Villa Savoye, Vaux-le-Vicomte, Chartres, Reims ... Oh my!

What a whirlwind! These past few days have been jam-packed with travel as I try to absorb as much of the Île-de-France and its surroundings before I quitter the country in just over two weeks.

Saturday: On Friday night, I took a sleeping pill in hopes of replacing my melatonin which had run out a few days before. Consequently, I woke up at noon on Saturday. Given the short day I was faced with, I decided that it would be the best day for a trip to the Villa Savoye.

The Villa Savoye is a leisure home for the Savoye family designed by Le Corbusier about 45 minutes west of Paris. I had studied this "manifeste de la modernité" a few years ago, and was anxious to see it up close. Needless to say, I was blown away! It is so much cooler than I ever anticipated! I would take it as my summer house...

Afterwards, I wandered around Poissy for a bit, ended up at a café, where I got a croque-monsieur or a slate slab, and the caught the train back to Paris. The RER (Réseau Express Régional) is a series of trains that extend the Paris subway network way out into the suburbs. The closest RER stop to Neuilly is in La Défense, the economic center of the Île-de-France, thus, this is where I disembarked.

I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and walked down the esplanade at La Défense which was full of people: tourists, parents and children, old women admiring the flowering trees.

Between Neuilly and La Défense, there are two islands: l'île de la Grande Jatte and l'île de Puteaux. My favorite artistic movement is pointillism, and my favorite painting is Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte (Sunday afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte). So, being so close, I decided to hit up la Grande Jatte. The island was beautiful and had gorgeous panoramic views of Puteaux and Neuilly. Advice if you are visiting islands in the Seine: make sure you are looking at a map. I didn't realize until I reached the end of the island that I had gone to the wrong island... oh well!

My meandering led me to the Bois de Bologne, an absolutely massive park that marks the southern edge of Neuilly and the western edge of Paris. It was really quite peaceful and relaxing. After about an hour of wandering, I decided to call it a day, and retired for the evening.

Sunday: Because of the volcano in Iceland and the strike of the French train workers, the majority of NYU students had to abandon the beginning of their Spring Break plans. So on Sunday, I was accompanied to Vaux-le-Vicomte by Grace, Michel, and Cáit.

Vaux-le-Vicomte lies about 45 minutes south-east of Paris outside the town of Melun. Upon arriving in Melun, we were faced with a tricky decision: walk 1 hour and 45 minutes to the château, or take a hack (a taxi that is not affiliated with any cab company). We decided to take the faster route after reasoning that the four of us could take on one sketchy cab driver ... if it came to that!

The château itself was phenomenal. Quick history lesson: Vaux-le-Vicomte was built by Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's first Financial Minister. There must have been something in the water at that time, because Fouquet had grand ideas about what he would become and felt that his château needed to match his ambition. So he assembled André Le Notre, Charles Le Brun, and Louis Le Vau to design and execute the greatest château to date. Working under the "Sun King," Fouquet intended the château to flatter Louis XIV, and thus, during the inauguration party in 1661, Fouquet spared no expense! I mean, he really pimped that party out! Jean-Baptiste Colbert, a junior minister close to the king, convinced Louis XIV that 1) Vaux threatened his new found authority and 2) could not have been paid for unless Fouquet had been stealing funds from the crown to finance the project. Soon afterwards, Fouquet was arrested, his wife exiled, and Colbert made Finance Minister. The king then took Le Notre, Le Brun, and Le Vau to create Versailles. Thus, Vaux-le-Vicomte functions as the pre-cursor to Versailles.

After a very interesting tour, my compadres headed out to the gardens to enjoy the sun while I headed to the private apartments and, eventually, the dome. If I had to buy another summer house to supplement the Villa Savoye, it would be Vaux.

Afterwards, I met up with the three amigos and we wandered around the gardens together. We caught the château-bus back to the train station, took the RER back to Paris, and went to McDonald's. Yum!

Monday: The next day, I headed to Chartres, a town about 60 miles south-west of Paris. Gorgeous. No if's, and's or but's about it! It was absolutely picturesque! The medieval part of the city is center around the cathedral (naturally) which is a spectacular example of the French Gothic. It may be my favorite church that I have ever visited!

Words really can't summarize how beautiful the town was, so I recommend traveling over to Facebook and taking a look at my photos there!

On the way back to Paris, I struggled to stay awake. Hardcore, New-York-speed, walking for three days can really tire someone out!

Tuesday: Yesterday, I headed to Reims, a city about 80 miles east of Paris. Upon the trains arrival at the station, I stood up and say three girls from the NYU program on my car! Not only were we on the same train, but we were in the same car! Very strange.

After heading to the tourism office, we headed in the direction of the Tattinger champagne cellars. We got lunch outside of the old Jesuit University and then parted ways: I wanted to explore the city. To make a long story short, I got stuck walking along the river for about an hour and got sunburt! However, I must say that the Rémois really know how to grow a good flower! All the parks were just jam-packed with flowers!

My final stop was the cathedral, which I had written a paper on back in my Medieval Architecture class. The stain glass was just stunning. I sat in the north arm of the transept for about 45 minutes and stared at the windows on of the south arm of the transept. Never have I seen windows so beautiful as these!

Ok, enough writing. To sum, I went home, went to dinner with Patrick, spent yesterday getting ready for Luke to come, and now I'm writing. Phew. I'm tired!

-Dave

Wolfgang Amedeus Guetta

I am super ready for Spring Break. Yes, I will have a lot of work to do, but I am excited to get out and explore. I just haven't had the time to do what I want to do recently. Plus, the Cathedral at Châtres called and asked when I was coming to visit.

I'm not sure why I started this blog post. I'm too tired to continue.

The only thing I want to point out is that I found some awesome techno remixes of baroque music, hence the title of this way faible entry.

-Dave

Cheese Curlz

This weekend has been one of my favorite in Paris. After my cheese overload .... no, cheeseextravaganza (overload implies that it was bad) on thursday night with Christine and Jean-Charles, I spent friday morning in bed with a tummy ache. After my miraculous recovery, I went over to the east side and met Taylor at the Promenade Plantée, the Parisian version of the Highline.

After a lovely stroll, we decided to knock another item off my "Things to see in Paris before I leave on May 9th" list. So we headed up to Saint-Denis, which is the birthplace of the French Gothic, and also the French royal necropolis. It was a really pretty church: the stained-glass, the gisants, the architecture - plus the burial site for Clovis I, Carloman, Henry IV, Louis XIV, Louis XVI, and Marie-Antoinette.

After leaving, Taylor and I felt a bit famished. So we went to a little patisserie/boulanger by the metro stop and got a donut each. While we were waiting in-line, a young banlieue resident came up and grabbed a box of Kinder Bars from the counter. Why? Because that's how to be cool! What a grown man would want with an entire box of Kinder Bars is beyond me.

Later that night, Taylor and I joined up again and watched Clueless, which he had never seen before. Simply shocking, I know. Anywho, it was fun and I think Taylor really enjoyed the movie, which is great!

On Saturday, just after lunch, I met up with Taylor again, but this time at the Musée Carnavalet, which we needed to visit for a class. It is a great museum, and I want to go back and explore the rest of the beautiful rooms. After that, we just kind of wandered around the Marais trying to find a street fair that Taylor had seen a sign for.

We eventually found the fair - it was a vintage clothing/furniture expo held in the strangest space I had ever been in. There was no flow, no natural path. The rooms were just sort of randomly stacked one on top of eachother, which resulted in a Hogwarts-esque result.

Continuing on, we eventually ended up at the Centre Pompidou. Taylor wanted to go to the top of the escalator to see the view, and I had never done it myself, so we got our tickets and headed up the tube. It really is a spectacular view! We then decided to see what the museum had to offer, as neither one of us had ever been. Strange.

I really do not appreciate the turn that art has taken in the post-WWII society. In order to view most contemporary art pieces, the onlooker needs to be wealthy, well-educated in art history, and have lots of time to spend in front of an œuvre. That is ridiculous. Art should not be alienating the public, but rather embracing the public. But enough of that rant!

After Pompidou, Taylor and I decided to head to our respective apartments to eat dinner before Meredith's birthday party. However, on the way to the Metro, we came across KFC, and decided to get dinner there instead. Yum. We got a true dinner and show: we sat at the counter that overlooks Boulevard de Sébastopol, and saw a fight between to banlieue-iens. It was pretty violent - one of the guys had an eyebrow ring which resulted in a lot of blood shed. Then a few minutes later, we saw a group of tourist girls (they were all blond and wearing hoodies that said "I *heart* Paris") who came up the window and took pictures of themselves in front of Taylor and myself. Very peculiar.

Meredith's party was a lot of fun. However, I did not get in bed until 6:20 this morning. So I am dragging a bit.

Recently, I've started compiling a list of all the things I want to eat when I get back to America. This is what it includes at the moment:

- Goldfish

- Cooler Ranch Doritos

- Napoléon from Cosette

- Grilled chicken sandwich from BK

- NY pizza

- White American Cheese

- UTZ Cheese Curlz

- 28th Street Noodle from ThaiNY

- Fried Chicken and biscuits

Ok, that's it.

-Dave

Warning -> Avertissement

I am currently looking at a bag from the wine store, Nicolas, where I bought a nice Bordeaux for my dinner tonight with Christine & Jean-Charles (my landlords). Anywho, on the side of the bag, there is a warning that says: "L'abus d'alcool est dangereux pour la santé, sachez apprécier avec modération" (Alcohol is detrimental to your health; drink in moderation). Ok, it makes sense on the side of bag from a nice wine store. However, the first place I saw this warning was on a poster advertising a series of strong beers called Explorator, Navigator, and Maximator (go here to see a picture). These beers were created for one reason, and one reason only: to get drunk. Now, I am not a fan of beer, so I have never tasted them. But I hear they are pretty nasty.

It's similar to the French warning on cigarette cartons: "Fumer tue" (Smoking kills). Upon seeing one of these warnings, I have a feeling of "yuh-duh!"

In other news, I have had a nice week. Despite the fact that I can't seem to sleep past 5:30 AM, I enjoyed most of the week. Tuesday was an absolutely gorgeous day. I mean, it was absolutely perfect! I couldn't enjoy it like I wanted to - I had to finish a long homework assignment - but I was able to sit out in the garden to work!

-Dave

I love Paris in the Springtime

It has been too long, thus, here are quelques petits mots:

I love springtime. I really do. It is by far the best season of the year. Last evening, I went to dinner with Lindsay and her mom at Les Deux Magots, a café famous for its popularity with figures such as Sartre, Hemingway, Camus, and Picasso. It was great! The food was good, the company was fun, and the conversation was interesting. Lindsay even tried escargot for the first time! YUM!

Prior to meeting them, however, I decided to enjoy sunset in the Tuileries Gardens. It was just lovely! It was a pretty mild afternoon/evening, so the park was just full of people. The strong april sunlight really made some dramtic shadows on the Louvre. Just as I was about to go into the Cour Carré, I turned around and saw the sun setting through Pei's Pyramide. It really was a special stroll.

Since they say that a picture is worth 1000 words, here are pictures:

Well, that's all for now!

-Dave

Day Light Savings Time

I have had quite a "I love the world" day!

Although I did not get the best night sleep last night, I woke up excited for the morning. While on my way to school, I saw some water trickling down the edge of the street, and I realized then and there how fascinating water is! I'm not going to get into all that right now, but let me tell you that one of my fondest memories of being a kid was playing out on the sidewalk in front of the house during a rain storm and making dams with bricks.

Second realization today came with my flowers that I bought on sunday. I have absolutely no idea what they are called, but they are beautiful. So full, so colorful, so fun.

Third realization came while I was eating dinner. It was 8:30 and it was still light outside! Spring + Day Light Savings Time + Western edge of the time zone means that the sky doesn't start to get really dark until around 9:15. Super!

Fourth realization was just about how much I love spring. It's such a happy time of year. And it makes me feel so alive. This is one of the few times that I wish I lived out in the country so I could really see the season change. One of the two trees in the courtyard outside my window has turned completely green, while the other remains completely dormant. It's intersting to compare the two; you usually don't get two trees like that side by side.

Ok, enough Rousseau-ing for one night.

-Dave

Dreams, who needs em?

It's too early. I should not be up. I'm still sleepy.

Why am I up?

I had a dream that there was a bat in my room, and it was squeaking. Now, normally I could will myself back to sleep after this. But here's the kicker: I keep my windows open for a little while before going to bed so it will be nice and cool in my room. I am always worried that a pigeon or a bat will fly in and I won't know what to do!

So, a dream with a bat in my room held some water, somewhere deep inside my self-conscious. I could not quell my fears, and instead just got myself more worked up, and consequently, more awake too!

Oh well! It's not all bad. I need to study a bit before class anyways!

-Dave

French fries to French bulldog

This week has been relatively calm, but that is definitely a good thing! The weather has been just beautiful, and as such, I have spent as much time outdoors as possible. However, there was one pesky thing that prevented me from enjoying this week to its fullest : class.

That was a joke, people.

Anywho, lets review the highlights -

On Tuesday, after classes, I relaxed in the park near NYU with Alex and watched the dogs playing. Then, I journeyed over to Uniqlo to exchange a few shirts for a different size. Failure. The girl at the counter was SO rude to me. It really made me upset. I am still considering writing to Uniqlo. I shop there enough that I think it is completely fair to complain!

Tuesday evening, Patrick held CiPizDi (Cinema - Pizza - Discussion) with all of his classes. We watched Le Petit Nicolas, which was really cute and funny. I had tried watching it online earlier in the semester, but my internet connection was too slow. Afterwards, Patrick had a bunch of pizzas delivered from ............ Pizza Hut! How funny.

The pizza was good, but it was not like American Pizza Hut. First of all, the cheese pizza had slices of goat cheese on it. Second, it was not thick greasy crust like in America. Third, there was goat cheese on the pizza! (<-- I can't get over this detail.)

The Discussion aspect of the evening did not go so well. Several people decided they didn't want to speak in French, even though it was an evening spent at NYU in Paris, that was organized by a French professor, and we were discussing a French film. Whatever. Some people get it, some people don't.

Wednesday was a great day! For my Contemporary Art Scene class, we met at the Museum of the Decorative Arts and saw modern art that was NOT pretentious at all! In fact, it was quite pleasing! The artists, a couple with the last name Lalanne, created pieces that were at the same time sculptures of animals AND functional items. Sadly, we could not take pictures. But let me illustrate a bit: There was a big blue hippo, whose mouth opened up to reveal a bathroom sink and mirror, and his back opened up to reveal a bath tub! How cool! Then, there was a rhino, but the rhino came apart and was actually a bunch of arm chairs and love seats and ottomans! How cool!

I was able to snag a few pictures while I was upstairs exploring the museum. Here is one of the better ones:

You can see the hippo on the right

After class disbanded, I stay and enjoyed the rest of the museum. (Side note: I think it is ironic that I ended up at the Museum of Decorative Arts after finding out that morning that I had gotten into the NYSID.) There was a Playmobil exhibit. Need I say more?

Chef de tribu et son cheval, 1975

And so I continued on, and went through the entire history of French decorative design: Medieval to "Currently." I was really happy to find that my two favorite styles were very well documented - Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

Art Nouveau bedroom set

Art Deco Dining Room

Not sure who is familiar with these styles and who isn't, so let me give a short description. Art Nouveau is a late 1800s - early 1900s style that emphasized organic forms. Essentially, you should just imagine an Art Nouveau interior that has absolutely NO pointy edges. An onlooker can imagine that the furniture/interior are in fact plants.

Art Deco, on the other hand, is a big fan of pointy edges. Art Deco followed Art Nouveau. The distinguishing feature of Art Deco is the play of light and dark. Sadly, this means that the majority of the Art Deco interiors at the museum could not be photographed without a flash. Result? The only good picture I got does not have Art Deco furniture, but you can see how the ceiling is bright gold, and the walls are a deep dark wood.

I like both of these styles so much because 1) they are fun, 2) they are French, and 3) they are absolutely unique and make no attempt to harken back to Ancient Rome! I get really bored with western architecture referencing ancient Rome. Boring. Do something NEW! Whats new? French Gothic, French Art Nouveau, French Art Deco, Gaudi, and of course, Germany's contribution, Bauhaus. Ok, enough ranting.

There was a retrospective of design from the 1940s to the current day, which was housed in the top floors of one of the pavillions. To show the retrospective, the museum had the different periods on different floors, but they all had a cut out that formed an atrium, at the bottom of which there was an exhibit of chairs:

Retrospective much?

Ok, enough with the museum. Afterwards, I wandered over to the Marais, got a sandwich and did a little window shopping. What a beautiful day. Sigh.

Thursday was a pretty uneventful day. There was a thunderstorm in the afternoon, which was a bit disconcerting considering that it was March. I met Liz, Taylor's ... female friend. Shes very nice. I'm excited to get to know her better. I waited around to help Patrick get a cell phone, but he ran out of time, and so that didn't happen. It's cool though. During the last 20 minutes of my wait, I thought about the NYU in Paris building, and how much NYU does not take advantage of its beauty. Sigh.

All week, my mind has been on two things: French Fries and French Bulldogs, both of which I want. I have been craving McDonald's french fries and Pommes-Frites-Sauce all week. So good. And I've been thinking about French Bulldogs because before leaving for Paris, Luke and I discussed adopting a little Frenchie when I got back. He's submited an application for this one: Guinness

Well, thats all for now. I'm tapped out. I've also been awake for two hours now and havent left my bed! hehe

- Dave

Oh, before I forget, here is a picture of Clemmie:

I know this seems random, but let me explain. While talking about Art Deco, I went searching for pictures of either the Chrysler Building or the Irving Trust Building, both of which are the prime examples of an Art Deco building. Anywho, I found this picture of Clemmie and her paws. Aww.

Naps are for suckers

I cannot keep my eyes open. Nope. Not at all. The only thing keeping me awake? The freaking pigeons cooing outside my vent!

Friday, after spending all day at NYU, I gathered some people at Grace's apartment to head out to Club18. I had found free passes, so why not? Anywho, that was a bust. They didn't let us in the club. Sigh sigh.

So the group split up, and Taylor, Cáit, Grace, Grace's friend and I continued on to Le Queen, which said the cover would be €8. However, after taking the last train for the evening to get to Queen, we discovered that in fact the cover is €20. Bust. So I left the group and walked home. I was probably in bed by 3:30.

And then I got up at 9:00! Turns out someone screwed up Grace's computer while we were at her apartment. Feeling 100% guity, I left my apt, headed for Darty, and bought her a new keyboard. Aparently it works; I just hope there is no other damage. Cáit, who had spent the night at Grace's, and I indulged in some delicious McDonald's for lunch. Yum!

Last night, saturday night, I met Patrick at 9:00 at St. Paul to get a drink and food. It was raining. Really hard. We finally ended up at L'Apparement Café, where (drumroll!) I found spiced rum! Woo! Unfortunately, after taking the first sip of my Rum & Coke, which they called a Cube Libre, I discovered that they had used diet coke. Oh well! It was nice to have a Rum & Coke, even if it was ... diet. Bleh. Patrick and I had some one-on-one bonding time. Then Taylor, Michel and Olga joined us. A cheese plate and carafe of wine later, we were all having a good time. We met a group of peoplle who ... I really don't even know how to describe them. Go to this website: (http://uranie.ile-mysterieuse.net/).

I ended up at home around 3:00 again, I think. I Skyped Luke, since by that point, it was his birthday in France. Woke up around 10:00. I got out of bed around 12:30, showered, went to the store around the corner, came back, made some pasta, and got back in bed. Woops! Then, I fell asleep!

I hate naps, though. I always feel sick afterwards. There is this strange acidy, empty feeling at the top of my stomach. Very strange. Anywho, I'm off to work on homework! Have a lovely day, everyone!

Happy Birthday, Luke! Three for three! Where will I be next year?!

-Dave

Lovely Day

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day here in Paris! Apparently it got up to 67 F, which, after the freezing temps of last week, was quite warm! After thoroughly insulting Patrick and giving a lack luster presentation in Bussiness French, Taylor and I got some Dom's wraps and chilaxed in the courtyard. One pick up soccer game and a deflated soccer ball later, Grace, Cáit and I headed off to the Champ de Mars, where we sat and enjoyed the glorious weather!

Taylor met up with us, we did a little walking, headed to his place, found a restaurant off the Champs-Elysées, and enjoyed "Sex on the Beach" and some really great bacon cheez burgers. Yum! Quel fun!

Now I'm off to bed. Why? Because I have a full day of Contemporary French Art Scene tomorrow, which begins at 9:30. Blah.

-Dave

Stressed

After a wonderful week with my family, full of good food and good times, it's nose back to the grindstone. That combined with my slight cold is not making for a fun monday. Boo hoo. I need a distraction.

In other news, it was quite warm in Paris today. I went out with just a t-shirt and a hoody. Pretty exciting! I can't wait for real spring weather.

-Dave

Quel francophone!

What a great couple of days! On Wednesday, from the moment I woke up, I felt a little "blah." After buying a book for class, I headed to Monoprix to find the biggest bag of candy I could find. Before I even had a chance to break into the bag of "Lion Chocolate Bars," I received a call from Anthony, one of the young artists I met a few weeks ago. I had forgotten that we were to go out that night. That lifted my spirits. Though, that didn't stop me from devouring half of the bag of Lions. Delicious!

Taylor and I met up with Anthony, his girlfriend, and Nazhli at St. Michel, where I discovered a brass band playing a collection of songs including "Hot Stuff - Donna Summer," "Gangstas Paradise - Coolio," and "Brain Stew - Green Day." Anthony had a place in mind that happened to be right behind the fountain at St. Michel: Happy Days Diner. We had cheeseburgers, milkshakes, cheesecake and cokes in a 1960s setting. Thoroughly enjoyable. The three artists taught us how to say "I don't care/give a shit" several different ways in French. They all included male genitalia.

Yesterday, we had Patrick's class, which is, as always, very entertaining. In class I shared my discovery of the Lion bars, and brought one for everyone so they could experience a small piece of the happiness I felt when I was eating half a bag the day before. Seriously, these bars are delicious. They are not too big, not too sweet, not to heavy. They are just right! I ended up giving four to Patrick to supplement his breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After screwing around for a few hours, Taylor and I spent some quality time with Patrick practicing our French and expressing our frustrations and concerns thus far.

I had to cut the conversation in order to make it back to my apartment before dinner with my landlords at 7:30. After a stop by Happy, where I bought them a bouquet of white roses and purple tulips, I came home, changed, and headed downstairs. To my surprise, what do I find in there apartment? One of their grandsons - Vincent! I love kids. After a great meal that Christine prepared herself, I read Vincent a bedtime story and retired myself for the evening.

When I woke up this morning, the sky was absolutely beautiful:

À bientôt,

Dave

Don Carlo

Yesterday, on a whim, I got a ticket from NYU to go to Don Carlo, an opera by Giuseppe Verdi AKA Joe Green (Thanks, Mr. Gaylor). I met up with Taylor, Lindsay, Rob, and Michel at Resto-U to get some dinner before. Somehow I ended up with a Tuna pizza (gag). 6:25 rolled around. With a curtain call at 7:00, I started to get anxious. I CANNOT be late, especially to a performance. Everyone mocked me the entire trip to the opera house. But you know what? We were late. We had to stand in the back for 20 minutes during the first act.

I have to admit, I was a bit creeped out by the first act. The stage was set with only one detail: a sunken cross in the center filled with candles. Ever now and then, between actions, a group of monks would start singing, medieval style. It was creepy. But I stayed, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was beautiful. The end was a bit ... frustrating, but what are you going to do? You win some, you lose some, right? I got a ticket for Patrick, because he had expressed an interest in NYU's free tickets. We were amongst the few who stayed for the entire performance.

Afterwards, we scoured the streets to find a restaurant where he could get something to eat and I could get a glass of wine. No such luck! We ended up finding a brasserie that was closing up and snagged a glass of wine and a beer. Thoroughly enjoyable. Patrick is a really cool guy, and I'm so happy that I've had the opportunity to meet him.

May I also say that the sun is amazing? It makes me so happy that we have had several consecutive days of sunlight now. Just lovely!

Well, on that note, I'm going to head to buy a book for a midterm that I have on monday. I was supposed to have bought this book at the beginning of the semester. Woops! I'm a senior. What do you want?

À bientôt,

Dave

Scary scary scary wind

Yes, I'm up at 6:10 on a Sunday morning, and this is after I tried to will myself back to sleep for about 45 minutes. The wind this morning is absolutely ridiculous. It seriously sounds like the roof is going to fly off the building. When I went out in the hallway to go to the bathroom, it sounded like the windows were going to be ripped right off their hinges. Because each room has a vent in it, the air flow through this upper floor is unreal! It's actually quite terrifying. I imagine that this is what a tornado sounds like. Anywho, the fact remains that I am up now, and I need to update this mama.

Cáit and I met up on Friday at noon to go to RestoU. So we traversed the 15th , found the RestoU, and show the guard our IDs. (By the way, I can't spell guard. Every time I write it out, it's gaurd, and every time, I need to correct it!) The guard informed us that it had closed at Noon, that it had been this way for many years, and that it was clearly marked online. Although, we're apparently not alone: he said a lot of people ask him about the RestoU.

Oh well! So, we took ourselves across the street to a Chinese restaurant. My limited French with my thick American accent did not mesh well with the server's limited French and her thick accent. After thoroughly stuffing ourselves with fried goodness, we set off on our day's adventure. Thanks to Cáit's beautiful map, I can recreate our journey!

We began with a trip to the Catacombs. Wow! What a terrifying experience! Cáit claims she was on the verge of wetting herself, and I almost ate my pamphlet. Imagine going underground via a little tiny spiral staircase, going beneath the sewers and the subways, coming out in this concrete room with other people looking at pictures and history, heading into the actual tunnels, and seeing no one, hearing no one, and wandering in very poorly lit mines with shadowy nooks and crannies, the whole time knowing that this is an enormous section filled with dead people. I'll put up some pictures to explain:

Tiny, dark winding mines with scary nooks and grates

Bones. Lots and Lots and Lots and Lots of bones.

During the Second Empire, a massive cemetery was dug up, and all the bones were brought here. To say thousands of people had there bones' in the catacombs doesn't really paint a complete picture. We wandered fro about 20 or 30 minutes in the catacombs, and every wall of the entire journey was comprised of bones! They had so many bones that they made designs with them! Disgusting.

The exit for the Catacombs dropped us out in the middle of a random side street. We had not idea where we were. So after making our initial wrong turn, we headed off to Rue Mouffetard. The name comes from the no longer extent tributary that ran right next to the street. Apparently everyone dumped their waste in the water, and it stank like skunks, which is moufette in french, and thus Rue Mouffetard. Anywho, it's a narrow street winding up a hillside, and it's lined with little shops and restaurants and bars. We even found a bowling alley! Our souvenir for this leg of the trip was a bag of really stale gummies, the kind of stale gummies that rip your teeth out!

Next stop? The Pantheon. I can't remember why we went in that direction, but we spend a few minutes resting on the steps of the Pantheon before heading off to the Institute of the Arab World, the building that put the architect Jean Nouvel on the map. Essentially, he designed a screen for the all glass façade that is reminiscent of north African wood screens. But this screen is made out of steel, and the openings are equipped with light sensitive apertures, which means that as the sun load on the screen increases, the apertures close, reducing the amount of light and heat that hits the interior of the building. However, the apertures are often breaking. Oh well!

Notice how some of the openings are smaller than others?

Then we wandered to the Garden of Plants, which was ... lackluster. Granted, its February, and not much is going to be in bloom! Then, after misinterpretting the size of Paris, I suggested we walk to the French National Library. Yeah. Not really as close as I thought it would be. It was a fun walk though. All new 20th and 21st century buildings.

Anywho, the Bibliothèque National de France is a large rectangle with a courtyard in the center. The study rooms, reading rooms, and lecture halls are all centered around this courtyard. Then, on the four corners of the rectangle, four L-shaped towers rise about 15 or 20 stories. These are the stacks. I can't imagine that the whole 4 stacks thing works very well, but the French don't seem to mind, so who am I to complain? We headed inside to find a much needed bathroom. There was a cleaning woman standing outside the men's bathroom. I had to say "excuse me" to get by her. Then, after coming out of my stall, she was wiping down the sinks. I waited a reasonable amount of time before saying "excuse me" again. It should be noted that neither time did she express and recognition that I had spoken to her. Then, after drying my hands, following the logical pattern, I decided to leave the bathroom. But her cart was blocking the entire doorway! Once again "excuse me." She gave me an attitude and said "Just push the door open more!" Ok then.

One of the stacks at the BN de F

The BN de F repented for this rude woman by giving us a cool map exhibit. Cáit and I both got to make maps. You should check them out on Facebook! We went to a few shops at the BN de F movie theater, then decided it was time for din-din. So we headed back to Rue Mouffetard, via metro this time. Both our feet were hurting by this point.

Our dinner experience really crowned our day's journey. We found what looked like a nice quiet restaurant with a decent prix fixe. We walk in, sit down, and realize that the only other people in the place are part of an enormous group of American college students. Super authentic! Our waiter came over, and I almost screamed. He was probably the scariest human being I have ever seen! Imagine Criss Angel, but old, and 10,000 times creepier. He was nice and accomodating, but still, very scary. Somewhere between the escargots and the bœuf bourguignon, the lights started flickering, and colored light ball started spinning and the music volume went way up! The rest of the meal consisted of good food, good conversation and Criss Angel doing the Macerana!

After splitting up for the night, I spent two pointless hours going through this website, called "Picture is Unrelated." Quality! My favorite is the image posted below:

Seriously, what is this?!

The next day, yesterday, Saturday, Feb. 27th: whatever you want to call it, I met up with Cáit and Grace for a picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens. It was very enjoyable and very filling. Though, during the meal, it got significantly colder, and by the end of the dessert section, I was ready to get up and move around. We met up with Michel on the Île-de-la-Cité, and sort of wandered around together for awhile. We tried Notre Dame, but decided that waiting in line was a stupid idea. We went to the smallest street in Paris "Rue du Chat-qui-pêche." We hit up Shakespeare & Co. We went to Île-St.-Louis and tried find Berthillon ice cream, because nothing completes and cold and dreary afternoon like ice cream. Then we wandered back to Michel's apartment, saw his place, and discovered his landlord's obsession with turtles, and then split ways once again for the evening. Still exhausted from the day before, I threw in the towel early and went to bed around 10:45.

Then I was woken up by the crazy wind! And now I'm finishing my blog post, 1 hour and 29 minutes after I began.

À bientôt,

Dave

By-the-by, I believe there is a rogue "nt" in here somewhere. Point it out to me if you see it! Thanks.

A picture is worth 1,000 words

Nice Weekend

Bonsoir à tous!

I had a very nice weekend. I know, it's monday; but I didn't have class today, so thus, it gets tacked on to my weekend!

Friday: For my Contemporary France class, we met our professor at the Museum of Immigration on Friday morning. Fun fact: the museum is on the COMPLETE other side of Paris from me. I was a little bitter about the whole "getting up on friday to go to a museum for class" thing, but I sucked it up. This sucking up was in vain. Instead of taking on us on a tour of the museum, our professor who scheduled the trip told us all to get audio guides and walk around the museum alone. Quality teaching style!

After putting in my time there, Taylor and I headed off to Resto-U, a sort of cafeteria system all over Paris for University students. It was fun to see all the French students. My next task is to actually talk to them!

Then I met Caìt, Lindsay, and Lindsay's friends Joe at the Grand Palais to go to the instillation there, called Monumenta, for my Contemporary Art Scene class. In all honesty, I felt nothing and did not see a point. I really wish someone could have enlightened me, because everyone else really seemed to be affected by it!

On slightly cooler note, since Lindsay and Joe were on a time crunch, I took them on a walking "hot-spots-only" tour of the Louvre. Good times! Sort of a preview of Saturday.

Friday night was Lauren's 21st birthday. So I got some macaroons, some cheese and bread, and some chocolate cookies for the festivities. I had a good time talking with everyone and what not, but I peaced out around 1:00 AM to go home to bed. Apparently, that's when things happened. One of the stupid, over-testosteroned, straight, bro-y guys there flipped off Lauren, the birthday girl, who then made the idiot leave her apartment. Apparently, feeling angry and super macho, he punched in some windows in the entrance door. What is wrong with people.

Saturday: The next morning, I found the gardien of the building cleaning up the mess when I went to meet Lindsay, Joe, and some of her visiting girl friends at Lindsay's apartment. At that point, I had no idea what had happened, and so I asked the gardien. To me, it clearly looked like some had tried to break into the building: the windows by the locks were broken and the was blood on the wall. But, as the gardien explained, it was some jumped up guy from the party on the 4th floor who had done it.

After Lindsay and Lauren attempted to get in contact with the landlord, we left for Versailles. Nothing takes your mind off of stupid pigheaded people like Versailles. We had a lovely day, as always, at Versailles. After exhausting ourselves, we headed home. I spent the next 36 hours doing a mixture of the following three things: sleeping, eating, messing around on my computer.

Monday: I got up today with the intention of getting my hair cut. I succeeded. I told her I wanted something different. To sum up, I ended up with a cheap blow dryer and gel. WOOPS!

In fact, Not broken!

After a series of very frustrating days with my faux-stutter, I decided to talk to someone.

For those who don't know, when I was little I suffered from a stutter. My parents sent me to an oral pathologist which solved that problem. However, in its wake, I developed a different problem: when I am in a place with a lot of people talking or a lot of activity, I am unable to speak. It's not that I am scared or intimidated, I am just physically unable to make the sounds that I want to make. It's as if there is a temporary disconnect between my brain and my mouth. It is really unpleasant and very frustrating. Imagine being unable to communicate or express yourself in a language that you are quite capable in. It's a problem for both English and French.

For example, while Luke was here, we were at a Starbucks. It was jam packed. Luke's order came up, and I wanted to say "C'est à moi, je suis Luke." Instead my mouth and tongue froze and nothing came out. Blah. A few days ago at Monoprix, the cashier asked me to pull the ribbon to close her line, but I had trouble understanding her. I wanted to ask her to repeat, but once again, no sound. She looked at me like I had two heads, then asked the woman in front of me to do it instead.

Anywhosies, I decided to consult Patrick, my language professor. I remember him talking about how different lobes of the brain function while learning a language, so I figured he would be a good resource. I emailed him tuesday night with the intention of speaking to him in class today.

I woke up today feeling pretty defeated, so I decided to wear my purple paisley tie to cheer myself up. That didn't really work. Finally, after Patrick finished class at 4:00, we had our meeting. I explained my problem, what I thought the cause was, and frustrating it is to have an issue that no one can relate to. As it turns out, he has a similar problem. He suggested that, in fact, it's not a real problem, but rather a small nuance that a obsess over and develop into a problem. That is to say, I make myself think it's more of a problem than it actually is.

I explained why: when describing the problem to other people, no one understands what I am saying and they have no first hand experience. Wouldn't you feel like you had a problem if no one else has the same frustrating experience? Patrick suggested that I am just hyper-sensitive to the problems and missteps that I make, and consequently, I notice things that other people don't.

He also suggested that it might be linked to my control-freak-ness: I cannot let go, I cannot "just go for it." Once again, a problem that he suffers from.

Another hypothesis: I might be a wee bit agoraphobic. I was pretty much shocked and appalled when he said this. Me? Agoraphobic? Never. But then I thought about it. I feel like if "homebody" were translated into scientific jargon it would be "acute agoraphobia."

Well, now this a little too vain, a little too narcissistic. I'm starting to sound like a certain hypochondriac. So let's stop that!

On Wednesday, I went to several galleries with my Contemporary Art Scene class. At one gallery we saw this very interesting sculptures created with fine threads hanging from a grid. On the threads are miniscule objects. The effect: when you stand far enough away, it becomes a static solid object. However, the subjects were a bit ... uncomfortable. Each of the sculptures featured taxidermic animals. For example, there was a squirrel surrounded by a giant cube of fruit flies. Yum!

Tomorrow, I am getting up nice and early to go to the Museum of Immigration for my super thrilling Contemporary France Class. The plus side: this replaces class on monday! Sweet.

Well, with that, this stutterer is going to sign off.

À..à..à..à b..b..b..bient..t..t..tôt!

-Dave

10 days

Quelle décade! These past 10 days have just flown by. Luke arrived last friday, Feb. 5th, and it has been a whirlwind ever since. To list everything we did would be ridiculous (and extremely difficult), so I will just talk about the highlights.

On the morning of Friday, Feb. 12th, Luke and I headed to Versailles. Yes, I went to Versailles again, and I had just as much fun as before! We did the usual: Chateau, Petit Venise, Grand Trianon. We went through all the public rooms at the Petit Trianon. However, just as we were about to head down the central staircase, the docent asked us if we wanted to go on a free, private tour of the private rooms. I died. Or at least, I went to heaven. Obviously we agreed, and 20 minutes later, I was translating the more interesting facts from our guide's spiel for Luke. It was an absolutely fantastic experience. However, I think I got myself a little too worked up, because shortly after the tour was finished, my stomach began to hurt, the first time since my arrival in January.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. You all know that. Luke and I did some toursity things in the morning, came home for a bit of respite, and then headed out to find a restaurant for dinner. Luke wanted to go to the Marais, AKA the Gayborhood and Jewville. We quickly found a restaurant with a decent prix fixe and began our slow journey through dinner. 3 courses, 2 bottles of wine, 2 glasses of champagne, and 3 hours later, we headed out to the Eiffel Tower. It was very romantic.

Luke left this morning, and class began anew shortly after his departure. I will download my pictures from my camera tomorrow afternoon and hopefully post one or two tomorrow evening.

À toute à l'heure,

-Dave

Luke is here!

Let's see... what's new? Oh, Luke is here.

Thursday was pretty low key. I just messed around at NYU until about 2:00, as a means of procrastinating the super necessary cleaning that needed to occur chez moi.

Friday around 11:00, I headed out to Charles de Gaulle to pick up Luke. Ellipsis ellipsis ellipsis. We got to my apartment around 2:00, got some lunch, went to Monoprix (I know the hot spots in Paris!). Then, in an effort to fight off Luke's Jet Lag, we walked down l'Avenue de Grande Armée and l'Avenue des Champs Élyssées, passing all that Paris has to offer: Quick, McDonald's, Gap. After working our way through the Louvre, we crossed the Pont Neuf and went to Notre-Dame. Sadly, it was relatively dark outside by the time we got there, so the windows weren't super exciting. Came back, went to Monoprix (such is my life), made some din-din, and went to bed.

I think the "Jet Lag Prevention" tactics were a success. We are about to head out and be touristy. Not entirely sure what that means yet! ;)

-Dave

Grad Class? Pass.

Yesterday I had my first grad class.

I am not sure if I have been more frustrated in my life! Yes, the prof was great and the class seemed interesting enough, but there were three problems standing in my way: 1) the class (French Perspectives on Multi-Cultural Education) is targeted at French Education masters students, thus they all have a knowledge base that I just don't have; 2) the prof spoke very very fast; 3) the prof used way too many colloquialisms; 4) the prof said "Quoi" at the end of the sentence. I understand that this last item is very popular amongst the French in spoken language, but it makes it really hard for me to understand what they are saying.

I was pretty frustrated. I wanted to sit down in a corner and cry. As many of you know, I like to talk to people on the subway. I think it's a lot of fun. But the French don't seem to be as fond of this pastime. Anywho, after class, while waiting for the subway, a girl started talking to me. But I think my ears and brain had given up on French because I didn't understand a thing she said. Sigh. So I went to McDonald's for a wee bit of comfort food. And again, I could not communicate with or understand the cashier. Three strikes, and you're out!

Patrick and I exchanged a few e-mails and I elected to speak to the head of NYU in Paris today to weigh my options. Being the head and all, she wasn't free until 5:30. So following my tour at the Louvre, I sat around NYU waiting for my meeting. What fun! But, I joke. I actually had fun times with people in the Salon.

During our meeting, Caroline was super helpful, and is going to throw her support behind a class on contemporary french art as a replacement for my grad class. Hopefully New York likes the idea, because I think it sounds great!

Well, there goes another poorly written blog post. Must go do some homeworks.

-Dave

First Day of Classes

Monday was the first day of classes, well, real classes. I woke up yesterday morning thanks to the sun beating on my window. I opened the blinds so I could see the sky and the sun, grabbed my computer and got back in bed. I looked back outside a few minutes later, and to my surprise, it was blizzard-ing! Near white-out conditions with snowflakes measuring 2 - 3 inches in diameter. Craziness! Ten minutes later, it was sunny again.

Northern European weather is weird. I remember when I was in Berlin for a week two years ago, I experienced the same kind of crazy weather!

Anywho, after eating my petit déjeuner (breakfast), I headed to the métro. Seeing as it was the first of the month yesterday, I needed to refill my NaviGo métro card for the coming month. The automated machines don't like me though. Or, rather, they don't like my credit cards. So I had to cross Porte Maillot to go to the other end of my station to talk to a real attendant. 56,60€. I have found that prices in France tend to be strange amounts like this.

My first class, Museums & Monuments, seems interesting enough. I am having trouble reading the professor. When she speaks, she seems old. Yet, she doesn't look old. It's very strange. While she was waiting for the computer to load so she could load her Power Point, she commented on how the Windows XP symbol falls into the Baroque/Rococo family. It was funny.

Then came the pause. I got a croque monsieur for lunch and went walking with Lindsay, speaking only in French. Patrick said that if I want to improve my French, I really need to commit myself to living a Francophone life.

Class 2: Contemporary France. Three hours. Driest professor ever. I had to poke Taylor to keep him from falling asleep. Words can't describe this class. I asked ridiculous questions just so I would be engaged and wouldn't fall asleep myself.

I stopped by Monoprix with Taylor, came home, ran to BNP to get my rent money, paid my rent, ate my dinner, and went to beddy-by. Now, I am getting ready to head to class with Patrick (WOOO!). It looks like it's going to be a grey/rainy day. Very original.

-Dave

Le Roi Soleil

Quel weekend! Ok, time to recount, day-by-day.

Friday: Wow, Friday seems so distant now... Ahh, I know where to start: Friday was the last day of the preliminary. After we were let out, I met Taylor and Lindsay's super cool friends (Alex, Morgan, & Hannah), all of whom were visiting from NYU in London. That night, a very LARGE group of us went to Duplex. After nearly passing out from being so hot, Lindsay, Hannah, and I retired to Lindsay's apartment. All I wanted to do was go to my bed. But I had left my things at Lindsay's and the métro had stopped running for the night.

Saturday: I woke up at 5:15 AM, caught the métro back home and threw myself in my bed. So satisfying. Somewhere around 10:30, I woke up, looked out side and ... GASP ... there was SUN! I showered, ran to the boulangerie to get a baguette, and navigated my way to the Luxembourg Gardens. The gardens were absolutely beautiful, despite the cold air and intermittent snow. I left the 6th, and headed up to Montmartre, where I met up with Taylor and his crew to be touristy at Sacre Cœur.

Alex and Morgan (Taylor's friends) had never been to Paris before. So afterwards, we métro-ed to Notre-Dame and wound are way through the Ile Saint Louis towards the Marais district. Our first stop in the Marais was an HSBC so Taylor could get out money. The machine ate his card. Womp Womp. Ellipsis ellipsis ellipsis. We met up with Lindsay, who cooked us a lovely dinner and just hung out at here apartment for the evening.

Sunday: Taylor and crew met me at the RER station right by me to head off to Versailles. On the train, I was literally twitching I was so excited! Words can not summarize how I feel about that place.

It was beautiful. We walked ALOT. My feet hurt. I talked to a 65-year-old man at lunch about his three loves: women, cars, and cigars. Came home and laid in bed.

While at Versailles, I found a DVD for which I have been looking for about three years now. Le Roi Danse is the story of Lully and his relationship with Louis XIV and Molière, and how Louis XIV used ballet and music to add to his power. Gorgeous movie. It's sort of like Marie Antoinette, in that the main draws for me are the aesthetics and the stories of the ancien régime. So, if you don't like Marie Antoinette, chances are you will not like Le Roi Danse. Anywhosies, while laying in bed recovering from our journeys today, I watched this movie. So good. Now I am blogging, and then I will start getting ready for bed. Class starts tomorrow. Woo?

-Dave

Gold gates at Versailles

Alex and Taylor playing Diana & Stag

Versailles version of barbed wire?