Le Musee du Louvre

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Day 5

Well, I'm finally caught up on my entries now. Today was another busy day although it went a little differently than usual. Both Marissa and I woke up late this morning (around 8:15am) and church started at 9:30am. We didn't leave the house until around 9:10am after Madame Nottin-Dufour gave us directions, again, to the train station. We set out without our maps (I'm not sure what we were thinking based on our track record) headed toward the station. And quel miracle! We found it within 10 minutes! It seems that our mere was right and it really is only 3 turns and a ten minute walk. Who would have thought?

When we arrived at the station we found Andrea and Meredith there too--apparently they had woken up late as well--so we went to church together. We missed Relief Society but made it on time for Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting (they have reverse order in the Paris Ward). It was definitely a unique experience. I've never been to a foreign ward before in a different language but I found that even in France the Church is the same. I was surprised to see how much I understood as I listened to the teacher and those who bore their testimonies in Sacrament meeting. That was really cool. The first guy who bore his testimony spoke for a while and I was able to understand just about everything he said, which was terribly exciting for me. The experience was so exhilarating I almost considered getting up to bear my own testimony! Ha. Yeah, right. I am not comfortable enough with my oral proficiency to do that--I hardly get up on Fast Sunday at home! But the meeting really was excellent and it was really inspiring to see the same Spirit work in the lives of members on another continent and in another language.

Something funny I overheard from a girl behind me (in English--she was from a BYU-I group that was doing a study abroad tour of European cities) say was that even though she didn't speak their language (French) it didn't matter because everyone in the Church speaks the same language, "The language of love, or something!" to be exact. Haha, although it sounded a bit hippy, she does have a point. In Sunday School the lesson was even on the Armor of God and the things we have to do to protect ourselves from Satan and temptation. These included: Pray, Read the Scriptures, Go to Church, Attend Family Home Evening etc. Yes. The Church is the same all over the world. Although, there is one very French difference. The Sacrament bread was taken from a baguette. They would.

After church we all gathered around to decide what we were going to do the rest of the day. A group of about 9 of us or so decided to head over to see the Louvre Museum because there was free admission today. Every first Sunday of the month the museums are free. So we took the metro over to the Louvre--which stops under the building so when you get off you are already inside the Louvre. We waited in line for about five minutes and then split up into a couple of groups and went around the exhibits. The museum was really crowded because of the free admission but we were able to see a lot of interesting artwork, including, of course, La Jaconde, or the Mona Lisa. However, the Mona Lisa has never been my favorite. I prefer other artwork like that of Cimabue or Boticelli which I learned about in my Humanities class freshman year. When I saw Cimabue's La Vierge et l'Enfant en majeste entoures de six anges I was speechless. I hadn't realized that it was held in the Louvre so when I just walked right into it I was taken aback (don't worry, I meant that as a figure of speech, I didn't actually walk into a centuries old Italian masterpiece!). It's so beautiful and it's huge! I can't imagine trying to paint something so massive while maintaining both proportion and detail. It's unfortunate that the Mona Lisa is so famous because I think it takes away from a lot of really important and beautiful artwork that is housed in the hall next to it. In fact, the room that the Mona Lisa is in has tons of amazing tableaux that are barely even acknowledged by the throng of people pressing to get a look at the little lady.

Unfortunately, we didn't spend much time in the Louvre today and we went through the exhibits pretty quickly. I definitely plan on going back so that I can really take my time and go through some of the exhibits that I really want to see. I'd like to go back to the Italian Paintings and check out more of the tableaux by artists I've learned about, such as Boticelli and Cimabue and others. Hopefully I can do some research on the paintings in the Louvre so I can come prepared--I've found that museums are much more interesting when you know the background to the artwork housed there.

After we finished going through the exhibits we met up in the entry to wait for Anne who we had accidentally left behind without realizing it. She had been wandering alone whilst each of thought she was with the other group. Luckily out of her and her roommate she had the cellphone so we were able to call her and meet up with her at the entrance. Once she got back we took the metro out of the Louvre and headed home.

Just to make a little side note, I'd like to comment on the boys in France. It's kind of funny and I don't know if this is typical of all cities or just French or European ones, but guys like to hit on girls a lot around here. When we were walking to church this morning a guy on the other side of the street called out, "Bonjour les filles!" (Hello girls!). We said hi and kept walking. Then, later when I was going home with Marissa and another girl in the group, we were standing on the platform of the metro when a guy sitting on the chairs behind us called over to me--well, to be more precise he "Psst!" at me several times to get my attention and said something along the French lines of "Hey." I didn't realize at first that he was talking to me, but when I turned around to see who it was he nodded at me and asked me (in French) for a cigarette, to which I replied I didn't have any. Then I turned away and tried to ignore him but he "Psst" at me again several times and tried to get me to sit down with him. Ha. Yeah right. I watched Taken. And even though I'm not particularly worried or paranoid about such things, I'm also not stupid. So I just said no thank you and when the train came we made sure not to sit on the same side as him.

Then, as we were walking home--which by the way only took us about twenty minutes (we went too far down one street but we found the right turn when we came back and clarified the street name with a nice family who was walking by) yeah for us!--there were some guys driving down the road who slowed down to check us out. And I'm not being conceited here. They really did. The window was rolled down and the guy just stared at me and smiled. It was weird and awkward. And what was funny was that this all happened in the same day and when we were having dinner with our mere she asked us if we found that the boys were flirty with us. Ha. Yes madame. The way she put it was that "French boys like girls a lot." Ha. Ha. I'd say. But don't worry mom, if you're reading this, I promise it's not as bad as it sounds. I am perfectly safe and usually with a large group, and often with at least one of the boys in the program. As long as I don't "follow them" as my mere said, then they're harmless. So no worries.

One more side note. I thought it was funny today when we were on the metro and I overheard two girls talking to each other. They had French accents and at first I thought I heard them speaking French. But then I heard them speaking in English. So I assumed I had just made a mistake because their accents were so thick. But no. After a few minutes I realized that they were actually speaking Franglais! Who knew the French spoke it too? Because I am pro at Franglais. We definitely could have had an interesting conversation with them I think, going back and forth between French and English. Chouette.

Well, that's about it for today. We dined with our madame tonight, for the second time. We had steak, sauteed potatoes that were delicious, salad, cheese (that was too strong for my taste) and a yummy ice cream sundae of vanilla glace and chocolate gateau. Mmmm. I learned over dinner that our mere is a French and Latin professor. So we talked a bit about my study of Latin in High School. And I'm happy to report that my listening comprehension is continuing to improve (and I'm starting to think in French...although it's more Franglais than anything) and my speaking is slowly coming, very, very slowly. Tomorrow we have class and Tuesday we have a field trip to Chartres to see the cathedral. Quel aventure!