because I am an English Major: Beaucoup de Surrealisme!

Well, first thing's first: a correction on my last post. Um, that was the Arc de Triomphe. Oops. I guess I didn't realize where I was...

And now for today's adventures. After getting up to do my laundry and doing a spot of reading, I packed a sandwich and took a bus to the Luxembourg Garden. The bus ride was just under an hour and was actually really nice--I had my textbook to read, the sun was shining, and we went right by the Eiffel Tower, which is still just as impressive, if not as sparkling, during the day. The garden is right at the bus stop, and in I went. Just for your information, the place is huge! Enormous! Immense! I had not accounted for how much there was to see, how many places there would be to sit and read or write, or how many lovely things there would be to take pictures of--although pictures couldn't really capture it properly. I didn't have much time to wander (since I was actually planning to study there, and I also had something I wanted to do later in the afternoon), so I went right into the center and walked around taking pictures and enjoying the warm afternoon sun. Then I walked around the upper level--right around the center of the garden--where there were loads of shaded benches and paths lined by autumnal trees. The breeze was actually a bit chilly, but I picked a bench in the sun to have lunch and dive back into my reading. Apparently, all the Parisian students do there homework here, so I felt very un-tourist-y, despite the obvious signs (everyone taking as many pictures, if not more, than I was, expensive food and toilettes that cost ,40 euro) that it was a tourist attraction. Oh well, it was beautiful regardless.

Also, some French/Japanese guy sat down to talk to me (much more attractive than the creepy one from yesterday), and I deemed him worthy of my e-mail address (maybe next time I'll be brave enough to give out a phone number? I'm just a cautious person, I guess...), although he had nothing to say about literature. He did tell me I looked like an artist, though, and that one gets me every time.

At about 2:30, I had to be on my way. I wanted to see an exposition of collages by Max Ernst at the Musee d'Orsay, and the exposition only runs through the 13th. I got there easily by RER and was met with an ENORMOUS looking line--I guess everyone else didn't want to miss the Ernst exposition?--that moved surprisingly fast but was still a bit bothersome. I took out my ID indicating that my age is between 18 and 25 (which means a reduced ticket fee if you're from a non-EU country) as well as my ID indicating that I was studying at the Skidmore Center in Paris. Can you say FREE TICKET? Yep. Even a semester here makes me eligible for free admission to the museums. Awesome. I went right up to the Ernst exhibition, which was a series of rooms with solid-colored walls housing sets of collages from different books by Ernst (I wasn't sure if he'd written the novels or just illustrated them or whether they were just picture-novels...), from "Une semaine de bonte," and each room and each book corresponded to a day of the week (although the last book and the last room contained three days). The first day, Sunday, was housed in a purple room, associated with the element Mud, and was represented by the story of "The Lion of Belfort," which followed a character, the Lion of Belfort, I presume, with a man's body (dressed in tattered clothes and splitting shoes) with the head of a lion, as he engaged in all sorts of activities, from the mundane to the bizarre to the utterly disturbing. I got the sense that the images had something to do with the French Revolution (or really any period of French history, as my textbook tells me, which has simply been rife with revolution and struggle between the lower and upper classes, the workers and the bourgeoisie, the left and the right), since the Lion was wearing a badge inscribed with "Republique Francaise" and he was clearly a pauper. Also, there were quite a few images at the end of the series that depicted regal lions, pointing right and left, a left hand, and various other foods and symbols that smacked of class warfare, in my opinion. The series was intriguing, and I couldn't resist writing in my little black notebook--over 14 pages, I realized when I looked them over!--about the images that drew me in. In particular, plate 9 was fascinating, depicting the lion as a garbage-man, picking up rubbish off the cobblestones with a hook, and with an immense wicker trash-basket on his back. The really interesting elements were the nude, headless female torso, the entrails of which were being pulled out through her neck by the lion's hook, as if she were a discarded doll or a piece of street-trash, and the girl behind the lion, her back turned to the viewer, looking back over her shoulder, her bare chest pressed against the stone wall on which she leaned. Her dress--though it looked elegant--was pulled down to hip-level, and it was impossible to tell from her expression whether she'd just been ravished and left there or whether she was making eyes at the lion. The lion seems not to notice her at all. The image immediately following it was a complete turnaround: the lion (looking much more like a hound of some sort), strolls with a lady on his arm--leaning on his shoulder, no less--on a pleasant country road, holding a white rose that popped out from the image (the wonders of collage!) So I wrote furiously about the entire series, and then realized that it was 4:30 already and the galleries close at 5:30. Luckily, the Lion of Belfort remained my favorite of the series, although "Water" spoke clearly about Ernst's sentiments about women (incredibly dangerous, may result in drowning), "In the Court of the Dragon" had some striking scenes, "Oedipus" was full of delightfully surreal images scattered with birds, bird-men, and lampreys, and "The Rooster's Laugh" was horrifyingly entertaining. I finished touring the exhibition just in time, and managed to take a few photos outside the gallery before I went on my way.

I briefly stopped at home before going out to dinner, which was supposed to be sushi but, when the sushi place didn't have enough other choices besides sushi, we stopped at a reasonable-looking pizzeria, La Comedia. And I had my first--and what I hope will be my last!--negative food experience here in Paris. Not only were we seated on the lower level of the restaurant, which meant VERY slow (if polite) service, but I ordered a Pizza Vegetariana, and although it looked absolutely beautiful when it arrived, it was undercooked (practically raw dough in the middle), over-cheesed, greasy, and charred around the edges. It was topped with some tasty vegetables, but it was certainly not worth the 12 euro I paid. Everyone who got pasta said it was fine, but I tried some of a friend's spaghetti prima vera and it really was nothing to write home about. And I thought all the restaurants here would be good! I'll have to be more careful the next time we go out for dinner. Also, we finished eating a little after 9, and we did not get offered dessert menus until after 10. When we decided, what with all the waiting, not to get dessert, it took until after 11 to get our check. Not somewhere I will be returning to, needless to say.

Well I suppose a visit to the Luxembourg garden necessitates some photos, but I warn you they are nowhere near all-encompassing. I really have to go back... Anyway, here's what I have so far:

The entrance to the garden: