Tour du Marais

Ok, so on Saturday, one of the professors from CUPA took us on a tour of the Marais, which is one of Paris's oldest and most historic quartiers. In French, marais means "swamp," which is essentially what this area was in the Middle Ages before a group of monks came in and drained the land so that they could build monasteries and churches there. As you can see in some of the photos, the area still retains traces of its medieval heritage and history. 

A few centuries later, the Marais became the place for noble French families to build their homes. As a result, the area is now home to many impressive urban mansions, including the Hôtel de Sully, which we visited (see below). 

In the late 19th century, le Marais became home to many Ashkenazi Jews fleeing prosecution and pogroms in Eastern Europe and has ever since been considered the Jewish center of Paris. In the Jewish community, the area is known as Pletzl, which is Yiddish for "little place." 

Finally, in the 1980s, the gay community also took up residence in this district and helped to make it the quaint, chic, charming neighborhood it is today. So, anyway, what I'm trying to say is that this bitch is mad old and tons of shit went down here. Basically. Here are some damn photos fo' yo' ass:

 Medieval houses

 I couldn't decide which one I liked better so I just put them both up...

I like the silhouette on the left but I also like the sunburst effect on the right. 

What do you guys think?

Cobbler shop 

 Old medieval street

Hôtel de Sully.

 This is the Place des Vosges, an iconic Parisian square and park that was designed and constructed by King Henri IV in the 16th century. Victor Hugo wrote Les Miserables here and Mozart gave one of his first recitals here. It's lovely and very historic but all I saw when I went there was this baby. 

 I have a problem  (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3q4xr_natasha-bedingfield-i-wanna-have-yo_music))

Best viewed large!

 I swear to God I have seen more macaroons in the last week than I have seen throughout in my entire life

Also, because we were in a group, I didn't really have all the time that I wanted to stop and just take photos, so expect another post on le Marais in the (hopefully near) future.

Hot French guys on bikes are great. Hot French guys on motos are better.

Sooooo the other day this French girl on the street gave me the stink-eye and I wanted to just open my mouth and hurl French insults at her like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6IoD9fGjgQ (hi Kiely) but instead I just politely moved aside. I need to be more aggressive in this town...

This translates loosely to "everything works out," an optimistic message that I appreciate.

Église Saint-Sulpice

This is our old friend Le Sénat. Doesn't he look good at night?

Also, I just wanted to thank all of you so much for your compliments on the blog. I'm so new to this (both blogging and photography) that it's great to know that I'm doing something right! Je vous aime tous!

There are too many photos in this post.

Yesterday, I saw a parade of French toddlers walking to school and it made me so happy and so intent on stealing (or making) one of my very own.

Anyway, on a less crazy kidnapping sort of note, here are some photos of my life:

 Here we have a manifestation, as the French call it. These people were protesting outside the Senate (see below) against the impending law to legalize "mercy killings" in France (i.e., doctors who help those who are suffering to end their lives, also known as "assisted suicide"). This protest was so bizarre. There was like, opera music playing in the background and if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can (sort of) see a guy walking around in the background, dressed all in black with a scythe. He was pretending to be "death," I guess. The signs read "to care is not to kill" and other things of that nature. Even though this was an especially bizarre protest, these sorts of large-scale outdoor demonstrations are commonplace in Paris.

 The aforementioned Senate

Best viewed large!

Best viewed large!

 

Best viewed large!

I saw this in a store front and though it was cute. It's a man offering a woman his heart and in response she says (according to the text on the window) "you know, if you don't mind, I think I'd prefer a cake." It's a cake shop...so sue them.

Guess who? (Notre Dame)

L'intérieure de Notre Dame

 L'exterieur

 Woah woah woah...what is this, it's so blurry and funky!?!? Here, lemme just clear that up for ya...

 Oh, now I see, it's the Panthéon at night! (and it's lookin' mighty fine)

Recognize this anyone? (you know who you are...) http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2524354816/tt0381681

 Little Asian grocery store next to my house...

Paris je t'aime!

Hi everyone!

So the past few days have been la folie, as they say in France. My plane left Boston at 8:30 pm and I flew to Reykjavik, Iceland. Let me just tell you, Iceland is the weirdest country in the world. On the back of each chair, they had little screens that told facts about Iceland and they were bizarre. Like, half the population believes in elves. And even though there are only 300,000 people in ALL of Iceland (there are like twice that many people in Boston alone!), they somehow produce 10 rock bands a year! Also, the screen said that "every Icelander can trace his or her roots back to the nation's first settlers." Does that mean that there are no immigrants in Iceland? I didn't understand. Also, it has the largest number of master chess players per capita of any country in the world. Like, who are these people?  It all just made me think of this http://www.hulu.com/watch/56633/saturday-night-live-update-bjork

Whatever. My flight from Reykjavik to Paris got in at around noon and my host dad, Alain, met me at the aeroport. The first thing I noticed about him was that his cell phone ring was "Hey Ya" by Outkast and I so knew immediately that we would be great friends. Anywayyyyy, we took the train (two trains, actually) into Paris and when we stepped out of the train, we were standing in front of Notre Dame like it was no big deal. Amazing. We walked to their apartement, with my poor little host dad dragging mah HUMONGOUS suitcase (sry Alain...ily) and when I got upstairs, their two sons were there along with their adorable four-year-old granddaughter who literally popped out from under the table. You guys know I wanted a French baby to play with. Wish granted. Hopefully, we'll have conversations like this: http://vimeo.com/2113477?pg=embed&sec=2113477

We had lunch (which I thought was dinner cuz I was so intensely jetlagged I had zero idea what time it was) and they are all so nice. They totally made me feel like part of the fam. Then I played w/ the granddaughter, Maeva, for like, hours. We watched some Babar and some Tintin. Obvi.

H'anyway, then I took a mondo nap (hi Hannah) and when I woke up their son, Cyrille, who is around my age, was the only person in the house and we had the most awkward interaction ever. I obviously looked a mess cuz I had just woken up, plus I had no idea where anyone was and I was just like "um hi...who am I what am I doing here where's your Mom?" all in like, broken French. He obviously thought I was like a huge n00b, which was super embarassing. Whatever. I'm over it.

That night, I had dinner w/ my host-mama and she is amazing. We talked like, way into the night. I think I'm in love.

This morning I got up and took the Metro to my program. The first thing they did was make us take this placement test which was affreux. It was all like, conjugations and verb tenses, which I haven't done since high school, so pretty sure I bombed that shit...oh well. Then they gave us lots of complicated instructions which started to stress me out so I ignored them. After that we had a little meet and greet where I met some cool cats and talked to my old friend Alex from high school, who also happens to be on the program. C'était sympa.

After that, I walked home. All by mahself. It was exciting! I just like wandered around the city, taking photos and exploring. Paris is a photographer's paradise. Here are some of the better ones...

This right here is the Panthéon, where all the famous French ppl are buried, like Voltaire, Pangloss (jk Carolyn), Victor Hugo, Rousseau, etc.

But as beautiful as the city is during the day, it is magical at night. The way the lights shine on the cathedrals and the tiny, curving streets is enchanting. Here's summa dat:

Um, this is where I go to school.

 Notre-Dame. Nbd.

Église Saint-Séverin

Église Saint-Nicolas

So...ya. Paris is bomb.