Apologies...

I realize that I have been doing a pretty poor job of posting current updates, but life has been getting busier and busier here! It's hard to believe how fast the fall is going and I am letting time get away from me! So, please be so kind as to accept a few photos in replace of lengthy descriptions of what I've been up to the past few weeks....

This coming tuesday I will be heading home for a few days in virginia...as thrilled as i am to be seeing family and friends, i must say it does not please me to leave this wonderful city for even a few days. Each day i wake up in Paris is a dream. I have fallen deeper and deeper in love with paris with every moment i'm here! all of that being said, i will see you all soon across the pond!
a bientot,
peep

Sacre Coeur from inside Musee d'Orsay

Samsung Light Display

Nuit Blanche

Ok ok ok, it has been a while since I’ve last written but here goes…

NUIT BlANCHE- one of the most incredible nights Paris has to offer. Needless to say, I highly highly recommend that if possible, one should absolutely visit the city the first Saturday in October to catch it…now allow me to explain…

Translated to ‘white night,’ this is a time when Parisians fully recognize and embrace the spectacular atmosphere that comes when the sun goes down. Slight tangent, Paris is magical during the day, but words cannot begin to describe what the night has to offer here. At the risk of sounding somewhat off, roaming the streets in the dark has been far and away one of my favorite activities since being here. There’s something about the different people you see, the transition from espresso being the drink of choice to wine or champagne, the streets lights that set the mood with a dim glow that compliments the surrounding buildings, I could go on but you understand my point.

Back to nuit blanche, essentially this event takes place between the hours of 7pm through 7am. 12 hours dedicated completely to discovering the city of lights in the dark! Essentially, three different arrondissements of the city are chosen each year. This year, the 19^th (fairly far out) was chosen along with, conveniently, the Latin Quarter and Jardins du Luxembourg (my neighborhood) along with Les Halles, Chatelet, Notre Dame (also very close to me). Selected monuments, museums, gardens, etc. leave their doors open throughout the night. Various contemporary artists are invited to use certain spaces to create an exhibition thereby transforming a well-known and established space into something very new and different.

We started our evening by catching a cab across the river to the Grand Palais which is currently hosting a Renoir exhibition. The exhibit was not only open all night but gratuit (free)! After a bit of cruising through that, we hopped on the metro to Chatelet (making our way back to our neighborhood) and had a very long yet very lovely dinner at a restaurant called Le Chien qui Fume or the Smoking Dog…a restaurant we frequent quite regularly. We rolled out of dinner close to midnight to find the streets absolutely packed with people. It was amazing, there were shows going on everywhere, lights zooming around and an electric atmosphere.

Having hung a giant disco ball in the Luxembourg Gardens, we made our way back home to check it out to no avail. The gardens were so packed we couldn’t even get near the entrance. Somewhat defeated we vowed to take a more American approach on the night and go home to kill a few hours before heading back out into the night. Aftering having passed out in my bed fully dressed with boots still on and all, I rallied again close to 4am and Jen and I set out to explore. We first walked down a block to St. Severin church where we discovered a pretty awesome experience. An artist as taken choral songs performed by various singers and dissected the music. In the middle of the nave of the church we found 40 speakers set up in an oval. A single voice was projected from each speaker, which combined created an extremely powerful effect in a gothic atmosphere. There were all sorts of people from all ages lying down around the floor just listening. It was truly unique.

Next we set off for our second attempt at Luxembourg Gardens. Find it far less crowded, we entered freely to an enormous disco ball hoisted over the central fountain spinning while illuminated by various spotlights. Although a rather simpler concept, it was pretty amazing to see the shimmering speckled light pattern reflected up on the clouds. From the gardens we made our way down to the river to find among other things, giant colorfully illuminated boxes blasting chill house music-esque beats…an exhibit set up by Samsung over a bridge behind Notre Dame. We also visited the Cluny Medieval Museum just down the street from us where an eerie wintery exhibition was installed with haunting music and cold sounds of wind echoing through the already hallow chambers of a medieval castle. It was incredible to see how the artists expanded upon and complimented the overall themes of these monuments and spaces with their work.

We started heading home close to 6 in the morning. While we encountered a few creepers that came out to wander the wee hours of the morning, Jen and I were rather impressed with our level of comfort throughout our late night roaming although I don’t think we will make a habit of it!

Bumping Beats

Hello my dearest family and friends!

So I would like to write a little bit about this phenomenal event that took place through the streets of Paris this past Saturday….the techno parade. That’s write, a whole parade with floats and everything dedicated completely to techno music. While having coffee with my formed TA from the UVA French department the other day, I was informed or warned rather of this event to take place. I somewhat dismissed it having no idea what that meant.

It was a beautiful Saturday in the early afternoon when Jen, the boys and I stepped out for a stroll and a little window shopping on Blvd Saint Germain. After a visit to the Swarovski flagship store, we began to make our way back down St. Germain toward la Bastille and our apartment on Rue Saint Jacques. One can imagine the sheer sensation of excitement that swept over me the minute I felt the vibrations in my toes from subwoofers making their way down the streets. The parade was approaching down blvd Saint Michel, about to round the corner and take over Saint Germain. I should mention at this point the streets were bustling with anticipation. I think the best way to describe the crowds pouring into the street is to imagine a night club emerging from the underground, opening its doors to daylight and releasing all of the dark and dirty happenings that take places in the shadows of the night into the broad sun-filled streets of Paris. Needless to say, excellent people watching!

Having to cross Saint Michel in order to get to Saint Jacques meant having to throw ourselves into the mosh-pit of clubbers jamming out. I should mention the ‘floats’ were simply open-air buses with DJ’s and MC’s on top blasting beats. There were also dancers. Each bus was escorted by the masses rolling along with it. About to make the move to cross saint michel right before a bus was coming down (the buses were moving about 2 feet every 5 mins as they were at the mercy of the crowds before them), I turned to Jen and informed her I’d just meet her at the apartment in the event of separation. What happened next was, I must admit, slightly terrifying. I have never experienced the pull of a rip current in the ocean before but I imagine I have a pretty good idea of how it feels now. The minute I stepped off the curb into the intersection of st. michel and st. germain, I was immediately swept up by the crowd and literally pulled into the mob. There were people getting trampled, people bloody from fights, people tripping on all sorts of drugs (lots of eyes rolling to backs of heads) etc. I did not even have room to turn around and being the shrimper that I am, I could not see out of the crowd and had no idea how long it would take me to get to safety! As they say with rip tides, don’t try to fight it. So, I rolled with it. Looks of panic were mixed with the throngs of people who were absolutely hammered. (I imagined if I had been in the latter, I’d be having a pretty sweet time at the moment) but alas, I had my purse with me and was cradling a Swarovski bag while getting tossed and pushed around by waves of people. (the music sounded pretty good though) After being swept down half of blvd saint germain, I finally made it to an alley and took refuge on the ‘shore.’ I then just sat and watched in amazement has people walked/danced around with handles of liquor, catching a steady aroma of weed wafting through the air…

I eventually found Jen again and we decided to find a nearby bar where we could watch the crowds, have a beer and enjoy the blasting bass. It was a fairly eventful day and I must admit, next year I’d like to voluntarily participate in the event if I happen to be in the Paris area again!

Techno Parade

Mr. and Mrs. Murphy Arrive in Paris

The hour had finally arrived, after a great deal of prior planning, when I was to go collect Mr. and Mrs. Murphy at their hotel on the Champs Elysee and begin to seek out all the trouble we could potentially get into…imagine the possibilities for Anna and I in Paris! I hopped on the metro at a fairly early hour for me over here (8ish…) I’ve turned a new leaf in Paris where my body absolutely refusing to wake up before 9. I end up cruising the Champs Elysee around 8:30 after the streets and sidewalks have been washed so not only am I have to concentrate on not falling and breaking an ankle, but I’m looking for the Marriot that is hidden under a fair amount of scaffolding. I am also completely oblivious to the world as I have my ipod blasting beats in my ears. I preface with all of this because at the moment when I am thinking I should turn around and make a second pass down the street, I feel a sharp tug at my purse over my right shoulder. ‘Are you serious?!! Is someone really trying to rob me at 8:30 in the morning on the Champs Elysee!!?’ One can imagine the overwhelming since of confusion and relief when I turned around to see a tall blond American in the form of Ryan standing there laughing at me! Apparently he’d been shadowing me for a whole minute! Good lesson learned on being slightly more aware when walking around cities…

From there we headed down Avenue Georges V to the train station for a trip out to Versailles. Getting there in the morning was an absolute prime idea as we bypassed all the crowds and lines. We strolled through the chambers of good old Louis and Marie before lounging around in the gardens behind the chateau (which are just as impressive, if not more so than the actual palace). And yes, I finally got to see the Hall of Mirrors as it was not under renovation this time!! Everything I could have hoped for and more (huge nerd that I am). We made it back to Paris for a nice glass of wine accompanied by some lunch before I left the Murphys to settle into their hotel and nap.

Using Notre Dame as our meeting place that evening, I introduced Anna and Ryan to my ‘hood,’ the Latin Quarter and Saint Germain. We enjoyed some wine and people watching before heading off to dinner on the Il de la Cite at a gem of a restaurant hidden from the busy streets of Paris (best duck breast in the country!) After dinner, I forced the Murphys to take a stroll along to the Seine to visit the Louvre at night. I have done this many, many times since being here. The courtyard and glass pyramid provide the perfect backdrop for splitting a bottle of wine in the bar that’s actually in the palace. It was a very pleasant end to the day!

The next night I didn’t meet the Murphys until around 10ish as I had spent the day touring the DDay landing beaches in Normandy. I was absolutely exhausted and had to be coaxed into going out with them. Leave it to Ryan to find one of the only bars in Paris that plays American football games on tv…and only 2 blocks from my apartment!! With a very suiting atmosphere, the Murhpys and I christened the WO Bar as my neighborhood bar! We made good friends with a dashing young bar tended oh-so-fittingly named Pierre (I definitely foresee many an evening more to spent in the bar….) We watched Michigan play…read about the beyond poor showing of the wahoos and before we knew it, it was 4am when we were stumbling out! After an extremely long meal and a stroll through Luxembourg Gardens the next day, bid the Murphy’s farewell and sent them on their way to Scotland! It was a fantastic visit, and yes, Anna and I left Paris still standing!

love,

peep

Hall of Mirrors, Chateau de Versailles

Respect to the Lizard King

Sunday afternoon Jen and I decided to pay our respects to Mr. Jim Morrison resting peacefully in the cemetery of Pere laChaise. It was an easy metro ride to the 20th arrondissement. The day could not have been more lovely. It is odd to think of a cemetery as being a nice place to hang out but this one was in every sense of the word, awesome. Occupying over a city block, the cemetery gradually ascends until you realize you can look out and see the Montparnasse tower all the way across the city. It is jammed packed with the most beautiful tomb stones, shrines, headstones, and memorials laced with winding cobblestone paths. (again I feel slightly creepy writing about how struck we both were by a resting place for the dead.) That being said, I would definitely recommend it as a place to visit when coming to Paris. Jim Morrison is among noted company in his final place of rest among the likes of Balzac, Chopin, Delacroix, Max Ernst, Moliere, and Oscar Wilde. I am still unsure as to what the necessary qualifications are to be allowed permanent residency in Pere laChaise but I would like to look into it...I think we will definitely revisit the cemetery on Halloween!

Firday Night at the Louvre

Musee Palais du Louvre at sunset. Last night we toured the Louvre. Acting as locals, we chose to have our visit between the hours of 6 and 9 at night on Friday as youngsters under the age of 26 are admitted for free. The lighting last night in the courtyard was absolutely spectacular. The temperature had dropped to right around 60 degrees, a cloudless sky, and a brilliant sun all contributed to the overall perfection of the experience. You enter the museum through the glass pyramid, descending down into the depths of history. Our visit consisted of about an hour of strolling through one wing of the grand palais. Don't get me wrong, the Louvre is a wonderful, wonderful museum, but not one of my favorites. There were three items on my 'must see' list. The Winged Victory, the Venus de Milo, and of course, the Mona Lisa. I think no matter what time of day one visits the museum, there is without fail, always a mosh pit of people clustered around the slightly underwhelming Mona Lisa. I think that without this permanent fixture, one might even pass by the old bat without even knowing! At the risk of sounding uncultured and unappreciative of art, which I'd like to think I am neither, I find the actual architectural structure of the museum almost more appealing than its contents....which brings me to another point. Cameras in the museum. There are signs around every corner indicating cameras and touching are under no circumstances permitted. That being said, at any given moment, there were at least 20 flashes going off left and right! Absolutely mind-boggling! Being the good tourist I was, I had retired my camera to its case upon entering the museum. However, deciding I didn't want to disrespect the unspoken rule of paying absolutely no attention to the rules, I promptly pulled my camera back out and began snapping. There was one point I made direct eye contact with a museum curator as I was taking a photo...I sheepishly backed away with a slight shrug and the guilty grin of 'stupid American' on my face. When in Rome! Moral of the story, I left the museum quite satisfied with the pictures I had captured...more of the ceilings and walls than the actual art...I wonder if one day centuries from now, people will studied this period of time and think we could have preserved so much more art had the tourist actually been forced to obey the rules and put their cameras away. Until then, oh well!
Much Love,
SF
-Also, I still realize the grammatical mistakes I make in these posts. Perhaps one day I will write first in Word before copy/pasting to the blog...

Birds & Flowers

This guy was channeling Marie Antoinette.

Dancer II

Words are not needed here.

Dancers

This kid was maybe 10 to 12 years old... I walked away feeling somewhat untalented...

Our New Friends

At the beginning of the week, Jen and I were promptly greeted with delicious aromas the minute we emerged from the giant wood doors of our apartment building. We quickly realized the source of these intoxicating scents was a quaint little brasserie not 3 feet from our apartment entrance! (the whole of France closes up shop and heads out of town for vacation lasting the entire month of August...the US should take notes!) Needless to say, the re-opening of this brasserie is beyond convenient!

When lunchtime rolled around today and we, on cue, became painfully aware of our rumbling tummies by the dishes being prepared by our neighbors (maybe we should start closing our windows around meal times...) it seemed only natural that we should try out our new little brasserie. Still in my sweatpants, Weston and I made the grand trek next door to check it out. Absolutely delightful! A creperie/bar/cafe/deli all in one...what more could we ask for? The host, a wonderful little man seemed more than happy to oblige the yanks who, of course, wanted something "a emporte" to go. The French are always a little bewildered at the idea of taking food or coffee on the go. (Not haveing coffee to go has been a bit of an adjustment for me and Jen...to say the least) After we had ordered our crepes (nutella and banana obviously) there was a flurry of action as all four people working there ran around shooting French back and forth trying to find plastic plates and aluminum foil. Weston and I were very entertained, I must admit. I thought I just about sent them over the edge when I added a cafe creme to the order! How serious they were! Throughout the commotion, a conversation was had between all of us in a mixture of broken French and English (primarily about how difficult it is to get take out items in France). I decided all of them were more than pleasant and very accommodating...making them my new Parisian friends! (In addition to putting to rest the stereotype of all inhabitants of the city being rude). With our pile of crepes in tow, we departed thanking them profusely with promises of returning quite frequently. Good thing we had four flights of stairs to walk up...nutella crepes can be a very dangerous thing for the waistline!

Semaine 2

It's Tuesday morning here and Paris. I sleep with the enormous window next to my bed wide open so that every morning at precisely the same time I find be awoken by the sound of one of our neighbors putting her dishes away...today, however, I was also greeted by the pattering of rain drops marking our first gloomy (perhaps typical) Parisian Fall day. As I am writing, Weston the Saint, is a busy cleaning bee around me...not a bad deal! His older brother Whitney arrives this afternoon.

I have so much to write I am not quite sure where to begin. As I left off with the promise of birds and flowers, I suppose I will start there. Jen and I spent more time than I care to admit google-ing markets of Paris. There is a different market for each Arrondisement, for each day, for each season, etc. The one that caught our eye however, was the markter dedicated 100% to birds and flowers. I mean, really?! Despite not being much of a bird enthusiast, I must admit, my interest was peaked. After a leisurely Sunday morning, we set off in pursuit of squawks and colors. We assumed this would not be hard to miss however, we wound walking/blading in Weston's case, for the better part of an hour before we found a permanent street sign, yes traffic street sign, indicating the direction. I must say, it was pretty cool. Rows of cages with the most beautifully colored birds I have ever seen collected in one spot. Not only that, but we were also pleasantly surprised to find bunnies and other various rodents chilling there as well. The flowers were pretty but the obvious attraction was the birds. I'm not sure I noticed too many locals there, mainly tourists of all shapes and sizes poking and prodding at the cages in marvel.
Mom: there was located next door to the birds, a whole shop filled with orchards...they were absolutely beautiful. I aspire one day to have a room like that in my house...

Sunday afternoon, as I previously mentioned, Jen and I spent at least an hour watching street dancers break dancing in front of the Pompidou centre. It was absolutely mesmerizing and an ideal way to spend a Sunday afternoon with no agenda. I have never seen bodies move like theirs could...head stands, hand stands, elbow stands, the works! If I were a talent scount, I would definitely be roaming the streets of Paris. Although I imagine one would run the risk of having a back up dancer from Paris out shining the main act. We could have easily spent another two hours watching them had the police not showed up and ended our fun. All I can say is that I hope to spend many more an afternoon watching them!

Adjusting to big city living aint always easy. May I propose as example numero uno, the metro. Being a big walker myself, I already have it out for the metro. However, yesterday I put in my head phones and set off for an excursion that would carry me over to the right bank to one of the busiest areas of Paris. Preface: yesterday was rather hot considering the nice cool weather we have been having here. I walked to hour nearest metro stop which is only a block away however, there is no easy, direct route that would take me to where I needed to go. Not having memorized the lines yet, I have to rely on finding the maps and looking at the names of the stops. This is quite a challenge when you are trying to look like a savvy Parisian. I have to admit, at times I found myself walking in circles in the underground labyrinth that is a metro stop because I just couldn't bring myself to sacrifice my air of confidence by stopping to study a map...Anyway, four trains later, I finally made it to my final destination. For the return trip home, I only took two trains and made the 15-20 minute walk from Chatelet across the river to home. I enjoy people watching as much as the next person (and the metro provides an abundance of interesting people to see) but I prefer to do my observing from above ground, preferably with an espresso in hand! Whoever comes to visit (which you all should) bring your walking shoes and be ready to hoof it!

On a final note, I have been going into somewhat of a slight withdraw as some of you may know, I have been without music here :( I went through the great effort of carrying on the airplane my speakers from home, cradling them as one might a child only to be informed the voltage is not compatible for the outlets here...devastating. Whitney, wonderful, wonderful Whitney agreed to bring me my ihome from home!! I am anxiously awaiting its arrival! For those of you who know me, which most of you do, there is hardly a moment when I don't have music in the background...needless to say, on top of moving to a foreign country, I have endured a very serious change in lifestyle! :)

Well I will leave you at that for now and promise to write again soon!
Love,
SF
ps- i am not proof reading so please excuse any typos

Semaine 1

Bonjour a tout!

So we've landed in the City of Lights. After a long layover in London Heathrow, we finally made it to Charles de Gaulles on Monday afternoon. Collecting our luggage (the majority of it being mine due to my incompetence in ability to make decisions...) was by no means easy but we managed. A 30 minute taxi ride left us staring up at the 18th century building we would be calling home for the next four months on Rue Saint Jacques. We live in the shadow of the Sorbonne...not too shabby!) Conveniently, the one day the skies opened up to pour since being here was this day at the exact moment we were struggling to haul our bags into the apartment. Our bright and cheery landlord greeted the wet and weary travelers with the exciting news that our apartment was 4 floors up! (at least we will be getting our daily exercise to balance out the amounts of bread, cheese, and wine that shall be consumed...)

Our humble abode is adorable...very Parisian. No space is left to inefficient use. It's comfortable, cozy, and perfect...C'est charmant. We are constantly reminded of our foreign status as the most wonderful aromas drift through our open windows morning, day and night. I can only hope one day to be invited to one of our neighbor's apartments for dinner...Or better yet, maybe I've finally found a source of inspiration to learn how to cook, a skill to which much time and effort have been dedicated to avoiding. We also realized we have a music teacher living somewhere nearby as we are often times serenaded with lovely melodies each evening.

Our home is only about 2 blocks from the river (we reside on the Left Bank). I have already found myself passing by the grand bell towers of Notre Dame on a daily basis...consequently I feel as though i've already grown accustomed, perhaps even jaded, by it's presence and no longer stand below it in awe. We have spent a great deal of time roaming the streets around our neighborhood. We are also only about 2 blocks from the Luxembourg Gardens, a wonderful place to spend Saturday afternoons lounging about doing absolutely nothing (easily falling into the French lifestyle). Last night Jen and I watched in amazement as Weston cruised around the pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre on his rollerblades (yes...he's now mobile so watch out Paris!) Standing in the illuminated Louvre with the Eiffel tower sparkling in the distance, we all had the realization of plain awesome it is to get to call this magnificent city our home for the next four months...

Well there is much more to tell but I think this will do for now as the primary purpose of this post is just to prove to Chlo and AJ that yes, I can suck it up and learn how to do something on a computer all by myself...I'm growing up so fast! Next post I will probably talk about how Jen and I spent over an hour completely mesmerized by the street dancers break dancing next to the Pompidou Centre (not kidding, the would have given Michael Jackson a serious run for his money) or one of the many markets one can find here in Paris, including the "Bird and Flower Market" which we dedicated a good hour this morning in finding...

A bientot,
Sarah