Weekend Excitement

Yesterday, I went to the catacombs with a group of friends because it was right next to school. Overall, it was a very creepy experience. I learned some interesting facts about the catacombs: there are six million skeletons there, most of the catacombs are blocked off to the public, and most of the people in the catacombs died during the French Revolution. The paths were very dark, and we were far underground, so there was ground water dripping on our heads as we walked down the paths. The visit reminded me of seeing skeletons in Austria buried underneath a church.

After we were done with the long winding walk down the catacombs, we decided to go to the Luxembourg Gardens. That was magnificent, to say the least. Palaces, ponds, and glorious fountains dotted the area, while children played tag on the dirt paths. An old woman asked us if we wanted to sit next to her in one of the lawn chairs, but we politely declined, because the girls in my group had somewhere to be. After the gardens, we went to a brassserie, and I got Tartine. I didn't know what it was. I just ordered it because it was the cheapest thing on the menu. It turns out, it was bread and butter. But, it was very delicious bread and butter, probably the best I've had!

I went out to dinner last night with a group of friends that live in the 16th like me. I had mussels, steak-frites, and vanilla ice cream for dessert. The girls told me that their host families had maids and cooks! I guess the 16th really is the wealthy part of town! I don't have a maid or cook, however, which makes me happy, because I wouldn't fit in in such a rich environment.

After dinner, we went to the bars in Place St. Michel, the Latin Quarter. This is the area where the Sorbonne and other universities are, and is apparently a very hopping place at night. It was certainly crowded, but also extremely expensive. We stayed out until about 1230, and then I took the metro home with a friend.

Today, I don't know what to do. I might just laze around all day, because I'm kind of tired, but I found out that I have free admission to all the art museums in town, so maybe I'll take advantage of that and pop my head in somewhere. I am taking an art history class called Paris Museums, and in Paris, if you are taking an art history class, you get a special card to get free admission and enter in a special door to avoid all the lines. This means I'll be able to go to the Louvre for 10 minutes everyday if I wanted. I think I'll go to Musee d'Orsay for an hour or so today, if I feel up to crossing town again. There are too many art museums around town. There is a Rodin museum that has The Thinker and The Kiss. There is the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, a Monet museum with the water-lilies series on exhibit there, and a million more places. It will take me the whole semester before I see all of them, I think.

More will come soon as the weekend progresses, I'm sure. Now, as I open my window, I see it's such a sunny day. Perhaps I'll visit another garden or the banks of the Seine...

Leah