Well, my weekend was a little bit more relaxed than last weekend. Yesterday my friend came into Paris and we ended up walking around, shopping and talking, for about 6 hours! I think we walked all of central Paris yesterday, from the Marais to the Ile de la Cite and St. Louis, to Odeon the surrounding neighborhoods. I finally caved to my shopping addiction a little bit and bought a dress. I really want to go back to some places. A lot of the clothing I saw was really different and I hadn't seen anything like it before, so I really want to go back and maybe buy something more. After catching up on the last two years worth of information, it was already dinner time, so my friend took the train back, and I, too exhausted to eat out, went home and rested my very blistered feet. It was really great to see my friend again, though! Our friendship is to the point where we are totally comfortable around each other, no matter how often or rare that occurs, so it's just so easy to spend an afternoon with her! I was shocked when I looked at my watch and it had been like 5 hours. I feel like I really learned the neighborhoods in depth yesterday by walking around for so long.

Today added to my repertoire of Paris streets, too.  I spend the morning doing almost nothing except riding the Metro. I had intended to go to Reims this morning, spend the afternoon and return this evening. I didn't book my train tickets ahead of time because last time I did, it was chaos and I ended up loosing half of the money for the ticket and having to pay for a different train. I get to the train station, go select my train tickets on one of the ticket machines, and when I enter my credit card to pay, it says the card isn't an acceptable type of card. Yes, some American cards don't work in Paris. However, my card has worked everything else, so I'm not sure what the deal is. Of course, I next tried the actual ticket window, but since it was Sunday, and everything in France closes on Sundays, there was no one working. So I ended up just going back home so I could revise plans for the rest of my day. I ended up just taking it easy. I had a lot of fun just walking around my neighborhood and wandering down streets I hadn't been down yet. The French never cease to amaze me with their architecture, even when it's just an apartment building or small house on the side of the road. I found even more public parks, and I actually stumbled across a Boulangerie (bakery) that was open! Even the supermarket isn't open Sundays, so this was like an Oasis in the desert. I bought a baguette and came back and made myself a really fantastic egg sandwich. It reminded me of a Spanish tortilla Espanola, but I didn't intend that. It was good to have an afternoon off all to myself before I start a new week. The last week, in fact!

I've been continuing to plan out the time when my mom and brother come over, which is in 9 days! Yikes! Where did the time go? I'll be wrapping up class this week, which doesn't even seem possible! I want class like this all year. I'll have to start thinking about packing and consolidating my stuff. I've already cut back on the groceries. I'd be dishonest if I said I'll be sad to leave my roommates, but I will be sad the program is ending. After all, it's Paris! But for tonight, I will focus on what I have to do for tomorrow, like my readings. Almost through another book, so that might keep me up tonight too! I think we're heading up near Montmartre tomorrow for class. Can't wait to visit there!

Don't have any photos today, but I compiled a movie clip out of my photos showing everyone my walk to Mont Saint Michel last weekend. (I previewed it and the quality looks terrible, but I'm hoping that it's just my low bandwidth connection, not the video.)

Hope everyone has had a great weekend! Bonsoir all!

Yesterday (delayed posting)

Monet's gardens and house this morning! What can I say, they were pretty much a fairytale. They actually reminded me of Disney the way you can be totally immersed in another world. I took some photos to sketch later, since we didn't get any down time on our own. Whenever the next time is that I visit, I'll be sure to set aside time by myself to draw. The entire town looked as though it could produce Monet himself and it wouldn't be a surprise. I don't know what else to say! I can't decide whether I find Monet's waterlilies or the real thing more beautiful...

Below are some of the photos I got today. The place made me really want my nicer SLR camera, but it was good to pack light with the walking. I rested up this evening, planning my weekend out. Tomorrow I get to see an old middle school friend whom I haven't seen in two years because she goes to school in Europe now. I'm thrilled I get to see her, and it will be weird hanging out in Paris! Hoping to find a particular store tomorrow that has a bit of a background story to it. When I was really little I had this little bear that inspired my childhood nickname. Don't have any clue where I got her, or who made her. I really loved her but somehow over the years she was lost and I haven't seen her since who know when. The other day I was walking to class in the Mareilles district when I looked over and suddenly saw a store window full of bears like the one I used to have. I was totally caught off-guard and I didn't check for the name of the store, so tomorrow I'm hoping to search for it again. It was such a pleasant blast from the past! Sunday I may visit one of the famous cathedrals outside of Paris, but haven't decided on when yet. Hope you enjoy the Giverny pictures! Bonsoir everyone!

Approaching the end of the second to last week of class, we are all getting more and more tired. Right now my two roomies are asleep as is, I think, most of the program. I'm hoping to go to bed early when everyone heads out for pre-gaming celebrations. So in the meantime, as I'm not journaling or reading for class now, I will peacefully blog!

Today was the Impressionist day. We first went to the Orangerie, near the Louvre, and saw Monet's Nympheas paintings. They are part of his waterlily series, painted when he was in his eighties, and they are huge! There are four in each room, two rooms, and they really are gigantic. They are also curved, and housed in an oval room that is completely white with lots of sunlight coming in. The paintings really envelop you when you're anywhere in the room. It felt good both to see an artist's work that is so familiar and also approach it from a more academic point of view. And you know what, as an art history student, I only find the paintings more incredible than I did before! At the same museum we also saw other Impressionists, a lot of Renoir, some Cezanne, and we saw a temporary exhibition of Paul Klee's work. There weren't very many of his works in the show, but what was there seems a good representation.

Next we walked over to the Musee d'Orsay which I had been looking forward to since the beginning of the trip. It did not disappoint. I thought I had gotten over my amazement at museums, but walking into the Orsay, I was starstruck. It was like a real-life art history coffee table book! We started with Courbet's huge paintings and had two student presentations and a small lecture. I was told that these paintings were the size of history paintings, but the two we looked at were twice as big as a Delacroix or David history painting! Next we moved onto Manet, one of my favorite painters! We first talked about Luncheon on the Grass, and that was really fun because our professor encouraged us to contribute with any information we had about the painting, and there are a million little tid bits you can know about it! We also looked at Manet's other very famous painting, Olympia. This is one of my favorite paintings and the one most discussed at my art school. It was unreal to be right in front of it. I could picture myself in a bourgeoisie top hat, shocked by this painting. I could see how radical it would have been, even though now it's part of the artistic cannon. It also made me wonder whether radical artists like Manet weren't stronger instigators of women's rights than we give them credit for. After all, what is more feminist than giving a woman back her power of sight and the ability to engage a man without shame or inferiority? See why I love art yet?

Anyways, after those two museums, class was over so I hung out in the gift shop for a little while and then headed home. I didn't stay longer because I'm convinced I will go back for longer than we had another day. I want to sit and sketch! So the photos today are of one of the waterlily paintings and the ridiculous knot I tied my shoes together with when I attached them to my backpack this weekend. Finally getting around to fully unpacking...

Tomorrow we are heading on a field trip to Giverny, so I'm excited! I might stay longer and sketch if we don't get downtime. I'll tell you about it tomorrow night! Bonsoir!

I'm back to blogging in the morning again. Got up earlier just for my readers! :)
So yesterday we visited the Musee Carnavalet, which had a collection of artifacts (bits of facades, prints, furniture, etc.) that were from the destroyed buildings in the 19th century, when a man named Haussmann rebuilt and designed a lot of Paris. Unfortunately, some of the rooms we wanted to go see where closed that day for staffing reasons, but we did get to see some rooms that were recreated, which were pretty cool. The strange and odd objects were the most interesting to me. I saw this case that had old chess pieces and a tiny doll set (think size of your thumbnail) of soldiers and a drummer that said it was made for a Dauphin of France.
After the museum was my favorite part of the day, the covered passages for shopping and theatre. The first one is from 1799, and there are a bunch of them. The intimate shops and tiles floors are really quaint in that seen-it-in-an-impressionist-painting kind of way. I could have sat there all day and sketched if I could! I will most certainly go back before I leave. Along the way we also saw a famous old cafe that is still operating, and I think some of us have plans to go eat there one time. You could just feel the atmosphere that must have been there two hundred years ago when you walk through the passages!

Lastly we went to the Opera house. It was stunning! I love the colored marble, and grand staircases. We even were able to walk in and look at one of the private rooms and onto the stage. There was this hall that was gilded and had huge chandeliers that may have rivaled the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles for its sheer surprise. The whole place really made me want to own a ballgown to where there!

Anyways, that's all for yesterday. Today will be more of an Impressionism day, spanning from Courbet, Manet, and through to Monet. I'm quite excited! :)

Have a good day, all!

Bit of a laid back morning, we didn't start until 11 today. It was quite nice to sleep in and not wake up to an alarm clock. This morning we visited the Museum of Decorative Arts, and our TA talked to us about everything we saw. The furniture and ceramics particularly caught my eye, and made me, yet again, to want to learn how to really sculpt wood or clay or whatever! The wood inlay was absolutely amazing! Such craftsmanship! After a long lunch break, we saw the park next to the Louvre, the Place Concorde and Vendome. They were ok. Not all that interesting, because there wasn't any new history to them. Still, it was cool to see the places that we talk about. Other than that, it's been kind of a lazy day. Had a good sit-down lunch with one of my friends out of the sun, with excellent dessert!

Ok, nothing else to really report for now. Tomorrow heading to more museums! I'll let you know how they are.

Bonsoir all!

Today was the beginning of the fourth week of the program, and we are beginning to move into art movements that I both am familiar with and love. We have moved out of the Renaissance and into anything from Neo-Classicism, Orientalism, Romanticism, and the Enlightenment. So, today we began our day with the St. Genevieve Library, which is the building that inspired the quintessential French train stations with the exposed iron-ribbed ceiling. We were very lucky and were allowed in as a group even though apparently the library closed after school gets out for the summer.
Next we moved across the street to the Pantheon, which was pretty cool. I had not remembered the building itself, but as soon as I saw the giant pendulum clock in the middle, I remembered being there. Being the scaredy-cat that I am, I chose not to go up to the cupola of the dome with my classmates, and my professor was ok with me learning about the pendulum instead and explaining it to the class. I wonder if you could make a smaller version that could actually function as a clock in a home....hmm. The "frescoes", which in France are actually painted linen, not real fresco, that are on each wall of the Pantheon were really awesome once explained. We learned all about how it was actually the public who were a part of what artists received the commissions, and that it shows the rise of the individual and bourgeoisie class which led to the end of the French monarchy. How crazy is it that frescoes that you might not really give much thought to past their content are indicative of such important history! I love how art history relates just about every field to each other.
Next we went to the Luxembourg gardens, and they definitely lived up to their reputation. They were beautiful! We sat on a lunch break all together with our sandwiches or crepes in the shade overlooking this gorgeous fountain. There we discussed the readings from Friday and today, and a really good discussion going about gender roles in historical painting and specifically, the famous Liberty on the Barricades by Delacroix and Sabine Women by David, juxtaposed with such paintings as The Death of Sardanapalus by Delacroix, etc. Our new professor is more intense and is really great about keeping things interesting and making sure we are actively involved in what we're learning. I hope we have discussions pretty often from now on! Relaxing in Luxembourg gardens while talking might have made it a little better too. Nice touch, Professor.
Lastly, we visited a church just down the block from the gardens, and there we looked at frescoes by Delacroix that were mythologically and religiously themed. Unfortunately my prof forgot the headset for our ear pieces today, and she had to whisper in the church so I only caught about half of what she was saying. Still, the paintings were impressive, and indeed much more legible now that I have seen so much of Delacroix's other work. All in all, a day of a lot of learning and interest. My professor also seems pretty laid back, too, which helps everyone relax. I'm really starting to want to sign up for whatever class she's teaching the Fall Semester. Gotta work on my schedule when I get home!

In non-class news, I tried for the first time today a Citron crepe because of a recommendation from my prof. When I saw the guy pour a ton of lemon juice on the crepe and then cover it in suger I was worried, I must admit. But it was truly one of the best crepes I've ever had! The combo worked really well, so it's definitely a recommendation for any who go to Paris in the future. Also, this weekend I bought the cutest little teddy bear. Before you laugh, he is from the National Monuments Center and has all over him profiles of famous architectural monuments worldwide in various colors. Since I haven't recharged the camera since it died yesterday, I have no photos from today's activities, so I post a photo of my new bear. Although, I need help with an appropriate name, please! Suggestions are always welcome, just leave a comment. :)

Okie dokie, I've had my pasta dinner and need to go do journals, since I really did give myself the weekend off. I'm half-way through a book about Mary Tudor, so maybe after the journals I'll read more. Gotta love classes that make you want to read, not hate reading more! I wish everyone a good day.

Also, since I've heard she's been enjoying reading this blog, I'd like to give a shout-out to my awesome Grandma K-berg! Hope you're feeling better, and I love you!

Bonsoir!
Oh, and happy 4th of July yesterday!

I can't spend too long writing because I have to go find something to eat before everything closes. I'm in the small town of Beauvoir, just outside of Mont Saint Michel, and true to my stereotype of a small rural French town, there is very limited internet, food, etc. I suppose everyone really does stick to one schedule, and there's clearly no mid-night snacking here. It is an adorable town, however. I'm still amazed at how every French town seems to be made almost entirely of stone houses. Of course this is because the stone is available, but to a New Jersey girl, that is downright extravagant. Very beautiful though!
I spent most of last night getting here (I had to take three trains because of the timing with getting out of class) and was up early this morning, walking to my hotel for tonight. The Abbey at Mont Saint Michel opens at 9, and although I really would have liked to have slept in for once, I figured getting up early was worth avoiding the crowds. I dropped my backpack (complete with sneakers tied to each side, I am officially a student traveler) at the hotel and walked the 4 km to the Mount. There is a lovely walkway behind the houses that leads directly there, and well, because I'm good at planning my time, I was on the island by 9:45. Sure enough, it was pretty empty, and after marveling at the streets and buildings and doing some tourist window-shopping, I headed up to the Abbey. Well, if Versailles had underwhelmed by expectations from past trips, Mont Saint Michel totally overwhelmed my expectations! It was so amazing. Everything I do in France seems to get more and more inspiring and awesome in turn.

It may have helped that I just finished reading Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth on the train last night. For anyone who hasn't read it and has the slightest inclination in history, art, or whatever, you must read it! It was pretty wrenching, both good and bad. Anyways, I kept walking through the monastic buildings today thinking, I want to build a church, it would be really amazing to be able to build this. I was really inspired by the place today and to put it in clear terms, before today I have posted all but one or two of my photos. Today, I took over 300 photos! I was shocked. No wonder the camera said low battery...

I also have to admit that the sea air feels really good! Paris is amazing, but it can get a little sticky and hot. The weather here is beautiful, with a cool breeze all the time. In the castle it did make me wonder how they stayed warm enough, though. I was amazed today that I didn't get tired or sore walking at all. According to the signs, I walked 10 km today, not including whatever stairs or streets I wandered through on the island. I guess we really do walk a lot for class everyday.

Ok, well, as nice as it is sitting online, I have to go eat. Tomorrow I'm heading back to Paris earlier than originally planned for several reasons, but it will be ok, because I have heard about a cupcake fair in Paris tomorrow evening that I might go to. I also have to still catch up on my schoolwork. This new professor won't let us get away with not reading or participating, but on the other hand, I cannot wait for class now. We're starting to have really great discussions! I'll include a small number of photos from today, two are sketches of mine. Bonsoir all! I'm really starting to miss everyone! And look out for postcards in the next week. The first mailing will be Monday! :) Bonsoir!