Panthéon

Bonjour tous!
Today I finally visited the Panthéon, which I've been meaning to visit more or less since I got here, but just never got around to before, which is silly, since it's not at all far from my art history classes and the Jardin du Luxembourg.
So what is the Panthéon?  An intriguing question.  Wikipedia does a pretty good job of summarizing the history and purpose of this space, which I myself learned all about when I was there.  Briefly, the Panthéon is the current name (dating from the French Revolution) for what was once the Cathédrale Sainte-Geneviève, and, like Westminster Abbey in England, it now houses the tombs of many important French citizens--Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers), Victor Hugo (see my post on the 16th arrondissement), Voltaire, Rousseau (see my post on Parc Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Pierre and Marie Curie, etc.  (Marie Curie is the only woman interred there on her own merit--the only other woman there was only included to not separate her from her husband... which is ironic considering that the building was constructed in the first place to honor the relics of Sainte Geneviève, the patroness of Paris.) There are also some more general dedications there as well--like to les Justes de France (justes here could be roughly translated as "the righteous ones"), who are numerous French citizens who helped French Jews either hide, fake papers, or flee the country during the Nazi occupation.  It's also got another example of a Foucault's Pendulum, which some of you may remember I also saw at le musée des arts et métiers back in October.  Just more evidence that the world is rotating on its own axis and around the sun!  So all in all, it's a very interesting place.

the Panthéon

Can you spot the swinging pendulum?

the central dome, from which the pendulum hangs 

ROUSSEAU

Marie and Pierre Curie

Le musée de l'orangerie

Bonjour!
Today, since it was gray and cold but I didn't want to spend all day in the house, I decided to check out le musée de l'orangerie, which is one of a handful of museums here that are open on Mondays.  It's famous for hosting Claude Monet's Water Lilies, which is the main reason I went there, but that was actually only a very small (but very beautiful) part of the museum.  The majority of the permanent collection is also impressionist and post-impressionist works.  And they had an interesting temporary exhibit on Spanish art of the late 1800s and early 1900s.  It's a very small museum, which I liked a lot--there isn't that feeling you get in the Louvre of being overwhelmed and lost, in a mental and physical sense.  Of course, as usual, photographs were interdit, so I can only show you the outside of the building.  You'll just have to take my word for it that it was a nice little museum!

Here's the side of the building.
It's a little hard to tell here, but the roof is all glass.

Le musée de l'orangerie from the front 

Some food I've eaten lately (EYE CANDY)

This groups together dinner on Friday night, which I had with a guy I know from Bard who was just here for a couple of days, and a pastry yesterday afternoon that Victoria gave me.

salmon burger (for Ben), warm goat cheese salad (for me)

an elegance (we weren't sure what it is--I discovered it's something like mousse) and a tarte au citron (lemon tart)

first layer: vanilla, very light and foamy

second layer: milk chocolate, a little more heavy

third layer: a very thick, rich, dark chocolate mousse

Paris 16th

Bonjour!
I spent a lovely afternoon today wandering around the 16th arrondissement, where I haven't really spent much time until now because it's mostly a residential area, so I haven't really had any reasons to go there.  I didn't really have any reason to go there today, either, but it was rather sunny, and I'm trying to visit all 20 arrondissements during my stay here, and I'd read about at least a couple of interesting (because of the shops that line them) streets in the 16th, which is in the west of Paris.  So I took the metro over to le Pont Mirabeau, the subject of a very famous poem by the French poet Guillame Apollinaire, which also happens to be one of my favorite poems.  (Here is a link to a clip of the author (as far as I can tell) reading the poem himself; listen to it even if you don't speak French: it's one of my favorites because of the sounds and rhythm of the words, as well as the meaning, so even without understanding it, you can appreciate how the words flow--rather like the waters of the Seine evoked in the first line--as well as the beauty of the rhymes.)

detail of le Pont Mirabeau

What a skyline!  Yes, that's Lady Liberty (well, a replica) and the Eiffel Tower in the same shot, as seen from le pont Mirabeau!

After traversing the bridge, which joins the 15th and 16th arrondissements, I headed up Rue d'Auteuil, which my handy Fodor's Paris 2011 mentions as worth seeing as yet another example of a cute, small, windy, traditional, quintessential, quaint Parisian street.  But they never get old!  Then I followed Avenue Mozart north through the 16th until I came to La Muette, where I stopped for lunch in les Jardins du Ranelagh this funny, triangular park.

Eglise d'Auteuil

Rue Auteuil

This is what I love about Paris: you get art like this on regular buildings!  This was on the side of an apartment building on Avenue Mozart.

Exhibit B: this was a parking garage only a few yards away!  How beautiful!

Part of the Jardins du Ranelagh, which are bisected by a few streets, making the big triangle into a bunch of little ones!

a statue in the Jardins du Ranelagh

Another statue in Ranelagh--I wish there had been anything explaining what this was a statue of!

the view from where I ate lunch in Ranelagh

I found everything about this poop-scooping sign funny...  The dog and the human are both walking with such a jaunty gait!  And then the dog is just waiting patiently, leash dragging on the ground, while its owner uses a shovel to scoop poop into a plastic bag somehow staying conveniently open!  From my many years of dog walking and poop scooping, it's never this easy.  But maybe I don't have the magic Parisian touch...

another unexplained statue at Ranelagh

Then I continued my trek north through the 16th, via Avenue Victor Hugo, also lined with pricey shops (the west of Paris homes some of the wealthiest neighborhoods) which runs through la Place de Victor Hugo, which is like a smaller version of L'étoile Charles de Gaulle, where avenue Victor Hugo ends, except minus the Arc de Triomphe.  (The avenue and the circle are named after another French poet, who was also the author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.)

More palm trees!  But these ones were in pots, and I assume the owner brings them in at night... 

Place Victor Hugo

a church on Place Victor Hugo

L'Arc de Triomphe as seen from Avenue Victor Hugo

Next, I headed south along the border of the 16th and the 8th, away from l'Arc de Triomphe, along Avenue Marceau, which ends at the Seine in the Place de l'Alma.  If that name rings a bell for any of you, it's because that's also the site of the car crash which killed Lady Diana.  I didn't realize that until I got there (remember, this was in August 1997--I was six years old) and found an informal tribute to her combined with another tribute to the Statue of Liberty: an exact replica of the flame she holds.

Then, I thought I'd head over to the Orsay, since it was getting rather chilly with some increasing cloud cover and the setting of the sun, but the line was enormous, and, according to the employee I asked, I can't wait in the shorter line for people who already have tickets even though my student ID means that I don't need to buy a ticket or even wait in line for one, as I found out the last time I was there.  I think she might have been wrong, but I decided I'd figure that out another day, and instead head home via the metro from Place de la Condorde, since the setting sun there always provides a stunning view of la Tour Eiffel.  And as far as I'm concerned, seeing the sun setting behind the Eiffel tower is always a pretty good end to an afternoon!

one of the statues at Concorde 

So many things pointing to the sky!
(part of the Ferris wheel, the Eiffel Tower, a lamp post, the obelisk at Concorde)

Thanksgiving in Paris

Happy Thanksgiving!
It didn't feel like much of a holiday for me, seeing as I was in class all day, as usual for Thursdays here, but I did have a lovely dinner this evening to celebrate.  The director of the program I'm here with and her companion Jacques hosted us at their lovely apartment right near le jardin du Luxembourg, and we were allowed to invite a friend along, so, after braving a crowded bus alone with two pies--I managed quite well, and even had a very nice conversation with the French lady sitting next to me, who said the apple pie looked magnifique (the pumpkin was in a bag for easier handling)--I met up with Victoria at the garden, and we walked to the apartment together from there.  Once everyone was assembled, we ate!  Of course--that's what you do on Thanksgiving, after all.  There were no potatoes (this is what happens when you let a Frenchwoman cook Thanksgiving dinner) but there was a turkey that, according to the meat-eaters, was delicious, and I myself can attest that the green beans, cranberry sauce, and... well, I'm not sure what to call it, but it was similar in consistency to mashed potatoes, but made from squash and carrots--anyway, all the food was delicious!  And we had some French bread and cheese with it, because it's just inevitable during a French meal.  And there was red wine, sparkling apple cider, and seltzer water to drink, so I had a little of each!  And then, to finish the event, the pies!  Which came out pretty well, if I do say so myself--and the rest of the crowd agreed.  So all in all, it was a success, although it's not the same as being at home, with family.  Still, it was a lovely evening all the same!  But we were so busy eating and conversing that I didn't take many photos.  But here are the three I took from today.

Okay, this is obviously not at Thanksgiving dinner--but I lucked out!  The festivities started a little early for me, with this bit of flan (homemade) that one of my French friends brought to share before our lecture together.  Also, don't worry, I'm not on drugs or totally exhausted--I was just about to blink when the photo took!

The food!  And Jacques, a former college of my director here, and the Canadian friend of my friend from Bard, who's just on the right edge of the photo. 

My plate!  Yum!

Pies!

Salut!
So today, instead of going to a museum, I spent the afternoon baking some Thanksgiving pies with an American friend, Leah, which we will eat tomorrow night at the Thanksgiving dinner the director of our program is hosting for us.  It won't be the same as being at home, but it's better than nothing!
But before we could bake, I still needed to buy the apples, so this morning I ventured all the way over to the 15th arrondissement to buy some apples at a marché (open-air street market), because Leah had read online about this really good apple farmer who sells her apples there on Wednesdays, and who is always willing to recommend the perfect apple for the recipe!  Especially since I'm not familiar with the different varieties of French apples, I though it would be good to talk to a local specialist, as it were!  And it was a really cool market: it ran the length of a street between two above-ground metro stations, so it was sort of covered on top by the elevated train tracks, but it was still very much an open-air type venue.  And French markets are always fun to walk around.  And then, at the end, I saw a stall selling yarn and they also had crochet hooks!  Which was great, because ever since I saw that pricey yarn shop on Saturday, I've been really wanting to crochet, and then on the way to the market this morning, the woman sitting next to me on the metro was crocheting, and so it was just perfect!  And the prices were very, very reasonable--five balls of yarn and a crochet hook for less than 8€!  So I've started working on a scarf, nothing very elaborate, but it's nice to be crocheting again.

Le marché de la Grenelle in the 15th arrondissement

Le nouveau verger, or the new orchard, where I bought some very lovely apples!  (Hint: it's the table with the red cloth and all the apples on top!)

Giant cheese at the market!

Mmm!  I snacked on the bits around the cores, and these are delicious!

As you can see from the tag, I bought rubinette apples, which

I'd never heard of, and which you can read about here.

Anyway, this afternoon Leah came over here and we spent a lovely three hours baking one pumpkin pie and one apple pie--the two Thanksgiving essentials!  They look good--of course we can't taste them until tomorrow--and I hope they turned out right!  It was a bit tricky, between the conversions to metric measurements, and slightly different ingredients and utensils than we're used to, so... well, tomorrow we'll know!  But if we can judge by appearance, I think they look pretty darn delicious!

The pumpkin goo always looks a little gross...

But not the finished product!  The little pastry additions were Leah's idea; we baked them separately with the extra crust.

Our finished products!

Hôtel de Ville, Jardin Anne Frank

Salut!

Many museums here are closed on Mondays, but not City Hall, where there was an exhibit of the art of Jean-Jacques Sempé.  The name might not ring a bell, but I'm sure most of you are familiar with his work: in addition to Le Petit Nicholas, Little Nicholas, a very famous French comic which he illustrates, he has also created many of the cover illustrations for The New Yorker since 1978!  (It was very interesting, in looking at the display of his cover art for that magazine, to notice how the price has increased over the years... from $1.00 in 1978 to $4.99 in 2011.  Yikes!  When I looked at the first cover, from '78, and saw that it only cost a dollar, I thought, "Why don't I read The New Yorker more?"  As the price kept going up, I remembered why...)  Anyway, I really enjoyed the exhibit, and it was interesting to see some of the inside of City Hall.

part of the exhibit 

To enter the exhibit, you have to go in the back door.
I liked the big lions.

I thought the drawing of the Pompidou on  this sign was funny
(and fairly accurate).

Hôtel de Ville, or city hall, from the front

After I was done with the exhibit, I decided to walk home (I was lazy and took the metro there, although I could have also taken bus 38).  It's not far at all, only 30 minutes on foot at most, and as I was walking home, I noticed a little sign that I hadn't noticed before, for le Jardin Anne Frank.  It's at the end of a little dead-end street (or an impasse, as they're called in French), right next to the musée de la poupée, or Doll Museum, which I haven't yet visited but which is on my to-do list!  Anyway, the Anne Frank Garden isn't very big or grand, but I liked it a lot.  Even though it's not far off of a very busy street (Rue Beaubourg), because it's at the end of a dead-end and surrounded by buildings, it is very quiet there, which is a nice relief from the constant noise of the city here.  (Here are two of the noises I hear most often, and which I will be so glad NOT to hear when I'm back home: the wailing of sirens, which are even more obnoxious here than they are in the U.S., and this one ringtone which I swear is on practically every French cell phone and which I hear multiple times daily, and which apparently is impossible to find an example of on the internet.)  Anyway, the park was very quiet, and very nice.

Note the Centre Pompidou in the background.