes) for our Easter brunch. I wanted to make a strata, but that requires an oven, so we just scrambled all the would-be strata ingredients (onions, cheese, and lardons) with eggs. Fast and delicious! We enjoyed that with mimosas, then pulled out our chocolate. On Saturday we’d bought a chocolate bunny and a chocolate bell, to honor the both the French and American bringers of chocolate. Once devouring most of the bell, we went out for a walk around Thabor…in our new shoes. This was, perhaps, not wise. There may or may not have been bleeding feet involved, but we shall not linger on that. Let’s talk instead about how lovely the flowers were and how it was beautiful outside and how I spent lots of time with lilacs, my favorite flowers in the world.

On weather: I hesitate to say this, for fear of jinxing my last few weeks in Europe, but spring here has been incredible. Brittany’s currently in the middle of a drought, which has most of the area freaking out about the impact on the corn and other agricultural stuff. I, however, have no long-term investment in the area, so I think this drought is pretty excellent. People keep telling me in voices of dismay that it should rain every day in April, and I try my best to look concerned, when in reality I am doing an inner happy dance. I have become much more fond of Brittany ever since the drought started…remind me never again to move to a rainy climate, since apparently that results in me wishing ill on the local ecosystem.

After hobbling back to Lauren’s, we watched 10 Things I Hate About You (which is still one of my favorite movies in life), reminisced about middle school, and mourned Heath Ledger. After whining about how hungry we were for a good hour, it was finally an appropriate hour for the French to eat dinner, so we headed off to an Indian restaurant, which had long been our plan for Easter. Why Indian for Easter, you ask? The decision had a base in tradition—we both wanted lamb for Easter, but we weren’t feeling motivated enough to figure out how to cook it. So where in Rennes do you get good lamb on a Sunday? Indian restaurant! French food doesn’t do spice as a general rule, so I ignored all the warnings on the meal descriptions about how spicy things were—last time I’d been to this restaurant, nothing was spicy. Either they got a new chef or they decided to be serious this time around, because there was some serious spice in my dish. It was good, but a bit more than I expected. Once my mouth was no longer burning, we went back to Lauren’s, watched some Beauty and the Beast, and then fell asleep.

Monday was quiet (Easter Monday is a national holiday in France). Lauren and I finished Beauty in the Beast that morning, did some relaxing around her apartment, and then went for a walk with Amanda and one of her friends, who were passing through. I headed back to farmland later that afternoon.

I leave on Thursday for Copenhagen, and I’ll be back next week. I’m still planning an update about my last weeks at work, but we’ll have to wait and see if that ever gets accomplished. A bientôt!