Day Eight: Place d'Italie and Studio 28

Tuesday in class we watched À Bout de Souffle (Breathless), a very important film in the French New Wave movement.  I'd seen it before in my intro film class, but it was good to see it again and catch new things the second time around.  And now I have the theme stuck in my head, it's quite catchy; we've all been singing it for days now.  "Patri-cia...."

The afternoon was dedicated to a shopping excursion.  We first scoured la rue Faubourg-St. Antoine (where class is held) for shoe stores.  I really needed some because my sandals are literally falling apart and my fake Chucks don't really work with most of my wardrobe (I'm allowed to be a typical girl now and then).  So I did.  They were 19.90 euros, which is actually the cheapest pair I've ever seen here.  I wish I could have gotten black (for concerts; my only black shoes are boots), but these were the only pair that were sort of my size.  The rest of the week was pretty rough walking around, but I think I've stretched them out finally.

SHOES

Sorry for the girl tangent, but it's going to continue.  Then we went to Place d'Italie and went to the shopping mall there.  There was a giant Sephora which was pretty cool (J'adore Dior is a great scent!), and an awesome toy store with lots of dinosaurs.

Place d'Italie shopping center

And then we went to Montmartre to see a movie at Studio 28.  

Studio 28

We got there quite early, so we stopped at a creperie and I got a banula (nutella + bananas in a crepe) for the first time, which was delicious.  

Afterwards, we saw the winning film from the Cannes Film festival--a wonderful event which we did not receive the pleasure to attend) winner, Looking for Eric.  It was about this depressed man and his hallucinations of his favorite/incredibly idolized soccer player, Eric Cantona, who helps him cope with his feelings for his ex-wife and troubles with his teenage stepsons.  I thought it was pretty well done; it went in a direction that I wasn't expecting and lost focus, but overall it was pleasant.  Steve Evets was a loveable mess, and the apparently famous philosopher Cantona was très charmant.

Before the movie began, the background music in the theater was "It's Only a Paper Moon" and "Route 66" sung by Natalie Cole.  Another thing I'm wondering: do the French actually like American music, or is it a tourist attraction thing?  I've noticed popular [US] music playing at most tourist attractions, but in other places too.

After the movie, we walked around Montmartre some and saw the Sacré Cour, a gorgeous basilica.

Sacré Cour 

The view from the Sacré Cour is one unmatched.  "Even Chicago and New York don't have any chance against this breathtaking view of the city," says this city girl.  There were so many times walking around that night in Montmartre that I literally had to hold my breath and say "Wow."  

Honestly.  So incredibly beautiful.

Then we went and had dinner.  Everyone else said it was absolutely terrible for the price (12 euros), but honestly I didn't think it was that bad.  But I was probably just distracted by cuteness for the whole time...

YES THAT'S RIGHT IT'S A KITTEN!!

CUTENESS OVERLOAD

Walking total:  a sad 8.3 miles

Day Seven: La Tour Eiffel

Monday morning was rough for my roommate and me.  We had "Survival French" class at 9:00, so we needed to leave the Cité U at around 8.  I groggily woke up and glanced at my phone, which read 8:51.  Apparently we'd both slept through BOTH of our alarms, and ended up being 40 minutes late to French class.  And not because we took a long time getting ready; we were out the door by 8:55, it just takes that long to get to ACCENT.

The French class would be useful for someone who's taken a few semesters of French but needs a refresher in basic phrases.  The teacher speaks to the class as if all of us were more or less fluent, which is not the case for most people.  She doesn't call on the two people who have never had French before as to not single them out, but then they're not learning anything, the people who have taken 101 can't understand a lot of what she says, and I don't really say anything because I don't want the teacher to think that the whole class understands some things that she's saying, because I'm pretty sure they don't. 

Film class was rough on all of us today.  The screening was L'Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934).  The problem?  The DVD didn't have any subtitles.  Which sadly shouldn't have been a problem for me, but it was from 1934 and the recording was really quiet.  So I didn't understand a thing, and neither did anyone else in class.  We all had a terrible time of trying to stay awake, including the professor.

After class and lunch, we all met for a walking tour of the Canal St. Martin, where L'Atalante, Hôtel du Nord, and Amélie were filmed.  I didn't recognize any of these as we walked through.  It was cool to be so close to the Seine though.

The canal--check out the different water levels!

The French take good care of the Seine.  Guess I shouldn't talk, because Lake Michigan is probably worse.

Then the majority faction of our group decided that they would go to Notre Dame in the late afternoon/evening (since we had split up for the weekend, they hadn't been there yet. And my roommate and I didn't feel like waiting in line for an hour and climbing the 400 stairs again), Emily and I decided to visit the Eiffel Tower up close for the first time.

Hanging out near la Tour Eiffel in the afternoon

We checked it out in the afternoon, and decided to go back to the Cité for dinner.

The food is pretty disgusting, but it's 2,85 euros, which is the best deal ever.

In between things I checked on my sandal tan -- attractive!

Since that day and until now we have been looking for the model Statue of Liberty, which is apparently in Paris but whenever we ask Parisians about it they laugh at us and say that it's not in Paris.  But one guidebook says it's at the Passy stop, which is right by the Eiffel Tower, and another book says it's in the Luxembourg gardens.  Frustrating!

But we decided to climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower despite the 9,90 euro fee (which is actually a pretty good deal) -- how many times can one go to the top of the Eiffel Tower? 

The pillar from which we ascended

 So we waited in line for about an hour and then took a diagonal elevator to the second floor, and then to the tip top.

The view was very pretty, but unfortunately unable to be captured well by my camera.

A bit blurry for my liking :-\

Every night there is a sparkling light show.

As we were going down seemingly endless flights of stairs, we heard thunder.  We realized that the métro stop was fairly far from the tower, so we needed to run (as well as it was 11:50; the métro stops running at 12:30 on weekdays and it takes at least that long to get home).  So unfortunately there was no time for a late night photo shoot at la Tour Eiffel; hopefully we will go back at another date.  The downpour was unpleasant--especially without an umbrella--but we made it home eventually.

An up-close view of la Tour at night.

Walking total:  10.8 miles

Day Six: Notre Dame and Café des Deux Moulins

I apologize for never updating anymore - I've been ill lately (I'm pretty sure I have a fever, with yucky aches today and unpleasant shivering last night), and the Internet here is incredibly frustrating.   So I'm trying to update a week in retrospect, here goes.

Last Sunday my roommate and I explored Paris on our own again.  We did a lot of walking around (that is the big thing to do in Paris...) and then briefly walked through the Tuileries gardens.  

Tuileries

It was really hot out, so we stopped by a place next to the Seine and got ice cream.

Then we crossed Le Pont Neuf (the oldest bridge in Paris) and eventually found ourselves at Notre Dame de Paris.  

Our first view of Notre Dame

When I see really famous places here I try to remember all the times I've seen it in movies.  The Hunchback of Notre Dame doesn't really do this place justice, at all (is that surprising?).  Access was free (thank you, ACCENT cards that say we're art history majors!), so after exploring the altar and the famous stained glass window, we decided to make the climb to the top.

This picture doesn't do it justice.

We conquered the 400 steps in an incredibly narrow/claustrophobic spiral staircase, and surprisingly I wasn't tired.  Thank you, exercise regimen from all through this semester (I miss you a lot).  

The view was spectacular, gargoyles included.

On the way down, there was a staff member who was saying departure greetings to everyone who passed him, guessing their nationality.  To me he said "Au revoir!" meaning he thought I was French.  :)

After a quest for a can of Coke (2,50 euros ~$4 - that's pretty cheap here), we decided to go see the grave of Marquis de Lafayette.  But unfortunately it was closed - I guess cemeteries close at 6:00 here.  So we decided to go to Montmartre to eat at the café where part of Amélie was filmed.

We accidentally ran into the Moulin Rouge on the way there :)

The bar and me

The creme brulee here was the most incredible I've ever had.  YUM

PIG LAMP!!! :)

Walking total for the day:  9.0 miles

Day Five: La Rue Moufftard and Exploring Paris

Today we got off to a bit of a late start, and by “a bit” I mean 2:00 pm.  Just as I was adjusting to Paris time!  We tried to get a hold of anyone else in the group but failed.  So it was just my roommate and me today, but we did good (like Superman).

When we left the Cité this afternoon, there was a major protest/demonstration going on.  An incredibly large group of people were marching through the street, completely blocking traffic (the tram and bus lines completely canceled their routes).  I got some video of it, and a few pictures.  There seemed to be different protests going on in the march – a lot had to do with the genocide in Sri Lanka.  

It was really interesting to be able to watch, as I’d never seen a protest so big before.

Then we headed to the Cimitière de Montparnasse.  Got to see the graves of Simone de Beauvoir and Sartres, Camille Saint-Saëns, Guy de Maupassant, Beaudelaire, César Franck, and Susan Sontag, a film theorist we studied in the Intro to Film class.  Pretty incredible.

the grave of Camille Saint-Saëns

At his grave!

After consuming my first real French crèpe (du chocolat, bien sûr) and French milkshake (sub par), we headed to the Latin Quarter in search of the rue Moufftard, which my French teacher from high school recommended to me.  After searching for about an hour, we were about to give up, but then we stumbled onto the street in the nick of time. 

It was a wonderfully bohemian street, though filled with tourist-y shops.  I was finally able to buy a few things, which was good.  We went to this gelato place that served the gelato by sculpting it into the shape of a flower.  My roommate got some, and it was beautiful.

We then got the cheapest dinner yet – 6 euros at this Mediterranean place.  Not bad, not great - pita and fries.  

This saxophone player started playing on the street down a few feet from us and played a poor rendition of “Les Feuilles Mortes (Autumn Leaves).”  I was about to start taking a video of him when he stopped playing and went to the table nearest him and directly asked them for money.  Rude!

But overall the rue Moufftard was really great, I’m quite glad we made it there and that we’ll be back soon.

A few field trips followed using the Métro – we visited the Gare du Lyon (a big train station which absolutely breathtaking architecture) and L’Arc du Trimophe (needs no explanation).  

Grand walking distance of the day = 12.0 miles.  So all in all I think we made up for sleeping late.

When we got back to the room, we heard this band playing outside at the park next to la Maison de Provences at around 12:30 am.  It was sort of a marching band – at least it had that instrumentation and they played a lot of Klessmer and pop tunes, and danced around a lot.  They were having so much fun, and it made me really happy.  They did not stop playing until 1:30 am J

I find myself adapting to French culture every day, and loving it more each day.  I find it amazing that Métro trains come every 3-4 minutes, and there is literally always something to do here.  My accent is also getting a lot better.  In high school and college classes, it was always embarrassing to pronounce the French “r,” but here it’s embarrassing to not pronounce it.  One thing I’ve noticed is that the French never say “Excusez-moi” and rarely say “Désolé,” but always “Pardonne.” 

Anyway, it is nearly 3:30 am and tomorrow we are going to Versailles, so I should be going. À bientôt!

Day Four: The Louvre

Now that I’m getting used to things here I think I’ll try chronological entries; I apologize if they are dull.  Let’s begin with Friday.

Although we are much more accustomed to the Métro and the RER than we were a few days ago, we (I?) still have a few blips here and there.  I swiped my pass and accidentally tried to swipe it again for reasons unbeknownst to me, so it denied my pass and the subway doors closed.  I stood there like an American in Paris (a phrase that to me currently means a deer in headlights) until a nice French boy asked, “Tu viens avec moi?” (“Come in with me?”) and so I got to sneak in with him.  Merci beaucoup :] 

In class, which is everyday 10:00 am-1:00 pm, we had a guest lecturer, Kelly Conway.  She is a film professor at UW and is currently in charge of the study abroad program in Aix-en-Provence.  We talked about the origins of cinema (which, bien sûr, began in France with the Lumière brothers) and watched some Lumière/Mèliès clips.  Stuff we’d all seen in CA 250, but a good refresher I guess.  Jetlag still plagued a few of us so the lecture was difficult to get through, but we made it.  I was disappointed that we didn’t get to watch “Un chien andalou” (my favorite avant-garde film), which was on the syllabus for the day.

After class we decided to go to the grocery store.  But a crafty young girl on a razor scooter (yes, those are huge here) divided our 9-person group into two and we split up.  So our then 5-person group turned around and got very cheap sandwiches for lunch (3,70 euros).  This was followed by a walk back to ACCENT to use the computers for a little while, but we were scolded by a man working there, saying “It’s a beautiful day out right now kids, and the weather in Paris changes seasons about five times per day, so get out!”  (The weather thus far has actually been quite nice.  No rain except today, which we slept through most of.)

And so we did, and decided to walk to the Louvre.  We got to see a large portion of the city (walked from the Bastille to the Louvre), but in retrospect it wasn’t such a great choice for our feet.  People always complain about the amount of walking that occurs in a trip to the Louvre.  It wouldn’t have been a big deal if we hadn’t just walked eight miles throughout the day (according to my phone), but we had.  Our feet were dying in the Louvre.

KT meets IM Pei.

One boy and I forgot our ACCENT passes, which say that we are Art History majors and will get us into all museums for free.  The tour guide heavily scolded us, and hoped we would be able to get in.  We flashed our IDs at the security guard and we got in fine.  The tour guide was most pleased, saying “When I saw zat ze security guard was black, I thought he would be cool.”  The guide proved increasing awesomeness throughout the tour, saying things like “ (disgustedly) Ugh, I have never been able to skeeeep ze Mona Liza in a tour.”

We saw a very small portion of the museum.  Greek works (including Venus de Milo),  French works (Neoclassicism – notably David and Ingres! And Romanticism – Géricault and Delacroix), and of course the Mona Lisa.  We also saw some Michelangelo statues, and the area that used to be a moat around the Louvre.  It was amazing to see a lot of the paintings that we had to memorize in high school, and even more amazing to see their true sizes – a few of the most famous David take up an entire wall (almost 70 square meters!), and so do the most famous by Géricault.  Crazy!  I look forward to going to le Musée d’Orsay next week to see Impressionist paintings.

After the Louvre we headed to the Champs Elyssées for dinner (great idea, right?).  We ate at the cheapest place we could find.  I managed to get a fairly cheap meal (three deviled eggs for 6,30 euros), followed by a not-so-cheap dessert (8,90).

On the subway there was a saxophone player.  There have been so many saxophone players playing on the Métro/on the streets in the past two days – we saw five today!  Out of the five, one has been decent.  The one we saw yesterday was not that guy.  This guy busted out his soprano and played a God awful rendition of “The Entertainer,” and then an even God awfuler rendition of “Isn’t She Lovely?” and “Hello Dolly.”  I was about to curse him and his ability to breathe into his instrument when he began to (attempt to) play “Fly Me to the Moon.”  I thought, “So he plays one good tune?  I can still hate him.”  Then he played “Girl from Ipanema.”  So then I couldn’t hate him anymore.

I used to think I walked a lot in Madison, but apparently I didn’t.  Here are the walking totals this week from my phone:

Tuesday: 5.4 miles (didn’t do much)

Wednesday: 9.0 miles

Thursday: 10.5 miles

Friday: 10.6 miles

FC #3: Post Organization

I think I'll organize today's update into categories.  Here goes.

Argent

Euros are tricky.  Things sometimes seem reasonably cheap when they're really not at all.  It's about 60 cents to a euro, so there's the conversion factor, but since they have 2-euro coins it feels like you're not spending that much.  And sadly I'm already getting used to the expensiveness of Paris - 10 euro will get you dinner if you're lucky (about $14).

Cuisine

Food has also been tricky.  The places we've eaten at have been fairly decent, but I most definitely cannot keep these prices up for long, and these prices are at the very cheapest end of the spectrum.  But last night I had my first croque-monsieur, which is basically a toasted ham and cheese sandwich (well, technically croque-madame, because they put a sunny-side up egg on top).  And tonight we got very cheap pizza (8 euros) which was actually quite tasty.  Baguettes are a favorite for breakfast.

Cinéma

Today's screenings were deeply rooted in French cinéma - Paris, je t'aime and À Bout de Course (Running on Empty with River Phoenix).  They were still good though, and the latter we saw in a pretty neat theater in the Latin Quarter.  I was disappointed that we didn't get to go to the Catacombs tonight, but hopefully we will soon.

Sightseeing (don't know the word in French)

Yesterday we went on a bateau mouche - a riverboat tour of the Seine.  Got to see most of the important places in Paris - Tour Eiffel, Notre Dame, the Louvre, etc etc.  We passed a restaurant where Henry I and Catherine de Medici supposedly reintroduced the use of the dinner fork, as well as some other interesting places.  I just uploaded a bunch of pictures onto my Facebook account, so if you're reading this you probably have access to that (otherwise I can email them).

Tomorrow we are going to the Louvre, so I'm sure there shall be exciting things to write about then.

Foran Concept #2: Traveling in Paris (and other such nonsense)

I apologize in advance for anything that seems delirious or incomprehensible in this post. That’s because it probably is, and that’s because I have slept 4 hours, 20 minutes total since Sunday morning (it is now 8:30 pm on Tuesday in Paris). Yieeeeeeeee!

Today was filled with exploring the RER/metro system and walking around town. I think I remember what we have to do to get to class:
1. Go to metro station across from Cité Universitaire (we're staying in la Maison des Provinces de France)
2. Take RER (train/subway) to the Châtelet stop
3. Transfer to #1 route on the metro to the Faubourg-St. Antoine stop
4. Lots and lots of walking in between/after

Now it sounds like it's nothing. Maybe I just didn't wear the right shoes.

Got sick somewhere between Milwaukee and here - just a bad cold with a really weird headache blackout while landing at Charles de Gaulle. Now just very achy and tired, looking forward to passing out shortly.

Observations (however scattered):
• Parisian men can be pretty and openly vulgar (thankfully since I look undead none of those hand gestures were directed at me)
• My French skills are not so hot. But enough to carry on smalltalk. Which is something, right?
• I found the airline food to be quite delicious (no sarcasm, honestly), as well as the complimentary pillow, blanket and headphones to be helpful.
• Like the klutz I am I completely spilled a part of my purse on the ground this morning at the airport - debit/credit cards, euros, dollars, ID cards went flying - and this couple rushed over and helped me pick everything up. Yay nice Parisians!
• WE HAVE OUR OWN BATHROOM AT THE DORM!
• The architecture of the Cité U dorms and pretty much everything I've seen so far has been absolutely gorgeous.
• The windows in the dorm have no screens, so apparently a pigeon nearly flew into a girl's room. There was also a sparrow in the dining hall. Whoo birds
• Seeing the Chicago/Boston/Paris skylines (especially the Eiffel Tower) from thousands of feet above makes them look like Lego's. No, Duplo's. Those were amazing (am I right, Allie?!).
• Very very very much looking forward to getting museum passes tomorrow.
• We have dinner plans in the next few days to eat next to the Tour Eiffel, and a girl in the group mentioned that she wanted to go to the catacombs. Awesome!!

Orientations, "French language survival class," and most hopefully a sort of itinerary will also be given to us all tomorrow. I didn't take many pictures today mainly because I looked like a huge tool, but hopefully in the next few days some shall be posted.

Foran Concept #1: Studying for Finals

Dear classes that aren't particularly difficult but if you don't put in the hours of studying the class somewhat deserves, you're pretty much screwed:  I will be happy to be done with you in 48 hours.

Studying isn't hard by any means but that first push to get going can be difficult.  I do look forward to spending my last full night at the library for the semester on Sunday night.  You know you've spent too much time at the library when you know the full 4:00 am cleaning staff by face and job.  My favorite is the short guy that resembles a penguin who rides a vacuum all throughout the second floor.

Down to business.

I plan to use this blog as a tool while I'm in Paris ("Ah," you say, "now the title makes more sense!"  and "Oh," you might say, "I've been pronouncing that name incorrectly since forever."  So now you know!), and perhaps when I return as well.  I leave May 18th (from Milwaukee) and will be returning June 14th, just in time for classes to recommence in Madison on the 15th.

When I am there, I will sing "I love Paris in the springtime" everyday and dance the Charleston.  Other than that, plans are pretty up in the air... besides my 4-credit, 4-week class and playing tourist.  If anyone who's ever been to France before is reading this, I'd love to hear your favorite places and things to do there.

Well this update was pretty boring, hopefully creativity will overtake me when I have more of a brain that isn't being devoted anymore to techincal film concepts and phytonutrients.