Quel Week-End!

My, it has been quite a full weekend! On Friday, I went to the Musee d'Orsay to find a piece to write about for my "Writing Arts Review" class, and I wandered around the impressionist floor for about three hours, discovered that I don't really like neo-impressionism, and was absolutely floored to be near paintings that Monet himself physically created. I was in a newly donated collection, looking at Bonnards and Cezannes, and I came upon a large painting that looked like a colorful rainstorm. I just about had my nose to the glass (yes, I know you're supposed to look at impressionist paintings from a distance, but I like to see them close up, too) when I realized it was a Monet. Suddenly, the roughness of the strokes, the little mounds of oil paint (my art professor liked to call them "paint-bunnies"), and the places on the canvas where the paint didn't go down smooth all took on this amazing significance. There I was, inches from something that Monet touched, something that he worked on alone in his studio, something that he put time into. I think it hit home even more since it wasn't one of his famous pieces, and I felt almost as if, for just a moment, I was as near to him as I could possibly be, despite the fact that he's long gone.

I wandered the galleries, fixating on Caillebotte's "Raboteurs" and Bonnard's "Nu" for my art reviewing assignment, and taking a million pictures of all those famous Monets and Degas and Van Goghs that I've always wanted to see--the blue lilies and the water garden, the blue dancers, the self-portrait and "la chambre de Van Gogh"--while EVERYONE ELSE in the gallery tried to do the same! I had to wait my turn, but it was still wonderful to see them all, and even more wonderful since I can come back anytime I please. I love being a student in Paris!

After my afternoon in the museum, I walked through the Tuileries Gardens to get to the metro, or at least that's where I was going when I was stopped by a Frenchman (half Moroccan, I found out later) asked me out for coffee. Now, this fellow was about my Dad's age, and seemed rather nice, and I really was in the mood for a cafe... So I went! He took me to a little cafe on the street just a little ways from the garden, we had espressos, and he told me about how his brother is an artist and how if I really want to find inspiration for my writing I should go to Spain, but then he began alluding to how often, in French society, young women will go out with older men--"they marry young ones," he said "but to experiment..." Needless to say I was rather glad that he had to meet his brother somewhere soon. But, he still seemed rather a nice fellow, and it's a story to tell. That night, I felt a bit under the weather and opted not to go out, but Saturday was an entirely different story.

On Saturday, I had planned to spend the day in the Jardin des Plantes, a lovely botanical garden with a zoo and a natural history museum and an aquarium, and took my textbook with me to do some reading for class. I wandered a bit, saw some wallabies (just what I needed to cheer me up, still feeling less-than-well), found a labyrinth (not a very good one at all--it was far too easy to find one's way in and out), took some photos of the lovely flowers, and then found a shaded bench facing the garden, a perfect place to sit down and read. I was there all of a half hour with my book when my friend Mea texted me. She was going to go and see the Senate building, since this weekend was the "Journees de Patriomoines," and all of the government buildings (usually closed to the public) and museums (usually expensive) were open to the public for free. I went to meet her at the Luxembourg Garden, and after a nonexistent wait we were in the Senate! We got to see all the offices of the officials, the conference rooms, the archives, the massive library, and all sorts of meeting rooms, as well as that big semi-circular room where they discuss legislature (I'm sure it has an official name... but oh well). By the end of the tour, we were absolutely exhausted, and wanted to get out of there post-haste, but the tour followed a set, roped off track and, as we discovered, once you start you cannot stop--especially given the column of people touring with us. Quelle monde!

But our adventure did not stop after the tour. Despite our already-tired feet, when we heard the thumping beat of a TECHNO PARADE, we just had to join in. I was kissed by a shirtless Frenchman, we were briefly attacked and surrounded by a group of fourteen-year-old boys, and Mea even climbed up on top of a bus-stop to dance. We, along with a crowd of joyful, drunk, raving Parisians, followed a truck pumping out (American!) dance music--they even played "Wonderwall" by Oasis!--to God-knows-where in the middle of Paris. At one point, though, two guys attached themselves to us, and although it was fun for a while, it became tiresome, and when they followed us up to the front of the crowd when we tried to lose them, we decided it might be a good time to exit the moving rave. Of course we would come back out, but keep in mind that I have been carrying my textbook in my purse this whole time, we've been tired since the Senate tour, and we've just danced halfway across Paris. My oh my!

After freshening up at home, we planned to go out for dinner or for drinks, but when the next metro to the bar where the group was meeting was going to take eight minutes, we decided to hoof it. In our search for the Skidmore Center area, we came upon a Ramadan festival, playing loud, live music in honor of the last night of Ramadan, but alas it was invitation only. After trying to get in, we were all turned around, and although we were pretty near the place we were trying to find, we saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance and decided spontaneously to go. Mea was under the (sadly incorrect) impression that for the weekend it was free to go up the tower, and so towards it we went. We walked down by the Seine, which turned out to be a bad idea, since the walkway ended and we had to go back up along the road, and it really seemed like the tower was getting farther and farther away... But eventually we did reach it, and although it was not free we did go up (and we even met some Londoners on the lift), only to the second level, and got a beautiful view of Paris at night, took some fun pictures, and finally reached our limit. My feet hurt so much! So we went to wait for the lift down. Another small adventure. We went one level down and a very tall man with a little boy got on, as well as a rather porcine woman, and the lift began to beep. The elevator-attendant (the poor girl! what a job!) futilely tried to get them to get off again, since the lift was overweight and two people needed to get off for it to descend. Mea and I (somewhat accidentally) volunteered to get off and wait for the next lift. Now this was rather funny, since we were just about the smallest people on the elevator and I could swear that one woman was about equal to the two of us together. But she was being belligerent, and we decided to be good samaritans. The wait was tiresome, but the attendant was grateful. C'est la vie!

On our way home, dinner was ice cream (chocolat pour Mea, vanille et fraise pour moi, which took quite a while to communicate to the ice cream vendor) and a Nutella-and-banana crepe (4,50 Euro! And the guy didn't even put on enough Nutella! ...It was delicious anyway.). Best dinner ever, though unwise on my part, with my still-complaining tummy. No matter. Back on the metro towards home. But, for the record, the four blocks from the metro to my apartment felt like the longest walk I have ever taken!

This afternoon, we took a trek to Moulin Rouge, which was open to the public for a free tour. Alas, by the time we got there it was full and since the dancers had a show later that evening, they couldn't very well have tourists wandering in while they were getting ready. A bit of a disappointment, but we were there. Change of plans: we went to see the National Assembly building. The wait was about an hour, and the tour itself was rather like standing in a moving line, but it had cooled down (it was HOT when we got to Moulin Rouge) and there was a pleasant breeze. The Assembly looked a bit like the Senate, with meeting rooms and special offices, a million chandeliers, and an even BIGGER library (glorious, glorious!), where I had Mea take a picture of me with some French officer. We met a group of girls from Brown in line and we all took pictures of one another at various points in the tour--I'm always so happy to find other people who speak English! The building was beautiful, and it's a once-in-a-lifetime (or, at least, once-in-a-year) opportunity to see inside it. Hooray for Patriotism! By which I mean "Vive la France!"

Well, it has been QUITE a weekend. When I got back to my apartment (after buying the most delicious Pink Lady apple I have ever had from the alimentation generale on my way home), I laid down to rest my feet before dinner and I fell asleep! I had no idea I was so tired! I am most certainly turning in early tonight. But here are some (Some? Not some. Many.) pictures from my adventures (none of the midst of the rave--those are all on Mea's camera):

C'est Cezanne!

This made me think of the beach:

Bonnard's "Nu":

The unexpected Monet:

A sweet interior by some German artist:

La Salle de Fete:

Nature Mort:

"Madeleine au Bois d'Amour"

The Portrait of the Artist:

La Chambre de Van Gogh a Arles:

And we all know this one...

And this one...

And this one...

This reminds me of a painting my Grandparents kept on their living room wall:

Monet, by Renoir:

Le Dejeuner:

Les Danceuses Bleues:

Raboteurs de Parquets:

Alfred Sisley. Reminds me of that children's book, "A Snowy Day":

"Le Matin":

Some funky statue in the Tuileries:

A carousel I found in the Tuileries:

Need I caption this?

Apparently, these still roam the earth in Paris:

The botanical gardens and (I think) the natural history museum:

The flowers really were beautiful:

A life-sized faerie-hut!

Some sort of fruiting tree:

Les Menageries:

Wallabies!

A secret staircase:

Some modest graffiti at the top of the labyrinth:

My shady spot, plus a pigeon in a deep reverie:

Looking up into the trees:

What lovely morning-glories:

I just loved the wooly mammoth with a McDonald's in the background. Anachronism?

The lovely gardens behind the Senate building:

A table set for Senatorial tea!

So many chandeliers...

The office of the president of the Senate. We're allowed in here??

In front of the Jardin d'Hiver:

Outside the Senate:

So I have a thing for statues.

They had lions here too! On the grandest staircase I have ever seen:

Ultra-gilded:

The Luxembourg Gardens from inside the Senate--we could already hear the techno parade:

Out the window:

Napoleon's throne!

A nice picture in the garden before we ran off into the street:

Techno parade!

Raving Parisians:

Where are we?

The Seine at night:

Hmm... which building is this? ALMOST THERE:

Mea and me on the lift, courtesy of our new English friends:

Holding on while the lift went sideways:

On top of the city:

And down below once more:

This is what you find around the Moulin Rouge:

...And this:

Le Chat Noir!

Who wouldn't want to visit this museum?

The Moulin Rouge!

...is closed.

The National Assembly:

A lovely day to wait in line:

They had a nice little garden, too:

And a fountain:

And a whole lot of gilding:

And chandeliers. Mad chandeliers.

La Salle de Manger:

They even had a Laocoon!

Dank library:

Finally outside again:

I suppose there's always some sort of protest movement going on in Paris:

C'est fini. Je suis tres fatiguee. Alors, a la prochain.