Well, I'm a bit tired after today, so I don't plan on writing too much. I managed to wake myself up a little bit earlier than yesterday (10 a.m., I think). Since there's no toaster in the apartment I had to grill my bread on a frying pan with a tiny tiny bit of butter. That, with some confiture de fraises (strawberry jam) and a hot cup of coffee from the french press got me moving pretty quickly.

Due to some communication issues the previous night, I decided the first order of business was to purchase a headset compatible with Skype. This makes talking to folks back home inexpensive, and will also be handy to contact people here in Paris without blowing a dollar per minute. I brought it home and quickly hooked it up. Luckily, James was awake (I imagined he would be even though it was before 8 am, seeing how he's a worker and often an early riser) and answered the phone more politely and enthusiastically than I could've expected anyone to do so early. We had a nice brief chat, but I had to run off to see sights before the sunshine--yes, we actually had sun today--disappeared.


I opted to give Notre Dame a second chance, since I was in the neighborhood again. In fact, I was glad I did. First, I was able to swing around to the south side of the church, where the "spidery" section of buttresses is located (see left). I was duly impressed both by the engineering and the beauty it conferred upon the structure's exterior. I also got a close look at the lovely "Pieta" group (see right, 19th c., I think?) in the altar area. I still think medieval architecture is a bit dull when compared with its Renaissance counterpart, but I guess you can't get to B without starting with A.

Speaking of Renaissance architecture, however, I made a bee-line for l'Eglise St. Eustache, a truly great church in which Louis XIV (the so called Sun-King) was baptized and Mozart's mother had her funeral. In its architectural style, it represents a transition from Gothic to (Italian-inspired) Renaissance, but many of the paintings and sculptures on its interior come from the 18th century and later. Immediately noticeable, however, is the structure's tendency to pull the viewer upward (see right) via the brightness of the clerestory, especially to the impressive vault of the transept (the area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform/cross-shaped building.) The "verticality" of the structure is also emphasized by means of the secondary columns, engaged with the main ones, to create more vertical lines. (I.e., look up close at the vertical columns and you'll see, especially by the upper windows, that other columns are carved into the main ones.) These lines carry all the way from the floor to the vaulted ceilings, and it's worth comparing this to the picture of the nave of Notre Dame, where the capitals on the first-story clearly interrupt their vertical movement. On the other hand, the first-story columns of St-Eustache are much taller; that couldn't hurt their vertical pull now, could it?

Notable at Saint Eustache also is the great organ (installed 1989), which was massive and beautiful-sounding during the rehearsal that I heard while walking around. The picture's perspective is actually thrown off by the organ, which appears so big in the frame that it actually "shrinks" the size of the nave. I think the audioguide (3 euros) said it was like 40 feet across. Perhaps it was more... Anyway, I think there are concerts here in June, so I may try to go if there anything like what I heard today.

Ah, and now the truly important stuff: the clothing I purchased. A place called Mirene (6 rue de rivoli) had the sweater I was looking for and desperately in need of in this cool weather. It also had a great brown jacket (spring/fall) which I couldn't resist to purchase as a replacement for the brown GAP jacket I bought in 1997. Yes, that's 10 years ago. Both jacket and sweater appear below, albetit in kind of blurry, dark pictures. I'm sorry but you'll just have to wait to see them in person!


Time for bed, I think. Til tomorrow, when I'll describe the crepe I had. Yum.

I've realized in part why is hard for me to get on a normal schedule here: it stays light until about 10:10 pm. So here I am thinking that I'm going to be up for another 4 or 5 hours and then I realize, "Wait a sec. It's 10:00. I should go to bed -- soon!" I'm sure my bedtime will change once I get a chance to meet some new people next week, but for now, bedtime comes (relatively) early.

Went to Notre Dame today, which was nice. I think it would have been more spectacular on a non-rainy afternoon, when all of the stained glass windows would really be gleaming, but it was still nice. Flying buttresses aside (see left, but I didn't get a picture of the better view of those on the end), I wouldn't go so far as to call its interior "beautiful" or "magnificent." It was too medieval for those descriptors, and I feel compelled to reserve those terms for St. Peter's which unequivocally deserves them. Sorry, Notre Dame. That said, the exterior was decently impressive, and the pictures I took bring out some of the finer, more evocative aspects of the inside as well. From one of the side-chapels, I took the above picture during Mass (sans flash, of course). You have to imagine some high quality organ music and mid-quality vocal accompaniament to complete the scene.

Any big church (NB, I didn't say "Megachurch") is bound to have its agglomerations of votives. I thought these were a particularly fine example, especially the way they fill up the photo frame, as if a kind of spiritual brick-layer's pattern, one prayer next to another, next to another, costing about 5 Euros (~ $7 !) each. (I'm not trying to be cynical.)

Perhaps my favorite art-part of the Notre Dame experience was the equestrian statue of "Charlemagne et ses Leudes" (see below). The piece just emanated nobility, and the "Leudes," apparently some sort of Teutonic aristocracy, have big, hollow eyes and enormous moustaches that evoke the line of the eyebrow and so extend it, in a fashion, and thus emphasize the somber nobility of the eyes. I imagine the moustaches were somehow influenced by the late 19th-century styles (I think this is 1880s or 1890s), but still, it's a great piece.

After buying a spatula and some ground boeuf at Monoprix, I went home and had dinner. I didn't get a chance to describe the excellent lunch I had today--a variation again on the croque monsieur--but I'm going to have to let that wait. Time to listen to those French tapes and go to bed. Bonne nuit, my avid readers.

Oops. So maybe I'm not quite over the jet-lag yet. I slept until about noon today. Hmmm. Well, in my defense I had nothing specific to wake up for, the sky was very cloudy, and my alarm didn't continue to go off after I hit the snooze button twelve times. Oh well.

I'm going to get moving quickly here and figure out what I'm going to do today. This is the first day when I don't have a specific task that must be done. Yesterday's registration and test was fine, although the test a bit demoralizing. I am excited for the class to start, however (Monday), when I will hopefully meet some more English speakers and actually begin formal instruction in French, which was my goal in coming here!

As you can see, I've begun to add some pictures. Top left is the view of the Tour Eiffel from my apartment building (but not the actual apartment), likewise this picture is
of the general surroundings as viewed from the apartment building. Finally, I have a added a couple of the "Pantheon" (hardly compares, at least on the exterior, to its probable model in Rome). I'll leave you to read up on this building, but it does have an interesting history and the interior, from the looks of this page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panth%C3%A9on%2C_Paris) from wikipedia, is probably stunning, too. It's right near the University, so I'll head back there next week when I know an English tour is being given. That's all for now. Au revoir.

Pulling myself out of bed today was a bit trickier than yesterday. Despite the relative sunshine I feel like I just woke up at 4 a.m. But I have to get up in order to register for this course.

I think today I’ll go to this Monoprix store, apparently a French analogue to Target back home. I could use another sweater since it’s been so darn cold, as well as a French Press in order to make better coffee in the apartment. As much as I appreciate the little Lavazza packets I bought, they’re really intended for a fancy machine that I don’t have. Also want to check out about getting a USB cable for my phone, which would allow me to use Skype (www.skype.com) and save a boatload on calling both back home and others here. This $ .99/min business is already getting ridiculous, even if it is totally worth it to be in touch.

That’s all for now. Must run!

Je suis ici.

That much, at least should be obvious to those of you to whom I've spoken. Thank goodness for the telephone.

This has been a strange 36 hours. I've slept when I should be awake and vice versa, but I can't even describe it accurately because of the time difference. Anyway, it's almost 4 pm here now and I feel like I should feel at 4 pm. Mostly.

I was telling my brother James in an email about my interesting new social anxiety. I was hungry and wanted coffee. Real bad. But I wasn't sure a) where to go and b) what I'd do when I arrived at said establishment. Sure, there are about 15 cafes/bars in a 4 block radius, but which one would most amiably greet a foreigner like me. Would they notice I was American? Could I prevent them from knowing by consulting a dictionary and then drawing up a flowchart with all the permutations of converation that could possibly exist? Asking myself why I cared what these people thought didn't matter much, either. I now chalk my anxiety up to some strange survival instinct whereby I didn't show my weakness, although I was in a very weak position (i.e., not knowing the language, customs, etc.)

Fortunately for me, another instinct took over at this point: caffeine dependency. I'd been able to sate my hunger with some miscellaneous snacks I'd packed up til now (and some sliced ham from a rather non-threatening tabac shop where all I had to do was pick what I wanted, pay, and mumble "merci"). Now, though, I needed coffee. And there was none to be found in Ms. Julie's apartment. So, wishing I'd packed a jacket on account of the dark and obviously fickle Paris sky, I threw on my sweater and sallied forth. Wow! People were around. Big change last night (Sunday) when you could've heard a pin drop at 8 pm on these now-crowded streets. I guess Dimanche really *is* a day of rest for the French. I walked around for block upon block, enjoying the atmosphere, reading French signs and advertisements (commericalism is the universal language, I assure you), and finally fell upon a cafe that was busy and easy to escape from if I chose to disappear without ordering.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a weakness for sandwiches and eggs (best when combined somehow) of all types. Looking at the menu, I knew I was going to be happy. The sandwich “super-mixte” had everything I desired, although I would have to order les oeufs separately. That’s okay. A sandwich super-mixte would be enough anyway. Eight Euros, a sandwich, and an unbelievably satisfying cup of espresso later, I felt somewhat restored, at last, to my former self. Coffee to me is like Horace’s farm to him—mihi me reddentis agellus. The espresso was so rich and dark that its flavor teetered on the threshold of bitter and sweet. Yum.

Ready for my next challenge, finding the supermarket. Found that in a jiffy. Found out afterward that there was one even closer to my apartment. Oh well. Cookies and coffee (among other staples like milk, eggs, butter, cereal) now purchased. Life may continue.

The rest of the day was kind of a blur. I started walking toward the Eiffel Tower, which is darn close to the apartment. It rained again, and I had to turn back. Great dinner around St Michel with Graziela and Vasili, nice to see familiar faces and to eat a substantial meal. Now, sleep.