Où est la mort?

"One gets a good look at one’s country from this perspective and one learns to see one’s nation with double eyes, to feel what we have got and what we have not got. I've learned more about America in one month in Paris than I could in one year in New York. Looking at this country makes all the unimportant phases of the AMERICAN problem fade somewhat and renders the true problem more vivid." ~Richard Wright, in a letter to a friend, 1946 (a week after arriving in Paris.)

Today started off fairly early with a trip to the catacombs at ten. We got in line at about 9:30 although there were others already holding our spots. The catacombs were strange. We when down a spiral stair case, quite far in to tunnels that took forever to get to the "good stuff". The trail was about a mile long and it at times felt much longer.

When we finally got to the part with the bones it was very quiet. Although there were no signs telling us to, it felt very wrong and disrespectful to speak loudly around the bones. It was as though the bones had been through enough that the gawking of the foreign tourist was pushing. And I did gawk. It was so strange and oh so very sad. I can't imagine being the poor man who had to desecrate the graves and remove the bodies to make room for the newly dead. As well as the ones who had to handle the bones of their ancestors. They were probably the very poor and homeless. The only bones that I could see were femurs and the skull bones without the jaw bone. We kept wonder where the rest of the body bones went. The bones they did have were artfully designed, well as artful as you can be with bones. But on top of the low walls of bones were just thrown on top cluttered mess of bones, the sadness for those people's bones was massive. It a very cool place to go even with the morbid subject.

After the Catacombs de Paris, I had class prep-ing us for our trip to Musée d'Orsay. This is the museum that was once a train station and a hotel. There were no photos; however I snuck some photos of non-painting without flash, so I think it was okay. However they didn't seem very strict on that room since I can't tell you the number of old men I saw talking pictures of painting, with flash mind you. I spent about four hours wondering alone around the museum with a head set. That is the only way I want to do museums from now on, alone. There is no need to point something out to somebody something they have already noticed and no need to try and think of a comment. It is just you and your thoughts and feelings about each piece. 

At this museum we were given an assignment to talk about a piece you connected to. So from here on out I will be talking about Edgar Degas' painting "Répétition d'un ballet sur la scène" 1874. (online photo)

In English this is called "Ballet Rehearsal on Stage". So let's dive right in on my thoughts. 

The muted tones contrast with the feeling one should get while preforming or rehearsing. The soft almost dull pinks and browns gives the impression that the painter doesn't want the scene to be seen, there are no colors there meant to catch your eye. The way the dancers are posed they almost look like dolls there for others enjoyment. That in conjunction with the empty eyes and mouths make them look like puppets for the audience. They looked like used objects as opposed to beautiful spectacles that one might associated with ballerinas. The anguish in the faces of the dances who seem to be done with their "across the floor" drills shows the hard work that they give even when there is no audience. Or the faces could show the emptiness the ballerinas seem to be feeling.  

The man off stage represents the "puppet master". of the arts and the fact that there is always someone pulling the strings, someone that you must please or gain approval from. There also seems to be a shadow off to the right side of him. That looks like a man and kind of a machine (to my modern eyes). This is the one who maybe the sitting man reports to or a looming manifestation of his presence in the ballet. 

The lack of set dressing and visible audience (although it is a rehearsal there still would have been teachers and costume and set designers there at the rehearsal) this gives the feeling/impression that no matter how many times you practice it will never be perfect. As well as the fact that no one is ever truly watching so why put on a full show? (i.e. a metaphor for life)

I wrote all of that before talking with my professor who informed me that in the day of Degas being a ballerina was not a prestigious profession, they were part of the working class and often times they were in essence property of wealthy men who used them and told them what to do because they were just trying to survive and maybe support their mother and siblings. I had never thought that ballerinas were working class (I always thought of burlesque or cabaret performers as working/ lower class). And I was speaking later with another student who said that there was speculation that Degas might himself have been one of those men who lord their money over these girls. 

And I that happy note...   

Jusqu'à demain
Bisous- Janice

The Catacombs of Pairs

The top of the neatly stacked bones 

The dinning room at Orsay

The splendor that they got 

to live in foors me

What a view! The Seine and the Louvre 

in one picture from the Orsay. 

Can't believe this is real life!

Sculptures et jardins

"Nothing is a waste of time if you experience it wisely." ~ Auguste Rodin 

Wow what can I say, I have been in Paris over a week now, I can't believe it! It is a mixed bag of feeling of the shock that I am over here at all, the feeling of where did the week go and the feeling that I have been here forever. I really do love it here, I know that I would like it here but I somehow feel apart of the city when I just walk quietly down a boulevard or rush to catch the next train. I can already feel myself becoming use to the French way and know that I will probably have more culture shock coming home than I did coming here, but we will see.  

Today started with an early metro meeting around 9:15 to catch I think three trains to go to the Musée Rodin. There are always so many train transfers to go anywhere in the city. This museum was almost strictly devoted to works of Auguste Rodin a French sculptor. He is the man who did "The Thinker" and "The Kiss". 

Before this trip I had not been much for sculptures and unfortunately I am still not. However I have grown a new appreciation for the detail, hard work and the art form in general. I think my own inability to ever sculpt anything that would turn out (I was the kid in elementary school who would have to take home one of the forgotten clay designs because mine always broke in the kiln). At the museum I kept trying to find a way to connect with the art work but found it very hard. Part of that may have also been because of the way Rodin did his work he caste it and often time it wasn't him who did the final work.

Even though I could not find a way to connect to the work I still found it beautiful. My favorite piece of his that I saw was the famous "Gates of Hell" which became his life's obsession and was never completed. The large caste that I have a picture of below was one that he never saw. He never saw it life size form. The fact that it was never completed and that he never saw it as large as we get to see it today is a bit haunting. A romantic notion that I have towards the gate is that maybe it will never be finished because the gates of Hell is still collecting and displaying the most fallen of God's creations. Rodin took a lot of inspiration for the gates from Dante's "Inferno" so if you have read any of that try and recall figures that might be displayed at the gates of Hell. 

Jusqu'à demain
Bisous- Janice

"The Gates of Hell" inspired 

by Dante's "Inferno"

Apparently this man was locked a way with his children as punishment in the thought that he wouldn't eat them, he did. 

"The Thinker" with the top 

of Napoleon's tomb 

Où tout l'artiste vont

"Paris is a hard place to leave, even when it rains incessantly and one coughs continually from the dampness." ~Willa Cather

Yep you guessed it, I rained again today. I was a bit worse today because we had a walking tour and it started to just down pour and our pour tour guides didn't have umbrellas. But more on that in a bit.

First order to the day was to sit through a very interesting lecture Eirk Saite, who was a very eccentric French composer. And then it was off to the walking tour of Montmartre. This is the place that has the huge hill and the cool tram things that you can take up the hill and the passengers stay upright. However we walked around and found some of the haunts of famous artists. Artists like; Picasso, Diaz, Van Gogh, Toulouse- Lautrec and Monet.

We saw beautiful buildings and the classic streets that I imagined Paris to have. This was the Paris I was hoping to see. I just wish it wasn't raining and that I could have spent more time there and just soaked it all in. I am trying to be good about just absorbing the moment and breathing it all in but the rain kinda distracted me. So I wasn't able to do that when the tour ended at Sacré-Cœur Basilica. That is the large church that you see on all the postcards that isn't the Notre-Dame. You can see the city of Paris from the steps of the church. It was a beautiful lay out and amazing that you can see so much from just the top of a hill/small mountain. Inside the church was silent and beautiful, unfortunately there were no pictures allowed inside. Today was a good day I ate a crêpe avec nutella in France for the first time and it was huge and delectable. I hope you all had a wonderful day.

Jusqu'à demain
Bisous- Janice

Oh I forget to mention I 

saw the Moulin Rouge

My first crêpe

Cute little cafe in Montmartre

Sacré-Cœur

View from the steps

 

Il ne faut pas se fier aux apparences.

"To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty! There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them" ~Pierre-Auguste Renoir

My Eiffel Tower post. Yesterday was the day that I got to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful sight. We first had class in one of the grassy places on the side closest to the military school. And then we got in line to fulfill many of our groups lifelong dreams  The wait was quite short only about an hour to not only get our ticket, which was cheaper since we were jeunes (youth). We took the elevators up to the first platform and looked around. The railing was made of wood covered in the special Eiffel Tower brown, which every seven years there is an entirely new coat of paint on it. When I first step off the elevator I expected to be very scared because we are so high up, but I wasn't. It did take me a little bit to get use to but I wasn't scary. 

On the second and the last platform I was completely fine. I remember being terrified of the Sears Tower in Chicago, but this didn't seem so high. Now I realize that I keep talking about how I wasn't scared and that it didn't feel so high but it was quite unusual for that to be the case. Since it is almost 900 feet at the top platform. But my professor was talking to me the next day and saying that either I just talk to a place or a thing real fast and without much fuss that I acclimate well to an environment or that since there are no other tall buildings around the height if the tower was a bit skewed for me. I think it is a little bit of both. I have diffidently gotten better at adapting to my environment since I went to college, and I have had no real culture shock since I got here. I have had some things throw me off or I think is really strange up all and all the shock has been minimal. 

But any-who  back up at the top of the Eiffel Tower it was beautiful I went up around sundown so I got to see the sunset well I was on the Eiffel Tower. It was very beautiful. Now I was told that you would not be able to feel the tower sway the four or so inches that it does, however I did. I don't think I could feel the whole four inches but I did feel it move. But it didn't scare me I just kinda made me feel like the tower was a living thing. Like it could feel the specialness and the buzz if happiness that everybody up there was feeling. 
I loved being up there but it felt different than I expected.

Every hour on the hour after sun down the lights on the Eiffel Tower go off for five minutes. I was in the elevator the first time they went off and the group that I was in stuck around and went to the right side of the bank of the Seine to watch the lights go off at eleven. It was a bit magical. 


Jusqu'à demain
Bisous- Janice

The view of the gardens 

from the first platform

The same view from the top.

The sun setting from 

the Eiffel Tower

All lite up

Do you see the sparkle?

Ohh la la

"I like the Eiffel Tower because it looks like lace and steel."  ~ Natalie Lloyd

Oh mon Deiu! Today was the day that I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower! It was wonderful but it wasn't everything I imagined it would be would be, but more on that later. First off the earlier part of the day.

It started out with class and then off to a boulangerie where I got this hot dog with mustard in the hard burnt bread, I did not like it. We then make our way to the Bastille's July column which commemorates the second revolution. It is right near the center that class is held in. I would like to go back and go to the park that has the blocks that were discovered from the prison itself. 

We were then off to one of the smaller island in the Seine River. I got to touch it today, it is a gross green/brown and it is very cool but with a light or fairly slow current. We found a library that looked like a castle and it had a cannon ball in it that was from the first revolution. And found the lock bridge that has thousands of locks on it that lovers carve their initials into it and then lock it together- to lock their love in the city of love. But we couldn't find any that were dated later than 2012 so that was disappointing to figure out that they must take them off to allow new room for new locks. After that it was time to go to the Eiffel Tower. However I and very very tired since it is 1 am where I am, so I am going to bed and I will make a separate post about the magic and wonderfulness that is the Eiffel Tower. But I will give you a picture or two that I took myself.

Jusqu'à demain
Bisous- Janice

Bastille July Column

Way up at the time you can see a 

black dot that's the canon ball. 

The Seine

Locks of love

View from the first stop

View from the very top

When it gets dark they light it 

up on the hour for five minutes

Se prélasser autour

"To err is human. To loaf is Parisian."-Victor Hugo

Well according to Victor Hugo I am a Parisian now. Today was our first free day to do with it what we wanted and I didn't do much of anything. It started out late and will probably end early. Although I did loaf around it wasn't what I would have expected to do in terms of loafing in Paris, I didn't even get to a cafe. 

The day started late because the night before ended very late. I spent the evening hanging out with other students on the trip. We were typical college students and ended up talking about our areas of study and arguing and explaining intelligent and sometimes not so intelligent things. So it was quite late when I finally crawled under the covers but it was the most I slept here which was nice since I have been having trouble with that.

Now onto today. It was a lazy shopping day that didn't start until after one o'clock. A group of us went to an open air flea market in our arrondissement. It was very crowed but it had a lot of interesting things. It was not very touristy to that was nice, but most if not all the venders I spoke with spoke English. So that was nice but not ideal. I would really like to speak only French to people in the service industry but I think that that will be impossible. I swear every French person has a sixth sense and it is being able to know you are American. But I and becoming very good at only ordering at carts an little shops like boulangeries and pâtissers. I am still working on sit down restaurants but hey its only been five days.

Now back at the flea market I meet some interesting people. The first was a vender that was originally from Michigan. But I did not like her, she was very much a harden old lady. She had originally come to Paris as an art student and then everything went downhill from there. Now she yells a random people that she is not a Madam and tells us that learning the language will make France lose its charm and that basically France sucks. So I wanted to get away from her as soon as possible but I think she was happy to speak English so she didn't let us leave for a while. I was very disheartening to listen to her.

The second most interesting person I met was an Arabic man. Now I knew that there was a very large Arabic population in France I just hadn't been faced with it yet and it hit me quite abruptly seeing as have the stands were run my Arabic people and most of their items catered to Arabic/Middle Eastern tastes. This man was selling make-up and other beauty products and as I walked by he grab my attention by tell me that I am so white and that I need his bronzer. He said: "You are white like a white women," and I though congratulation you found me out, I'm a white women. And then proceed to say that I needed face and body tanner which was one for a black women and said, "You are white like cheese," That I believe will be my take away quote from not only the day but maybe the trip. He was nice but so very weird and kinda insulting. 

After the flea market it was time to loaf again. Eventually we found our way to the nearest park and walked around and found a pretty pond that had both black and white swans. But we think the pond was segregated because we never saw them together. After we left the park it was time to explore the neighborhood a little bit, however Sunday is a really bad day to do this since most stores are closed or they close early. I have yet to have my day to just get lost and enjoy the city alone but I plan on having most of day to myself if not the whole day. 

Well it was a very uneventful day however I did eat and éclair au chocolat on a French street so that's another thing to check off the list of things I always did in skits in French class. So got me! Well I hope your day was fun. Leave a comment if you want about anything I'd love to hear from you. 

Jusqu'à demain
Bisous- Janice

éclair au chocolat

Puces de Vanves- the open air market

Dance for me swans, dance!

Parc de Montsouris at 9 pm

Marche sur le soleil!

“There is but one Paris and however hard living may be here, and if it became worse and harder even—the French air clears up the brain and does good—a world of good.” ― Vincent van Gogh

The French air did clear up. It only lightly sprinkled today! It was a beautiful day to go La Musée Marmottan Monet, La Tour Eiffel, Notre Dame, La Seine et Le Pantheon. It was a fairly full day but quite relaxed. I hope most days are like this.

The class started out together going to La Musée Marmottan Monet. Which is a museum that has Monet paintings (the painting that started the Impressionist movement, Impression, sunrise. As well as his water lilies.). Unfortunately there was no photography so I will have to take internet photos for you below.  There were also many paintings by a woman of the movement that I had never heard of Berthe Morisot. She is magnificent, I love her work. My favorite by far was in the section of religious art. Descente de Croix by Hans Muelich, it is of Jesus being taking down from the cross. It's beauty and the fact that I don't often see scenes of the aftermath of the crucifixion was very moving and wonderful. Sadly I can't find it online so you will just have to talk my word for it.

After the museum I went with a couple of girls to get lunch and were stopped as a cute little sandwich shop and I bought a croque monsieur (like a ham and cheese sandwich but better) and then it was off to the Eiffel Tower. We arrived across the Seine from it and ended up stopping and riding the carousal that is in the area. It was so much fun, but it didn't seem to go as high and it did when I was a kid, hmm I wonder way.

We then crossed the Seine and took pictures around the Eiffel Tower and got some ice cream. I was finally able to order in real life what I always ordered in French class! "Je voudrais un glace au chocolat s'il vous plaît" It was quite satisfying. It started to lightly sprinkle while we were there but it was not to bad. What was too bad was the fact that we approached my gypsies who try to distracted you so they can steal your wallet. However I was on top of things and said "Non!" to signing there fake petition. 

From there it was to the Notre Dame, but the line was so long that we ended up just walking along the Seine and shopping at the stands along the way. We eventually went so far back looking for a place to eat that we were right by the Le Pantheon. It is a very large old church that had a service going on when we went in. And that was my day in the gist of it. Lots to see but not very much to say, it was a day to reflect and feel the city more than I had before.
Jusqu'à demain
Bisous- Janice

Observation of the day: spoons are not standard on tables.

La Musée Marmottan Monet.

Croque monsieur

Yep I rode that bad boy.

Finally a dream comes true!

Notre Dame

Dinner, yum.

Le Pantheon.

Il pleut, il pleut des cordes...

"In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language." -Mark Twain

First off I would like to thank everybody that is reading my posts, I am really grateful that you all are interested enough to read through my rambles. Merci beaucoup! 

In this post I am going to be kinda focusing on two aspects of my day and really my trip (all three days) in general. So as the title says, "It's raining, it's pouring..." my first topic will be about the weather that I have experienced so far. Secondly I will be as the Twain quote suggests is talking about my French speaking. Nous allons commencer!


Oh mon Dieu! The weather has been quite awful, it has not stopped raining. I know, I know, I have only been here three days but when you have such long jam packed days as I have been having it seems much longer. It also seems like a much bigger deal that is has been raining. I must say the best thing that I bought for my trip has been my rain coat. The hood is superb and I have stay nice and dry underneath. Now the rain is one thing but even after I travel over 4200 miles I still get Minnesota April weather. Did someone forget to tell mother nature that it's May almost June? The temps here have been in the mid-40's to the low 50's and they plan on staying that way for the upcoming week I believe. The temp is not too bad, since the Parisians don't really where shorts or capris I would stick out like tourist in a sea of fashion forward gurus.  And on the subject of sticking out I will turn to my second topic my French.

Right off the bat I am going to say I claim no real proficiency even though I took three years in high school and two semesters in college. It has done me little in terms of being able to hold a conversation or sometimes ask a question. Definitely know enough to get by; however I would like to by the end of my trip be twice as fluent. Now often times I will order food in French and the waiter will respond in English, checking to make sure I knew what I ordered. Now I have tried hard not to stick out visual as a tourist (I don't were a fanny pack and a visor) so they must just know the look of a tourist and see that I am American right away. Goal: try to blend more. 

Finally on to what I did today. Now I know that I would have Eiffel Tower pictures for today, however due to the crappy weather my professor rescheduled our group outing for Monday May 27, so hopefully I will have them up for you after that. Anyways, this morning a group of us tried to go and see the Catacombs, but the line was around the block and beyond by the time we got there (only a half an hour after it opened). So instead we went to Musée de l'Armée, the place where Napoleon's tomb is. I think that he had a bit of an ego (check out the pictures below). We also went in to a section of the armory and weapons museum, and that was fairly cool but not my cup of café. 

Later that afternoon I had my first lecture from my professor and then a group of us went out to dinner. We traveled to the neighborhood of our first concert in the 4em Arrondissement. However I and two other girls at a little bistro/ cafe down the road where I got an omelette mixte and some weird salad, which I did try. We then went to a very small old church and listen to a very talented man play Chopin and do two encores. I did not appreciate that he kept coming back because it was about 35 degrees in the all stone church. 

So it was a fairly uneventful day. But it was wonderful all the same since I was in Paris. 
Jusqu'à demain
Bisous- Janice 

The dome where Neapolitan is. 

Yah, that thing was massive and covered in gold.

Napoleon had quite the fancy tomb.

Classic Armor.

My omelette dinner with free bread.

The very cold church where I listen to Chopin music live.

Quelle journée

“A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of Life.” ~Thomas Jefferson 

Alright so as I promised a few observations that I found strange or interesting about Paris/France. So on the drive from the airport to Cité Université the amount of graffiti that I saw on the walls lining the road side was astounding. I did not ever think that it would be that marked up. What a bunch of little rebels the French youth are. The cars are not as small as I thought they would be, however I have no idea how the French survive with no trunk. The roads are very confusing in terms of which way the cars are going to becoming from since it seems most of the roads are one way but they are not clearly marked that way. It is very true what they say about French men and about the PDA you see, it everywhere! You have to buy a bag for the stuff you bought, today I spent ,03 euro cents on a stupid plastic bag. The French are a bit reckless in their walking, if you don't watch out they will take you down and not even say Pardon. The metro system is not as complicated as I thought  it would be, but no way would I want to navigate it alone (well maybe not just yet). And finally the cashiers are the only people that I have found to be rude, well besides the crazies in the metro that will take you out. 

Now on what I did today. I woke up at the unGodly hour of 5:30 AM. I went with my colocataire (roommate) to the main building where I got a pain au chocolat, my first real French food. And then meet the group to go to the headquarters of ACCENT our study abroad provider. That is where I learned to take the Metro. It was a bit never wracking but it was less so because I kinda knew what to expect because of my trip to Boston Spring Break of 2012. From the orientation we all met back up at the Jardin du Luxembourg. A super famous garden that I plan on returning to take better pictures and maybe eat a crêpe there and write. We eventually split up on our way to Place de la Concorde and the group that I was with went to eat at a pizzeria that I don't remember the name of, but it was good and I ate weird cheese. 

Throughout this whole day the weather was pretty crappy. I was raining off and on most of the afternoon and evening, so the walk to Place de la Concorde was not pleasant. When we finally emerged from the metro station I got my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower and had to take a picture of where I was when it sunk in that I was finally in Paris. We walked around and took a ton pictures. And decided to walk the Avenue des Champs-Élysées the very famous shopping avenue. It was a ridiculously long walk to the Arc de Triomphe. And thanks to being students we got to go to the top of the Arc for free. The weather was however super crappy so the pictures are not very good, we plan on going back to get good pictures. Now please take time to remind yourself of how clumsy I am and now image me going down a stone tightly spiraled staircase. I was not a very fast trip down, however the people behind be apparently thought it was funny in a cute way.

After we took a very long train ride back to our dorms we were very exhausted and only when to the U cafeteria where I ate wax beans, something new, be proud of me! And now I am up much too late and plan on getting up early again (but hopefully not 5:30 early). Tomorrow is our Eiffel Tower day to prepare for hopefully some very pretty pictures.
Jusqu'à demain
Bisous- Janice  

Where I will be staying the next three weeks!

                             

Jardin du Luxemburg

Jardin du Luxemberg

French pizza, it was wonderful

My first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower

Arc du Triomphe

Top of the Arc

My dorm room