Today started the third week of my class today. That means comes Wednesday, I'll already be half-way through the program! It totally doesn't feel like I've already been here two weeks, it's crazy!

Today was my second visit (this trip) to the Louvre, and the special entrance we get to enter, away from the crowds, has still not gotten old. It's pretty fun flashing my laminated pass with my picture on it. The theme this morning was French Baroque painting, namely Rubens, Poussin, Vouet, and Le Brun. Renaissance and Baroque is good and all that, but after class I stole away to the Flemish painting galleries. I definitely like the Flemish stuff better, but I get why we learn about the Italian and French Renaissance...Oh man, the paintings were gorgeous, though. I took photos of them for future inspiration for my first animated film or something for set design. The buildings kinda look like Snow White. I sat and sketched but replicating oil paintings with a black pen doesn't turn out so well.

I had a bit of a fright with the escalator in the Louvre however. One was broken and closed off, and they had people walk both ways on the same thin escalator, which is in the first place hanging between the floors with no side wall! My love of museums and art was almost beaten by my fear of heights and escalators today! I'll even include a photo to show you how tall this thing was.

Anyways, not really anything else today. I came back and relaxed and went shopping for groceries. Off to somewhere tomorrow, but no idea what it is. I just know how to get there, so I'll let you all know what I find out! Going to try to drive the party out of my room soon so I can get to sleep!

Bonsoir!

Today was a bit of a relaxed resting day. With a friend from home here, it felt a little more familiar today, which was comforting. She makes me realize that my French is better than I give credit, too! After a slow morning, begun with fresh "pan chocolat", chocolate croissants in English, we decided to try visiting this market we had read about in the North of the city. The market wasn't very interesting, a lot of used men's dress shoes and old furniture, but we headed to the Pompidou Center. We saw this crazy building yesterday, but didn't have the time to go inside and explore. The facade of the building looks like a series of clear tubes stuck together to make a tall building. A bit unexpected, the inside is both a movie theatre and the Modern Art Museum of Paris. We didn't pay for tickets to any of the different shows going on, but we did get to see this cool installation piece. It was designed for children, where they could make structures out of cheap material, like card board or wood, and put them anywhere on/in the building. So on the outside, there were wooden little house-like forms that were perched precariously in different corners and niches between the clear tubes.
After the Pompidou Center, we walked home along a food street market again, stopping for Italian food (which seems to be almost as prevalent as it is at home) and gelato. While my feet are throbbing a little, the food was totally worth the walk back. The gelato might not be as good as in Italy, but it still definitely beats the stuff in the States. Today I tried Banana with Coconut. Tasted like some kind of fruit cocktail. It was "tres bon"! Still holding onto my self-discipline for the candy booth set up everyday right outside the apartment. Tomorrow, too, I'll have to do some work for class, but I will surely be enjoying another day of no planned meeting times or set activities! Not that I'm anything but thrilled to be going back to the Louvre on Monday morning...

Au revoir pour aujourd'hui! (Goodbye for today!)

Yesterday I experienced a little bit of travelers chaos again. I had planned on picking up a friend from the airport and taking a train out to Mont Saint Michel and Saint Malo this weekend. Well, her flight was delayed because it was overbooked by forty people, and then the trains were somewhat slower than usual into the city (is the strike in Paris over yet?) so needless to say, we did not make our train. All the other trains were full to get out there, so I decided after a little bit of parental counsel, to abandon the trip entirely and go next weekend. While it did cost me an arm and a leg to cancel my train tickets because I didn't cancel them early enough, the good news is that I was able to change my hotel reservation from this Friday to next Saturday. This makes it easier too, because I can stay in one city for the weekend if I want, not have to worry about trains once I'm there.

Class yesterday was pretty fun. We had a walking tour with a guest lecturer around the various squares and gardens and bridges near the Seine. It was really interesting to learn about the monarchy demands on architecture in the city, and how that created a unified mindset as well as facade for the Parisian citizens. What was even more fun, though, was that our tour guide looked scarily similar to Noah Wyle, the actor who played Dr. John Carter on ER. I've been watching this show through Netflix straight through the seasons, so I've seen a lot of Noah Wyle, and this man had the same features, movements, etc. Except he spoke english with a french accent. Anyways, I got a lot of amusement out of the doppelganger effect. And thankfully, the last three days we've had perfect weather!

Not sure what we'll do today. I guess play it by ear, and enjoy the lack of planning...I'll let you know!

Here is the promised tale of yesterday and today:

Yesterday was the first day that we got to visit the Louvre! I had been before ten years ago, and still had an impression of what it would be like, and of course, like most things in France, outdid my memory of it. Besides the photo-shoots we just HAD to have, as we are wild young adults and American tourists, it was especially fun to enter through this more private entrance to the side. Our program buys us Louvre passes that allow us unlimited entrance for a year. I think this means I have to come back before next July! :)
Anyways, after a long tackle with the Metro and getting everyone in the group to the desired meeting spot, we saw the fountain of the innocents, the several facades of the Louvre, and then Medieval "decorative arts" (so awesome!) and some of the French Renaissance collection with a tour by a curator of Renaissance painting for the Louvre. How cool?!
After class I, as is becoming typical, took leave from the big group scene, and explored by myself. After exiting the Louvre the wrong way, I stumbled upon the Tuileries garden complex that was stunning! So far, Paris is definitely the best city in which to get lost! Once I figured out where I was, I strolled along the Seine, and over this wonderful bridge, until I got to the Shakespeare and Co. bookstore. It was the first day that has been truly summer-y, so I took my time.

For anyone who doesn't know, Shakespeare and Co. opened in 1919 as an English language bookstore, and was the hangout of many famous writers, and famous for the publishing of books that neither the UK or US will publish for censorship reasons, the most famous being Ulysses by James Joyce. It was closed during the German occupation, and then re-opened in its current location, and continued to be a famous hangout of intellectuals since. This is just the cutest bookstore! It's cramped, with books EVERYWHERE. I didn't believe the reviews. Haven't checked out the library on the second floor yet, but when we go to the Louvre again on Monday, I am definitely going to stop by again. Maybe bring a book to sit and read. Later yesterday I actually went back again because there was a book-signing by Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi. Got my signed copy, my Shakespeare and Co. famous, Zero Kilometer stamp, and got to hear Yann Martel speak. Great day yesterday! On the walk home in the afternoon, I passed another cool market that went on for blocks and blocks!

Ok, on to today. Today we took a field trip out of the city to Chateau de Chantilly. It was breathtaking. We had two tours that went through the house and explained each room, which were fine. The place was amazing, and I felt a terrible urge to look around myself and open all the locked doors. The chateau looked just like what I imagine the scenery of a Jane Austen novel to look like. There was a moat around the place and gardens behind. There was even a little hamlet behind the gardens with little cottages as a garden for the rich residents to play at farming. There was also a "cottage" for a poet who hid there while in trouble with the French government. The place was definitely larger than my entire house. Today felt like a grown-up field trip. We spent all day wandering this place, walking the gardens, and laying out on the grass. There was also an incredible collection of prints and paintings we were able to study.
Still, what made today especially fun was that I got to spend a significant length of time with our TA, who is a grad student at the University of Picardie in Paris. He's explained to me his thesis, and has since pointed out every piece he's been studying. He's better than any tour guide. And it's exciting to listen to because you can see what joy he gets out of seeing something and explaining it. Plus, he's insanely cute. :) Unlike most of the kids on the trip, who consider themselves on vacation and therefore "checked-out", our TA seems to really enjoy having interesting, intellectual discussions. Because of this, I find myself sticking closer to him during class, as he will point out extra stuff my professor doesn't mention. I'm definitely going to have to keep in touch with him after the program!

After Chantilly, which was already about 6 pm, I decided to go for a taste of home, and made what I like to call GGC. It stands for Grandma Grilled Cheese, and it's grilled cheese made perfectly, with lots of butter! Learned it from one of my Grandmas, and it has taken me a lot of tries to even come close. I cooked it perfectly, but unfortunately I couldn't find American cheese (obviously. who else would eat that stuff?) but I substituted Holland cheese and it was still pretty amazing. Felt good after a long day of walking.

Tomorrow I leave for Mont-Saint-Michel and Saint-Malo. The best friend is flying in from NY tomorrow, and we're going to spend the weekend together on vacation. Should be really fun, and peaceful without my roommates! I may or may not be able to post on here, but if I don't, I'll try to catch up during the week. Sorry for the insanely long post! Hope it hasn't been too hard to get through. Writing journals, and off for a new adventure tomorrow!

Bon soir!

Too tired to post tonight, and leaving for Chantilly early tomorrow morning. I promise I'll post about this action packed exciting day tomorrow, when we get back! Good night all!

Today we visited the factory that for the last four-hundred years has produced all the tapestries, carpeting, and furniture for the royalty of France and, after the revolution, the senate and such. We got a tour of the rooms working on tapestry restoration and carpet restoration, and surprising to me, the carpets were the most fascinating! The men working in there were really very nice to us and show us how everything worked, and even showed us what they were working on. Spectacular creations, but it's hard to believe the tediousness of the work! Some of the works, we were told, took four people 2 full years to finish, and that was repairing, not creating a new piece.
The other cool thing I did today was explore this market with fruits and crepes and sandwiches. It was a narrow charming little street going up hill, and there was about any kind of food you could want to buy! It just seems so quintessentially French. Had a really good fresh peach!

No idea what I'm doing tomorrow. Have to go do tomorrow's reading! Here's a photo I caught in the Gobelins Tapestry Manufacturing workshop:

Chartres

Today was the big day: Chartres cathedral! Despite the rather miserable weather (cold and rainy) the church was very impressive! We took a tour bus from the hotel and, still twenty minutes away from Chartres itself, our professor alerted us to the fact that you can see the spires of the cathedral from the highway. When approaching the main facade of the church, it was really obvious how much more huge Chartres is than either St. Denis or Notre Dame. Unfortunately, there was construction being done on the front (West) facade, but the North and South portals were visible, and one was just recently cleaned. The choir of the church had also just finished being cleaned and looked astonishingly different than the rest of the church! If I hadn't known it was Chartres, it would have been easy to say that the stone belonged to a modern-built church. The stained-glass windows were also dramatically brighter when cleaned. They made the other windows look downright dim.

After our lecture at the cathedral and a formal lunch with the entire group, we had a demonstration with some professional (didn't catch the title) at the International Center for Stained Glass. Beyond just the temporary exhibit they happened to have up this month, we were shown exactly how they make stained glass today and how it was made in the Middle Ages, when the windows of the church were created. Both the history and the production seemed really cool! I think all of us exited saying to one another that we want to go home and make stained glass. During the tour I was even picking up some of the French that our tour guide was speaking. Who knows, in four more weeks, I might not even need a translator! :)

Goodnight all! Another early morning tomorrow for the Royal Tapestries Museum!
















Here are photos of the cleaned and uncleaned sections of the church, and the stained-glass demonstration work table.