L'ASSEMBLÉ NATIONALE

An especially rainy Saturday to wrap up an especially rainy week.  However, this weekend many normally-closed monuments of Paris are open for tours (because it's the jounées du patrimoine) so several BC students and I headed over to the Assemblé Nationale (the french equivalent of Congress).  The line was long, and the weather was gross, but the building was worth it.  The library especially!

Braving the weather to witness some french history

 A life-sized, tapestry version of the School of Athens

The ballroom (or at least one of) complete with string quartet (sadly all my pictures in here turned out blurry and strangely red, so this is the best I have)

 One of the many many beautiful chandeliers

 And a pretty glass ceiling

 The ceiling under which the magic (the voting) happens

Shout-out to Caroline's 17th birthday!

 High-level note-passing

The library!  

Somewhere in here, if you had lots of time, and no security guards, you could find the minutes from Joan of Arc's trial.

Magic.

The crew

Embracing my inner tourist.  If you're wondering why the tomato-colored face it's mostly because even this slightly-off attempt required holding a wall-sit-like pose on a ledge for at least three minutes, which is harder than it sounds after 3.5 weeks of baguettes and no exercise.. 

Salut! (Salut is the french Aloha)

A RAINY-ISH TUESDAY

Today I had what felt like an authentically Parisian day, which, now that I think about it, is fitting since it is my three week (!!) anniversary with Paris.  We've had our rocky moments, but things are going well.  I started this morning off drinking copious amounts of tea (I feel a cold coming on), and taking some last minute notes before my Neuroeconomics class this morning.  After class I crossed the Seine, walked through the Tuileries, and wandered around in a bookstore where I bought A Moveable Feast (fine that was touristy, but it's for a class).  Afterwards, I went to the bank and successfully discussed my frustrating lack of bank account all in french, before buying some fruit from the pop-up vendors on my street, and spending the rest of the drizzly afternoon reading in a café with a very good, very strong, and very tiny, cup of coffee.  Worth noting that all the while I was wearing a scarf (also very Parisian).  I had dinner with Claudine and her grand-daughter, Lili, who is great, a huge play mobile fan, and a sculptor in the making.  Then Lili and I watched some french Disney Channel, had some tea, and now it's back to note taking (the reading, it never ends!!).  None of this very authentically french day was captured on film (or memory card), so I will supplement it with a picture I did not take as a reward for making it through this big chunk of ramblings.

BUS TOUR MEETS SUNDAY

This weekend I got especially lucky, and my aunt Joyce in Saint-Germain-en-Laye invited me out for her daughter-in-law Mia's birthday celebrations, otherwise known as 24 hours of eating delicious food, spending time less familiar family members, wonderful tea,and having dogs around (a cat just isn't the same).  Unfortunately, I didn't stop to take any photos, but here are some leftovers from a bus tour on Thursday, and some from my walk around Montmartre this evening.

The Louvre entrance

The Tour Eiffel, from opposite sides, just before and after being lit up

This little old lady was sitting on a bench next to the carrousel watching everyone.  I thought she looked very french, so I took her picture, but then she looked at me, so I pretended to be taking pictures of the architecture, and quickly left.  

Another failed attempt at covertly taking old ladies' portraits..  this nun was walking down a road with a view of the Sacre Coeur in the background over all the apartment buildings.  Would have made a great picture, had she been walking more slowly, and had I not been so zoomed in..

Old postcards for sale at a little antique shop, this one from 1910!!  To save this shop from seeming too quaint, let it be known that in the same shop you could buy the bottom half of a female mannequin for 20 euros.

Roughly translates to "having a good friend, voila, it's the best think in the world.  Yes, because a good friend, they're more loyal than a blonde.  Hand in hand in every second, you laugh at sorrows when you have a good friend."

Made me think of the Chicken Man in Germany

The Moulin Rouge!

Claudine went out tonight, so since we couldn't have our regular dinner, she left me a pork chop, bread, and tomatoes.  However, after a weekend of eating, all I really wanted was a southwestern salad.  So I fried up the pork chop, cut up the tomatoes, and made it all into a sandwich for the homeless lady who sits right beneath my window. 

When she was away I put it on her suitcase, and then I made myself a southwestern salad (which was delicious).