Return to the City of Lights

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And another merry hello to you all! I am writing you from good ole paris, a place that you can never get sick of, at least me. Plus it's always fun to see the lights and decoration that this city has to offer, they change all the time.

We arrived here on the 27th after a grueling train ride that began at 6:45 in the morning and we were blessed to be sat behind two families with multiple children, children that have more life and volume in their voices than what is necessary at the break of daylight. We arrived around 9 in the morning and headed our way through the metro system (after an extremely long line to buy a ticket from the single working machine) towards Montmartre (for those who don't know it is the neiborhood with the sex district, moulin rouge, and painters: creativity's home base) where our friend's apartment awaited us. However, I forgot to pack my hiking gear for this trip because I never thought that we would have to climb a mountain of pavement with our suitcases in Paris; I thought I expected to see a goat at the peak it was so steep and tiring. 😊 After getting in, we immediately checked that the internet was in working order and then crashed for a 3 hour nap. After we woke up, we headed towards the local grocery store to stock up, in order to cut food costs. After our second hike up the mountain, we came back, made ourselves some food and talked about possible acitivities for that evening. Lauren didn't feel like going anywhere, so I decided to go and explore the neigborhood and take some pictures of the Moulin Rouge and the like. I was pleased to find an art gallery open for free viewings and I viewed some pretty cool modern art comprised of paintings, collage art and 3d art made of random plastic you might find in a garbage can. It made me very happy; I felt like a true cosmopolitan and I thought about how I hope to continue to have chances such as this throughout my life. I also stopped at a little quick market shop and bought some really awful crappy batteries and some mediocre Bordeax white wine and headed back to the apartment. Lauren told me she downloaded "Get Smart" on Itunes and we watched that before going to bed. Get smart... more like get your money back. (note, last line is a good reason showing why I am not a playwright....)

The next day (Sunday), we slept in and got ready to head to some free museums (a perk of sundays in France) as well as a Starbucks. Neither of us has had Starbucks since leaving the U.S. and it was an absolutely necessary thing. We got on the metro and for those of you who have ever taken the metro know that many times you have to change lines to get to your destination. Well I forgot about the second line we were supposed to take and we ended up a little farther away than we had hoped for our first museum. Luckily, we got off at a cool stop, the place de la concorde; (Plus another major bonus was that we saw a headless accordion player in the hall of the subway and I yelled oh my God before I realized what it was. Check out the picture, you'll understand.) it's the place where the louvre and tuileries and obelisk are. We then started a long walk along the chic Rue du Rivoli. Along the way, we found a Starbucks and I practically ran through the doors I was so excited; I was sad however to learn that the egg nog latte did not make the French cut on the Starbucks try outs. So I got my usual and we sat on those oh so recognized cushions and savored each and every puff of foam that went into our bellies. Once finished, we continued our walk, passing slow French people, cheap shops with multicolored berets, and 4 star luxury hotels that I told Lauren would be waiting to hear from me for a reservation, in about 10 years or so. It took about 30 minutes of walking time when we finally reached the Musee carnavalet, not far from the National Archives building. The museum houses things that tell the history of Paris in this massive mansion, including paintings, antique furniture, and even locks of hair taken from the family of Louis XVI before they became covered with blood while being decapitated. Lauren thought it was really gross. The museum was quite nice, one of my favorites for sure. We also saw a display about the time in Paris during Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables". It basically had the story line laid out for the observers, as well as drawings and paintings from the time. After that museum, we headed a couple blocks over to the Place des Vosges, to go through Victor Hugo's house, another free bee on Sundays. It was basically a restored apartment with some stuff of his I think, and also a really bad actress doing a monologue about him. After that, we started another long walk towards the Latin Quarter to find some cheap chinese. We did. It was cheap. AND SO NOT AS GOOD AS THE USA! Nor did they have mu shu and if you know me, you know I am a girl of mu shu. That's the problem with French Chinese cuisine, it's not like I like it, so that's a problem. 😊 After the chinese, we headed back home after walking by the Notre Dame, taking the beloved metro. We crashed after that.

This morning, I woke up around 8 am and sorta mosied around until Lauren got up, around 11:30, and we got ready to head out to the Orangerie museum. This museum is on the grounds of the tuileries and houses Monet's "Water Lilies." After waiting in a line outside for about 45 minutes, we went inside and had to go through a metal detector. The man in front of us beeped and the guards told us to go through while the man figured out what metal was on his person and they were totally oblivious to the fact that I made it beep too. That's very French. We went on towards the two large circular rooms adorned with the masterpieces of Monsieur Monet. I never realized before how huge they are. They span the walls and they are one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Colorful can't even begin to describe the beauty and vibrancy that this collection shares. The paintings are musical; unfortunately it's hard to appreciate them due to the room setup and the fact that you don't want to stand in anyone's way. The museum also holds the collection of two really rich men that have a large and impressive array of impressionist work, something I always enjoy seeing. Another must see. After the museum, we returned to Starbucks and then headed back home. We changed into some nicer clothes because we were going to attempt to get last minute tickets at the opera for their current ballet running. We had to go through hoards of people on the busy streets around the Opera house and finally got to the basement where we were told to get in line... Nothing happened for another 20 minutes and then a man in a tuxedo told us all they had were 6 euro tickets for a no visibility area. You cannot see the stage at all. Well, I'm no expert, but I assume that a ballet that I can't see isn't going to be quite the same. Some people stayed though! Don't understand that. We're going to try again tomorrow. After that, we headed back to the apartment; it was only 7:30 and I didn't want to just stay in (like miss Lauren, who I think realized that I was a little disappointed that we had accomplished so little and that we were already heading home at 7:30 and made more specific plans with me for tomorrow ) so I changed back into comfy clothes and head to the Eiffel Tower. In one of the stops there was a gentle older man playing the pan flute to some recorded music, Frank Sinatra actually, and I passed him like I do so many of the French beggars and boarded the subway. As the doors were closing, I saw the man turn off his music and put his pan flute down, disappointed at the zero money he made with that round of people and just sat there waiting until the next batch. I suddenly got this terrible feeling of sadness and went from a complete up to a down. I started thinking about myself as an artist living in New York and wondering about my own future disappointments like this man and I felt worse than ever for not tipping a street artist. After this contemplative metro ride, I arrived at the Eiffel Tower. I made it through the long line of men trying to sell cheap eiffel tower key chains until I was right in front of it. What a beautiful sight and different than before. I had hoped to buy a cheap meal to go to eat at the base of the tower, however though you can find a Turkish kabab place ANYWHERE in France, there wasn't a single one around the Eiffel tower. So I looked at it, took pictures, had a Danish couple take a bad picture of me, and then started to walk back, feeling satisfied, yet a little lonely at the same time. I usually don't have a problem going to sites or events alone, yet something about this beautiful thing in the crystal clear night really makes you want to share it with somebody. So, I just headed back to the apartment, taking the metro of course where I got the chance to tip an accordion player, which made me feel good, and picked up a wild vegetarian pizza at an Italian restaurant, where I was shocked to see miny octipi floating in olive oil being served to a French gentleman, who promised me it was very good, just like escargot. I can do escargot because it doesn't look like a snail, but a straight up small octopus, no way. So then I got back and hacked my pizza before eating a portion of it and got on to the computer and started this. It's been a good first few days, looking forward for more! I will be sure to write more!

Miss everyone,
xoxo
Cara

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