Condensed like milk

So, I'm realizing how behind I am in my blogging. I have yet to record any of my adventures in Paris, and I didn't even journal while in Paris, so this post will be my only record of my infamous actions there.

Here's hoping I can accurately remember them and do them justice.

I believe I chronicled Monday in my last blog post. One day down.

Tuesday morning, bright and early, Lauren and I headed to the Notre Dame. We visited inside for about 30 minutes. The church is, of course, gorgeous and huge. But honestly, after all the churches I've seen since being here in France, it was honestly, to me, just another church. That sounds so awful saying that, and the church truly is beautiful. But, considering I've been studying gothic and roman architecture and have visited more churches in the past month than I have in my entire life, le Notre Dame de Paris was simply another gothic church.

Lauren and I tried to wait in line to climb the towers, but we had a guided tour with our group at the Musee d'Orsay at 11, and did not have enough time to do so. I regret not being able to! I would have loved to see the famed bells that poor Quasimodo rang each day.

The tour at the Musee d'Orsay was interesting, but actually very frustrating for me. The one bad thing about the guided tours that Madame organized was that very few left much free time for my own exploration. Our guide took us around and showed us famous and important works relevant to the art history class that we are going to be taking. For example, we saw lots of Corbet and Manet and Monet and Van Gogh, which of course is amazing, but we didn't talk about Degas or Renoir at all, and I anxiously walked past about 20 pieces that I would have preferred to stay and study, but I had to stay with my tour group. We did have about 45 minutes after our tour guide showed us everything she wanted to, and yes I could have stayed there all day, but Madame had given us a huge list of things we had to see, and I just didn't have the time to stay. Luckily, I did get to see some of Degas' paintings and his sculpture of the little dancer girl (LOVE IT).

After a quick lunch, we headed to the Musee Rodin to see all of Rodin's famed sculptures (you'd recognize "Le Penseur"). My favorite, however, was called "Le Baiser" (the kiss). Look it up. We also visited Les Invalides, the GIANT tomb of Napoleon 1st. And when I say giant, I mean giant. And gilded in gold. Craziness.

Lauren and I then tried to go inside the Paris Opera, but the auditorium was closed for rehearsals. Later that night, we went to an amazing concert at Saint-Chapelle, a gorgeous cathedral of great flamboyant gothic style. We listened to the musical stylings of Vivaldi, as played by a string quartet with an outstanding soloist named Frederic Moreau. My knowledge of the violin, limited by the 3-4 years its been since I really played, was good enough to recognize Moreau's talent. I have never sat up straighter and paid closer attention than I did when he started playing. He truly was incredible, and I missed my violin for the first time in a year or two.

Jessica, who was my best friend at Wake freshman year, hung out with us on Tuesday night. We went to a bar nearby, and it was quite the event.

So ends Tuesday.

Wednesday brought a trip to Versailles. As neat as it was, once again I just found myself annoyed by the extravagance. It was almost too much for me.

After passing the morning at Versailles, we returned to Paris and visited the Musee de Cluny, a superb museum of the Middle Ages which houses the famed tapisteries of the Lady and the Unicorn. I accidently took a picture with the flash and got fussed at. Oops. After Musee de Cluny came the Pantheon, which is home to the cadavers of people like Rousseau, Voltaire, the Curies, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, and Louis Braille. Pretty nifty.

Wednesday night our group visited the Eiffel Tower. We sadly did not climb it, but it was still gorgeous. We rode a carousel that was just across the street, and I ate cotton candy that was bigger than my head. No lie, it was the biggest ball of cotton candy I've ever seen. And it was delicious. We then headed to the lawns behind the tower and just hung out for a bit before going back to the hotel.

On Thursday morning we had a guided tour of the Louvre. AKA museum extraordinare. It was awesome. I saw a little painting called the Mona Lisa. And also my favorite da Vinci painting, Madonna on the Rocks. And of course, works by all the greats like Delacroix, Ingres, David, even sculptures by Michelangelo...and numerous others that I am not going to sit here and name. But it was pretty great.

After the Louvre, I spent 20 euro on the best hot chocolate in the world and an amazing pastry at a tea shop called Angelina's. Worth every centime. The hot chocolate was legitimately melted chocolate, and my pastry, called Olympe, was a strawberry macaroon with crystalized violets, raspberry jelly, strawberry jelly, violet jelly, fresh raspberries, and a few gold flakes. The perfect match for the hot chocolate.

We also visited L'Orangerie, a small museum with some spectactular works of Monet, as well as Picasso and other famous artists. Next, we visited la cimetiere de Pere LaChaise, where greats like Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Frederic Chopin, and the great Oscar Wilde are buried. It's tradition (don't ask me why) to kiss Wilde's tomb when wearing bright red lipstick.

So we did. We being me, Carleigh, MaryKate, and Jenn. Peter and Wright stood by and watched, rather embarassed and annoyed.

One of my favorite Oscar Wilde quotes: "They have been eating muffins. That looks like repentance." -Cecily, The Importance of Being Earnest

Sacre Coeur, the beautiful cathedral atop a hill which offers a spectactular view of Paris, was our next stop. The church is beautiful, and I was able to listen to the first 15 minutes of mass. Incredible.

Dinner that night was hilarious. We ate at a fondue restaurant that served wine in baby bottles. Don't ask me why. But it was super fun.

Friday morning, Lauren and I went to the Opera. I, being the nerd that I am, was awkwardly singing Phantom of the Opera and making references to the musical every other second. I might have sang and danced Masquerade on the staircase and made Lauren take a picture of me. I also nearly peed myself when we saw the the auditorium (GORGEOUS) and the Phantom's Box, No. 5. Go ahead and stamp nerd on my forehead, I'm surprised it hasn't appeared on its own.

After a bit of shopping at la Galleries Lafeyette, I went to the Centre Pompidou, which houses a lot of modern art. It was not my favorite, as I don't consider much of modern art true art. I might be wrong, but a trashed room isn't art to me. The Centre Pompidou apparently thought so.

Friday night might have been the highlight of my trip. We went to the Cirque Plume, which is like Cirque du Soleil on a more modest, fun scale. It was outstanding. The acts where incredible, the clowns hilarious, and the music was beautiful. I had a great time. We finished our trip in Paris by drinking red wine beneath the glow of the moonlight and the Eiffel Tower.

Saturday morning we headed back to Dijon, and I started laundry and then napped for three hours. It was glorious, and much needed, and finally got me over the cold and cough that I had all during Paris week.

Whew, long entry. But now, at least, my escapades are recorded for my memory's sake.