Senlis/Sunny Sunday

A friend from the program and I went to Senlis, a small medieval town in Picardy, on Saturday. We had to take a train for about 25 minutes and then a bus for 20 to get there. (The bus part made us really confused after we bought our train tickets, got on the train and discovered that the train didn't go to Senlis...scary, until we actually looked at the ticket and figured it out). The population there is about 17,000 people, but the town was completely deserted all day. We visited a couple different things while there- the cathedral, remains of a Roman wall from the third century and two little museums- one on hunting (the kind of hunting one does with hounds) and one on North African soldiers that fought for the French. Senlis is also notable as the place where the first Capetian king, Hugh, was coronnated in 987 and where Joan of Arc beat down the Brits during one battle. I have to say that I've acquired this fear of being pooed on by the omnipresent pigeons, and there were about ten million chilling by the cathedral. There's me in front of the wall -->
And the hunting museum with its million pairs of antlers, which kind of creeped me out-->


So we bumbled around there for a few hours and then went back to Paris. We eventually met up with my favorite Whit and Beags (the soon to be First Couple of District 8) and went out for a few hours.

This morning I started with a plan, but only followed it until about the time when I got to the metro (so more or less five minutes) because it was such a beautiful day outside. I ended up walking through the Tuileries until I got to the Petit Palais (art museum). This is one of the museums run by the city of Paris and is free (except for exhibitions). I found the painting that I want to write my paper on for art history- a portait of Sarah Bernhardt by Clairin. The Petit Palais was also perfect to walk through on a sunny day because its very open and full of windows. After walking and getting lunch in the Marais area I got a drink by Bastille and read for a few hours, returning home to take a nap with the cat. Yum :)
Here is the very pretty Petit Palais-