After my 3 hour french exam (!!), Tuesday afternoon I met Laura at the Concorde station. Funny story- while waiting for her, in this huge city of 2 million people, I managed to run into another girl I know, Victoria! And later in the same trip, Morgan's friend Kitty! How crazy is that!! But anyway, neither Laura nor I had to work until 4:15, so we wandered around the Jardin des Tuilleries, the garden right by the Louvre. The last time I saw Tuileries, it was my first weekend here- snowy, gray, and barren. But yesterday it was all sunshine and blue skies!
(If you look closely in this picture, you can see the Arc de Triomphe all the way down the Champs-Élysées... look hard!)
Because it was such a nice day, we decided to just wander, and we ended up walking along the Seine until the path ended. Inevitably, any walk in Paris ends up in a cafe, so we stopped for some hot chocolate before heading out. What a nice afternoon! It finally felt like spring!
I had no language school Monday, so I decided to re-visit the Arc de Triomphe, which I'd only seen briefly during the quick car tour I took my first weekend here. It's at the center of this CRAZY roundabout, with like 4 lanes of traffic- I was nervous even being in the passenger seat when Marc, the father of the family for whom I'm working, was driving. I tried to get a picture but it doesn't do it justice! But anyway, when I got there, I was considering how best to brave crossing this chaotic mess of cars when I saw a sign directing me underground! Interestingly, instead of including crosswalks, there's a passageway that goes underneath the mess of cars.
So while I had only intended to go across the street to see it up close, while I was walking underground, I saw a sign directing people where to buy tickets. I had no idea you could go up to the top! But since it was free for me (as have been all the museums, since technically I'm an EU resident under 26), I figured I might as well! It's 284 steps to the top (I know this because they had sign after sign, saying "This way to the 284 steps") but it wasn't bad. And the view from the top was worth it! You could see all the major landmarks of Paris in each direction. The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is right there, so I walked down for a while after I was done at the Arc (sorry, my camera died so I don't have any pictures!)
Montmartre is supposed to be one of the prettiest neighborhoods in Paris, but also FLOODED with tourists. So while I was originally planning on waiting until springtime to see it, I realized the cold might not be such a bad thing if it keeps the crowds down! So yesterday after my french class, I met Laura, another au pair (from England) to wander around. That's Laura in the gray ("grey" since she's from the UK) coat in front of Sacre Coeur. Montmartre was absolutely gorgeous, with cobblestone streets and stairs and cute shops( DEFINITELY tourist-central though!). Not to mention the VIEW! Because Montmartre is so high above the rest of Paris, you can see everything!
Thursday, Luce was with her grandmother again, so I decided to spend the afternoon at the Centre George Pompidou, the modern art museum in Paris. But when I got off the subway, I saw a sign for the Jewish Art/History Museum, along with one for the Picasso Museum. I decided to change plans and see two small museums instead of one big one. The Jewish Art/History Museum was very interesting! Most of it, however, was in French so I think there's a lot I missed. But they include free audio guides in english, so that definitely helped. Pictures were not allowed inside the museum, but here's a picture of the courtyard.
I spent longer in the museum than I expected, so I decided to change plans again and save the Picasso Museum for the next day, and go see at least part of the Centre George Pompidou (which is open until 10:00 p.m.). The building is actually fairly controversial- a lot of Parisians consider it the ugliest building in the city... I don't know that I would call it "ugly" but it's definitely very different looking! But a benefit of all the glass/plastic is the amazing views going up (you can see the Eiffel Tower, the Hotel des Invalides, Notre Dame, even Sacre-Coeur depending on which way you turn.
I am sort of a fan of modern art- some of it I find interesting, like this one artist who collaged ink drawings, magazine pictures, and comics; his was was really good I thought. But there was also this exhibit called elles@centrepompidou that features all female artists. I think it's one of those new waves of feminism, where it's anti-feminism because it's celebrating the women as artists rather than as FEMALE artists. Some parts of the exhibit were good- they had one room with just a projection of different photographs of all sorts of things, like trees and people, projected onto the floor; another room was a slideshow of photographs that followed different couples (my descriptions of these make them sound really simplistic, but they're not, I promise). But other parts I thought were just too bizarre- such as the one room showing a video of a naked woman on a beach, hula-hooping with a ring of barbed wire (I was going to include a picture but I don't think I will). Occasionally they'd do close-ups to show the blood running from her hips. That's the kind of modern art I guess I'm just not "modern" enough for. So overall it was a good trip but a little too out-there for me.
And side note: I went back to the Picasso Museum the next day, only to find out it's CLOSED until 2012! Bummer!
For the rest of the week, Luce will be with her Grandmother so I have tons of free time. So today I decided to go to the Musée D'Orsay. I have to say, it was one of my favorite Parisian experiences so far! It's in this gorgeous converted train station that was about to be knocked down but then was changed into a museum. It basically picks up where the Louvre ends. It was fantastic and I have to say I enjoyed it even more than the Louvre!!
Afterwards I walked over into St. Germain-des-Prés, this really nice little neighborhood, known most for its church. Today was Gmom's knee surgery so I lit a candle for her and then continued wandering around a little (Notice the Saab parked in front which is EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE POPLAR SAAB, right down to the color).
So after church on Sunday at the American Church of Paris (the pictures here are of Les Invalides, which is this military building-I think it's like a hospital, a bunch of offices, and a few museums inside. I haven't gone inside yet, but I use the Invalides subway stop so I thought I'd give you some nice visuals), I decided to head down to Le Marais, which is the Jewish/ Gay Quarter of Paris.
Le Marais is always a really busy neighborhood on Sundays, because while most of Paris is closed, the Jewish Sabbath is Saturday, so they're free to party it up all day Sunday! My favorite part is the awesome falafel! The green place is where I went last weekend (endorsed by Lenny Kravitz- they actually wrote that on their sign), but I decided to try their main competitor right across the street and was happy I did because it was awesome!
Oh and also, I'm not totally sure why, but there was a group of men dancing in the street and settling off cracklers. They also kept yelling "Bonne Fête"- I'm not sure what they were celebrating, but it was still fun to watch!
, it was my first weekend here- snowy, gray, and barren. But yesterday it was all sunshine and blue skies!
e, so we stopped for some hot chocolate before heading out. What a nice afternoon! It finally felt like spring!
