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.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment