Another Saturday...I like walking around, as you can probably tell.

If I could, I'd put in a word bubble: Here go some photos from today. It was cold. And somewhat sunny. Enjoy!

Near Rue St. Louis en l'Ile...near Notre Dame

From one of the bridges across the Seine.

Au Printemps - somewhere Boulevard Haussman...

Fashion...or decoration??

Fabric store.

Repetto, very near the Opéra Garnier.

From Pont Neuf. Again. I like that bridge!

Enjoy your weekend!

Rainy Saturday

Parisian coldness and wetness (and prettiness) --

Somewhere in the vicinity of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame.

Hm, Notre Dame and an Egyptian Pharaoh...

January fun.

A wee bit cold...but there was a cute 2-year-old riding it all by herself.

Stained glass inside Notre Dame.

"Flying buttresses..."

Versailles

First week of classes is over, so today was a sort of day off with a visit to Versailles.

Firstly, once you actually get outside of Paris proper and get to see French suburbs (today, via the RER/extended metro), you realize that all of us live in the center of Paris. And it is very, very nice.

As for Versailles -- what can I say, it must be very cool to live in a palace! How do the French keep all the gold leaf/plating/shiny-ness on the palace gates and clock so bright and shiny, even in the winter weather??

"A toutes les gloires de la France" -- one of the buildings at the main entrance.

The main gate.

EDUCO Girls.

View from the main gate out to the rest of the city.

One of the reliefs inside the palace (in one of the rooms in which the King received visitors, I think).

La Chapelle Royale

Napeleon's Coronation. Interesting details:

--The Pope is sitting down behind Napoleon. In actuality, he didn't approve of the proceedings entirely, so he was sitting with his arms and feet crossed. That's how the painter presented it at first. Napoleon was displeased and the Pope was repainted in a more agreeable position.

--Secondly, there is a woman above Napoleon's wife, Josephine - that is Napoleon's mother. She never came to the coronation (one of the reasons being that she didn't like Josephine). She was added in to make the coronation appear all proper.

--There was a second copy of this painting, in which the lady on the left in a pink dress has a white dress. If I remember correctly, the painter loved her...

--The painter included himself somewhere in the balcony above Napoleon's mother.

In the Hall of Mirrors.

In the Hall of Mirrors.

Beside the Grand Trianon.

Duke classmate Katie beside the Grand Trianon.

Lovely day overall, even though we got cold at the end. Versailles is huge! Some other places to visit within Versailles: the King's private rooms, the kitchens (separate building; they prepared up to 19 different foods for a meal...in which the royal family ate and everyone else watched...), the children's palace (they spent their time there until they were deemed old enough to join the adults).

Melancholy Monday

So it's not that melancholy, but alliteration was an absolute must, so there you go.

Melancholy happenings:

~Spilling water on laptop.
~Having toast for breakfast. Again. Toast is good, but my French family must really like toast.
~Taking placement test. Ehh...
~Etre un membre d'un groupe touristique americain. [said in a most American-y accent] [Ironic that our placement exam had a reading selection about tourism, no?] All facetiousness aside, some people should maybe try to parler en francais a little more. Sometimes. And make an effort to pronounce un peu plus correctly.
~Go to student cafeteria where the food was...cold. It used to be hot but we all know how long noodles stay hot. The chicken was made of sawdust. I'll take it for 2,90 euros. Note to self: deal with it and get more salmon instead. Or something that looks like herring. Herring!
~"Tour" universities with the ever-so-helpful EDUCO people. General fact: whatever you organize by yourself will make a lot more sense than if it's "organized" by EDUCO. Helpful sure, but they don't know any answers to any questions, nor where anything is located (using a map is perfectly okay! But I can do it by myself too).

End rant.
Family dinner soon!

The search for a crêperie

So yesterday the Feline Bureau of Investigation c/o Les Mallet came by...

Hmmm.

I am quite comfy, and doing something important, thank you.

So.

Don't you look at me like that.

Ooh, soft and comfier still.

Once approved, I ventured out for a walk.

Pont Neuf.

Pont Neuf.

From the other side of Pont Neuf.

Louvre.

Louvre entrance.

Crêpe l'Alaska - up close and personal.

Fancy Restaurant.

Sunday evening.

How to find happiness:

1. Walk to boulangerie about 30 seconds away from house.

2. Buy baguette that is warm from the oven.

3. Walk another 30 seconds home with warm baguette in hand, and eat on the way.

4. Eat still warm baguette with soft cheese.

5. Be completely and totally happy (even after baguette and cheese are gone...sigh).

Entertaining discovery on the way to crêperie: blini with guacamole.

Crêpe-logue:

*L'Alaska: crêpe + pear + whipped cream (Chantilly - fun word!) + chocolate

*Citron sucre: crêpe + sugar + lemon juice (23/1/10)

Une petite note

Internet is spotty here. It connects and disconnects as it pleases, so writing back and skyping are an issue -- each page takes forever to load and requires a reload or two. Apologies for dropped skype calls.

Heater decided to work again.

It rained and is cold and wet. No pictures today :(.

L'Opéra Garnier

Took a 2-hour long tour of the Opera Garnier - beautiful! Interesting tour as well:

-Designed by Charles Garnier, who was only 35 at the time, and not particularly well known. One of the key points was that his design really made it into a magical place.

-Constructed in 13 years.

-60m tall!

-Acoustics are perfect everywhere, but there are blind spots. Opéra Bastille is the opposite (visibility from everywhere, sound not always great).

-Current ceiling was painted by Marc Chagall in about 4 years as a gift. It caused a scandal when first unveiled.

-Apparently, the Phantom of the Opera story has its origins in a legend invented by Gaston Leroux at the Opéra Garnier.

Napoleon III's Loge

Ceiling by Marc Chagall

Costumes from Shéhérazade

Stravinsky's score

Mini-set

Stage

View from one of the balconies

Place de l'Opéra

Some photos didn't turn out well, I will retake them later. Student tickets are quite manageable - 6-10 euros - so I'll definitely be going there as often as possible. A little surprised that it's not a repertoire company, as they run the same production for a number of weeks. In the next few months: La Dame aux Camélias, La Bayadère, Siddharta, Tribute to Jerome Robbins, Kaguyahime, and La Petite Danseuse de Degas.

Saw another interesting gentleman - in a business suit, complete with tie, jacket, shoes, and with a flimsy non-business-looking Eastpak backpack.

Language note - the dismayed English "oh no!" does not translate as "oh non, non!" in French. Judging from our host parents from explaining "no, really, yes, that's what happened" when they hear "oh non!" Speaking of which, that translation wouldn't work in Russian either.