Paris: Part IV

Last night in Paris! I am all packed up and ready to go in the morning. But first, the obligatory blog entry about my last few days!

Yesterday I definitely woke up after noon, with nothing whatsoever to do anyway. I played around on the computer, sent some emails, showered, and hung around until 18:30, when Maureen got tired of studying and decided it would be time for dinner. We walked up to Rue Mouffetard (definitely the coolest street in this arrondissement) and went to a little Italian place on a corner. It was super cute and the food was appropriately portioned, but the waitress was not incredibly nice and messed up our bill at the end of it all. C'était pas grave.

After dinner we completed the Italian illusion with gelato from down the street. They put it on the cone in the shape of a rose, which is pretty fantastic. They didn't have mint, so I got caramel and Nutella instead. I really do enjoy Nutella. I wonder if I can bring some back with me...

Maureen wanted to continue studying and I wanted to check out le Jardin du Luxembourg, so we parted ways and I made the 15 minute walk on part of the route I took Wednesday, when I'd passed the garden. It's apparently the largest public park in the 6th arrondissement, and people were everywhere in chairs and on benches. I wandered all throughout it, taking pictures of a giant gold head (Le Prophète; not anyone specific), the first version of the Statue of Liberty (a tiny version, with an American oak behind it as a memorial for September 11th), a version of Rome's Mouth of Truth, grass you can't lie on, and more. It was very calm and peaceful, and I actually sat down for half an hour and attempted to write. Though it pretty much failed, it was still quite fun, and I definitely plan on spending more time there next time I'm in the city.

I made it back for an earlier night than the one before, since this morning I had to wake up at 10:00. Maureen's final was from 10:15 until 10:30, and she planned on being back around 11:00 so we could go to the crêpe restaurant. While she made it back a little late, we still got there before 11:30. Maureen's roommates Noelle, Nikki and Kathy, plus their friend Laura, Maureen and I were the only ones in the restaurant, until an American family came in and sat down, but only after the mother had removed all of the knives from the table. We made our orders and got our drinks, and five minutes later the family walked out without saying anything to the waitress, who got pretty mad. She talked to us about it, and asked if that was normal in the US; we said no, not unless we hadn't gotten a table yet. Pretty ridiculous.

I got a crepe with strawberry ice cream, black cherries, whipped cream and pecans, and it was absolutely fantastic. The black cherries had been sitting in alcohol apparently, so they were a little strong, but it was still a delicious breakfast. I'm so excited for all the fun restaurants I know in Paris now! Maureen and I went back to the apartment for a few minutes afterward, to get ready for our long day in the city, before catching the bus to Centre Georges Pompidou, the modern art museum. We met Maureen's friend Kim in the plaza in front of it before heading in, since Kim was leaving for Greece this afternoon and Maureen leaves for home soon after Kim gets back. Though we plotted ways to get the European Union discount that adults from 18-25 receive (free tickets!), we ended up paying a reduced ticket price for the museums and exhibitions. I wish the US would do something where we get free museum tickets in Europe too! And do it in the next four years so I can enjoy it. Thanks, America.

The top floor had the Kandinsky exhibit I was so excited about, as well as a Calder exhibit. Kandinsky's works after 1911 are so much better than the ones beforehand, when he gave up trying to paint anything realistic and just decided to throw shapes, lines and color onto a canvas. I'm sure his artistic theories give rhyme and reason to his compositions and improvisations, but I cannot make any sense of them. My favorite is when the paintings were called Red Oval or Several Circles; why thank you, I had no idea what this was a painting of, and now I know.

Calder's wire sculptures were also great, with an entire circus and tons of sculpted people and animals. All of the figures were anatomically correct also; it made me laugh. The best were the sculptures of Heracles with the Nimean lion and Romulus and Remus with a wolf. The exhibit continued on the fourth level with old-fashioned looking toys, which would have been more amazing if they were moving like it seemed they could. They rest of that level was a huge exhibit called elles@centrepompidou, aka female artists and incredibly feminist setups. One of the first rooms was labeled "potentially offensive to certain viewers" and was full of sculptures of female genitalia and a few pornographic paintings and photographs. There were a few cool exhibits, including a room with woven mats hanging overhead casting shadows onto the floor, and a few strange ones, including a leather looking dress that had, when it was first displayed, been bleeding, raw meat. Sometimes I feel validated for being a vegetarian; today was one of those days.

The fourth level wiped us out, so we zipped through the fifth level of impressionist paintings, taking a little more time for Picasso and Matisse, before heading back to the first level (the second and third are a library). It had rained while we were inside, but thankfully cleared up, so we missed the worst. The fountain next to the Pompidou is one of my favorites, filled with strange looking sculptures that spit water, so we took a few pictures before walking to the area around Notre Dame for souvenir shopping. I made my close-to-final purchases for the trip, and we walked towards the Métro to the Longchamp store!

We arrived pretty quickly, but I was upset to realize that they were all out of the bag I wanted; they had the style I wanted in every color but orange, and orange bags in every style but mine. Maureen guessed they would have them at the Galleries Lafayettes, a huge department store that I had gone to on one of our last days in Paris during high school, so we walked the entire way there to see if they were out too. They were, in fact, not out, and I think I grabbed the last one of the bag I wanted! A successful trip for the only real souvenir I got myself in Paris. Thanks Granny <3

The Champs Elysses was a little farther than us at that point, but I only had one available Métro ticket left and that had to get us back to Maureen's apartment. We used her map to get us close, but at one point we walked in a circle before we finally got where we wanted to be. We took pictures of l'Arc de Triomphe from the middle of the street, thanks an island between crosswalks, then found the Métro so we could go back to Rue Mouffetard for a much needed dinner. We had not eaten since the crêpe restaurant; we were starving.

The little French restaurant had a great 14€ menu that we ordered from, which included an appetizer, entrée and dessert. I got chèvre chaud avec la salade, et saumon (salad with goat's cheese and salmon), while Maureen got soupe de l'oignon et steak-frites (french onion soup and steak with French fries). We both got Kir for a drink, though I knocked mine over after dropping bread into my salad and lost a quarter of it, and then we got chocolate mousse for dessert. Easily one of the better meals on my trip; I also enjoyed the linguini with clams and the amazing dessert wine in Rome.

After dinner we went to the grocery store to get popcorn, since we'd decided to watch a movie while I packed, and I got a French reusable grocery bag! It is orange (obviously) with a lady bug on it, aka adorable. We came back to the apartment and I started packing clothes while Maureen showered, then organized souvenirs in my backpack while we started watching Bride Wars. Funniest movie ever, but it makes me afraid to ever try to get married. I have plenty of room in my duffel bag and backpack, since I'm checking my duffel bag with a suitcase filled with Maureen's books, instead of carrying on my duffel bag with just my backpack. This means I can have a purse on the plane! Not that it's necessary; I packed light for two weeks.

Tomorrow I'm waking up at 9:00 to shower and make sure everything is set before we leave for the Métro at 10:00. I'm catching the RER (a train to the Charles de Gaulle) from Châtelet, which will take me straight to Terminal 2, where I catch American Airlines flight 147 to Logan and hope my ride is there on time. It'll be nice to have a direct flight this time! It will also be the longest day ever, since when I arrive I'll think it's 21:30 but it will really be 15:30 and I'll have the entire rest of the day. If I can make it to 22:00 or 23:00 before I sleep, I will consider it a success; I just hope I wake up early on Monday, since I have my first day at Channel 5 Boston at 11:00!

I can't believe I'm leaving. This trip has been too amazing. It will be nice to be back though, where I can get a normally-priced Starbucks and send text messages!

Time to sleep; early morning tomorrow!

Love,
Sam