Napoleon in Egypt

So today I went to see the exhibit that I had been waiting almost two months to go to- Napoleon in Egypt, at the Arab World Institute!! Basically, after Napoleon had some big victories in Italy, the Frenchies sent him to Egypt to do his thing. He also brought with him like 130 scientists and intellectuals of all kinds. The French eventually got all their ships blown up by the British and the Rosette Stone was lost to the Brits, but the intellectuals came home with thousands of drawings, artifacts and new knowledge. They published this book in about 20 volumes all about Egypt, which started the "Egyptomania" craze. It was also the start of a kind of relationship between France and Egypt. At the Place de la Concorde in Paris there is a huge obelisk that the Egyptians sent as a gift. And now that I've seen that I am very, very happy :)

Then I did a MILLION miles of walking. The Institute is right by the Seine, so I just wandered down along it and then into some side streets (thanks to my new Paris Practique, with every single street in it, I can't get lost). I walked past the Cluny Museum (medieval stuff) and the Parthenon (lots of famous dead people there) and explored two little churches. I also found part of one of the old walls from the middle ages.

Whew. Finally I decided to take a break and went home for a bit. Tonight I went to the Louvre, but could only make it for about an hour. Too tired!

Tiny bit of the old wall left!
St. Etienne du Mont- pretty little church I wandered into
Yay, me at the Louvre with the French Sculptures
Also, I'm adding a little map here in case you aren't familiar with Paris. The black line was my walking route today. The star is where I live. The triangle is the Institut Catholique (school) and the square is Accent (other school). Its a little small, but if you click on it it'll enlarge.

Exhaustion

At this point I have done too much tourist-ing and have become completely exhausted. Plus I had two 3-hr classes today. I'll just leave you with some photos for today :)

At the Eiffel Tower

Art History at the Louvre

I don't think I have ever gotten as much exercise in class as I did today in art history at the Louvre. That includes gym classes. I had to go sit down at a cafe for an hour after--uffda. However, it was quite nice to discover what is going on in some of those paintings that I just wasn't sure about before.

I feel now like I know what I'm doing in this city- I've moved a little closer from tourist towards inhabitant. I don't freeze up quite as much when I speak and I haven't gotten lost in any conversations this week!

After class I walked with some girls to Notre Dame and bought a poster along the Seine for a euro along the way. It's from an art museum here that I want to go to, but haven't quite yet. (I planned out a schedule for myself today so that I don't miss anything good!). At Notre Dame there was a mass going on- I didn't even remember that its Ash Wednesday. But there were still plenty of tourists milling around! I can't imagine trying to listen to a sermon while a class of third graders and tourists taking pictures march on past.

And now I am off to read before bed. I have been in way too many bookstores the last week, but promised myself that I would finish one of the two books I am reading before getting another!

My pretty, one euro poster

Les Cours

After two months I am finally back in class! Aside from the fact that my grammar course is three hours long every tues and thurs, I'm doing pretty well. Tomorrow we go to the Louvre for my art history course! I also met some more people- notably a girl from London and a girl from California that I ended up going to lunch with.

Tonight I hung out with my host mom. The publishing company that she works act hosted this Russian actress doing a reading of Chekov, so I went and listened to Chekov in French. It wasn't quite as exhausting as it sounds! I was actually surprised by how much I could understand- yay! There were also some legit balalaikas playing.

Then Maman and I watched the french version of American Idol- the casting episodes. I have to say that this show- Nouvelle Star- actually has valid content, so A plus. It was interesting though that people auditioning had to sing two songs- one in french and one in english. And the english one came first. It made me feel a little better about my accent in french, ahah.

Falafel and Fig Struedel

This morning I started out again in the Marais and went to the Musée Carnavalet, which features the history of Paris. I liked it once, but wouldn't go again for awhile. My favorite things were probably all the old signs they had from businesses in Paris. Before the street were numbered, people used pictures to distinguish their businesses, and some of them were really cool.

After the museum I ran into my friend Whitney, who is here from Aix-en-Provence for the weekend. She and her friends were going to get lunch so I tagged along. They wanted to go to a falafel place they had read about in the NY Times. I'm not a huge falafel fan, but this was really good. We followed that up with a fig struedel, like the article mentions:

"As you enter the narrow, cobblestone rue des Rosiers, the smell of fresh-baked challah drifts from bakeries, and school kids in yarmulkes pop out of doorways adorned with the Star of David. This is the heart of Jewish Paris. Many Parisians say that the nation’s best shwarma and falafel are served at L’As du Fallafel. Alas, every tourist from every continent seems to be in on the news, resulting in lines more common to Madonna concerts. Instead, cross the street to Mi-Va-Mi (23, rue des Rosiers; 33-1-42-71-53-72), where the lines are shorter, the service is friendlier, and the falafel (5 euros) and spit-grilled shwarma (7 euros) are almost equally good. Ask for some zesty red salade Turque on top and finish with excellent fig strudel (3.20 euros) at nearby Florence Finkelstein (24, rue des Ecouffes; 33-1-48-87-92-85)."

I bummed around for the rest of the day- reading at a cafe and walking by the Hôtel de Ville and Notre Dame at night.

Skating rink in front of the Hôtel de Ville
Seine

More Sconnies!

Jack came to Paris on Friday, on his way home from bumming around Benelux for a week. We hit some cafés, ate crêpes and walked around the Marais. This is kind of considered the coolest neighborhood in Paris and its the old Jewish quarter. Its also where Jack's friend Mathieu lives and where I was able to legally buy my first bottle of 4 euro wine (its a more civilized nation). At right there is a picture from the Marais.

Today I met up with my long lost amiga Whit at the Louvre and did touristy things until I couldn't take it anymore. We went to the bookstore Shakespeare and Company, which is famous for selling English books and being a place where expats like Hemingway went, and some ricain (Américain) was predictably looking for A Moveable Feast. However, we did come across the Place des Vosges. Its the oldest square in Paris, built by Henry IV and only about 20 minutes from my school. I can't wait to take a book there for a few hours :)

Now I'm going to go to bed very early for a Saturday night- last night was a late one and I still haven't quite conquered the jet lag.

Being silz in front of the Louvre
Place des Vosges

Aux Champs-Elysées

Everywhere around Paris you see apartment buildings that look much the same- creamy white with a light blue roof. I noticed that the buildings on my street are all really different, and today my host-mom explained the reason why to me. The buildings here were built in the 1930's in the art deco style. They're apparently so nice that students training to be architects come to study them as examples of this style.

On my way home from the métro today, I also noticed a shop that I hadn't this morning. Its called Le Poilu and looked to be selling old army uniforms. A poilu was a soldier from World War One that fought in the trenches. "Poilu" in French means hairy- meaning that many of them wore beards, I'm guessing for convenience sake, during the fighting. When the last French poilu died a few years ago he was given a very large, ceremonious burial by the state.

Continuing with the explanations of my new surroundings- rue (street) Emile Duclaux. Emile was a French scientist who worked with Louis Pasteur (which may explain why I also live near boulevard Pasteur!).

Anyways, at the end of my day I explored the Champs- Elysées, so I'll leave you with a picture or two.

Bienvenue...to jetlag

Salut tout le monde! I have finally arrived in Paris and am now suffering the lovely affects of jetlag- it's almost one am and I feel like it should be much, much earlier (Paris is seven hours ahead of sconnie land).

Highlights from day one- falling asleep at 8pm and meeting my fellow gringos for the first time.

Tomorrow will bring more orientations (hurrah), but Saturday is bringing a day trip to Chartres and the cathedral there. Next week classes begin and of couse I can't wait!