Last Sunday I was still feeling pretty crummy but forced myself to get out of the dorm. My roommate and I first tried to go to Giverny, to Monet's house and gardens (an excursion which we finally succeeded with today).
We went to the Gare St. Lazare to buy a train ticket -- 24 euros -- but the machines wouldn't take our UW credit cards. So we went to a ticket booth, and when I said "Je voudrais un billet pour Vernon s'il vous plait," the cashier immediately responded in English. I wouldn't have been too disheartened by that if the exact same thing didn't happen with the next person I talked to. Is my accent that bad?
Time was running out -- it was noon and the train left at 12h20. A woman stopped me, asking "Do you speak English?" A question that I now realize always should be answered with "Je ne comprends pas," because she shoved a piece of paper at me (something about someone being held captive in Bosnia...something I might have believed if I hadn't seen her again today with the same act) and then demanded that I gave her money. I said no and tried to walk away. I saw that same woman being escorted away by the police today, and I smiled.
In the line waiting for a train ticket, a very tall woman harassed this poor station worker. "Monsieur...pourquoi vous ne venez pas ici? Je vous ai appellé cinq fois." (Mister, why didn't you come here when I called you? I called for you five times.)
"Je suis très désolée mademoiselle..." (I am very sorry miss...)
"Ne m'appelez pas ça, je ne suis pas ta copine!" (Don't call me that, I'm not your girlfriend!)
And then we missed the train.
But luckily my roommate had another idea: the Monet museum in the 16th arrondissement, the Musée Marmottan Monet.
Unfortunately this was the first museum that A) we had to pay to get into (our student ID cards say we're Art History majors and get us into all the major museums for free), B) did not allow us to take pictures, and C) was a contributor to my misery in gross illness (it's a sad story, don't wanna talk about it).
BUT, the museum had a lot of amazing originals. Including this one, which I had no idea was there:
Impression, soleil levant. Unarguably one of the most famous Impressionist paintings in the world.
There were also some Nymphéas (Water Lillies) paintings, as well as the Gare St. Lazare.
In one room of the museum, a film was playing, showing the most famous spots in Paris as seen from a helicopter on a big screen. The film was absolutely beautiful. And the best part? During each scene, a different song depicting Paris was played. And finally, FINALLY, I hear not one but two renditions of my all-time favorite song, "I Love Paris"!! :) Not as good as the Kenton arrangement, but still, I had waited for this moment for a few weeks.
And the gift shop was dangerous, in that I went back 3 or 4 times and bought more. There were a lot of goodies there, all of which I cannot disclose here.
So even though the day started out rough, we ended up seeing some truly beautiful art.
Side note: at the dorm, there's this study room downstairs that had this photo exhibit up for a few weeks, showing various notable places around the world. This one just happened to be there:
The inside of the Milwaukee Art Museum :)
So clearly the Greatest State in the Union can be found everywhere.
Walking total for the day: 5.0 miles.
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