saturday-- the day began with a hearty breakfast consisting of southern meal leftovers. yes i ate a fried chicken biscuit-esque sandwich and some apple pie. what are you going to do about it? (so did C) but for good reason...we were saving money and needed lots of calories for our busy 24 hours. we took the train into paris and arrived just before 12. we walked around the pompidou area, passed by the louvre, through tuleries (ps it was fashion week. models were out on the loose), along to seine up to the trocadero where our lunch scavenger hunt began. who knew bread could be so hard to come by in paris. after finding our nutella, bread, and cheese (the parisian staples) we picnicked with a lovely view of the eiffel tower, along with thousands of other tourists. after lunch we hiked back across the city to luxembourg gardens. C's host mom's sister and husband picked us up and drove us to the outskirts of paris (literally just outside the arrondissement borders) to a friends house for a little birthday celebration. the house definitely had a view of the eiffel tower. not too shabby. also, typical parisian crowd...i socialized with an artist who has an exhibit opening in 2 weeks at the louvre, a pr rep for versace who just returned from milan's fashion week, and a production manager among others. yes in case you are wondering, the parisians spoke english and were completely welcoming. after hanging out there, we braved the drive back into paris. let's just say i never ever ever plan on driving in paris. i would not come out alive if i was behind the wheel. anyways, we ate dinner at an american cafe in the marais (the gay district near the pompidou). around 12:30 or 1 am C and i's night really began.
nuit blanche-- so lots of cities in europe have their respective 'nuit blanche' in their respective languages during the respective time of year. paris' happened to fall on the saturday i was there. the museums are open late (and are free). however, the most exciting part is there are temporary art installations in different areas of the city specifically for the event that are open just for the evening. the best part...all of them are free. we started at the pompidou worked our way over to notre dame and the luxembourg gardens. these were the highlights:
notre dame: light installation by sylvie fleury
eglise saint-severin: the forty-part motet by janet cardiff
(well the video won't upload and being an audio exhibit these pictures of the church are lame when trying to illustrate the exhibit. this was definitely the favorite. there were 40 speakers placed inside the church, one for each singer, based on location there was an entirely different experience perceived only by the ears)
jardin du luxembourg: la maitresse de la tour eiffel by michel de broin
jardin du luxembourg: white (night) spirit by hugues reip
hotel d'albret: je vous aime tous by vincent olinet
so at 7 am our night ended, but our day was just beginning. in order to conserve an additional 4 metro tickets we decided to stay in the city until the pompidou opened. the first sunday of every month the museums offer free admission. so we hung out in a mcdonalds for 3 hours waiting for 10 am to come. long story short, obviously we were exhausted as we had been on our feet for the better part of 24 hours. the exhibit on female artists by female artists wasn't exactly what i needed that early in the morning and running on zero sleep. we also breezed through the permanent collection. luckily i've seen it before or it would have been a major bust. we arrived back in bry around 2 pm just over 26 hours since we had last been there. it was definitely an experience and one i will never forget. but let's just say next time i participate in a nuit blanche i will be in the early crowd.
sunday-- once arriving back at bry we ate a much needed warm meal as paris was quite chilly into the wee hours. i also took a much needed shower. the remainder of the afternoon and evening were mostly spent in bed, as they should have been.
monday-- a rainy day in paris. the morning was spent wandering around aimlessly. i did find an amazing bakery with a perfect chocolate muffin. the rest of the day was spent catching up on sleep. if ever in doubt about what life is actually like for a wandering soul, today was a perfect case in point. 80% of my time it is spent wandering around, without a map just going wherever strikes my fancy. the remaining 20% is usually spent sleeping and eating. generally i'd like to think it's divided equally between the two, but those of you who know me might assume otherwise. and are probably right.
tuesday-- most of my day was spent inside shakespeare and company, the amazing english bookstore just across the river from notre dame. i also got a nutella crepe outside the pompidou. my fave. and wandered in the beige and powder blue of the paris streets.
wednesday-- my last day in paris should have been eventful. mostly i wandered around the latin quarter. i went saint sulpice. (da vinci code anyone?) the church is really beautiful. there is a disclaimer about the novel and the whole line of the rose or whatever that is supposedly in the church.
so i realize that still leaves about five off. those five days include dublin and my first day back in barcelona. the rest will have to come tomorrow.
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