Expositions, stalking, oh! and a little bit of cultural history too...

Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Day 20

Tuesday was a beautiful day (finally! some good weather!). After class Marissa and I decided to go to the Louvre since the group I usually go on walks with was doing some I'd already completed. Marissa and I get off the metro at the Louvre and walk into a couple of the stores inside there (they have boutiques and shops in a plaza underground before the museum entrance). I noticed it was pretty empty that day but I assumed it was because we were there on a Tuesday and not on the first Sunday of the month (which is free). However, after finding one of the entrances closed we looked for another one, thinking we were just at the wrong part...we walked around in circles a couple times and finally decided to go up to the ground level entrance (the one that goes into the pyramid). Once we get up there we discover that the museum is in fact closed on Tuesdays...a detail we had forgotten about (I think the rule is that national museums are closed on Tuesdays or something). Great. So after debating for a bit I decided to go back to the Institute to meet up with some friends from the second class and Marissa decided to do some shopping on her own (since she had already finished the walk I wanted to do). So I took the metro back a few stops to our classroom and met up with Betsy. She was hungry so we went to a little cafe down the street from our class and had some lunch. I had had a snack lunch already so I bought a sugared crepe--which I've decided is not that good, if you're going to get a crepe get it with chocolate or something more substantial than sugar. After eating an overpriced cafe crepe we still had some time to kill while we waited for some friends to get back from a walk so we went to the Hotel de Ville down the street where there was a photography exposition. The exhibit was a collection of work called Paris D'Amour by photographer Gerard Uferas. I actually really liked it because the photographs were a documentary on love and marriage and were all wedding scenes and marriage-themed pictures. They ranged from beautiful and artistic to funny and honest and the exposition was set up so that on every wall there were quotes on love from the people who were in the pictures. I also watched part of a documentary/interview of Gerard Uferas and his ideas behind this collection and his intentions (all in French of course). It was really quite interesting to hear his side of the process and what he was trying to capture. At one point I remember him saying that his goal and initial passion for photography is capturing the life inside the picture. He said that to him photographs are living things even as they capture a moment forever. I also wrote down a few of my favorite quotes from the exposition:

"Ca ne te fait pas peur l'engagement pour la vie?"

"Non, ca me fait rever. Tout est merveilleux dans le banal du quotidien."

~A lifelong commitment doesn't scare you?

No, it makes me dream. Everything is amazing in the daily banalities.~

"Notre vrai mariage c'est quand l'image de nous deux s'est retrouvee unie par le reflet d'un miroir."

~(Our) real marriage is when the image of the two of us is found unified in the reflection of a mirror.~

"Je souhaite a tous les maries de s'aimer autant qu'on s'aime!"

~I wish all couples would love each other as much as they love themselves!~

"J'ai eu une grosse crise d'angoisse. Mais des que j'ai dit 'oui,' j'allais mieux."

~I had a huge crisis of anguish. But as soon as I said 'Yes,' I was at peace.~

They're prettier in French, especially since these aren't perfect translations, but you get the idea. And these are all quotes from people who were in Uferas' photographs. All in all it was a lovely exposition and I'm glad I was able to see it (for free!). Not to mention I felt really cultured going to a modern photography exhibit Paris. Man, I feel like everything I do in France is especially cultural, even the stupid everyday things, like saying a greeting in French to a real French person, or buying a baguette! I will admit, I feel very cool when I do that. I order in French and then I think to myself, "Oh yeah! You go girl! Dang, you so fine when you speak French (and they actually answer back!)" Haha, some version of this plays out in my mind...guilty confession. Cue sheepish expression, shifty eyes.

Signing the guest book...or, leaving our mark on French society!

Anyways, after going through the exhibit, and signing our names in the guest book (now I am a part of French records!), Betsy and I got in touch with Andrea and Meridith and found out we were going to have to wait a few minutes before they could meet up with us. Since it was a nice day we went and sat by the fountain in the courtyard of the Hotel de Ville. While we were chatting and soaking in a bit of sun I noticed a guy (probably in his mid twenties or so) wearing a white hoodie and a backpack. He was several yards away so I can't be sure, but it seemed like we made eye contact as he was walking across the courtyard. Well, I'm assuming we did because when I looked up at him he made a face and stuck his tongue out at me! It was so bizarre. I nudged Betsy and told her what happened and as I'm telling her to look over at him I see him motion to me to be quiet (he hunched his shoulders a little and gave me the 'Shh' signal with his finger) and then I watched as he proceeded to walk up behind a guy in a business suit who was on his cellphone. They boy starts harassing the man, aggressively talking to him and waving his arms etc. I don't know what on earth he could have been saying to him. It made no sense to me at all, although it was fascinating watching the whole scene unfold. The poor businessman kept walking trying to wave the boy away and looking a bit irritated when the boy persisted (angrily I might add) and the man even had to walk in a small circle trying to lose him! It was kind of funny. Once the man finally got away the boy-man started walking away from Hotel de Ville. During this whole episode Betsy and I are trying to figure what the heck just happened. As he's walking away I say, "Man, how weird. I wonder where he's going?!" and Betsy nonchalantly suggests we should follow him. Okay.

So that's what we do.

The guy had a head start on us and he was walking pretty fast so it was quite an exciting chase. We half ran half speed walked behind him trying to catch up and follow him. We tailed him a couple blocks all the way to KFC where we saw him stop. We watched him from across the street as he stood outside and ducked behind an advertising board. When we looked back we didn't see him anymore so we crossed the street to see if he had gone inside the KFC. We creeped up and opened the door to see his back to us in line to order. We didn't go in. Instead we went to the souvenir stand across from the KFC about three yards away and pretended to be looking at souvenirs. Betsy even tried on some sunglasses and I took a picture trying to see him in the reflection. Yeah, we're pros. He came outside to eat next to some girls (we're not sure he knew them, but it looked like he was talking to them a couple times--until they left, ha).

This is Betsy spying from behind the advertisement board...

This is me pretending to take a tourist picture,

but really the target was inside the doors behind me...

too bad the attempt failed and you can't really see him...

I decided to take another stalker picture of him so I had Betsy pose and I zoomed in on him in the background. As I was taking the picture a young black boy jumped in behind Betsy, thinking I was photographing her, but unfortunately I didn't get him in the frame since I was focused on the crazy guy. But the boy came over to the souvenir stand and started talking to me, which was funny. He asked if the picture was good (I told him it was, even though it was of the sketch man). Then he asked me where I was from (told him the States) and he said he had gone to Georgia, so we talked a little bit about that (I mentioned having family in Florida) and continued to small talk for a bit and then he went on his way. This is another example of how I felt really cool to have a normal conversation with a real Frenchman who didn't bother to speak to me in English for once! I was quite proud that I actually understood him and had a semi-intelligent, albeit brief, conversation. Now then, back to the main story.

One of our sketchiest pictures...
notice the blurred bar in front of his face--
perfect censor, but not done on purpose! Haha...

Betsy pretending to be a tourist...
but really we're trying to get his reflection in the glasses...

After taking a couple pictures, which conveniently blurred his face (there was a glass partition he was sitting behind, making the pictures look even more legit), the guy left KFC and started walking down the street again. We, of course, followed. However, we were nervous because we were pretty sure he knew who I was (he had after all stuck his tongue out at me and "shh'ed" me in the courtyard) so we were afraid he knew we were following him...we weren't terribly quiet, I'll admit, so its quite possible he had spotted us before. So as we're going we're trying to be cautious that he won't see us. While we're watching him we see that he is randomly yelling, waving his arms, and making aggressive gestures at people as he passes. Unfortunately my videos don't capture him in action (yes, I took a couple videos) but I did get one picture of him making some sort of offensive gesture at a random on the street. I have no idea what this guy was thinking or doing. Was he mad? (And I mean that in the 'crazy' sense, not the 'angry' sense because he was definitely angry about something). Perhaps he had rabies. Or maybe he suffers from a deprived childhood. Or maybe he got sick of baguettes and was on his own personal crusade against French bread?

Whatever the cause, he was weird and kind of scary, which is why when he turned around and started heading back in our direction we not only turned around, but we ran (noisily) as fast as we could and ducked into a pharmacy for safety, or 'Sanctuary' as Betsy called it. We tried to be nonchalant whilst meandering through the aisles, trying to see if the crazy man had left yet. After a minute Betsy looked out and saw that the coast was clear so we walked out quietly and calmly made our way back towards the institute building a block over praying that we weren't about to be accosted from behind. However, we comforted each other that we were at least in public and had an appointment to meet our friends, so at least we would have witnesses and friends expecting us. That was our consolation anyways.

Luckily, the only thing we encountered on our way back was a breakdancing performance in the square by the Centre Pompidou. After stopping for a moment to watch that, we continued on and met up with Andrea and Meridith--who then got a play by play of our extremely fun and adrenalin-filled adventure. I expect Betsy and I will have a call from the French secret police soon, recruiting us for our impressive tailing skills.

* * * *

This afternoon the four of us went on the Marais Walk 1, which goes through the Marais district, of which the institute is actually a part, and which focuses on the architecture and history of the area and its buildings. It was a little long (I was dragging my feet at the end) but the content was pretty cool. We saw an old wall constructed around 1200AD at the time of Philippe Auguste that used to enclose the city of Paris before it expanded, as well as the Saint-Paul Saint-Louis Church. Its cornerstone was laid by Louis XIII in 1627 and Cardinal Richelieu celebrated its first mass after it was completed in 1641. Before this, since 1550, the area was occupied by the Jesuits who had the church built. We went into the church from a "secret" side entrance that is off the beaten path per se. The church was beautiful and it was really cool to imagine that the Cardinal Richelieu had stood within those walls and lead the church's first mass. It is still difficult for me to comprehend that all these people not only existed, but were very much a part of the history of Paris that is still visible and accessible to people every day.

The concept is really foreign to me (literally and figuratively) because in America history doesn't date back very far. We go to a reenactment of a colonial village and that is our historical experience. But when you come to Paris every street has something of historical significance that dates back up to a thousand years. Basically the city itself is a living museum, that continues to evolve and shape the history of the current world around it. I know I should appreciate it more than I do, but honestly the idea is so incomprehensible to me that I really can't fully appreciate what I see and experience every day because I just can't wrap my around more than a few hundred years of history. When you start going back into the middle ages and beyond I'm lost. I mean, how could this building possibly still exist? And in such good condition, relatively speaking? And what's more, the building from 1300 is usually next to a modern boutique built in the last ten years. The contrast and juxtaposition of history versus modernity is astounding, and really puts the emphasis on the fact that Paris is evolving around and with its history, not over and beyond it. Its an interesting phenomenon that makes for a very enriching experience as a student/tourist.

Side note: Along the way we passed a small patisserie with a lovely display of bread and pastries that we of course stopped to admire and let the temptation sink in...however, in this particular patisserie we noticed a new kind of dessert that we could not figure out. There were thick rectangle blocks in different colors in the window, which we weren't sure if they were bread or something sweet. Well, we couldn't allow this to remain a mystery, so, as the astute and curious students that we are, we found it necessary to investigate this bizarre phenomenon. Thus, Andrea went in and bought the raspberry flavored...block. When she came out we all tried a bite and discovered that the colored block was in fact a squishy block of marshmellow. It was one of the more interesting patisserie experiences I've had, and probably not the best, although it rivals as the funniest. The pictures say it all. The expressions on our faces are priceless. And thus concluded our academic investiagtion of the corner pastry shop...

Before trying it...

After trying it...

Candid reactions...

After spending some time in the church we went down the street and found Victor Hugo's house, which we were able to go into for free (yeah for being students!). The house was interesting, although I didn't have a guide so it didn't mean much to me unfortunately. But it was cool to imagine him living there across from a beautiful park, constructing ideas for his books.

Once we finished touring his house and going through the park we finished our walk and headed home. Marissa and I had dinner with Frederique that night. We ate breaded meat with cheese inside (I think they were run of the mill frozen patties that she heated up) and mashed sweet potatoes and rice on the side. We also had a course of salad, bread and cheese and, as usual, dessert, which was a thin French version of apple pie. It was quite good.

It was actually quite an interesting evening. Somehow we got on the topic of religion again and I attempted, however poorly it came out, to explain to her, in French, the hierarchical and patriarchal organization of the church...yeah, I know that's kind of a heavy complicated topic to try and have with a non-member Catholic, but we were comparing society and our respective religions and somehow it came up. I tried my best, but I don't think she fully understood what I was trying to say, which is understandable because a lot of people don't understand it in English. So I'm afraid the meaning may have been lost in translation but I thought it was a pretty brave attempt, and it was probably the most I've talked to her in one sitting.

Another funny story was of Marissa who had gone and done a walk on her own that afternoon and somehow found herself sharing a drink (she had a soda, don't worry) with a Spaniard who thought she had "Ze most beeeeautiful eyes, like ze ocean..." hahahahaha. He gave her his number afterwards (which she only took to get rid of him since he wanted to spend the day with her..yeah right). Luckily she was fine (she's a smart girl), but it was funny retelling the story to Frederique. She told us to be careful and to never ever give out our addresses or phone numbers...well, duh. Haha, but it was a really funny story. I don't know how Marissa got herself into that one. Good thing I always do the walks with other people! Well, all in all a very interesting dinner and a very exciting day...

Phew. I know its been a long time since I've written, so hopefully this will tide you over for a little while, I know its kind of a beast of an entry!

...but I really couldn't resist telling that stalking story...