Update

I am trying to avoid this kind of "Today I did... It was so amazing" style. But some times you just have to. So here are some of the things I've been up to that have kept me from posting.

Jean Philippe helped me buy month pass for the Metro. I was going to try to do it myself, but he volunteered to come with me. If I had gone by myself, I’m sure I would have gotten the pass, but it would not have gone nearly as smoothly. After helping me buy the pass and take my picture for it, Jean Philippe even got scissors from the guy so that I could cut my photo out and put it on the pass. There’s no way I would have gotten that kind of treatment on my own. Turns out the French are really nice…to each other.

Emily and I went to the Cimitaire Pere Lechaise. It’s the cemetery where you can find the graves of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Moliere, and Parmentier (he brought the potato to France—see photo). It’s the cemetery where you can’t find Gertrude Stein’s grave (or at least we couldn’t), but supposedly she’s there.

Emily and I went to the Grande Epicerie at the Bon Marche. It’s a fancy, expensive international food market. The French label anything that comes from the States as “Tex Mex.” It’s awesome. We found wine in juice boxes, good pastries, and water for 30 Euros. Great!







Yesterday, Emily and I went to the Centre Pompidou. It’s the modern art museum people often refer to as being turned inside out.

(I think some people also refer to it as an eyesore, but I don’t agree. I think it’s pretty rad. See above.) The museum hosts the most bizarre collection of modern art that I have ever seen. I don’t mean that in a pejorative sense. It’s just true. Most of it was really awesome. Em and I got sucked into a crazy marionette film I can’t even begin to describe. We also liked the work of a Californian artist who had taken a series of about 50 black and white post cards of 100 black boots doing different things (like climbing the hills or crossing the street) in Southern California. There were two exhibitions going on. One featured different artists who specialized in cartoons/sketches who had created travel journals that were more like comic strips. There was also an exhibition about Samuel Beckett. I felt lame for having never read Waiting for Godot, but now it’s on my imaginary list of things to read. Original manuscripts and video recordings of original performances of the plays were on display. I think some Notre Dame Alumni Alan Rickman fan club members will be pleased to hear that Alan Rickman played a role in the exhibit. (Am I still in the club even though I deleted my Myspace account?)

Beckett exhibit...

Before the museum, Em and I bought ourselves vintage dresses. After, we bought ourselves Margaritas and nachos.

Today Em and I had a picnic in Luxembourg Gardens. It was really warm today and the French responded by dressing as they normally do, completely covered up by many layers. The picnic was awesome because the grass finally woke up. During the off-season, they fence off the grass so that no one will rest themselves on it while the grass itself is resting.