(8-10): Tourist Week, Pt. 2

Act II of a musical usually opens with a number that either refreshes the audience or has nothing to do with the plot... I'm told it's so that people getting back late from intermission won't miss anything and so that whoever is seated can gradually get back into the swing of things.

Well, this isn't a musical. On Thursday, after class and sandwiches, a few of us went to the Pompidou Center. It was today that we made a fantastic discovery. Reid Hall has given us these Student ID cards (because a passport, a visa, and an International Student ID weren't enough) and they don't fit in our wallets. What they do, however, is identify us all as students of Art History-- which means-- we have free access to art museums in Paris. That said, with unlimited museum access and pre-paid unlimited metro, we can go to any of the best museums in Paris (that is, some of the best museums in the world) that we want, anytime we want, for free. In a country with no Smithsonian and running on the Euro, this is a big deal.

It's also good because spending money on the Pompidou center would have made me cry a little. It's modern art... I didn't really get it... There was a dress made out of meat...

We then tried to go to an exhibit on Miles Davis that the program was paying for, but we got there JUST after Tenimba, the program person who takes care of all the logistical stuff and leads these sponsored outings, bought the tickets. Apparently our text or call to somebody else in the group to tell Tenimba we were coming didn't quite make it through. So, we decided to forget itand wander around the northern part of the city, not far from the famous bohemian epicenter, Montmartre. We didn't find much, but there was a kosher pastry shop: Le Relais Sucre (135 Rue Manin, 75019 Paris). We finally found our way to Sacré Coeur, the famous basilica with the more famous hilltop view of Paris. Once again, great timing on our part put us at the top at 7:00 sharp to see the Tour Eiffel from afar (oh, boy, the tower-on-the-hour again! And he's still not telling-- Is that Andy a master of suspense, or WHAT!).

Friday was a small masterpiece... we actually had destinations that day! First up was lunch at L'As du Falafel ("The Ace of Falafel") at 34 Rue de Rosiers in the Jewish neighborhood. This was supposed to be the best falafel in Paris, and starting at 5 euros a person (unless you want meat or other stuff).

So, it turns out I don't like falafel...?

Anyway, we then found our way to the Place des Voges, a very picturesque square park surrounded by very picturesque square apartments. One of these belonged to Victor Hugo. We visited it. The apartment itself is interesting, but the first floor of the exhibit is just a LOT of pictures of Hugo and his family (or something). Interesting to see, glad it was free.

On the way to the next stop, we made a brief but necessary unplanned one: 87 Rue Antoine (Metro: St-Paul on line 1) to get pastries at Miss Manon. I had a caramel éclair that redefined what it means for something to taste good.

That next stop, by the way, was another incredible one: the Musee d'Orsay just on the Seine. That's the one that used to be a train station but now shows off art*. Good thing, because this is a great collection... a lot of impressionism (that means it looks more like what it's supposed to when you stand back about 5 or 6 feet), post-impressionism (that means it's got lots of color dots, needs about 6-8 feet distance, and Stephen Sondheim may or may not have written a flop on the subject).

This is what you get when your guide to Paris opted not to take Art History.

In all seriousness, though, the colors were all very striking, and there was some other neat stuff, like a room about psychedelic art and 1960s and 1970s album covers (including many you music-lovers would know and love). It's also just a great building... I took many pictures (you can absolutely do that here, by the way-- no flash, no problem**). It's still a great old train station.

The other great thing about the museum is that, if you don't dwell more than a few minutes in one place (I don't like to), you can get through the museum in two hours and see mostly everything (I do like to). We then went back to Reid Hall for a Gallette du Roi (see days 3-4 for details) at 6:30.*** There, we met a few French students from nearby high schools and universities.

Later that night, some of us met up with some of those French university students and went out to a bar at Bastille (also a famous tourist site). It's sort of what the area is known for... pretty hip, and definitely worth checking out. A tad pricey, but I like it a lot better than the (few) bars I've been to in the U.S., where you paid too much for a drink and just stood around trying to yell over everybody trying to yell over everybody else trying to yell over you. Here, while it was still noisy, the bar itself was geared toward giving you and your friends a table to sit down and maybe have an actual conversation. The drinks were actually pretty good, too.

Only problem with the metro: it stops at midnight (and I do mean stops: whatever the next stop is, your train will kick you off and then turn into a pumpkin... I'm told that's fun to watch, and helps take the edge off the inconvenience of finding a bus or taxi). Runs until 2 on Friday and Saturday.

Speaking of Saturday, I slept in, so I got a late start headed toward the Catacombs (Denfert-Rochereau metro station, line 6). This wasn't helped any by the fact that I got lost maybe two or three times trying to find the HSBC that's supposed to be a block away from my house (still haven't seen it). Eventually gave up, grabbed a croissant and apple tart (I mean, what else can you do, really?), and went to the catacombs. Although I do know now where I can find the Renault car factory, should the hour of need ever strike.

It drizzled consistently today. Very moody.

I got to the catacombs too late to join my friends and I didn't care that much, so I walked the area a little. I found a long side street whose stores formed a neat market (probably pricey, though I didn't look). When I finally decided to seek the exit to the catacombs, I got lost another few times (the map sucked and didn't match the street names), so that took me a good hour or so (and drizzle makes getting lost so much better...****). But all's well that ends well, I guess, because I eventually found my friends, an HSBC, and a movie theater. We saw a family farce called Une petite zone de turbulences (Loosely translated to English, "A Brief Turbulent Period"). It was actually pretty funny, and I'm sure it would have been hysterical if I had understood more than every fourth word. I mean, come on-- the guy's wife was played by an actress named Miam-Miam. How can you lose???

We then found our way back to Bastille for dinner and, after a not-so-brief indecisive period, we had Italian at a place right on the Bastille circle. A little pricey, but very tasty pizza. We then tried to catch another movie, but the last showings for movies are all around 10 in this city... so, we wandered around the Chatelet area where we were on Tuesday (see Days 5-7). It was nice... just me and my friends, low-key, not a lot of people, still drizzling...

Only Paris can make rain look good.

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* It's also the setting, I believe, for that famous college bookstore poster with the train coming out of the broken window. You know the one: its caption reads "OH, SHIT!" No? Fine, here: http://www.amazon.com/Oh-Shit-Train-Wreck-Poster/dp/B000WYJW3K.

** As it should be: this is an exposition, not an exhibition, for goodness sake!

*** Interesting note: over here, clocks tend to be in 24-hour format. So, more often than not, you'll have a 3-hour class that goes from 11h30 until 14h30, rather than 11:30AM-2:30PM. The 'h' stands for heures, your per-entry French lesson for "hours."

**** Although Drizzle may be the best baby name ever.*****

***** And, yes, this is a footnote-within-a-footnote. Probably illegal. But I wanted to add that that is, in fact a reference to something. Major bonus points if you can tell me what.