J'aime Paris!

As I write this blog post I’m sitting in my dorm room listening to the music in English and conversation in German that drifts in through my window. It’s a good thing I’m not trying to sleep yet. Of course, I’ll be returning home in just a month, and I’ll need to catch up on sleep before then. We all know what that’s like in college. Here’s a shout-out to all my friends and family back home, whom I do miss. See you in a month!

But I’ve still got the dust of Paris on my shoes, and that’s not something I want to get rid of too soon.

Yes. Paris.

 And Paris.

PARIS!

Before I can get into my experiences in the historic city, I have to give my second shout-out of this blog (I sort of like this shout-out thing. I may do it more often) to the most gracious host I’ve ever known, Julian. You can see him in the picture above. While my mom was in college, she studied abroad in Paris for a year, and stayed with Julian’s family. He was a kid at the time and my mom hasn’t been to Paris for a while, but we have stayed in touch with Julian and his family. Not only was he kind enough to let me stay at his place, but he took me to his favorite restaurants in the city, where real Parisians were eating their escargot and steak tartar (me too), and he got me into the Louvre for free without waiting in line!

Whaaaaaat?

One thing that surprised me about the Louvre was the amount of Egyptian relics and monuments it had. I had expected the portraits, the giant paintings of battle, the napoleonic busts, but not so much mummies.

 

I talked to my dad about it afterward, who led a study abroad trip to egypt once, and he told me about how the Egyptians actually complained that the British and French stole all their history. I guess that's colonialism. 

The Mona Lisa was something else that defied my expectations. I mean, it's a nice painting. I enjoyed looking at it, but I really wasn't sure what all the hype was about. Maybe I'm just not cultured enough. Fortunately, there were several paintings in the Louvre that did really enjoy, several that I could have studied for hours. I even bought a replica of one, although I must admit it's quite a sad picture. Haunting, even. The woman floats in the water, her white lace dress billowing around her legs, tinged with green where it dips below the surface. Her hair billows too, some of it floating and some sunk into the murky green. The water laps against her forehead, threatening to swallow her but for the moment only cradling her. She looks the picture of innocence, although it seems like she must have struggled recently, judging from the way the rope that binds her hands is loose and sliding up her arms. Now she doesn't even make ripples. The light in the painting comes from a sharp halo that floats above her head, suggesting her final fate.

http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=22730

I would even call it tragic. I was happier after I found Tyrion Lannister hiding in one of the paintings.

If you don't know about Game of Thrones, I feel sorry for you, and you should get on that. Other surprises include this strange little... garden...

And a tiny American grocery store. Look! Jif peanut butter! Kraft Macaroni and Cheese!

I made these discoveries simply while walking around Paris. It's got to be one of the best cities in the world for just walking around in. I probably could have walked for days without leaving sight of shaded outdoor restaurant seating, bars, bakeries, and boutiques. It's really a fun and lively city, with a lot of green spaces if you can find the hidden gardens behind stores and apartments.

I was not ready to leave Sunday evening. But there's research to get back to, a presentation to work on, and soccer. Our lab recently challenged an inorganic chemistry group to a match. While we were handicapped by an American on the Fußball team, we still trounced them.

Silly inorganic chemists.