Category: Bonjour de Paris!

Posted on

Musée Rodin & the Palace of the Invalids

Just a little comparison for ya
The thinker
The original size of the thinker
The rooms inside the museum were pretty cool.
I always love looking at the process of creating a sculpture, with each little detail and the steps to carve something out of a rectangular block of marble.
Creepy portrait
His face looked funny
All the single ladies?
Just havin’ a little fun with it
Could you imagine living here?
The musee de l’armee
Posted on

Musée d’Orsay

Walking along the Seine. It’s so peaceful.
The outside of the museum
Turned an old railroad station into a museum–pretty cool
The intricacy of some of these sculptures was surreal
They just looked funny
One of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings
Posted on

Last Sunday–little discoveries

My roommate discovered that the church she attends in Los Angeles has branches throughout the globe…including Paris!  So Sunday morning, we headed over to worship through Hillsong Church, which was incredible.  Everything was in French with English translations (or vice versa), except the worship songs, which were sung in French and had English subtitles projected on the music video screen behind the band.  It was pretty cool.  Everything except the language seemed natural to me; here in Paris, half way around the world, people were worshipping Christ in essentially the exact same way that people would worship back home.  I thought it was so cool that culture was not an issue and worship was still the same in another country, regardless of location.  Service was held in a theater.  Ironically, it was the theater that Josephine Baker gave her last performance.  Josephine Baker is an influential woman we have been studying in class for the past few lectures.
After church we checked out the local farmer’s market by the Bastille.  Apparently it’s one of the bigger, more well known ones and after walking around a little, it was quite apparent as to why.  The market was huge, spanning several blocks.  The fruits tasted better at the market than at any grocery store I had previously shopped at in the past few weeks.  We stocked up on fruits and groceries for the next week’s meals and headed home.  Buying produce from a farmer’s market was a fun experience and gave me a little more sense of maturity and independence.  It made for an excellent start to a great day.

Posted on

All the foods!!

quiche
Rillette–probably a new favorite as far as snacking goes.
Chinese food in France?
Coffee from Cafe de Flore (famous coffee shop in Paris)
I was craving American food, so a bacon cheeseburger was a must.
Escargot!
Beef Cheek….yes. I munched on a cow’s cheek. It was not my favorite dish…
a little chocolate mousse with almond crumbles before the jazz concert
The salads here are wonderful
lemon tart with merengue :)
Creme Brulee
I had a salad with chicken, cheese, veggies and a poached egg. My roommate got a Croque Monsieur, a French grilled cheese with ham–but the cheese is on the outside.
churros + nutella = heaven on earth.
Sorbet in the Garden of Versailles
Gelato by Notre Dame
Yup, Parisian McDonald’s sells macarons
Frozen yogurt by our school
Soft Serve at the Eiffel Tower
First meal in Barcelona: hamburgesa
Strawberry Daquiri
Jamón (cured ham…basically like prosciutto)
Natural fruit juices! delicious!
2 Euro sparkling wine + churrizo (sausage)
jamón hamburger!
Tapa sampling
Tried paella for the first time, and loved it.
Frozen yogurt as a mid-day snack
Tapa and Sangria
Nutella Piadina…tasted like a crepe made with a tortilla. (it’s actually flatbread)
Spinach croissant and coffee, only 1,60 euros total! Barcelona is so much cheaper than Paris.
Creme croissant
Steak with fries and an egg cooked over easy.
More coffee! Back in Paris, however. Coffee in Paris trumps all.
Posted on

Bipolar Weather

The weather here is so unpredictable.  For a couple days it’s hot and humid, and the next thing you know it’s chilly and pouring.  Complete changes in weather have occurred within the course of 12 hours…warm and sunny in the morning and then sudden showers in the afternoon.  It’s odd and hard to adjust to or plan for.  But with rain comes quality time in cafes working on my studies.  At least it gives me incentive to get work done without the distracting weather tempting me to explore Paris a little more before it’s time to leave.

Posted on

Thoughts on Culture

People here are so prim and proper; I’ve come across women taking their afternoon stroll in stilettos! They may have just decided to take the scenic route on their commute to work or home, but walking around on a pathway of compressed gravel in heels does not sound like the most attractive leisurely activity.
Another observation is the quality of grooming seen on dogs around Paris. It seems as though Parisians take doggy hygiene pretty seriously–and it pays off too. The fur of these dogs gleams in the sunlight and flows with the wind; they’re practically glowing. On top of that, I have rarely stumbled across an unhappy pup. Going off of the observation that Parisians take an extra effort to make leisure a part of their daily routine, it seems as though bringing the dog along is equally as important. I think it’s great.

Posted on

The Palace of Versailles

gates to the palace!
“Let them eat cake” ;)
Can you imagine living here?!
random sculpture…
I don’t even know what I would do with so much land… the garden was so intricate.
later saw the process for painting these ceilings…smaller models were painted before placing such a huge masterpiece on the ceiling
just in awe
how do they even get up so high?!
The massive size of these paintings are so impressive
One of the bedrooms. Possibly the kings? I don’t remember. The bed was a lot smaller than expected
The hall of mirrors. Can you imagine a ball taking place in this room? Is that what it was even used for ?
Sort of “conference room” for the king
The queen’s room. I think it would be nauseating to have to wake up to that wallpaper every morning… beautiful room nonetheless.
Collection of portraits of important leaders.
A hall of paintings depicting the wars throughout the years. Literally a history lesson in the form of art. Amazing.
Look how huge these battle depictions are!!
mirror selfie :)
Bienvenue dans le jardin!
it. was. huge.
fountains dispersed all throughout this maze of hedges
hedges everywhere!
modeling King Henry XIV’s garden ;)
what if, years and years ago, Marie Antoinette hugged this exact same tree?!!?!
I thought I’d model a little myself :p
My lovely roommates!
having fun with my camera
it was such a lovely day
before they turned on the fountains…
sorbet :)
stunning.