Of Art, War, and French Cuisine...

Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Day 27

Tuesday turned out to be another scorcher--around 85 degrees and humidddddd. Blahhhh. Marissa and I hurried to class in the morning, late as usual (which is my fault, as usual) and found that Professor Lebras was running late himself due to a delay with the trains. So Professor Erickson started class and he's more lenient about tardiness so it turned out just fine. It was nice though when Lebras started teaching because he's actually French so he has a beautiful French accent and he's more direct and clear in his lessons so it makes it easier and more enjoyable to listen to what he's saying.
After class we were given a sheet with a list of options for the courses we'd be having at our class dinner on Wednesday. It was kind of funny because Erickson said, "Okay guys, listen up, Professor Lebras is going to translate the items on the menu for you and explain what they are..." and then he commenced to interrupt LeBras at every item and explain them in his nervous-excited manner. It was pretty funny. One of the dishes, called raclette, which is a cheese, I wasn't sure about, so I asked if it was a strong cheese. Erickson replied, "Oh no, not at all, raclette is a very mild cheese," and LeBras added, "But it is very fattening," and Erickson goes, "Yes, it is, but don't worry, it won't be enough to make you fat." There were a couple other things said but it was pretty hilarious and later on when we were having our class fete (we celebrate birthdays and unbirthdays every week) Erickson came over and apologized for insinuating that I was fat, "I'm sorry for joking about the cheese making you fat, we were just kidding. I don't think you're fat. I don't want to hurt your feelings." It was so funny. You have to understand his personality. He is a nervous little man who is always repeating himself and talking quickly and anxiously, and it was just such a typical thing of him to come and apologize over something that wasn't a big deal at all--although it was very thoughtful. But I had a good laugh over it anyways....oh, and I did order the raclette...

After class we waited outside for a while waiting for a couple people (Betsy and Paige) from the other class to finish so we could go on a walk together. But it turned out that we had mixed up the walks and needed to do different ones so we didn't end up going with Betsy and Paige anyways. So Marissa and I ended up doing the Covered Passages walk on our own. We visited the Louvre des Antiquaires, which holds the finest and most expensive antique shops in Paris (on of the French teachers once saw George Lucas shopping there!). Then we went a saw the Maison de Moliere (a theater established in 1792 for the group Comedie-Francaise) and the Palais Royal, which was originally called the Palais Cardinal Richelieu, which was built for the prime minister Richelieu who gave the palace to the king before he died. The apartments used to house members of the royal family and friends of the court, but eventually the ground floors were rented out to boutiques and in the nineteenth century there were many gaming houses and brothels. The courtyard has an interesting visual of black and white sculptures, that are appartently controversial (maybe because of their abstract modernity) that were added by Daniel Buren in 1986. The sculptures were cut off columns of varying heights (most of which were short enough that you could stand on them) with vertical black and white stripes painted on them. They were arranged in a grid covering the courtyard from the colonnade to the apartments, and reminded me of an abstract park in Disney World or something. Either way I liked them, and they made for a fun photo op.

After going through the courtyard we continued to the French National Library (Bibliotheque nationale) which houses special collections (most of the books were moved to the new national library in 1998), including manuscripts, images, photos, maps, music, and coins. We didn't figure out how to get in, and it was so hot that we decided to try and finish the walk as quickly as possible (plus I had a second walk to do after that) so we just walked by and admired it from the outside. Its too bad because it would have been interesting to go inside to see it...

We moved on from there to La Bourse, which is the French Stock Market (equivalent to the New York Stock Exchange). We just looked from the outside and walked through a cute little street market set up in the courtyard in front of it. Down the street from La Bourse we went down a covered passage called the passage des Panoramas, created in 1800, which is one of the oldest covered passages in Paris. The arcades are mostly filled with small boutiques that sell old postcards, stamps and letters. We looked into a few souvenir shops but mostly just looked in from the windows (it was too hot to go in and linger anywhere). The passage was pretty cool though, you could tell how old it was, and it kind of felt like you had stepped back in time a little--minus the expensive jewelry shops and souvenir stores. What I think is amazing though is how this kind of experience and atmosphere is almost typical of Paris. It isn't too difficult to walk down a street that is hundreds of years old as pretty much all of them date back at least to the 18th century, and many are even older! But it is fun to go down small passages like this one where you're away from the busy streets because then it really feels a lot more authentique.

That concluded the walk so Marissa and I started back to find the metro. We stopped into a little shoe shop on the way and the salesman actually started talking to me and tried to sell me shoes--this was unexpected because usually I'm left to browse and they don't bother to speak to you. Unfortunately the shoes were a little to pricey for me so I didn't want to buy anything and I felt rude, but at least he spoke to me in French! Well, he started to speak in French, asked if we spoke English, but I told him to speak in French, so he then talked to us in Franglais. It was kind of funny, but I appreciated that he didn't completely insult our intelligence by speaking English. One of the funny things I found there though was a shoe that was scented! Apparently every time you wash it it reactivates the perfume, and it helps keep your shoes from getting smelly. Haha, it was bizarre, and he made me smell it, which I felt really weird doing. But, I didn't want to spend $45 on sneakers here so I said Merci and left (he didn't seem to happy about that).

We got a little turned around trying to find the metro so Marissa decided to ask a nice older lady for directions--turns out she's Finnish and had no idea where it was. Great. What are the odds? I mean really, who is from Finland? ...anyone seen Confessions of a Shopaholic?

But no worries, we found it a few minutes later and I got in touch with Meridith and met up with her to do a second walk--the "Of Art, War, and World's Fairs: Invalides, Musee Rodin, Tour Eiffel." This walk was really hard for me. It was extremely hot and sticky by this time (about 2pm) and we were struggling for motivation. We began at the Champs-Elysees Clemenceau metro stop in front of the Charles de Gaulle statue and the Grand and Petit Palais. The palais were built for the World's Fair between 1897 and 1900 and designed with neo-classical elements as well as some Art Nouveau aspects. I went into the Petit Palais a couple weeks ago with the class, although we didn't have time to actually look around the exhibit--Erickson just wanted to show us how to get in for free etc. The Grand Palais, in addition to holding art exhibits, also houses sports events, primarily equestrian competitions, and it was slated to hold fencing if Paris had won the bid for the 2012 olympics.

We walked between the Palais and across the Pont Alexandre III, which is actually a really cool bridge that is a good example of the French obsession with grandeur with its large sculptures and flowing architecture. It is made of a single arch that spans the whole width of the river, which was an impressive feat during the time it was built. The bridge was built during the same time as the palais, and was named after Czar Alexandre III, and symbolizes the friendship between Russia and France. From the bridge you can see the Louvre, the Conciergerie, and the Eiffel Tower.

We walked from there in front of the Hotel des Invalides and around the corner to the Hotel Biron, which houses the Rodin Museum, built in the 1720s. Rodin lived here in the twentieth century and the chateau and park became part of the museum in 1919 after Rodin's death. Due to Meridith's smooth persuasiveness, we were able to get into the museum for free (admission is free to European students--so we explained that we are students, studying in Europe, living in Paris...wink wink). Our first stop was the outside gardens where we saw Rodin's famous sculpture, Le Penseur, or, The Thinker. I'm afraid I don't know much about Rodin so the museum didn't hold my interest very well, but it was cool to see the Thinker, and there were a few pieces I really liked, including the famous sculpture called The Kiss, and some other smaller sculptures of touching hands and more abstract interpretations of the human condition. I liked Rodin's depictions of movement and fluidity in his pieces, which were really impressive. There was once small sculpture that was placed in front of a window so that it was illuminated from behind, and you could see the tiny outlines of the faces and features of the figures--it looked like they were part of the rock. It was a very surreal image and really testified of Rodin's skill as a master sculptor. We also saw his famous Gates of Hell, which contains most of his other large sculptures, including the Thinker in the top center of the gate. It was fun trying to pick out which sculptures we'd already seen in the garden--kind of a mature "Where's Waldo" activity.

After going through the museum we headed over to the Invalides, but unfortunately it was closed. So then I decided to go home and skip the end of the walk which goes to the Eiffel Tower because I've already been there a few times.

A little bit after I got home we had dinner with our family only tonight Frederique wasn't there (I didn't ask why) so we ate with just Christian. We had a nice conversation with him about skiing, the weather and our activities that day. I made an interesting observation too--usually when we have dinner and are chatting with Frederique she tends to direct her conversation to Marissa (she always looks at Marissaw when talking). However, when we talk to Christian, he usually addresses me. I have no idea why, but it caught me off guard because with Frederique I can get away with not talking much and paying only half attention to the conversation. But when we were talking to Christian I had to pay attention the whole time because he kept directing the questions to me! This is probably a good thing though since it forces me to participate, so I don't mind. It just keeps me on my toes more. But I like Christian, and his French is very entertaining to listen to because he's so French in his mannerisms and expressions. He uses a lot of French hestitation sounds, such as, "Beh," "Euuhh," "Mmmh, oui," "Mais euh," etc. and he twitches his mouth and eyebrows while speaking too. Super entertaining and it helps me practice my own French accent and mode of expression. I've started making hestitation sounds now and it totally makes me sound more French, while at the same time giving me time to think about what I'm trying to say--so its really a double bonus, I sound more French and it seems like I speak it well since I have more time to formulate the sentences. Parfait! C'est formidable!


On other news, I finally discovered--very scientifically I might add--how to successfully gain access to the internet! Since I've been here the internet in my room has been shoddy at best. It always has only one or two bars of service and kicks me offline every two to seven minutes. Its quite annoying. A few times I've had to hang out in Marissa's room where the internet is fantastic, which makes no sense at all because there's about a five foot difference between us. However, I very ingeniously discovered that if I go into Marissa's room and gain full access to the internet, I can then carry a piece of the internet with me (if I am careful to walk slowly) back to my room. Then if I sit on the opposite end of my bed away from my pillow, and closer to Marissa's room, the service connection stays strong. But if I lean back a foot on the bed the service goes away again. Therefore, as long as I stay on the other end of the bed, I have the internet! ...Its a delicate procedure...



Once I figured that out though I spent the next few hours working on my blog (got two entries done) and I was able to outsmart my computer once again and uploaded pictures to the blog--it had been freezing every time I tried, so then I downloaded mozilla and laughed in safari's face when it worked! Thus, I had a very productive day that ended at 2am. Bonjour encore the time warp...