In the US, Julia Child is a household name.  She was the slightly nutty chef on TV from the 60s to the 80s, but did you know that she was also an expat wife? When the movie, Julie and Julia came out, I instantly connected with her story. In her mid-30s, Julia Child moved to Paris for her husband’s job. She didn’t speak any French and struggled, just as I do, with how to spend her time in a meaningful way. She decided to take up cooking.

The movie, Julie and Julia, is based off of two stories – Julia Child’s autobiography My Life in France, and Julie Powell’s blog where a 30-year old girl tried to add meaning to her life by conquering Julia’s cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in 365 days and blogging about it. A couple girlfriends and I recently finished Julia Child’s autobiography, and decided to take a daytrip to Paris to see some of the sights mentioned in her book.

Our first stop was “81 Roo de Loo” – the apartment where Julia lived. We laughed as we remembered her describing her apartment, and the similarities we all had when we moved to Brussels – tiny bathrooms, kitchens missing major appliances… Julia and her husband lived on the second and third floor. Though you can’t tell from the photo, it was a gorgeous area, just a block from the river and down the street from the metro.

Julia Child's Apartment

Reid, Jill, and Nikki at 81 "Roo de Loo"

We continued on to Dehillerin, Julia’s favorite cooking supplies store. It reminded me more of a little country hardware store with it’s dark, narrow aisles and crates stacked up high. Though Julia is not well-known in France, the guys at the store knew who she was and were eager to help us. We wandered around admiring the bins of knives, shelves of cake pans, and walls of copper cookware. We picked up a couple of souvenirs and headed next door to lunch.

Julia's Favorite Cooking Shop

Rugged Shelves in Dehillerin

After lunch was my favorite part – we toured the cooking school Julia attended – Le Cordon Bleu. We saw the demonstration rooms, the practice kitchens, and learned a bit about the history of the school. The chefs and students were so friendly, sharing their fresh-baked treats with us. Nowadays, there are two tracks of classes – 3-month programs for professionals and 1-2 days workshops for amateurs. I will definately have to keep this in mind for future trips.

Le Cordon Bleu, where Julia learned to cook

Master Chef shares his Madeleine cakes

Though only a daytrip, this has to be one of my favorite outings. I had a great time with my girlfriends and we were all inspired by this famous woman who lived such a similar life to what we are living now in Belgium. I can’t imagine doing it before the Internet exhisted, as she did. If you’d like to see more photos, I’ve posted them on PicasaWeb:

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