Yesterday was a Thursday, which means a 9am class, which was interesting. Then, instead of sitting down and doing work, I ran off to the Musée Delacroix. It turned out to be quite a small museum, but worth a visit for someone who can get in free (as an Ami du Louvre, that would be me!). It was also quite relevant with what we are studying in my Art History course.
I ran (quite literally) afterwards to meet up with some friends at a crêperie that was absolutely fantastic. for €12 you get a gallette complete, a crêpe for dessert, and cider. More importantly, the gallettes were too big for most of my friends, so I had half of each of three of my friends'! That is the best way to get a good, filling meal (and made it an incredible dal for me!). It was delicious.
We then walked over to the Sorbonne, cutting through the lovely Jardin du Luxembourg on the way. The course on the intellectual engagé was having a guided tour of the Sorbonne, and I was tagging along. We met up at a bookstore, I think it was called Librarie de la Compagnie or something, right by the Musée de Cluny (and Café Jaffar!), which had an entire window devoted to engaged intellectual stuff. It was great, and the vendeuse was very friendly and helpful. We then crossed the street and got to enter one of the most beautiful educational facilities I have ever seen (and I have seen Stanford…). I have photos that will likely appear Tuesday.
After the tour, a couple of us went to look for a snack, and then, after making our way to Place Saint-Michel, decided everything was too expensive and effortful, and we all went home. I had a nice dinner, and then the lovely and, unfortunately, rare experience of Skyping my brother! My diner was exactly what I have had the other nights. After the lunch, I didn't feel the need to go all the way to Chez Marianne as intended. Saving money is sometimes a good thing. Well, usually.
Later that evening, my friend and I went to our friend's place (the one who is a student at ISEP) and we started watching a movie with him and his American friend who he met on Tinder to speak English with, purportedly. We were seeing "What if" with Daniel Radcliffe, in which he plays a character similar enough to my personality hat it was shocking. Unfortunately, we did not finish because the Métro was going to close, so I went home, and it was about 12h30 or 1am. Then, I got into a serious debate on Facebook, and by the time I started packing and preparing for Barcelona, it wass very late indeed! Hence, no blog post.
Today, I had a hurried breakfast of cereal and toast and coffee, and took all my luggage (I am traveling with a backpack and that's it) to the Musée Nissim de Camondo. It was fantastic. It is an old Hotel Particulier, which were the special mansions aristocratic families used to build in the later 19th century. Charles Effrussi had one, and I made a pilgrimage after our guided tour. The whole thing was truly fantastic.
I dragged two friends on my pilgrimage, and then we made our way towards Gare Saint-Lazare, from where two of us had to take a train to Mont Valérien for a field trip. We looked for something cheap and tasty for lunch, and after much searching I ended up at Brioch D'Orée, which, in truth, is neither. The friend who wasn't coming didn't buy anything and left, and the other two of us tae our lunches in the Gare, then went to Monoprix (we were both unsatisfied). I bought a huge box of carrots rappées for only €1,24 and ate the whole thing. I should have just gotten that to begin with!
We arrived really early at Mont Valérien, so we went on an exploratory venture, ended up descending the hill, stopping at McDonalds to surreptitiously use their bathroom, and remounted the hill. With our class, we visited the cemetery and the fortress/monument/useum where the Nazis had their hostage and executions, and it was rainy and frigid and interesting. I had to leave early for my plane, I thought. Luckily, everything worked like clockwork. Ever train and bus came EXACTLY when I arrived, and I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.
I bought a lousy dinner (but it was cheap, unlike in the states where it's lousy and expensive!) and then found out I was in the wrong terminal, and quickly went to the correct erminal (where the food was less lousy and only slightly less cheap). Of course, I needn't have rushed because, due to a technical problem, our flight was delayed an hour and a half. Of course, they didn't tell us this, so we stood in line from 8h15 until 10h20 ish. I made friends, and read a Barcelona guide book that I purchased in the airport.
I arrived in Barcelona in one place, found the bus, walked down Les Ramblas to our hostel, which seems quite nice. My friends were up, had been following my delayed plane, and we went out, unsuccessfully. I bought falafel It's better in Paris. Then we came back and I am going to sleep. Pardon spelling errors; it is almost 3h30 and my fingers are tired!
Wow, I didn't even know there was a small Delacroix museum in Paris. Does small modify the word "museum" or is it a museum of small Delacroix paintings (an oxymoron, perhaps)?
ReplyDeleteHave fun in Barcelona, but I'm not certain I like reading about you wandering alone down Las Ramblas in the middle of the night. I hope you didn't wander in the dark shadows at the side.