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This past weekend i went to Paris to meet up with Maria, my art historian friend from GSU. She has spent the last 3 months in Cassis, near Marseille, on a fellowship from the Camargo Foundation.
I arrived on Saturday at about midday , and we proceeded to a small restaurant for what ended up being a 3-hour lunch. It was rainy, the restaurant was cosy, we had a lot to talk about, and the proprietor was in no hurry to get rid of us. After lunch, i checked into my hotel, and then we headed out for a walk before dinner.
Maria took me to Bercy Village for a wander around some shops, which were crammed with people for the Christmas rush. Then we headed over to the Bibliothèque Nationale, so she could show me the "book-shaped" buildings that look very little like books.
From there we took the Metro to the neighborhood of the Winter Circus. We met a couple of Maria's friends, Sylvie and Sharon, for dinner at the Clown Bar next door to the circus.
On Sunday, Maria and i went to L'Orangerie to see the new installation of Monet's Waterlilies. On the way we took a detour so she could show me Le Palais des Colonies de la Porte Dorée. The palais was built for the 1931 Colonial Exposition, and you can see a number of pictures of it on Flickr. I have to say, one of the best ways to see Paris is in the company of an art historian. It was great to have someone there telling me about the history of buildings and works of art.
For lunch (at 3:30), we went to a great falafel place in a Jewish neighborhood. The streets were busy, since Hanukkah had started on Saturday, and i had to take a picture of this odd "Happy Phone" van.
I don't know what it's for, maybe it offers free phone calls to Israel?
Anyway, after a brisk walk, we headed to Gare St Lazare, so i could catch my 6:00 train home. It was really great to see Maria, and i am a little jealous that she gets to go home on Friday to her husband and her normal life in Atlanta.
Postscript: When i arrived at Gare de Bréauté-Beuzeville, back in good old Normandy, i realized i had made a huge miscalculation. It was 8:00 on a Sunday night, and there were no buses running from the station to Lillebonne! This is what i get for constantly confusing the French words for Friday and Sunday. After an expensive cab ride (thank god i had enough cash on me), i was in my apartment making cocoa and putting on my pajamas.
One of the drawbacks of living on the second floor (first floor to all you Europeans), aside from going up and down a staircase that always makes me feel like i'm going to fall, is the municipal sound system speakers.
I understand that the municipal sound system is not uncommon in France. For those of you who don't know about it, it's a network of speakers scattered throughout the center of town. With the holiday season firmly upon us, these speakers have been spewing pop music on a daily basis.
What does this have to do with my second floor apartment, you ask? The speakers are mounted to the building directly across the street from me. At the level of the second floor. I can hear the music quite well with my windows closed.
If i wanted to listen to Gloria Gaynor singing "I Will Survive", i would play it on my own personal sound system. If i wanted to have Sting crooning to me on my way to work, i would bring my iPod with me.
Why? Why? Why?
Well, Durham has accepted me. I don't have any word on funding yet, because the director of the program was unsure of my residency status.
Here's a link to the main University page
And another to the specific program
I suppose the swiftness with which they accepted me can be taken two ways: 1. I'm a valuable addition to the program. 2. They desperately need grad students to study the medieval period. Maybe it's both?
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