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