Je'taime Paris

Ok, here goes ... my first European entry!

My time in Paris definitely exceeded my expectations. It wasn't even seeing the sights or exploring the museums but it was the amazing time that I had with Valentine and her family.

The Louvre; Venus de Milo

On my flight I had willed myself to sleep and try (as most trans atlantic flight takers do) to ward off jetlag ... well, easier said than done. Coming from LA made it that much harder because I was 9 hours behind and that nine hours doesn't just slip away as easily as I was hoping.

Joan of Arc; Notre-Dame

Basically I didn't sleep the whole flight. No big deal I'll tough it out, there is only so much time a person gets in Paris right? Ok, so I got into Paris at 10am and Valentine and her Mom were waiting for me to take me back to their house. Using my really great French (consisting of Bonjour and the word for car - mispronounced) was fun and they were very sweet to help me along. Everything was so wonderfully European and even driving to their Parisian suburb was fun. Getting to their house and up to my room I decided that there were some things I needed to get done as well as plan for my next few days as a tourist!

The best part of the day was sitting down to dinner with Valentine and her parents. It was so French! We had a bit of greens with oil and vinegar along with this sort of build your own ham, proscuitto, potato and cheese entree. I can't possibly explain it correctly but we took big pieces of cheese and put them into these little almost pots which melted it down and then you put it over your potatoes and meat. We also had french cider to go along with the meal and afterwords a tray of cheese came out : ) I was learning more and more words as well ... cheese for example : )

Arc de Triomphe; View from the Top

This week was revision for Valentine before her big exams so I was more or less sent with a game plan into the city for the day until we met up again in the evenings. I had a very nice time and being that Paris is such a great walking city it was great at times to just walk aimlessly into a cute district.

Paris Opera House; Pére-Lachaise Cemetery

I saw nearly all that a person could hope to see in three (wet and cold) days in Paris.

(I ended up booking my flight to Copenhagen for Friday as it was the least expensive and most accomodating to my host parents -- which meant I had two days less in Paris but I would be moved in earlier)

The list of places I saw is neither here nor there because it would just be a list ... the highlights are I suppose a bit more interesting. I really enjoyed the two museums that I spent the most time in Musee d'Orsay which includes the impressionist works rejected from the Louvre such as Van Gogh, Monet, Degas and Manet. Seeing those paintings was really very neat and it allowed me to sneak inside for a few hours out of the rain : ) I also had a nice time walking around the Louvre but it is just so absolutely gigantic (30,000 pieces of art) that I decided on the big highlights (the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo), the Roman and Greek collections, French and Italian collections, and the Napoleon apartment suites.

Degas - Musée d'Orsay; Me! in front of the Louvre

I really had no problems on the metro and most of the people I spoke with were very helpful, especially considering my vast knowledge of the french language : ) I only really ran in to one or two of the "rude" french stereotype.

My favorite parts of the city were Montmarte and St. Germain des Prés. The sort of cute neighborhoods which embody the Parisian spirit. Cute cafes, small streets, bookshops, art galleries and beautiful architecture.

On tuesday I had dinner again with Valentines family. The two of us met at the Opera house to try and see about getting tickets to the ballet (unfortunately we didn't get them) and then headed home together. We had a few types of paté and then foie gras which I hadn't had before and didn't mind having but I could have done without the explanation (stuffed duck liver - eeh).

Wednesday night I met Valentine at her University and she took me along to a little party that her boss wanted to have for her co-workers. This was probably the most fun I had. We sat around with eight other students and her (60 something year old) boss and for the most part the conversations were in French with a bit of translation by Val unless they were questions directed to me. I loved hearing the french and occasionally I caught a few words here and there. I even pulled out a few phrases I had been working on and her boss spoke two sentences to me in English and then seemingly forgot that I didn't speak french but continued on anyways ... I even asked him if he when he went to the US if he went for work (travailler) or vacations. How proud I was : ) and Valentine kept telling me that I must have learned french previously ... of course the spanish helps as at times I just guessed the word and put a french accent to a spanish word. Surprisingly enough it worked quite often : ) I would love to one day really learn french. Maybe not this semester ... I think the Danish is going to be enough!

I spoke with the other french students about the US and politics and one of her co-workers is half Peruvian so that was neat and we just had a really nice time. We drank kir which is the Parisian equivalent of a cosmopolitan apparently : ) very girly - white wine and syrup. Yum!

Panthéon

Ok I'm going to not ramble on much more as I already want to post about Denmark!! So hopefully you enjoy the photos and all is well wherever you may be.

Au revoir!