Follow that P!

The last few days have been ridiculously French... I spent Thursday wandering the Ile-de-la-Cite on my own– that’s the island in the middle of the Seine where the Cathedral de Notre Dame is located, it used to be all that there was of Paris. Way back in the day. So I went with the intention of visiting the Crypte Archaeologique in front of Notre Dame, which I managed to talk my way into for free. Chivalry may be dead in this country, but if you are not DRESSED like an American and you are "une etudiante de l’histoire de l’art," you can do pretty much as you please. So I talked my way into this tiny underground museum full of ruins of ancient Paris– like, 1st century ROMAN Paris. Pieces of buildings, random artifacts, pretty cool but glad I didn’t pay for it. I’ve become good at making myself read the exhibit notices and plaques in French even when the English translation is right there, which I know is helping me. From there I wandered to Les Halles, an open forum/marketplace with amazing shopping (that’s cheap!!) And great cafes. I sat at the corner table of an outside café, anxious for a break after wandering the Ile all morning, ordered a baguette au fromage and a soda that does not exist in the US and cost as much as my sandwich, but it came in a tall cold glass full of ice and ice cubes, and I would have paid 20 Euros for it if I’d had to. I watched a nun, in her habit, ride through the intersection on her bicycle, followed closely by 3 Jewish boys in school uniforms flying through on their bicycles, bells ringing loudly as they went. So I sat there, trying to read my copy of Cyrano de Bergerac (in French, of course) and act like this was not the most quaint thing I had ever witnessed.
I wandered from there to the Musee d’Orsay, which I also talked my way into for free, though with significantly more difficulty... Had to explain to the ticket man why I should get in free, then the woman at the door, then the man doing security checks. Each time I just told them the person before had said it was fine, but the French love their paperwork so I had to bust out my European student ID card everytime. Ha. The Orsay was cool– I was just wandering, I thought, when I looked up and realized I was in an entire WING of nothing but Monet. And FAMOUS Monet’s at that– so I saw all the Waterlilies, the Garden at Giverny, the Houses of Parliament and the Haystacks– all in one room! Then the Van Gogh wing with Sunflowers but alas, no Starry Night. Lots of other cool masterpieces, but all behind really shiny glass so not as cool as the Louvre, which doesn’t have glare. Spoken like a true Art history nerd/snob. Haha.
Friday I went out again alone (classes have not started yet, which is why I have all this free time). I went to the Palais Royal-Galeries National to see an exhibit on the sources of the art of Walt Disney. If you know me at all, this should not surprise you. At this one I had to pay for a ticket (oh, the horror), so I made sure to get my money’s worth, reading every plaque (AND they were all ONLY in French so I have already begun to add to my French art vocabulary). It was the most amazing exhibit, though... full of French art that inspired Walt and all kinds of things from the Disney archives. It’s called "Il Etait Une Fois" which means "Once Upon A Time" and made me desperately want to go visit EuroDisney while I am here. So fun.
From there it was back to the Ile-de-la-Cite to visit the Cathedral de Saint-Chappelle, which really ought to be more famous than Notre Dame. It had an hour long wait when I arrived, but again, thanks to being an art history snob, I stepped to the front of the line, with my crepe d’abricot confiture in one hand and my euro student ID in the other and got to BYPASS the hour-long wait to get in. Amazing church... 20,000 stained glass scenes and all kinds of sculptures, all up a tiny stone-hewn spiral staircase that made it feel more like being locked in a tower Cinderella-style than going to a cathedral. Got into that one free, too, and even the guard thought I was French when he opened my bag to search it and a French novel fell out. As I bypassed the line (this is not just something they do for me, apparently if you are an art history student you have priority EVERYWHERE in this city, and it just works out well that they put your major and minor on all your student ID cards), I heard an American man say to his wife in the line, "Oh, THAT is how you get to the front of the line. You just have to be young and French and well-dressed." And it was the best compliment of the day. Ha.
I’ve learned the good shopping here, affordable but stylish stores with exotic names like NafNaf (my favorite), Etam, Zara, Pimkie, Celio, Printemps, and Monoprix. Then there are other more British-sounding ones like H&M and Benetton, but even those here are still so... European. So the trick is to find those stores NOT on the Champs des Elysees, where everything is priced twice as high as in other parts of the city... I picked up a few Christmas presents already, and can hardly believe I am so ahead of the game.
Oh, I also went to an international student picnic on the Pont d’Alexandre III with a friend from high school, Rachel, a few nights ago. We were there at sunset, and got to see the Pont Neuf (a famous bridge spanning both of the two halves of the Seine) light up and took pictures of the Assemblies Nationales. We even decided it was too much of a shame that I had yet to see the Moulin Rouge, so at the last minute we boarded the Metro for Pigalle, the shady district where the Moulin Rouge is still located. It is not nearly as cool as in the movie, and there is no giant elephant, but there is a neon windmill that still spins, and for 170 euros you can go see a show there. If you are a sketchy American willing to pay that much to see can-can dancers. But now I have been and it is one less thing to check off the list.
I’m feeling more and more "at home" here, as odd as that may be. It took awhile to get used to the food, the way of life, the style, and the punctuality, but now that I have, it seems like it is all just... NORMAL. Normal to eat pain au chocolats for breakfast, normal to spend 2 and a half hours loitering over lunch, normal to walk past Victor Hugo’s house IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD and normal to see works of Bernini, Michelangelo, Monet, Whistler, and Klimt all over the city. I love every minute.
~B