Moments in Paris

This is my last post about Paris for this trip, as we left and traversed Western Europe for the last week and a half of the trip. In honor of this, here's a slideshow of moments in Paris. I tried to capture a bit of the feel of Paris by taking photos of moments around the city (a few of these photos are from one of our students, KW).



During the last week or so in Paris, it was outrageously hot. Not outrageously hot comparatively to either St. Louis or Atlanta, mind you, because it never got hotter than, say, ninety degrees Fahrenheit. However, the French don’t believe in air conditioning. In the states, when it’s hot, you just try to avoid going outside and sit around inside where it’s cooler. You might be hot in the transition to your car, but you have an alternative. In Paris, if it’s ninety outside, it’s ninety in your room. And if you live on the sixth floor, as I do, it might even be hotter. And it’s ninety in the restaurant. And like a thousand on the packed metro. So you cold shower three times a day, you go to museums, which might have AC, “You sit in your room in your bikini,” as my friend F says, and you spend as much time outside as possible, since it might be hot, but at least the air moves in the out of doors.

On a lazy day after an adventurous trip to a better grocery store than the one by my residence and standing in the freezer section for ten minutes longer than necessary, I took a long walk for the afternoon. With the intention of checking the Canal St. Martin off of my list of things to do, I began at the Parc la Villette, a park that is almost outside of Paris proper. (All of these photos are in the last post, by the way.) This area of Paris is not touristed, which was lovely and felt like being a part of the city. Lots of kids played in the fountains to keep cool and kicked “footballs” around. There’s a science museum and a museum of music (with a café and ice cream), though I didn’t visit either. There’s a very overdesigned but cute garden.

It’s also at the outside edge of the Canal St. Martin. From here, you can jump on a boat that will cruise all the way down the canals to the center of Paris, leaving you at the Musee d’Orsay. Unfortunately, I missed this boat, so I just walked for a while. I probably walked three miles down the canals, observing people, listening to music, and watching the locks change the level of the water for boats to move through. There are lots of parks and people along the canals and restaurants and cafes where a person can sit and watch people. It was lovely, though I think if I were to do it again, I would either be sure to catch the boat or start closer into the city and walk out, or something like that.

The last day before leaving Paris was the premiere of a very special performance at l’Opera Bastille. The Opera commissioned the great modern artist Anselm Kiefer to do an installation/performance in honor of its 20th anniversary. Those of you in St. Louis will know Kiefer’s huge work in the art museum that has been both in the modern section and in the main hall: it looks like bookshelves with shards of glass throughout the papers and scattered all over the floor. I really love his work, and was really excited to see what he would do for the opera.

It was a work entitled Am Anfang, or the Beginning, and it emphasized that the beginning of things arises from the end of the previous, focusing on the trials of the Jewish people. It began with an enormous painting and moved to have slaves building a wall very slowly and a dancer moving slowly throughout. It was narrated entirely in French, which made it difficult to follow, but I certainly got the point. It was so beautifully staged, in very stark contrasts, and with gorgeous lighting. It was done in conjunction with a very dissident and disturbing work performed by the Orchestre de l’Opera de Paris.

At curtain call, Anselm Kiefer himself was there! I adore having moments like this, in which I’m able to be part of something special. I felt super cool, like I was rubbing elbows with the elite, even though I didn’t get any closer to him than 30 yards. I was still moved, both by the work and the experience itself.

Parisian Cinema

During my last week in residence in Paris I was able to take in a few films as part of the Parisian experience. First I saw Woody Allen’s new movie, Whatever Works (not Parisian), at La Pagode (very Parisian). La Pagode is a movie theatre that was built by the owner of La Bon Marche for his wife over a hundred years ago. It resembles, surprise!, a pagoda, with Japanese style roofing and a lovely outdoor terrace, where movie-goers can have tea before showtime (we would have, if they had served us). The window detailing looks art nouveau to me, but it certainly fits the theme. The theatre itself is also lovely, with gold detailing and a celebratory atmosphere.

The movie was in the original English with French subtitles, of course, though it seemed that most of the audience didn’t need the subtitles. There were little cracks at the expense of the French, at which they laughed louder than we did. It was an okay movie, better than I expected, but still way down on my list of Woody Allen films, but the experience was worth the show. At the end, not a single person rose to leave the theatre until the credits were almost entirely through. It was a very respectful engagement of the entertainment and appreciation of the art. I love seeing films in this manner.

I was also able to attend a show that was part of the Paris Film Festival, called Sell Out! that was introduced by the director himself. It’s a Malaysian comedy about the choice between making high art versus commercial art. And a musical! It was extremely witty and well written, and the director’s choices were very elegant and insightful. It was very poorly acted, but highly enjoyable despite this. Here’s the trailer, which is very representative of the movie. It also has my favorite song, Money.



Not only did the director introduce the film, but he also stayed to answer questions we might have after the movie. It didn’t seem like the audience was full of critics asking incisive questions, but no one there seemed to be a movie novice, either. It was really interesting to hear about his thought process and choices, pointing me to things I hadn’t noticed while watching it. Cinema feels more cultural here. Like it did when I lived in St. Louis, and like I miss desperately in Atlanta.
Photos of the theatres and the festival, as well as the Canal St. Martin, Amelie’s canal that I wandered along on a lazy Friday:

Dancing Fleas

We visited Les Puces on a Sunday morning (L&D plus me) for a bit of antique shopping. Les Puces, or the fleas, is a gigantic market composed of (I think) 15 sub-markets that branch off the rue des Rosiers on the very northern perimeter of Paris. Each sub-market has about 150 vendors in booths in winding alleyways. The place is just fascinating. Every booth has something different and new. There are art nouveau furniture dealers, crafters, postcard sellers, beads, trinkets, vintage clothing, kitchenware, artwork, and junk. So much junk. We walked into one booth market "Curiosities" to find scientific instruments and snakes in formaldehyde. Amazing. I'm so glad we went.

We then spent the rest of the day in Montmartre. We had lunch at La Sancerre, which was crowded and more expensive than I expected, but boy was that cheeseburger delicious. It was a bustling bar with lots of people there to congregate and be seen, especially on the terrace. Unfortunately not many vegetarian options for my friends, who were beginning to get tired of cheese and bread...even though we still had fondue that night for dinner.

We did a tour of the great things of Montmartre: the Moulin Rouge, Amelie's haunts (her apt, her cafe, her greengrocer, her Sacre Coeur moment), a million stairs, and the APC surplus store for fashion at half price. I stress, a million stairs. Montmartre can be a killer if you don't plan to make it easy on yourself.

That evening we went to a traditional French cabaret Au Lapin Agile. No naked ladies. A bunch of people sat at a table and sang rousing traditional French country songs and shanties and things, engaging with the audience and having a great time. There was a bit of poetry and comedy, but mostly group singing. We had a good time, and I felt very cultural, but something was a bit farcical about it all, and not intentionally. I don't know. It was all in French and enjoyable, but difficult to follow and a bit expensive for the reward. For the same price I could have seen an opera and bit much more satisfied.

The next day I worked in the morning and then met another friend at L'Orangerie for conversation and art. I had never been before (I could take or leave Monet) but everyone always reports that it's something remarkable. And it definitely is. It has two giant oval-shaped rooms with Monet's waterlilies. The natural lighting is breathtaking, so I only recommend you go when it is sunny in Paris (which is 50-50) and not when it is closed on Tuesdays. It was really quite remarkable to see the kind of depth an artist can put in such a gigantic work. Amazing. The museum also had exhibitions downstairs, in which I discovered two new artists I had not known but now enjoy: Chaim Soutine and Didier Paquignon. Beautiful.

After a coffee next to La Madeliene, I met L&D at the Palais Garnier for a ballet, La Fille Mal Gardee. It was lovely, and pretty traditional, though not quite worth the standing ovation it received. Afterward we trekked to Le Bistrot Victoire, on the recommendation of The Frugal Traveler. The service was pleasant and the creme brulee delicious, but our meals were nothing to get excited about. And I'll be honest, I hated my meat. But everyone's experience is different....

I'm so glad L&D came and had me as a part of their honeymoon...I had such a great time with them, and Paris is so much better shared!

A Circus Indeed

With L&D in town, I had an excuse to put work aside for a few days to explore the city with them. L has exceptional fashion taste and interests, so we spent a day shopping in La Marais. La Marais has both the best food and affordable fashion shopping in all of Paris, in my and others' opinions. We also happened to be wandering during the semi-annual sales in Paris, so it was a good time to be out. We were able to visit both chains (APC and Kookai, for instance) and vintage stores, which were a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, I did not think ahead and a great deal of establishments were closed for the Sabbath on Saturday, so we were not able to experience falafel or any other great food. Instead we ended up at Bar de Cirque on rue Amelot in the 11th for pizza. We had the strangest service experience I've ever had. No fewer than three people asked us what we wanted, put in our order separately, and confirmed our order. Nevertheless, both our drink order and our pizza order came back wrong. And we weren't complicated: we ordered three vegetarian pizzas. That's it. No special order, not even three different pizzas! Yet we received three (yummy) margherita pizzas. Unexplainable. Then all three different people charged us different amounts. Amazing. Disastrous. Don't do it.

After shopping, we stopped for a sit and mint tea at Riad Nejma, and enjoyed each other's company over some really delicious ice cream. We walked to Notre Dame with the hope of entering and managed to get there at the exact time they were closing the doors. Grr. We had another drink at another cafe, and then delicious dinner at Le Grenier de Notre Dame. Boy, I love that restaurant. I had the lasagna, and it was really something. We ended the night with jazz at Le Caveau des Oubliettes, one of my favorite places to be in Paris. I know it's touristed, but I don't care. I love interesting jazz. Let someone else listen to the standards.

Midsummer's Night

On the 21st, midsummer's night, Paris celebrates the Fete de la Musique by suspending its noise laws, running the metro lines all through the night, and throwing a gigantic party with music in every place a person can imagine music being played. It's on every street corner, in every cafe, in museums, churches, parks, universities, government buildings...everywhere. There's a vibrancy in the air one doesn't normally associate with Paris, a city that doesn't experience a majority of sunshine.

This year it fell on a very beautiful summer Sunday. I, to be honest, worked through most of it, hoping to have a good opportunity to stop and soak in the music with someone. I did go to the Luxembourg Gardens with a few of the profs, eating baguette and moutarde while people watching and listening to various troupes play music through the park. My self-guilt meant I finished the day with more work, but it was a lovely day to be in Paris as opposed to anywhere else.

Two great friends from high school, L&D, came to Paris for their honeymoon while I was here! It was lovely to see them, and they were a good excuse to put work aside for a bit to see things I hadn't yet seen in Paris.

On the night they arrived, I took them for a "stroll" along the Champs Elysees, starting from L'Arc de Triomphe. I place stroll in quotation marks as the minute we stepped foot on the Champs, it began to rain. Not drizzle. Hailstone-sized water drops fell from the sky out of nowhere. After a bit under a gallery and a stop to buy umbrellas, we found a bistrot at which to eat a pleasant meal. Wish I could remember its name, though it was very standard and not really worth recommending.

Afterward, we walked to the Seine and had a drink at Chez Francis next to the Alma Marceau metro stop. Sitting on the patio of this lovely (and reputedly delicious) bistro afforded us a glorious view of the Eiffel Tower frames by a few lush trees. We sat, we talked, we drank, and we watched the light show. It was a lovely way to begin their trip here. I highly recommend this relatively untouristed spot.

Group Outings and Adventures

I've been mostly working on my dissertation, getting out only for runs and grocery trips. However, I have eaten out and led group trips, so here we go.

A week ago Friday, we took students for a group dinner to Brasserie Julien, which is an establishment now over 100 years old. It is more exciting for its atmosphere than for its food. The food was quite pleasant, though not as pleasant as the price might have suggested. The room, though, was beautiful. It has all this art nouveau detailing all around the room, and you just feel like you're in Paris. But Paris where there's an old school cabaret and chanteure. Lovely.

After dinner we took the metro a few more stops to Sacre Coeur to watch the sunset. This is the second highest point in Paris (the first being the Eiffel Tower, of course), though the angle of the view leaves much to be desired. It's actually better to go to the dome of the church to see a lovely view of Paris. Nonetheless, sunset on Montmartre is an event. It's packed with people, and relatively few tourists. People blast music, sell beer by the six-pack, dance, sing, and yell. It's quite something.

On Saturday we took the group to Versailles. It was quite an adventure. We hadn't ordered our tickets 24 hours in advance, which meant David had to go out to Versailles an hour ahead of us to begin waiting in line. The rest of us headed out there later, were missing a few tickets, jumped on the wrong train, didn't realize it until we were down the wrong fork, had to change trains twice more, and finally arrived in Versailles an hour later than we had planned. Which I would have felt bad about if David hadn't JUST arrived at the front of the ticket line by the time we arrived. He waited in line over 2 hours. It's so not worth that. Buy your tickets in advance, people.

I didn't go into the grounds, and instead worked a bit at a cafe and found a place for our group to eat. We went, once again, to Pizza Capri, which is yummy and cheap. Pretty standard.

On Tuesday I decided I wanted Moroccan food and took anyone who wanted to go with me to Riad Nejma. It is on the plaza of the Centre Pompidou, but it's surprisingly not very toursity. It has an open, indoor courtyard built to replicate riads in Morocco, and it felt very familiar. They served their couscous dishes family style, which meant we were all able to try everyone else's dishes. One group ordered something with root vegetables, tons of meat, and spiced with ras-al-hanout or something. Another group ordered the couscous Fassi, which I highly recommend. It was cinnamon, raisins, chickpeas, chicken, onions....oh it was so delicious. Outstanding. Nothing was quite as spicy and delicious as we ate in Morocco, but everything was very flavorful and..morocaine. Yummy.

Tea with Friends and More Doors

Last year I made a new friend here in Paris, a person we hired to help the program, and I met her for tea at L'Heure Gourmande on a rainy afternoon. The tea was lovely, though not anything particularly inspiring. It was, however, a nice tearoom. Located in an alley off of a main street in St. Germain, it felt tucked away, with tables under low ceilings and populated mostly with locals rather than ever-present travelers (such as myself). I'll go again for the atmosphere, unless I can find a place with similar privacy and better tea...

While waiting for my friend, I saw a Frenchman walk by wearing a beret. I have never seen a non-tour guide wearing an actual beret, but he wore it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. If only I had captured it on film!

Paris has been typically moody as far as the weather goes. It fluctuates almost daily between raining all day at 57 degrees and being sunny and beautiful at 80. It means I have to be very certain to get in a run on the sunny days for fear of running into another rainy one, but I feel much better about working all the time in my room when it's rainy outside. So bring on the rain!

On a pleasant day I took a student to Pere LaChaise, the massive cemetery in Paris. Click here for my post the last time I went. Whereas the last time I visited I felt frantic, unable to see everything I wanted to see, this time I was relaxed--soothed by the serenity of the place and breathing in the beauty of a gorgeous day of a wonderful life. We just wandered and took a million photos. This time, I found Chopin. We also found a long wall that was lined with memorials for those who died in wars, plane crashes, and concentration camps. There was at least one memorial for each concentration camp, a memorial of remembrance, sculptures, all lining the wall of the Federalists. This wall is famous for being the site of a massacre of Federalists in a war long ago in French history (sorry...I'm scant on the details).

A slideshow of photos (click to see them bigger):

Long Runs, Churches, and Mussels

I've been staying in most of the time working, but I have taken breaks every other day for long runs around the Luxembourg Gardens. After getting used to the broken sidewalks of Atlanta on my runs, the park is heavenly. I'd never watched for exercisers before in Paris, but lots of people have the same idea. You see marathoners and housewives and dads with jogging strollers. The loop that circles the park is about a mile and a half, so it's perfect for doing long runs without feeling like you're running a thousand circles. I am able to watch kids play soccer, old men play bocce ball, groups doing tai chi, setup for the outdoor opera, bands playing, and, of course, French lovers making out on benches. I end up not even noticing how long I've been running.

I took a student out to see some churches the other day to help her get started seeing the city. I'm only really willing to do this for the free things for now. I have a couple of friends coming through Paris while I'm here, and I want to save the big ticket items for them. But we went to St-Germain-des-Pres, which is such a beautiful old church. I love the memorials for those of the parish who have died in wars. We also wandered through the antiques market and visited Ste.-Sulpice. I'm always amazed at how bright this church is. Click the links to see the posts from the last time I visited these churches.

That night I went out to have moules (mussels) with T. We went to La Moule en Folie, which had the most delicious mussels! It's almost all they serve, but with a variety of different sauces. I had the house specialty, which were mussels in a garlic, basil, ham, and white wine sauce. And frites of course. Yum. The dessert was even fantastic! It was a chocolate truffle, but not a truffle. More like a fondant. Covered in creme anglaise. It was extremely rich but oh so delicious. It was well worth the walk to this place.

Je reviens

I'm back in Paris again for my third summer as a travel agent/computer lab assistant/camp counselor. I do so love this city. I was/am not looking forward to the trip in the same way I usually am. I adore Europe, Paris, baguettes, and even the French, but I have some pretty severe school deadlines and financial restrictions that will limit the fun aspects of this trip. However, I'll keep blogging the things that I do and see. Perhaps this year there will be more observations and less business in the blog.

I arrived on Saturday in good shape but very sleepy. (I was not, by the way, impressed with Two Lovers on the plane ride over. It was fine, but forgettable.) My room is small but much nicer than last year. I traded last year's view of the Eiffel tower for a shower in my room. I'll accept the trade. On Sunday I welcomed students, found a grocery, and worked. In the evening we took the students to the Saveur de Savoie on rue Mouffetard. It was a classic French place with specialties from the southern France area near Geneva. Of course, I had the fondue. It was fine, though nothing special. But la formule was very affordable and the food better than that price usually affords in Paris. So I recommend it for a forgettable but edible meal at a good price.

Paris with Darick

Things I've done with Darick in Paris since he arrived:

• Pique-nique with cheese and baguettes and grapes under the Eiffel Tower to watch the sunset and feel Parisian. The tower turned blue instead of white in honor of the French taking the EU presidency as of July 1, and the train stopped working so we had to walk the long way home.

• The Louvre, for a full day. It was overwhelming. The Louvre is meant to be done in many, many days, two hours and one wing/floor combination at a time. We did as much as we could in one. Saw the Mesopotamian, Iranian, and Egyptian rooms, as well as Winged Victory and the Mona Lisa (I don't find her disappointing, by the way, though most tourists do—she's beautiful).

• La Belle Ronde, my favorite little creperie in the 14^th arr. that Kate found last year, for Darick's first crepes. Parrakeets chirped while D enjoyed the “inside-out pancakes,” as he referred to them.

• The opening night of the world premiere of the Fly, the opera based on the movie, directed by David Cronenberg, musical direction by Placido Domingo, score by Howard Shore (he conducted himself!) and art direction by Dante Ferretti (who just won the Oscar for Sweeney Todd). With such an incredible background (and we're big fans of the movie), it was bound for greatness, though it disappointed. It was mostly recitative, with few moments for the singers to shine, and little emphasis on the emotional and important moments. A lot of lost chances for greatness. We did like some of the things they added, though, and it sure is a great story—one prime for adaptation to the opera form.

• The morning doing the best we could to get through the Musee D'Orsay—the impressionism museum. It's packed with a lot of major works in a small space. Darick found a new artist he likes: Henri Fantin-Latour.

• We walked our way (farther than I expected) to the Musee Quai Branly, the anthropological museum. I think this was Darick's favorite museum we visited, perhaps for the whole three weeks. He's really into Oceanic art, particularly since it is so integral in the lives of it's people, rather than a cultural luxury as art is in our society. It's a really great and packed museum, and I recommend it to everyone.

• An evening in Montmartre, trying to feel a bit like Amelie. We had fondue for dinner at La Refuge du Fondue, which is certainly an experience, despite being filled with non-Parisians. We then walked around, listening to music, people watching, visited Picasso's first studio in Paris, and climbed the stairs of the Sacre Coeur to watch the sunset over Paris. We also were able to walk around in Sacre Coeur, which is a particularly unique church in Paris, filled with beautiful mosaics. It's no St. Louis Basilica, though.

• After some administrative work for the program, we had falafel in the Marais and bought Darick some second-hand clothes at a Parisian thrift store. We then walked to the Centre Pompidou. With very limited time in Paris, we felt like we were shoving things in at the last minute. On the top floor of the Pompidou was a special exhibit on modern/contemporary sacred art, which Darick is really into right now. It was the perfect exhibition for him. He then powerwalked through the permanent exhibition of the museum, for lack of time. He said it was like gorging on art without chewing. I think we'll have to return there.

• We visited Notre Dame, which was of course packed with tourists, ruining the effect of how beautiful it is there. I wanted to take him to my favorite church, Ste. Chapelle, but we ran out of time. I had a talk to attend, and then we all went out for dinner in Montmartre at Restaurant Chartiers, which is a very classically French restaurant in a lovely space. The food was mediocre, but cheap, so it was a hit. We ended the night with jazz at Le Caveau des Oubliettes. I think Darick really loved Paris, though we'd love it a lot more if we lived there...

St. Sulpice and Shopping

On Monday, on the way to school, I stopped by a church I walk past every day: L'Eglise Saint Sulpice. It's a beautiful, very old church, and it's supposedly the largest in Paris, even larger than Notre Dame. It was made famous by Dan Brown's horrible book and consequent movie, the DaVinci Code. It houses the rose line, or the marker for the original Prime Meridian, under which Silas tries to find the Holy Grail. The Rose Line itself is quite cool: a gold line crossing the church from north to south. What is also cool about the church is it's stunning design which allows it to be brightly lit by sunlight, no matter where the sun is in the sky. It also is ringed with chapels all the way around the church, each with it's own saint and sometimes two, so you might ask for the intercession of the one closest to your needs. My favorite with the Saint Louis chapel, which has a stained glass window of King Louis IX, the patron of Saint Louis, and a statue of St. Therese of the Little Flower, the saint of the church in which I was married. It was a chapel designed for me. Lovely.

On Wednesday the sales began! Paris goes on sale during the month of July, and EVERY store goes on sale, from Louis Vuitton to H&M to Cartier to Claire's. Its quite remarkable. Given the poor exchange between dollar and euro, the sale price doesn't really save me much money, so I didn't buy much, but it is still cheaper than it was without the sale...

Markets and Music

On Friday morning, in the tradition of my family, I went to the flea market, the Marche d'Aligre. Really, the market is mostly food, and food of all shapes, sizes and colors. Beautiful purple (!) tomatoes and fruits I've never seen or heard of before. It's really quite remarkable a market, and very very cheap. If only I had a proper kitchen here....the market also has a flea market, with old books, magazines, clothing, dishes, and the various trinkets one would normally find at a flea market anywhere, except in French. It was fun, though I didn't bring anything home with me. I might try a more reknowned market before I leave...we'll see.

Friday afternoon we had a meeting at the French Senat, which would have probably been cool, but they didn't have enough headsets. Being unimportant that I understand, I let the students take headsets before me, so I relied only on my French skills to listen, so the lecture and the tour were less than compelling to me. I'm glad we did it last year too, so I had an idea what the tour was about.

After the visit, we ate dinner on the Rue de Mouffetard, which also has a fun market and is filled with people. It's a great place to eat and go out, since it's cheap! Post-dinner, most of us went to a bar near our apts, Wide Open Spaces, to watch the Turkey-Croatia game (what a great game!!) and then a few of us went bar-hopping at St-Michel. Being broke, I walked back a little earlier than the others. Ah well.

Saturday was the Fete de la Musique! Paris suspends its noise laws and runs the metros all night, and there's music on every corner, bar, restaurant, square, monument, bridge, etc. It's really quite remarkable. People also get extremely drunk. It's a fantastic time to be in Paris. We saw a jazz band on guitars and saw a guy tap dance! I love this city. It just comes alive, all the time.

Sunday a student and I went to the Opera Bastille to see Don Carlo, by Verdi. The building was so beautiful! I was quite impressed even before it began, but the opera was magnificent. The conductor was so vivid and expressive and specific in his gestures, the artists were so talented, the staging was so inventive and minimalist...it was wonderful. Ah, the arts.

Millefeuille

On Wednesday, we (the director, the other American prof, the Parisian program assistant, and myself---the American program assistant) took the students for a picnic at the Eiffel Tower. We acquired some really delicious sandwiches and pastries from the Boulangerie Pain d' Epis (a google search yields several hits listing it among the best bakeries (boulangeries) in Paris---including CNN's list). Dir. brought some top notch cheeses to eat with our baguettes, and wines for the students to try. We lazed under the Eiffel Tower with fantastic food (especially the millefeuille--perhaps my favorite type of pastry in the pastry universe--and the pear chocolate tart, apparently the boulangerie's specialite). The students then went up into the Tower while F and I talked for a long time on the grass while the sun set behind it. It's one of my very favorite things to do in Paris. I'll do it with D when he gets here.

On Thursday, a wonderful friend of mine from my year abroad in Geneva came to Paris for a very short three hours. We filled those three hours, though, and went shopping along the Ile-Saint-Louis in the boutiques, and we just talked the whole time. Lots of catching up to do. We had lunch at Le Grenier de Notre Dame, recommended by many vegetarian and vegan travelers (J is one, and I'm doing some scoping for future guests). It was delicious! I haven't had a good meal in Paris, really, yet, other than those sandwiches from Wed, since I'm saving money, but it was really hearty and yummy. And the restaurant itself is just delightful, with tasteful, rather than touristy, French jazz playing in the background. I'll return there.

Window

So, as a refresher, my apt is on the sixth floor of this building. While it makes getting to my room a pain, being in my room is wonderful. When I look out of my window, I see rooftops of Paris, and the Eiffel Tower. Tonight, when the sun was finally setting around 10pm, behind the Eiffel Tower, which was glittering with lights, with a cool breeze drifting into my room, I listened to an entire opera being performed in the Luxembourg Gardens, which is a mere block from my apartment. An opera. Live. Only Paris could be this perfect.

Le Musee de Moyen-Ages

Yesterday I intended to take students to Chartres, a medieval town near Paris, on a day trip. The weather looked nasty, though, and we got a late start, so I talked them out of it and stayed in Paris. The weather, of course, never turned bad, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Instead, I went to the Middle Ages Museum, or the Hotel Cluny. The hotel was built in the middle ages as an abbey of sorts, over the ancient ruins of Roman baths. It houses a really large collection of art, sculpture, metalworks, and tapestries from the Middle Ages. The centerpiece of the collection is the famous set of six tapestries, The Lady and the Unicorn. The series of tapestries depicts the five senses, and then the lady refusing to give into the temptations these senses create. They really are quite cool. At the end of the tour were these choir stools in the photo. They certainly look horribly uncomfortable, as a choir member myself. I'm glad we've progressed to posture chairs.

After an afternoon of grocery shopping, baguette hunting, napping, and some academic work, I went out to my favorite gelati shoppe, Amorino. Mmm. Then I came back once more, only to go out for jazz at Le Caveau des Oubliettes, my favorite jazz club in Paris. I've talked about it before. It really is fabulous, and I read a review somewhere that described it as becoming known for the cutting edge of jazz. Last night we heard some quartet. I wish I could tell you who it was, because they were fantastic, but the website isn't helpful.

Today I woke up and attended the Gregorian chant mass at Notre Dame. I'm so glad I did, though it was hard to wake up. Even though it's difficult to understand the French mass, the symbolism is all understandable to me. The chant is just gorgeous, and I had a chance to practice a wild different way of doing shape notes. And of course Notre Dame doesn't hire just any slacker on the organ, so that was really incredible as well.

In the afternoon, we headed to Versailles, just like last year on the first weekend. On Sundays the fountains are on, and they just explode with the extravagance of the place. This year I walked around the town with David to find us a place to eat, so I missed out on the palace, but the grounds were as beautiful as ever.

And I'm pooped.

Liza Dolittle's Hot Chocolate

I had to take a taxi, which I hate, to move luggage from our hotel to our new place of residence, but it gave me a chance to practice my French with a very nice Moroccan taxi driver. It made the whole experience less harrowing. He is undecided whether he prefers Obama or McCain, but he doesn't like Hilary. And he doesn't like Casablanca, which I'll take under advisement when planning or trip to Morocco.

After hours of dealing with luggage and then getting to our interim hotel, I was exhausted. It was a really nice hotel in the very south of the city limits of Paris, so I literally spent all day in the hotel, venturing out only to get food to go. I did accomplish things to do off of my academic list, after an extensive nap, so it was a good day.

Yesterday we spent most of the morning and early afternoon moving from the interim hotel to the dorms. I certainly hope we/they don't have to deal with this mess next year. But we're in now, in our homes for the rest of the stay in Paris. Let me stress that I am very glad to be married, 26, and no longer living in dorms or crappy apartments. I woke up like 6 times last night, either because of the noise through the very thin European walls or because my whole body ached from the horrible thin mattress and too firm thick pillow. Ick. And then the dirty communal bathrooms...ugh.

But I do live on the sixth floor, and my window has a balcony which overlooks the Eiffel Tower. Last night it was alight over the rooftops, and it sparkled on the hour. I must say it made the whole deal better.

Several students and I went in the late afternoon to Angelina, the teahouse/cafe that Audrey Hepburn claimed as her favorite. Anything that is good enough for Holly Golightly is certainly not too good for me. The specialty of the house are the Chocolat Africain, which is this wonderful, creamy, rich hot chocolate that feels like drinking pure, melted Godiva. It was glorious. There's also a wide variety of delicious pastries. The specialty is the Mont Blanc, a filled meringue with chestnut creme topping (pictured). While some tried it, this (the chestnut part) did not appeal to me. After being out of my first choice, the millefeuille with vanilla bourbon filling, I settled on homemade, delicious, ice cream.

The cafe was built in 1903, and most of the place, including some tables, is original. It's really posh and lovely. It was great.

After that, we walked through the Jardins des Tuileries to reach the Louvre, which is free to those under 26 on Friday evenings. Unfortunately, not being UNDER 26, I didn't enter with the students and instead walked along the gardens, through the Place de la Concorde, and along the Champs Elysees. I shopped a little, not buying anything, and returned to the gardens to meet the students only to be hit on by an older Frenchman. But it was a lovely evening all the same.

The last time I saw Paris

Sunday, July 1, was our last day in Paris. Additionally, on the first Sunday of every month all of the museums in Paris are free! K and I thus decided to museum our way through our last day. We started at the Musee d'Orsay, the impressionist museum, after getting a bit lost on the way. It was really something, located in an old train station. We saw such beautiful art, by fantastic masters. We spent five hours there, even having lunch there so we could continue our way through the museum. Wonderful.

C and D met up with us at the d'Orsay--we found them waiting in line when we left, and we convinced them to head to the Rodin Museum instead. There we saw the Thinker and other beautiful works by Rodin. However, it was hot, and we'd been walking all day, so we only saw the sculptures in the garden and didn't bother to go inside the museum itself.

Finally, that evening we had a group dinner at a creperie in Saint-Germain. It was delicious, and with fantastic decor, but terrible service. They didn't get anything right and were terribly slow. It was also hot like fire in that restaurant, since we had too many people in our booth. C'est la vie.

After dinner we took a cruise of the Seine as a farewell to the city. It was beautiful at night: the Louvre, the bridges, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame...Paris.

Art, Music, and Light

On Friday, June 29th, I slept all day. I think I had a crepe from a vendor on the street for lunch. Not too much excitement.

In the evening, Kate and I had delicious entrecote et frites (steak and fries, a standard Parisian dish) in an area close to our apartments, and then had one more evening at the Louvre. We knew we couldn't do everything, but we just tried to do a little more than we had done before. Greek and Roman sculpture, including the Venus de Milo and Winged Glory. We also visited Napoelon's apartments, since he used to live in the Louvre before it was the art museum we know today. He certainly was extravagant.

The next day, after several failed attempts over two weeks, we toured L'Opera Garnier. It was still a bit of a failure, since we'd been trying to catch a guided tour of the opera house but found the book to be inaccurate, which was unfortunate. We gave up, and we toured the place on our own. We saw old costumes and miniature sets, in addition to wandering around the really beautiful halls surrounding the auditorium itself. We even had a chance to see the "Phantom's box", though he wasn't there.

We finally left the Palais Garnier, grabbed some quiche in the train station, and headed to Notre Dame. Since I had already been, Kate went up to the top with Judith, who had met us there, while I read my book in the courtyard. It was a nice, relaxing break, though I also had to do a little program organization via cell phone. From there, the three of us walked to the other island in the Seine, L'Ile Saint-Louis. It's mostly a residential spot, but there is a lovely little shopping strip with neat little specialty stores which runs down the center of the island. We went because we hadn't been and also because the island is known for its ice cream. And the rumors are not wrong...the shop where we stopped had gelato that they shaped into a rose on your cone. It was super delicious. I also spent a ridiculous amount of money on a few different varieties of olive oil in an olive oil store. I was in heaven.

Judith headed back to the foyers, but Kate and I continued on to Ste-Chapelle, which is the beautiful chapel Saint Louis (King Louis IX) built to house Jesus's crown of thorns when he acquired the precious relic. Now it can be found in Notre Dame, and they bring them out sometimes. Anyway, Ste-Chapelle is an incredible place, completely surrounded by amazing stained glass windows. If you read from bottom to top, left to right, the windows pictorially represent the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelations. It's incredible.

Oysters and Dancing

Today, Thursday, June 28th, was the last day of real classes. After this weekend, we head to the Low Countries for site visits to the European institutions we've been studying all this time. As a going away event, the program sponsored a lecture on the French elections and then took everyone out for a fancy dinner. We went to a place called Le Petit Zinc, which was an art nouveau wonder. The food was not as good as the price dictated, and the service was terrible, but the atmosphere was perfect. I had my first oyster experience; I've decided it's not my favorite thing based on the texture and method of imbibing. It was a nice event though, with everyone in their fancy clothes. I wore my opera dress.

After a return to the foyer to change clothes, Shama, Amity, Allison, Edgar, Chris, and David and I headed back to St-Michel, where the bars and clubs are highly concentrated and filled with students. We drank in a bar where it was slightly cheaper, then headed to the bar where I had danced with Danielle. Man, do I love to dance to crappy pop music. It was a great time. Given that we left the bar after the metro was closed for the night, we decided it would be a great idea to stay out until they reopened. Which was 6 am. We hit a total of 4 bars that night.

I am too old for this.

Running out of time

On the 25th, Paris went on sale. France has strict rules (as does the EU, for that matter) about when sales can occur and what they mean, so it's an exciting time to see a sale in Paris, particularly since it has such fantastic fashion. So I went shopping today, and it was glorious. And exhausting. Zara, for one, was a madhouse of epic proportions.

I realized the next day, the 26th, that I had less than one remaining week in Paris, and there was so much left to do! So after class I headed out to the Pantheon, where France buries it's heroic men who bring honor to their country, by way of a photo of the Sorbonne. The Pantheon, though it doesn't get enough recognition as a tourist site of Paris, is gorgeous, with beautiful paintings commemorating the glory of France, and a full crypt of heroic and brilliant Frenchmen (plus one woman). Foucault's pendulum is here, which is fascinating. Look it up on wikipedia. Wandering slowly through the crypt, I found the final resting places of Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Louis Braille, Emile Zola, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Marie and Pierre Curie. Marvelous.

That evening, the majority of the students in the program went to a tiny fondue restaurant in Montmartre, called Refuge de Fondue, and they invited me along. It was incredible! For a relatively small sum, given this is Paris, we had aperitifs, appetizers, meat and cheese fondues, dessert, and a baby bottle filled with wine (or orange juice, given my preferences). It was so much fun, drinking from baby bottles and eating marvelous mounds of cheese. Few things are as fantastic as fondue.