It started on Thursday afternoon. Suzie had to do some "real" work (i.e., work for which she would be paid in real money, rather than in personal-satisfaction credits), so after having a quick lunch with some of my classmates in the cafeteria, I decided to treat myself to a solo expedition to the Louvre. I justified going without Suzie because there are things that I really like to see that don't interest her as much, and vice versa. In particular, I love all things old and ancient. Viewing something that was made by men (or women) 5,000 years ago is, for me, an amazing and humbling experience. So my visit was mostly spent in the wings holding the ancient Egyptian artifacts, with a brief side trip to the ancient Greek wings. I also stumbled by accident on an area that I'd never seen before, which consisted of gorgeous rooms, some of them apparently only recently renovated. I unfortunately didn't have my camera, only my small, not very good video camera, so you'll have to make due with these short videos, which do give a sense of the place.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUj9azCSxUc]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hukThydcp0]
A couple more can be found here and here (a mummy no less).
I even snuck into the Italian wing to see the Mona Lisa, but ended up just walking past it, really, as there were some other paintings in and around that room that caught my eye (although I have to say that the highly stylized religious paintings don't do a lot for me, and there were a lot of those to see).
I left feeling happy and calm. There is something about seeing such amazing works of art, in such a beautiful facility, and in such numbers, that simply makes me feel good. An example: Many of the large Egyptian sculptures are of couples -- famous-at-the-time men and their wives. And many in of these statutes, the woman has her arm around the man, or is holding the hand of the man, in a way that looks so affectionate, and natural, that for me it makes the statutes seem not of some ancient, distant, scarcely human species, but of real, flesh and blood men and women, just like those living today. Those little gestures make the statutes come alive for me; signs of affection from 3000 years ago being just the same as those today.
The next day, Friday was the last day of this session of my classes at the Alliance Française, a particularly sad day for me because (1) the woman who was teaching my class -- a wonderful, enthusiastic, meticulous, professional, organized, warm, and very, very funny dynamo of a teacher -- won't be continuing with our group next month, and (2) several of the students I like very much are leaving. So we had a little mini-celebration; one student brought flowers, another chocolates, a third homemade bread, a fourth various pastries (that was me). Here is a picture of all of us:
It's amazing how close you can get to feel to people in a short period of time. I consider all these people my friends, and I've learned a lot about some of them, and I'm sad to think that it's almost a certainty that some of them I will never see again (although I do have hopes of staying in touch with them all).
I also have to take a little time out here to brag about this:
These are the results of the exam I took a few weeks back. Since this is what I'm putting energy into now, I'm proud of these results, especially given the fact that I've come to the conclusion that I'm not particularly naturally gifted at learning new languages. My low mark is for continuity of speech, and is unfortunately dead on accurate, and I think it happens because I try to express things in French in as complicated of a way as I do in English, but I don't have the skills in French to do that, and so inevitably I come at some point to a dead end, where I can't summon up the words or the construction in French to say what I want to say, and so am completely blocked, and have no other option than to just fall silent. A terrible experience for someone who loves to talk as much as I do, and embarrassing, too. Hopefully that will get better with practice.
I know, I know, I'm a nerd, what can I say?
Later that afternoon, Suzie and I went to one of our favorite places in Paris to have coffee:
This is Le Danton, which is on Boulevard St. Germain at the Carrefour de Odéon, just outside the Odéon Metro stop. We've gone there several times, and I've gone once alone. The staff is friendly and efficient, the prices are reasonable (both for coffee and for omelettes, if you want a snack), and the surrounding area is bustling and interesting. We sat and spoke French for an hour or so while Suzie was waiting for another friend (her French conversation partner). Afterwards, I took the Metro to the Place de la Concorde, and then took a long, long random walk, up and around the Champs Elysees. It was cloudy and cool, and dusk was approaching when I started and completely finished when I was done. I watched the natural light slowly disappear and the lights of the city become prominent, I watched the crowds of tourists ambling down the streets and disappearing into stores, I bought a French magazine at a kiosk (the Nouvel Observateur, which dedicated most of the issue to the U.S. election), walked some more, and finally took a terribly hot, crowded, uncomfortable, long Metro ride back home.
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