Jours et Nuits à Paris

Salut! It's been a busy three days à Paris. On Saturday we went to the Centre Pompidou, the modern art museum. We didn't go inside but the architecture of the building itself is pretty cool, and a sight in itself. Then we walked around and stumbled upon a cheap shoe store, so naturally we each bought a pair of shoes. Then we walked to the Notre Dame area where there was a market of artisanal food products from the southwest regions of France, with lots of samples and some free food too (apples, garlic, and white grapes...a random assortment, but it was free!) There was even a band playing in the middle if the crowd. After checking out all of the stands, we sat down by the Seine in front of Notre Dame and ate our picnic lunch and shared a glass of wine that cost 2€ from one of the vendors.

In the afternoon we walked to Île-St-Louis, where we got ice cream cones from Berthillon. I got nougat au miel, honey nougat. We sat on a bench in the sun by the Seine and it was nice and warm. It was also fun watching people go by in boats along the river.

In the evening we met up with some of Maria Laura's friends from school. They all met at international students' orientation, but the other girls are all francophone (from Belgium, Quebec, and one from Paris originally but moved to Poughkeepsie when she was 15, coincidentally). They were all really fun and very nice about me not being able to say much in French. We went to a Brazilian restaurant in a part of Paris not really frequented by tourists, much more by students, so that was cool. I couldn't understand a lot of the conversation, so that was a bit discouraging since I used to be at least slightly better at French, but I had fun anyway!

On Sunday we slept in a bit, then set out for the Musée Marmottan Monet, a small museum in the northwest corner of Paris with a lot of impressionist works. In addition to their permanent collection, which includes a lot of Monet, Renoir, Morisot, and others, there was a special exhibit called "Monet et l'Abstraction," or Monet and Abstract art. It showed Monet's influence on the abstract artists that came after him in the 20th century. It was really cool because they weren't presented chronologically, but by theme, and they alternated every other painting between a Monet and an abstract work. The 20th century artists included Rothko, Pollock, Lee Krasner (Jackson Pollock's wife), Kandinsky, and others I wasn't familiar with. You could really see the influence Monet had on these artists, in theme, composition, color scheme, and style.

After the museum we went to the Jardin de Luxembourg for a picnic lunch. It was very warm and sunny by this point so the park was filled with people. We managed to find two chairs by the Fountain des Medici, where there are ducks and toy sailboats that kids push with long wooden sticks. After relaxing in the park for a bit, we walked to Ladurée, a pastry shop famous for its macarons. We got some macarons (caramel, pistachio, coffee, and rose petal, in case you were wondering) and then sat down at a cafe to have coffee with our macarons.

In the late afternoon we took the metro to Montmartre, which is always a really fun neighborhood to walk around. I took pictures in front of a Rue Gabrielle street sign, a requirement every time I'm in Paris, and then we went up the hill by Sacre Coeur and admired the view.

In the evening we went home and cooked dinner, did laundry (and flooded the kitchen and spent a while mopping the floor), and watched a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother.

This morning I woke up and took a train to Giverny, where Monet's house and gardens are. It was a beautiful sunny day and the gardens and lily pond were gorgeous. The flowers were in full bloom, even in late September. I probably took a hundred photos there but it was just so beautiful, from every angle, that I couldn't help myself!

This evening our friend Caitlin from Vassar us joining us in Paris, and tomorrow is my last day in Paris before I head to Prague on Wednesday morning!