The November Update part 1
So I’ve been a bit busy of late and haven’t really had time to blog about current events. Like most things in my life, I was more interested in the past, and spent a good bit of November writing about October. Now, instead of writing one of my final papers, I’m going to write about November.
After getting back from my weeklong tour of Belgium, it was back to the real world (aka Paris). Oh joy! Classes, asses, books, and crooks - what more could a kid want? (Other than wine, of course.) My first weekend back was spent getting my life back in order, and then it was really back to the grind. I don’t really remember what I did that weekend, but I don’t remember going to any bars, either, which is not a good sign.
My first outing after the return to Paris was with my medieval architecture class to the Basilica of St. Denis, located on the outskirts of Paris. It was in the choir of this church that gothic architecture was “invented” in the first half of the 12th century. From the exterior the building anything but attractive, but it’s certainly different. The interior is really interesting not just because of its architecture and stained glass, but because St. Denis is the church where the royalty of France was buried for about a thousand years. All over the the church are marble statues laying down, which were once part of immense royal tombs, long since destroyed by the crazed-ass Frenchies during the 1789 revolution. Downstairs, in the crypt, are the tombs of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, which were exhumed about 25 years after they lost their heads and stuffed in the basement. I can only hope that there is a bit of space for me left at St. Deniswhen I revive the French monarchy and become the first king in a couple hundred years.
Exterior - they're currently unable to figure out how to clean the exterior due to extensive stone deterioration
One of the very few, largely untouched tombs
Marie-Antoinette is in the middle on the right, Louis XVI is next to her
Some of the reinstalled statues, without the majority of the tomb baldacchinos
The very birthplace of gothic architecture
Two of the few original windows left
The next outing was to the Chateau de Versailles, the royal pad just outside of Paris. Every time I think of Versailles I also think of the Allan Sherman song that 1) taught me that the French Revolution was in 1789 and b) referred to the chateau as Louis and Marie’s “place” at Versailles. It’s a quality song, and everybody should listen to it.
Completely unrelated, but I saw this one day on my way to the Metro. That's half a cow being carried by one man.
Walking from the RER (the Suburban Train Line) to the palace is sort of surreal because all of a sudden you turn your head and SPLAT: Tharr she blows! Yeah, splat is the noise that Versailles makes, no doubt. Everything is gilded and it shines like a most inappropriate saying that my grandmother says from time to time. Since we went as a group of 30 Trinity kids, the visit was a bit rushed, but I feel as though I got a pretty good look at the main palace and its accessories. Holy shit balls! I can honestly say, however, that I probably wouldn’t enjoy living there. Everything was just over the top and never once could I envision myself walking around in bare feet and a bathrobe, which is a very important part of my day.
I did, however, consider the fact that I could throw one Hell of a good party in the Hall of Mirrors. We might have to limit the kegs and go for “adult” drinks like vodka tonics for the gents and gin fizzes for the ladies, with the occasional dark and stormy, but it would be a good time, I’m sure.
After the interior visit, we were marched out into the garden, which has been pretty much put to bed for the winter, but is still quite a sight to see. It goes for miles and miles! The grand canal alone, the man made canal where the occasional naval battle was staged, is a mile long. Not too shabby. After we sat and learned a bit, most people left (typical), but with 2 hours of daylight remaining, Maggie and I did a whirlwind tour of the gardens. Okay, so maybe we walked a mile in total, but we can say that we walked in the gardens where the royal family of France walked, or were carried, which is a lot more than the rest of the Trinkids can say.
Entry gate to Versailles
Mars Room, Versailles, I believe
How the French portrayed the Americas on the ceiling
Room of War
View from the Hall of Mirrors toward the gardens
Hall of Mirrors
Bed of Louis XVI
Marie Antoinette's bedroom
All that glitters is gold
Versailles, well the main body of it. It goes on and on and on outside of the picture.
Fountain near the Grand Canal
I call this Moon over Vesailles. It will be for sale for 12,000 euros per copy.
After that, the next thing thing of importance that I saw was the special exhibition on the Comedie Française at the Petit Palais. It was good, but I really enjoyed the other half of the museum, which is filled with a relatively small, but very good, collection of art and furniture, not to mention the Petit Palais itself. It was built for the 1900 Universal Expo, and was kept for some reason. What luck! It’s a great building! Since coming to France I’ve become mildly infatuated (borderline rain man, here) with the Art Nouveau movement, and particularly the work of Hector Guimard. Well what should be in the basement of the Petit Palais? Hector Guimard’s dining room, given to the French state by his widow. Score! I’ve decided that Art Nouveau art (i.e. paintings aren’t bad, but I still much prefer architecture, which I can touch).
Orphélie by Paul Albert Steck, c. 1894
Guimard's dining room. A poor installation with bare white walls - not at all authentic
The next thing of worth mentioning was a trip to a great bar in Paris called Footsies, located not far from the 19th Opera century. (Figures I would mention a bar.) Now the thing that makes Footsies especially wonderful (after completely ignoring its name) are its prices. Yeah, they’re a bit expensive, but drinking there is like a game - and I love games. Since it is geared toward yuppies coming for drinks after work and trying to show off their class to prospective mates (this sounds very scientific, if you ask me), the Bar is a bit high tech! The prices change! Depending on what is being purchased at the time, its price increases while others decrease. Every 200 seconds the prices change on the large screens according to demand so it’s always a rush to get your cheap drink when the prices are good. Well, after “buddies” one night (buddies are forced meetings with French kids to talk about forced subjects - luckily my group now has a cool buddy. The first one was an absolute dud.) we (the American buddies from our group) went to Footsies with my Dutch friend, Thomas from SciencesPo. He’s pretty awesome, so from time to time we feel the need to bring a bit of Dutch into our lives, so he gets invited. He was so gracious as to grace us with his presence and even remind us of important Dutch words.
For posterity I include them here:
-stroopwafel (the cookie/waffle thing turned into a whoopie pie with a carmel-like sauce) - Not be confused with the band the Amazing Stroopwafels, a Dutch hybrid between the Beatles and the Grateful Dead
-vluggertje (a quickie)
-toeterlam (the state you're in after 2 Long Island Iced Teas)
Unfortunately I’m afraid I’ll have to avoid the vluggertje since I can’t pronounce it, but the other two are already finding their place in my vocabulary.
After Footsies we found another bar (thank God for small miracles!) called Harrys. It looked crowded and fun, until we got in and saw the average age: 71.375 years. Not exaggerating. We were about to run like the wind when we noticed the wall decorations: college banners. Well we couldn’t leave now, we HAD to find Trinity College. About 15 minutes later, after traipsing all over the bar and leaning over every table possible, we found the TrinColl banner. As luck would have it the people at the table below Trinity happened to leave, so we slid right in.
Opera at night
Some of the other banners
Well, since it’s now time for me to go “cherche le pain” (get the bread for dinner tonight), I’m going to end there and do the rest of November in another entry. If Alexis comes back into my room one more time to remind me of the damned bread I may have jump off my balcony, so it’s probably best if I get a move on. HOWEVER, before I leave, I noticed that there has been a bit of a lull in the action and that is never good... I mean that less people have been stopping by the blog. You know, thanks to Google and blogspot, I know how many people come to my blog every day, and at what time, where they come from, what kind of a computer they use, and if they’re using Safari, Internet Explorer, or some other kind of internet thing on their computer. Kind of creepy, actually. I do think it’s interesting that in the last 10 days my blog has become popular with somebody or with a group of somebodies in Russia! How cool is that!? So far I’ve had readers from ten countries worldwide, which means there are about 175 left to conquer (I had to remove a handful of the communist countries that don’t allow internet access, and certainly wouldn’t like my twisted blog in their twisted countries). So, moral of story, Don’t be a snob, share my blog!
Okay, so it doesn’t rhyme, but you get the point.
À bientôt.
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