Pas de Photos!

Today, I am short on photos. I will give you all of them, since there are only four! I got up at 6.30am. Yes, I actually did. I did this to get work done. See? The term "study" abroad is not a lie (although I will not deny that it may be a rationalization). This resulted in a particularly late (and sleepy!) breakfast, of considerable size. Again, sadly, without photos. What can I say? I spent breakfast studying the Playbook for team racing, so my hands were otherwise occupied. No space for cameras there! However, it was quite a delight, as are all my breakfasts.

I then went back to my desk, and, shockingly, did more work! It's the engineering. Computer science always knows how to gobble up your time. Finally, I decided to go with my friend to look for a winter coat at the soldes (incredible sales) at Monoprix. After all, I don't want her to freeze in the Haute Savoie!

I decided to walk there; it is much easier for me to focus on work after I have had a good walk. I was hoping to swing by the Grand Palais out of the way, perhaps check out the Haiti exposition, before meeting her at Opéra. This walk was the source of all my photos today.

See the (lack of) light? Clearly, it was a good day not to take pictures (rationalizations)

I found a bird. Or two. Or a whole flock.

Les Invalides is a stunning building, especially when approached from Boulevard des Invalides.

This is how they do renovations in Paris.

This is all I have to show for today. I reached the Champs Elysées and was absolutely confounded to realize that, after purchasing a membership to the Musée Jacquemart-André and tossing my wallet on top of my bag, I had never actually put it in. For the first time in living memory, I was without my wallet! Now, this is clearly a disaster. One must have money and identification with them at all time, especially in a city. Of course, this is a city where I have become extremely comfortable and I always keep a couple spare Euros floating around my person just in case, but I have been well-brought-up to be properly horrified in the case of a non-present wallet.

I had my Navigo pass for the Métro, since, naturally, I keep that separate from my wallet. However, despairing, work-laden, and fatigued, I fully intended to take the Métro straight home and tell my friend that there was no way I could join her without this most important of items. However, she said, if I wanted, she could shout me, and I realized I had no right to leaver her lying around at Opéra so I took the Ligne 8 instead of the 12 and, grudgingly, joined her.

Of course, there is nothing like a good walk and a good grumble in French to make the world a lovelier place, even if it starts raining, so she found her coat and all was well. Then, we actually returned to the Champs Elysées for the Gap soldes, because I had to obtain the softest scarf imaginable. I am now the proud possessor of said scarf, for ~€7 (down from €20). It is a fantastic scarf. Very much worth several extra Métro stops.

Then, finally, I did return home to reacquaint my pocket with my wallet and to, believe it or not, study! I had my first independent study french class, which was fantastic. After this course, I will surely be a vraie parisenne. And then, of course, I sat down to study. I emphasize this, of course, having heard many doubts and disbelief that I could be doing such a thing, given my many adventures. Unfortunately, somehow I have made it up to 18 units (I tried! I was at 14 originally! I don't know where they all came from!), and I am actually doing something productive here.

I also have made a friend. I met up with him at the Sèvres-Babylone station, and we went to see the Gary Winogrand exposition at the museum Jeu de Paume, which was fantastic. He is a computer science student and works at the Musée de l'Art Juif, and he found my knife in my bag when I entered (remember that?). Therefore, I profited from an hour and a half of pure french conversation and I have a friend. Operation Paris friend: success.

We had dinner early so I could make it to the Stanford Alumni in Paris cocktail party, and the dinner was a bit too delicious to fit with the tasty bites at the party afterwards. I had many slices of the same meat as last night, followed by a porc filet mignon with white carrot-things and poivrons, and the occasional potato, followed by some fantastic fromage and a very interesting and yet peculiar pudding thing made of crème de marrons. Then I fled for the party.

I med several interesting people, tasted one of each of the many and varied snacks and patisseries (including several flavors of macarons!), drank some champagne, messily consumed some flaky and delicious gullet à la reine, and then struggled home, burdened by two enormous boxes of leftover gallette for the train tomorrow.

Now? Time to go and…study.

I Call on Saint-Phalle (again)

This was not a day like any other. Then again, it wasn't quite so different either. I arose at a decent hour  and consumed a (more than) decent breakfast. I had greek yogurt this morning! And honey. I thought it was time to branch out into unexplored territory. That is, the dairy-ridden territory of calcium and vitamin D. Also, last night my père d'accueil mentioned that he thought I didn't like yogurt, because I never ate it. Well, now I eat it.

I didn't have class until 13h, but I needed to get some work done. Clearly, the perfect compromise between free time and work was a walk to a museum, and then some work time at ISEP before class. Well, that may not be the clear (or optimal!) solution, but, regardless, it was the course I chose. I went on a nice walk to the Grand Palais, hoping to catch the Niki de Saint Phalle exhibition one more time before it closed, since it really was quite interesting. I took care to choose a new path, so I could explore new grounds. I did, indeed, find some interesting sights.

l'Assemblée Nationale. This is where French politicians argue and, occasionally, produce laws.

Your Tour Eiffel du Jour. Complimentary tree included.

I found a bird. And le Pont Alexandre III, and the Grand Palais, and the Petit Palais. But a bird!

When I reached the Grand Palais, I was fortunate enough to be able to pass right in, since there was no line for those special possessors of a Carte Sésame. Of course, it took me a while to fish this card out of my wallet. In the meantime, I found a cat.

Meow.

Inside the museum, I covered the exhibition pretty quickly. I did, after all, have work to do. I lingered over my preferred areas, particularly the room with circus music and the spinning dancers, and the room with the garden statues (I use the term "statues" liberally; while it is by no means the ideal word, it is the closest approximation I can dream up in the English language).

Autoportrait. She needs to clean her mirror.

The dancers. My circus room.

Her lover… (cible)

Opening night?

Does this count as a halo? Is she a saint? Or just a Saint Phalle?

It pays to get ahead in life.

Island?

Dragon for Marina

After leaving the Grand Palais, I half walked, half Métro'd, to ISEP, where I promptly sat down and did some readings. Yes, very productively, thank you. My friend and I went to get lunch shortly before we had to leave for the Louvre. She got a delicious quiche, smoked salmon and spinach. I got a mediocre sandwich (hence the lack of picture). Lesson learned. Coeur de Blé has my sandwich heart forever. Thévenin can make do with giving me quiche.

We ran into the rest of our class en route to the museum, snuck in through the Carousel entrance, and experienced an excellent class period in which we visited the Salon of old and several of David's massive paintings. By massive, I mean Hercules is diminutive in comparison. By massive, I mean slightly smaller than the colossal paintings I saw last time I was there. Yes, that last comparison is quite the buzz-kill. Nevertheless, Les Hectores, Les Sabines, Brutus, Autoportrait, Napoléon (the coronation), and two other portraits provided a fantastic lesson that would not have disappointed me if it were twice the length.

After the museum, my friend and I headed out for a café, never achieved. It was rainy, but, more concerningly, windy. The gusts twisted our umbrellas, tried their best to wrench them from our grasp, and, when that failed, peevishly turned them inside-out so that we had to bow down, hair whipping around our wind-bitten faces, to pop the umbrellas back out. Needless to say, we took the Métro. Not, however, before I captured a couple photos.

Good Ol' Tour Eiffel

And then the Eiffel Tower began to disappear...

We decided to go to Monoprix first to obtain chocolate. In France, it is important to obtain chocolate on a regular basis because not only does the dramatically higher quality render much of it edible, but the prices are quite reasonable, compared to other foods (except bread and cheese). We both had too much work to do, so, sans café, we parted ways. I took the Métro to Concorde, giving me the chance to sample my newly-aquired goods.

Special Chocolate #1. Yes, 99%. Yes, I like it. No, you won't. It's not sweet.

This is fantastic. Dark Chocolate Blueberry Almond. Enough said.

Instead of transferring to Ligne 12 at Concorde, I bailed, hoping to get a bit of a walk in before my work-concience drove me back to my travails. I crossed the Tuileries and the Seine, enjoying the lesser wind, the empty park, and the lack of rain.

What a tree.

French lines.

I found a horse. No, of course it's a bird, just seeing if you were paying attention!

Waiting. For Godot to come get his globe back?

This bridge design is both brilliant and bizarre.

As you probably would not have guessed, I hopped back on the Métro at Assemblée Nationale (which, in case you are wondering, is only one stop on Ligne 12 past Concorde). My work-conscience, alas, got the better of me.

I arrived chez ma famille d'accueil at 16h30, mid-afternoon, where I was greeted by an empty apartment. This was very conducive to several hours of work (and potential 99% dark chocolate consumption), or, if you are particularly desperate for distraction, a thorough inbox cleansing.

My dinner tonight was elegant, consisting of several slices of mystery meat (ham, I suspect) with baguette and cornichons, followed by ravioli pesto and the same cheese last night, as well as some Comte, followed by crème caramel.

After watching the news (I am beginning to suspect, from my limited experience in these waters, that TV newscasters choose a couple stories, learn everything they can about them, and show slightly different aspects to the story every day for a week), I retreated to my room. I had a Skype conversation, which became a silent Skype conversation when the two parties involved realized that the sound was nonfunctional. This, in fact, added to the hilarity of the conversation, so if anyone wishes to experiment in silent Skype sessions, I am happy to facilitate your early experiences.

However, there is still work to be done, and no more adventures to discuss. so go off and have your own adventures while I study algorithms! Bonne nuit!

Promenade in the Park

Today is the first day that I came home not, according to my fitbit, having walked well over 10,000 steps. This should tell you something. I warn you in advance.

I should have taken pictures of my breakfast this morning, as a) it was quite different from usual, and b) it may have been the third most interesting part of the day! That is not necessarily to say it was not an interesting day, but rather that I consumed hardened toast (sort of like melba toast, but baguette-style) with mousse de marrons on top. It really was quite something, and not bad, either. Of course, I had sliced fruit and coffee as well, and some of last night's cake, but that is all normal.

I lingered over breakfast, taking the time to (try to) finish my reading. The problem is, breakfast consumption proves quite distracting when one is trying to read (and take notes on!) a book for class. Suffice it to say, I did not finish the reading until I was installed in the study room at ISEP.

Customary morning image. Today's light is worthless.

The study room part 1. i.e. where I spent my entire day

Study room part 2: i.e. the books, where I would gladly spend the day...

My morning class was cancelled because the professor was, unfortunately, ill, so I had the morning to do readings, to do research for my CS internship, and to be distracted by the other students as they filtered in. I took a break to visit Coeur de Blé with a friend; after purchasing our food, we went on a walk through Jardin du Luxembourg to eat it surrounded by greenery.

My sandwich. Tomatoes, mozzarella, pesto, something else?

The wildest part of the park. The trees aren't aligned here!

Okay, back to tree lanes

Even the benches are aligned? Impressive.

And the trees go forever, and ever… No, there is no mirror.

The one course I had was art history, which was, of course, fascinating. Straight afterwards, I met up with the professor for my CS research internship, and we discussed what I had done so far (preliminary research) and what I need to do for next week (30min-1hour presentation explaining the SAMOA library, in the style of a class lecture, to deliver to her next week, and a program that does something with the data set). Slightly intimidated by the workload but excited to get started, I went back upstairs, met with the French professor to finalize the details of my "Independent Study" (I will be studying french pronunciation and accent under her, individually!), and then, you may have guessed, went back to work. Note that the work would not take nearly so long if I were to find a slightly less distracting location. Note, too, that the social vibes in the study room are a worthy distraction and that to establish bonds with ones peers is a valuable activity that should not be condemned (and that most definitely should never be referred to as "procrastination"!).

Tour de Montparnasse. Out the window.

Kids playing soccer. Out the window.

Clouds. Out the window.

The out-the-window theme is my new expression for what to do when 30 more pages of David: L'Art et le Politique seems impossible. That is, even the most interesting read can occasionally be less alluring than the outside world, especially when that outside world is Paris.

We all hung around because of the preparation session for the Bing trip this weekend: we're going to the Alps! I won't give you details now, because they will come in real time (ish), but it will be amazing.

Dinner consisted of an excellent carottes rapées with diced apple in it; great recipe! To any reader who may be considering making a similar dish (I know at least one of you does so habitually), the inclusion of apples is an excellent idea. Then, we had some sort of white meat (poulet?) with courgettes and aubergines (i.e. chicken with zucchini and eggplant, for those of you who don't make french food terms a priority), followed by a chève salée cheese and some sort of concoction for dessert (I honestly do not know how better to describe it. It was coffee-flavored, and I know for a fact it contained coffee and eggs, and probably creme, but beyond that, it is a mystery food).

Then, after watching the news with my famille d'accueil, I sat down to work. It is 23h41. I still do not have 10,000 steps. What a shame.

A Day for Monet

Well, I didn't have any courses today, which meant that, when I woke up at 7h30, I had plenty of time to finish my book. It is called Le Club des Incorrigibles Optimistes by Jean-Michel Guenassia and I highly recommend it (if you didn't notice yesterday, I was quite absorbed). There is an English version. If anyone wants to obtain it for me so I can read and compare, I will be eternally grateful.

Only once this important business was completed could I continue with my customary morning routine. I was actually lucky enough to have camembert to accompany my meal. Then, I left for the most exciting of activities. I arrived at ISEP around 9h45 and spent the rest of the morning either doing my homework or trying to do my homework but, instead, having interesting conversations with the other students.

I went to Coeur de Blé for lunch, while the others went to the Wok place across the street (I admit, I snuck in and joined them in the corner. Considering that there were four of them, I think it's forgivable, if not good. As one may say in french, it is not accepté, maid toleré). No food photos; I think you've seen plenty of panini.

After some more "studying", we decided to visit the Orangerie, and, surely under my excellent influence, we decided to walk. En route, we found a taxidermy store. Yes, a taxidermy store. The labyrinthine rooms were crammed with antique furniture, somewhat-disturbing knives, and dead animals. No photos were allowed, unfortunately, so I can't properly display the grandeur, but this may be for the better, as I would have to consider it PG-13 or R with that type of image.

Taxidermy window display. Unknown critter.

This does not look like a bad. Pterodactyl?

I still don't know what this is, but I hope I don't meet it in a dark alley.

Okay, I stole one photo. I couldn't help it. Look at this guy!

We continued, crossing the Seine towards the Tuileries. If you are wondering why I have so few pictures today, it is partially because I spent the entire morning in the study room, and partially because it was rainy. The light was diffuse, definitely not suitable for good photos. There wasn't even a nice, mystical fog to chirp things up. Just clouds, and diffuse light, and raindrops. That said, it was quite warm!

Today's light: not conducive to worthy photography. Not that my photos are exactly "worthy", but...

We approached the Orangerie, which is a beautiful building that, at one point, lived up to its name and contained oranges. However, today the only oranges are the splashes of paint on canvas (and my hair, I suppose!).

Despite the light, I figured I'd give you a photo.

Of course, Monet's water lilies, housed specially in two round rooms in this museum, were fantastiques. Having seen them before detracted not one bit from their intensity and grandeur. The impressionists below, of course, are fantastic as well. I really have fallen for Renoir since the Musée du Luxembourg exhibit.

After the museum, the light was even worse.

When we left, we set off towards a boba place someone had found. In case you aren't up to date with the trendiest nourishment in the Bay Area, Boba tea is a Thai concoction, often containing tapioca balls, made out of tea, milk?, and other mysterious substances. While I am far from an expert (this is only the second time I have ever purchased the beverage), I think it is better in California, but worth sampling in Paris. I got a simple Thé Noir, without the "zenzoo" (or tapioca bubbles in english) because a) they cost extra and b) I really am not fond of them. They remind me of mushrooms in their consistency.

Boba #2 in the life of Lauren

So, overall, it was a fairly uneventful day. I did buy a hat. I stopped at Monoprix on my way home, where massive soldes made everything a bargain. I bought a handful of notebooks (well, two hands full, which was a problem), some pens (including another fountain pen!), and, finally, a hat. All this for under €25 which is not easy in Paris.

Dinner, unfortunately, does not come with photos tonight but it was worthy of them. After a pâté and cornichons (with baguette of course!), we had some sort of meat, tender and quite tasty, and potatoes with onions, followed by a fromage and some clementines and another gâteau. Nobody could say, with a straight face, that I don't eat well here.

I was at Vishniac

This morning's breakfast did  not come with a croissant, alas. It was delicious anyway, though, and I didn't have to worry about what was intended for whom! A major accomplishment, in my book. In the classical french custom of lingering over meals, I read my book as I enjoyed a prolonged breakfast. Then again, I may have been following the classical Stanford custom of procrastination while I did not do my readings for Tuesday, but that's slightly less glorious and culturally-aware, I would say. In any case, suffice it to say that this morning varied very little from the others.

Of course, I can't sit around all day in Paris, even if I have work to do. I have to get to my greater class: the study of historic foreign cities! That is, it was time to take a walk and visit museums. I first set out south on rue Vaugirard, thinking I would explore a bit (until today, I had only ever walked north). It turned out not to be particularly interesting, with the notable exception of the Pierre Hermé I found (remember the EXCEPTIONAL macarons from yesterday? Well, I do). Then again, if you go walking in Paris and don't find something interesting, you haven't tried hard enough. Lazy, and engrossed in my book, I took the Métro to the station by Musée D'Orsay, semi-intending to visit the Grand Palais exhibition again. Unfortunately, given that it is the second-to-last weekend before this hugely popular exhibition closes, even the coup-fil line (that is, the one for special people with cards, like me!) was undesirably long, so, book in hand, I took a walk.

I passed through the Tuileries, heading, eventually, to the Musée de l'Art et l'Histoire Juif, since in the Métro I had seen a poster announcing a photography exhibition that was closing today. I haven't really walked through the Tuileries since I've been here, and I can never turn down a walk through the park, so soon I found myself winding between trees (well, okay, if you ever find yourself "winding" between trees in a French garden, you are either a) extremely drunk, or b) doing a soccer dribbling exercise; they are all perfectly aligned in rows), book in one hand, camera in the other. The light wasn't particularly good (that is, it was quite cloudy), but a great day for wandering.

I found a nice fountain. Without any tourists! What an achievement.

Birds are quite fond of this particular side of the Louvre. Thermals?

I stopped in the Louvre for a peek, and bought a croissant for a snack, which, in my hungry state, I forgot to photograph. I believe I took the Métro from the Louvre to the Marais, although the journey was quite overshadowed by my book (I'm almost done!). Then, I wandered. After stopping for an apple strudel on rue des Rossiers (which, again, I forgot to photograph, my bad! Guess I'll have to get another one…), I followed rue de la Veille Temple for a bit before realizing, in a bit of an ironic reversal from yesterday's adventure, that the museum was actually on rue du Temple. This resulted in an exact backtracking along yesterday's path until I came upon the museum.

This very secure museum is guarded by scary faces on the doors. The Gendarme is decoration.

This was the only museum so far that noticed my Leatherman (even though I put my bag through a bag scanner upon entering every museum), so I suppose that is reassuring for their security. The exhibition was fantastic. It was truly stunning. The photographer, Roman Vishniac, was a Russian Jew who began his adulthood in Berlin (the Bolsheviks weren't a big fan of him). A biologist and zoologist by study, he fell into photography, and started taking pictures of pre-war Jewish life in Eastern Europe. An American organization, noticing his talent, hired him to continue in 1938, which provided him with some additional protection. This resulted in some of the most stunning photos; in a sense, he was a war-time Henri Cartier-Bresson. Bresson was, in fact, fond of several of his works. He moved to France when Germany got too dangerous (actually, well after Germany got too dangerous! 1939) and was lucky enough to emigrate to New York in 1941 with his family, where he began seriously publishing and displaying his works. I only took one photo inside the exhibition, but the website is: http://vishniac.icp.org/ if you're interested.

For safety and peace, huge numbers of Jews were moving to Palestine. Irony?

They had a super-cheap coffee vending machine, and I sat down for a nice €0,55 coffee. Unfortunately, I ruined it by forgetting to subtract the sugar, but, having bought it, I drank it (it was still coffee!) and affirmed my love of café noir.

From the courtyard. Because space is a privilege in Paris.

The façade of the museum. A beautiful building.

You know how I love random arches that lead to empty courtyards.

Statue in the courtyard of the museum.

After the museum, I walked back towards Hôtel de Ville, and intended to take the Métro to the Louvre and walk from there. Unfortunately, I headed at first in the wrong direction, and had to switch back over at St. Paul. This is fine, as it gave me more time to read my book, which is fantastic. Coming back across the courtyard before the Louvre, I stumbled upon the most impressive sunset I have ever seen in Paris. I stood for fifteen minutes taking photographs and watching its progress. This was a Monet-style study (that is, I have countless photographs of exactly the same thing with slightly different colors to mark them as different paintings, so I can sell a matching set and triple my earnings). In all seriousness, I could hardly choose which photographs to include, so I have provided a sequence that maps the progress of said sunset. Please appreciate the fact that this is at most 1/3 of the pictures I took.

Finally, the sun faded behind the Palace, and I headed across the bridge. Then, of course, I had to catch the sunset sinking behind the buildings across the Seine.

Musée D'Orsay with sinking sun

I made my way home eventually, taking care to choose a different route than my normal one. The problem is, my customary trek is so incredibly direct that any alternative is bound to take me significantly longer. However, I made it home in plenty of time before dinner.

We had some sort of meat with tomatoes provençales and rice, and a potimarron écrassé. We had a delicious cheese and an apple compote with Christmas pudding just because. It was quite a feast.

So, after yet another spectacular day, I have to stop procrastinating (or, at the very least, finish my book!). Bonne nuit!