My Long Overdue Birthday Weekend Post!

Saturday: VERSAILLES!!

I took 120 pictures, so I'll try to narrow it down some :-).

We were not the only people with this idea.

Louis XIV. This was his place, so there are lots of images of him.

Hey, I like vases.

...

HALL OF MIRRORS!!

 

I kind of had to take a mirror picture in the Hall of Mirrors, n'est-ce pas?

Seriously, Japanese cartoon art in the Hall of Mirrors? Wah. This art was in almost every room as part of a Japanese art exhibit. It drove me nuts. 

Napoleon! He's my fave :-)

I'm taller than a tree!!

Marie Antoinette had her own little place out in the middle of the gardens.

Basic summary of the day: It takes about 40 min and costs about 4 euro to go from slightly south of the middle of Paris to Versailles, so not a bad deal at all! Ashley and I showed up around 12:45 or 1. After touring the castle, we bought sandwiches at their horrifically overpriced cafe, and then went to the gardens. Even though they're generally free, we had to pay to get into them because they were doing a musical exhibition and we could not find the free way in. I even tried to sneak in and then got bounced back. The conversation, in French, was kind of hilarious. Hilarious because I didn't get in trouble, that is. Her, in this case, is a mean security guard/ticket vendor lady.

Her: Can I see your ticket?

Me: I don't have one.

Her: Then what are you doing?

Me: I was trying to take a photograph!

Her: Ummm

Me: I thought these gardens were free!!

Her: Yeah, with a good lawyer.

Me: I'm gonna go leave now and buy a ticket.

Her: Yeah, you are.

I was a little nervous she would kick me off the property altogether, but happily she wanted my money more so I got to go back in six euro poorer. We spent this later part of the afternoon walking around, listening to classical music as we strolled through the gardens. If I hadn't been dressed for weather ten degrees warmer than it was, it would have been perfect! We rode bikes for about a half an hour and went by a bunch of sheep in a pasture (Awww Shepard, I miss you). I got home around 7:45 PM, and then got ready to celebrate my 21st! 

I mean, when in France...

We ended up going to the Bastille area to catch the end of the Techno Parade partiers. There were a bunch of people still here!

Sunday: Birthday!!!

My birthday surprise (after sleeping in super late) was a trip to Angelina's! Angelina's is a touristy cafe in the Louvre area famous for its pastries and hot chocolate. Don't worry-- we had both.

Mmmm croque monsieur

 

You really need to see the thickness of this hot chocolate to believe it.

We all happily drank it. Then were on massive sugar highs for a solid 30 minutes while we waited for the check. It was awesome :-).

After Angelina's, we decided to walk it off! I bought some scarves and we wandered for a while before finding an open mall (on a Sunday)!

Aww I loved this book!!

This picture makes me think of the Apple noise

Oh yeah, of course there's an 800 year old wall in our mall... oh Paris.

...basically our mall is a museum. Or our museum is a mall. Or who knows.

I ended the day with some Korean barbequeue and watching my brother eat cake in my honor via skype.

MONDAY: Potluck!

Monday night after an uneventful day of classes we all went over to our friends' house (yes house, not apartment) as their host family was gone. We had a fantastic potluck with a bunch of more American-y foods. Hot dogs, pizza, and some salad with a reasonable amount of dressing were highlights, along with Daisy's homemade guac (so good!)

TUESDAY: So the French people I know are nice...

In the morning, I met with the director of OxFam to set my schedule. She was really friendly and I'm excited to work with her. I start tomorrow afternoon. After more class, I met a couple of friends and we searched for our course at the Sorbonne. It was a nightmare. We first went to the wrong part of town (different Paris IV). We then found the correct building but couldn't find the room. Then we found the room, but there was no one in it! We'll have to figure it out tomorrow, but our unsuccessful 2 hour search was kind of a bummer.
My french family was all set to cheer me up, though! We had a little party in the family room, complete with cake and a new, French copy of Persepolis! It was so sweet (in so many senses!)

I was so surprised and so happy!

Baguettes et Musées

I'll start off with last night-- we had dinner with Miles and his son and spoke English the whole time. It was fantastic. The food was decent, but I loved getting a chance to hear Miles in his native tongue, and to hear his son try out his English. I then went out with a few friends to a couple of bars and had a couple of glasses of wine, but left before they went to the club in order to take the first metro home.

Today, I slept for 8+ hours. It was magical. I then lounged in bed for awhile, which was also wonderful. After watching Gossip Girl (relevant because Serena and Blair were in Paris!), I got up and went to the Louvre. I have pictures to prove it!

Sculpture Garden!

Part of Napoleon's "Petits Appartements"

This room is not so petite...

Looks just like my dining room at home.

Crown Jewels! ...sort of. They belonged to a duchess. The room of crown jewels is being prepared for a new exhibition :-(

I actually forgot who painted this, but it's the story of David and Bathsheba, and I liked it a lot. The guy next to Bathsheba (who should be obvious) is her actual husband, and way in the top left corner is David leering down at her. I really like it because it's really close to how I imagined the story going.

It rained while we were inside! 

I was really happy that the weather got gross because we were planning to go to Versailles today, and then ended up deciding to postpone due to the rain forecasted. When we got up this morning, and all the way until 2 PM, it was beautiful outside. The rain made me feel much better.

After leaving the Louvre, we went to a bookstore. I got Harry Potter 7 in French! Now I have something to read on the metro for my long commutes (45 min to class!) that doesn't scream AMERICAN RIDING THE METRO, so that's a bonus. I also want to get half way through it before the premiere. 

I literally risked my life to get this picture. They have huge posters at almost every metro stop, but to fit the whole thing in I had to lean wayyyy back and stand as close to the rails as possible. But hey, I didn't fall, and now you can all see that Paris in fact gets it 5 days after London and the U.S. :-(. We're planning on going to London the weekend of the 19th. Oh, and the reason that this post is called "Baguettes et Musées" is because the word "baguette" in French is the word they use for "wand" in the HP books, and I think that's funny. Also, Hogwarts is Poudlard.

Tonight, Katherine and I are going to cook some tortellini in home-made alfredo sauce (yum!) with some broccoli, so that should be tasty! Hopefully Versailles tomorrow!