First of all, I think that it is important to state that, due to the extreme heat we experienced on Monday, none of us were overly excited about spending a long time in the city the next day. So we didn't do a walk or anything; Tuesday was just kind of, y'know, a Tuesday.
But, like, in Paris, so still amazing.
After class on Tuesday, I headed over to the Institute building with all the people who were taking the Humanities class. However, since I'm not in the Humanities class, that meant sitting on a chair in the hallway and doodling while everybody else discussed Hamlet. And while I am clearly The World's Most Talented Doodler (don't question it, just ADMIRE my TALENT):
It wasn't long before I got bored. I hadn't had lunch yet, so I decided to pop over to a crepe stand down the street that I'd seen before, but hadn't gone to. It was right next to this cool fountain/park area, so I sat here to eat it:
Okay, confession time: before this point, I'd had, y'know, a couple crepes. My only feelings toward them were, ehhh, they're not bad. But I kind of figured that crepes were overrated pancakes, since none of the ones I'd eaten had really particularly stood out as my favorite food here.
But this thing.
Oh my GOSH.
This crepe was thick, and oozing with chocolate, and very warm. It tasted the way hugs feel.
I'm not even joking or exaggerating here, this crepe was incredible. It basically changed my life--and for the low, low price of 3 euros, too. Not bad.
So anyway, I sat on the steps and stared at the fountain thingie, eating my crepe, and then did my homework. After that, feeling very happy and full, I hopped on a train to go home and meet Anna, Anisa, and Quincy at the grocery store in our little suburb.
Okay, quick little note here. I really really like the friends I've made here, but--and this is something I've always known about myself--there is something incredibly therapeutic, for me at least, about being alone. Not all the time--but having time to just sit and eat a crepe without trying to catch up to anyone or carry a conversation or do anything but look around and think is something I haven't gotten to do in a few weeks.
You know what else I haven't got to do? Sing. It's been so long since I just went at it and sang, man--mostly because I like to sing when there's nobody else around and, let's face it, this is Paris--there's always somebody around. But I digress.
My point is, while I'm loving my time with the people that I've met here, I was grateful for a little time alone, too. It gave me the opportunity to take pics like this:
That pipe-y building up there is the Musee Pompidou, a famous modern art museum. Cool, huh?
Oh, also being alone allows me to take selfies without Anna yelling, "SELFIE!" Although, let's be honest, every selfie is better with Anna yelling about it in the background. :)
Okay, that's all for Tuesday. On Wednesday after class, we decided to gut up and do a walk, and it was actually very pleasant!
Our first item on the list to observe was the famous Hotel Lutetia, a four-star hotel built in 1910. People like Picasso and Charles de Gaulle stayed here--it's a big deal. Now, marvel with me at the magnificence of this building! The splendor! The--
. . . oh.
Apparently it's undergoing renovations, so they covered the building with a fancy facade that looks like the Lutetia. It was very underwhelming.
During the course of our walk we came across several interesting images, including this one on the Rue du Cherche-Midi: a little emblem of this guy checking a sundial (according to the guidebook.)
I dunno, all I can see is
There was also this random centaur made out of scrap metal, who, um, well, he kind of had . . . human legs instead of horse legs??? And . . . uh . . . other human body parts???
Whatever. I strategically took the photo so you couldn't see it.
French art is weird (but most of it is also reaalllyyy cool).
Oh, almost forgot: here's a picture of me in front of this 17th-century building on the Rue du Cherche-Midi! It's visibly different from the other apartments on this road (they're all whitish-gold and it's a worn-out brown) which made me feel like we had something in common--we both stick out like a sore thumb here. But, like, in a good way. Mostly.
This was me when Anna first took the picture. And then, after fifteen more seconds when she just kept standing there holding my phone and I finally realized she was zooming way in on my face and taking random ugly pictures of me again, we got this gem:
Why, yes, those ARE my nostrils! Yes, I DO look like a pig when they're visible like that!
#thanksAnna2k16
Shortly after this, the guidebook told us that we were absolutely required to eat at this pastry shop called Pierre Herme. Which was so hard, because like, we totally didn't want delicious French desserts. But we are brave souls, so we went into the shop. I got this big macaroon.
You know, I'm convinced that the French put some kind of trippy drug in their treats that makes you feel like biting into one is always life-changing. Because every pastry I've had so far here is totally and completely beyond anything I'd ever imagined. This gem had a chocolate and guava dynamic going on, and if that sounds weird, it was--but it was also DELICIOUS.
We ate our pastries way too fast while sitting on a bench in front of this church, Saint Sulpice.
Apparently, this is the church that The Da Vinci Code made famous, although I know nothing about The Da Vinci Code, so it wasn't anything too significant to me. It was pretty, though! I liked how it was so open and Romanesque, as opposed to the more Gothic-style churches we tend to see in Paris.
Shoutout to Skye, who loves the Gothic style churches. She explained to me as we were walking by it that Gothic is her favorite style of architecture, and she is cool, therefore Gothic architecture is cool as well.
The walk today really wasn't that long--which I was glad about, since I didn't want to deal with doing a long walk in hot weather. We ended it at the site of this abbaye (the French word for 'abbey') that was originally built in the sixth century.
The tower, shown here, is from the twelfth century, but the rest of the building had to be rebuilt because apparently during the French Revolution some idiot thought it was a good idea to store gunpowder there, and then of course the building caught fire. It's cool that the tower survived, though!
Here's a shot I took that is pretty cool:
You can see the abbaye there, but then at the other end of the street (way down, the skinny black building) is the Tour Montparnasse, built just a few decades ago. There's a difference of close to a millenium between the ages of these two buildings--it's kind of like being in some weird time-travel tunnel to look at them. Anyway, I just thought it was cool.
We had crepes again to tide us over until dinner (they were nowhere near as good as the ones from the other crepe stand, though). Then the other girls went shopping, and I went home.
I'll recap today really quickly--just the highlights. It started to rain last night (hooray!!! Death to heat waves!), and I wanted to close the windows because the rain was so loud I couldn't sleep. I closed one and then went over to close the other one and--
Um, hi, excuse me, could you NOT?
I've already extended my generosity to Patrick. He is the only bug that gets to live in my room with impunity. This little sucker is dead now.
I introduced Skye and Cassidy to The Heavenly Crepe Stand for lunch, which was an excellent decision. Everybody loved it. Here's me and Anisa about to chow down:
Okay, final story: You can't see it in this picture, but I'm wearing a sweatshirt that says "Brigham Young Cougars" on it. At dinner tonight, my host mom asked me what it said, and when I said the word 'Cougars' her eyes got really wide and she (and our host siblings) started laughing. They were like, "Does that mean the same thing in English as in French?"
I was confused for a second, but then I realized--Cougars. As in, older lady going for a younger boy.
So yeah, apparently the only use for the word cougar in French is to describe that. They don't use it as a word for a mountain lion. Meaning I walked around all day wearing a sweatshirt that basically declared that I am a Cougar in the worst sense of the word.
Okay, well, like I really needed another social blunder to add to my ever-growing list of Things Alaina Has Done Wrong in France.
Let's try not to dwell on that too hard, shall we? Instead, let's admire the beauty of the Seine on a cloudy day:
I'm going to wrap this up now, it's late. Song for today: La Pluie, by ZAZ, to celebrate the first day with rain after that heat wave! It won't let me embed it, but you can watch it here.
Well, that's all from me today! Hope your day goes great--and that you don't run into any cougars.
Peace out.
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