Whenever I am sad...

Whenever I am even the slightest bit sad, or cold, or tired, or overwhelmed, or frusterated, or angry, or just missing something American... I go look at the Eiffel Tower glitter. For 5 minutes at the top of every hour at night the some 20,000 lights on the Eiffel Tower sparkle. Here is a video I took the other night.

Bruxelles Weekend - Brussels

 I feel in love with Brussels during our visit. Like most things in life, you can't go wrong if you add a little chocolate and beer - oh and waffles - oh and mussels - oh and their delish fries - oh it was just the most fantastic weekend away from Paris (even though it did rain the WHOLE time we were there). That just shows you how much I LOVED Brussels - it rained the whole time and yet I still loved it the very very mostest!

We arrived at 9:20 had promptly ate breakfast. "Do you serve beer yet?" - Jillian. "Of Course!" - Waitress. So I had a beer (a Vedett beer) with two soft-boiled eggs.

Brussels when we first arrived, raining and awesome

 This is Brussels, the cute streets and wonderfully nice people. We all decided that it takes the language of France (as well as others) and the niceness, friendliness, atmosphere, food, and beer, or Germany mixed with America. It was just so fantastic. I think we were also a bit annoyed with the French; their cold, unhelpful attitude towards life.

Here is the famous square we pretty much spent all of our time in. Its called the Grand Place and its the epicenter of tourism.

From here you can go to all the touristy things, such as the Mannekin Pis - or Pissing Boy - statue that is just a tiny fountain of a little boy peeing, and his pee stream is the fountain. Apparently they have a whole museum dedicated to the different outfits that this little statue wears. Taking in mind that the fountain is maybe like 1 foot in height, the clothes are like doll clothes, and they have a whole museum for them. I believe someone changes him every now and then, but we saw him in a little cape.

 

The picture of the colorful naked boy butts was in a chocolate shop, and again this is why Brussels is awesome. Brussels doesn't hate on the fact that they survive (at least here) on tourism. They embrace the fat beer and chocolate loving Americans who just want to see edible chocolate statues of little boys peeing.

So Brussels is also famous for their waffles. We had waffles with Nutella - which is delicious and highly recommended. And their beer, obviously. I finally had Delirium which is possibly the best beer I've had. It was a huge hit with the girls. I spent a day and a half talking about NEEDing to find Delirium because Allyson had talked to me about it, and when I finally did, we were in love!

And this is the epic MUSSELS IN BRUSSELS with fries - so good. We had curry mussels and garlic mussels and they give you like 4 bowls of fries. We had beer with dinner, and it was well worth the splurge - although still much cheaper than Paris. Afterward we went on a hunt for Delirium and I stole my glass to bring home (I felt guilty but come on!)

I think it is safe to say that over Brussels weekend, I broke up with Paris and was in a solid relationship with Brussels. We joked about Brussels weekend being the best weekend of our Study Abroad Adventures in Paris - BUUUTT its not over yet!

Palais de Tokoyo - Modern Art

Palais de Tokoyo is the Modern Art Museum, which happens to be next door to where I work everyday. I walk by it every day, and the last few days I've had to find myself through an intense maze on construction and inappropriate Frenchmen. I grew curious and decided to look up Palais de Tokoyo's exhibits and subsequently bought tickets. 

Palais de Tokoyo - Flowers from the exhibit

The empty and concrete venue

Palais de Tokoyo has an exhibition space that is a huge concrete construction-like site. The ceilings are 20 feel, there is unfinished ground work and walls, and everywhere you look there are metal gates and concrete dust. It looked unfinished, cold, large, empty, geometric, monotone, abandon and just kinda sad.

The show on exhibit was called "Sophie Calle = Rachel, Monique". It was an woman artist doing an exhibit on her mother, her mother's death, and her journey with her mother's death and the life of her mother. The artist statement describes this woman's life and how her mother always asked to be apart of her art, and she never would allow her mother to blur that line. 

Her mother is on her deathbed from cancer - this woman sets up a video camera and films her mother dying (which is part of the exhibit and let me tell you... disturbing enough where I had to walk away) and her mother's last words are "finally". Part of her installation is this video that plays on a loop from a projecter, projected into this constructed box, held together with sandbags (which adds to the affect) and is played on the back of this wooden box. You see her mothers face, not moving, dead, and the nurse checking her pulse by her neck, and periodically you see hands being held under her nose to check for signs of breathing. Its disturbing to watch, I had to walk away when the nurse pulled down the bedsheet and exposed the woman’s arm, all old wrinkly, vieny and white, limp while cheking her pulse. 

Video of her Mother lying in bed - dead

Cemetery photos

She had a series of gravesize pictures of different style graves all labled “mother” on them. You stood over them just like if you were at a real cemetery. 

She had a photo of her mothers coffin, and a list accompanying it of all the things she burreid her mother with. It was her mother’s dream to go to the North Pole, so this woman took a ring, a photo of her mother and a necklace to the north pole and burreid them there. She also had video installation and photos of the North Pole and the ice caps and such. 

Giraffe

There was a giant giraffe on the wall that she had bought and hung on the wall to look down and watch them. There was a series of photographs and short blurbs about her journey in life as well. She went to go see a fortune teller who told her to travel to Loudres with her mother. Her mother wouldn’t go, so she went. She went to this church and they told her that tons of people come here to worship the virgin mary, why are you so special, and she just kept repeating, I’ve always loved the virgin. She had photos with words written over them. 

Sand design saying "sourci"

Everywhere you looked there was a plaque or something with the word Souci written on it. Sourci means trouble. It kinda shows how her mother told her not to go through all this trouble for her death and now shes going over the top, as well as the troubles shes going trhough and feeling about her mother’s death in general. 

There also was a set of pictures taken at night and at day. The night was illuminated inside the boat windown and the day was sunny outside, the juxtasposition of the two was really beautiful. On the windowsill was just the picture, the ring and the necklace. 

       

           It had a feeling of animosity and disconnectedness almost, in regards to the mother and her daughter, the artist. Mainly due to the venue I think, but I think that is a way that the artist wanted her feelings to be portrayed. That now in death her mother was apart of her art? You get a good sense of her whole journey of her mothers death, the before, during and after, as well as her mothers life too. 

Drinking out of Baby Bottles

The first weekend, when I still lived in the hostel, I went out. I ended up meeting a gay Irish man named Cillian - see picture below:

Cillian and Katie with their Baby Bottle wine

He invited me out to dinner with his work friends and some other people. Me, being as awkward as I am, brought along my friends Victoria and Katie, just to even the friend to friend ratio. We ended up getting Fondue in Montmartre at a little place called Le Refuge des Fondues - a place that has graffiti written all over the walls, serves just cheese fondue, makes you climb (literally step on the table) to get to your chair, and serves you endless amounts of wine in... what else... baby bottles.

Notice the walls - graffiti

Katie and Me

Cillian's friend, Katie, happened to be turning 23 that night, so we go to celebrate a little bit. Surprisingly it was one of the cheaper meals I've had since being in Paris.

Breakfast in America

One of the many things I have missed from home now that I live in Paris, is breakfast. Good old fashioned breakfast, with eggs, toast, bacon, pancakes, syrup, juice, The Works. I get up and try to scrounge around my kitchen at home for any food, not just breakfast related, but anything (my host mother has problems stocking her kitchen, and often jokes about not having any food around or feeding her children even though she is a caterer.) After not having found a single thing to eat, not even plain yogurt or a piece of fruit, I go to work. On my way to my job, I pass by the corner Boulongerie, or bread/pastry shop. I might buy a personal sized omlet or a croissant, but it is never what I want. Its weird but I'm sick of eating French pastries all the time. Ah! All I'm really craving is some eggs.

Its has gotten so bad, that I convinced my friends to come with me to "Breakfast in America" and then to another breakfast joint called "Coco & Co"or now known as "Eggs & Co". Both boast breakfast as they do it in America = EGGS.

First we went to CoCo & Co. The cutest little place ever. Each chair is personalized with a name. It has egg-themed everything (which I adore) and is a pale blue color.

After breakfast we went and did our individual excursions. We went to Saint Julien le Pauvre - a church and Rue Galand - a street. Saint Julien le Pauvre was rebuilt in the 17th century and used to store animal feed during the revolution. St. Julian the Hospitaller is the patron saint of this church dating back to 1165-1220 being one of the oldest in Paris - along with the church St. Germain des Prés.

Rue Galand was home to the rich and chic in the 17th century and was famous for its taverns. Now it seems like there is nothing to see, other than the little boutique knickknack shops.

 After seeing these two sights, we headed North off of Metro: Courcells, to go to a Sweedish choir concert. The other night, while out at a bar salsa dancing - or trying to learn - we ran into a huge group of Sweedish people. They ended up being a choir, who were in Paris to preform for the weekend. They invited us to go see them, so we did! They were fantastic. They sang a couple Sweedish songs and then ended up "Double Double Toil and Trouble". It was interesting to see a different side of Paris.

Cimetière du Montparnasse

I went to the Montparnasse Cemetery before class the other day. It was planned by Napoleon to replace the old, cramped small cemeteries within the old city due to hazard health conditions a the turn of the 19th century. Like most French cemeteries it is divided into rigidly align paths forming blocks. It was opened in 1824 and is now the resting place of many famous personalities.

In the center is a statue called Génie du Sommeil Eternal - meaning the angel of eternal sleep, created in 1902 by Horace Daillion.

We stopped by and saw the graves of the famous existentialist couple, leaders of the post-war literary scene, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir - who are buried together.

 This is a moss covered grave that I thought was understated and unique, it isn't anyone famous but it is simple and beautiful. The other photo is of a sculpture in lieu of a headstone.

 This is Sergre Gainsbourg's grave, decorated with flowers, photographs, and other trinkets left by fans.

 We also saw Charles Baudelaire's cenotaph - a monument to the great poet and critic who died in 1867, author of the Flowers of Evil.

Harry's Bar - Famous Bloody Marys

This morning I went to Harry's Bar - on 5 Rue Daunou. Its actually a very interesting story, and tons of famous people have visited. It was started by the former American jockey star, Tod Sloan in 1911. It started in by dismanteling a bar in Manhatten and shipping it off ot Paris. Sloan hired Harry MacElhone, a barman from Scoltland, to run the bar. At this time in history, it became a favorite hangout of the ex-pats. I guess American tourist were showing up in Paris, and this guy, Sloan, decided to capitilize on that and make a spot that would feel at home for the expatriates.

 We went there for the Bloody Mary - which by the way costs 12.50 Euro! It was good, I had never had a Bloody Mary before, so I'm glad for my first one I was able to try "the original". I have to say, it was like drinking watered-down marinara sauce. It wasn't bad, but I think they're the original becasue it's literally the bare minimum of ingrediants. I feel like the Bloody Mary has evolved into a much better and multi-faceted drink. 

I realize my eyes are closed, but whatever. I have a Bloody Mary and Katie has a Mimosa.

The walls are adorned with old photos and drawings as well as College's flags (or Pendants or whatever they're called.)

Harry's is famous for having their "Ivories" piano bar in the basement where, apparently, George Gershwin composed An American in Paris. Its also the birthplace of the Bloody Mar, French 75, the Side Car, The Monkey Gland.

Other famous people who have frequented Harry's are, Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel, Jack Dempsey, Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart, the Duke of Windsor, Bill Tiden, Primo Carnera, Romon Novarro, and Aly Khan.

It was a cute little place, expensive drinks, but the atmosphere was nice.