So Many Stories to Tell

Once again, more time has passed than I intended in between posts. Believe it or not I've been busy with school. There's grammar classes, the phonetics lab, and lecture classes. For the lecture classes, I'm taking on on the Palace of Versailles, one on French Gastronomy, and one on History, Cinema, and Literature. I don't think I've ever met another person as enthusiastic about French grammar than our grammar prof. It's a good thing too because I don't think many of us are feeling too enthusiastic at 8am. So in total I have either 16 or 21 hours of class time depending on the week. If you want to read more about what our day looks like you should check out my friend Rachelle's blog for more details...here's the link

So besides that I've been trying to get out and about more frequently to see the city. Here are some pictures from the past little while in no particular order.

La Sainte Chapelle:

This church is famous for it's stained glass windows The secret techniques used to get such bright blues and reds still haven't been figured out. The windows were stunning though, and the whole room had a blueish tinge to it from all the sunlight coming in.

Outside

And inside.

This is the upper level of the chapel with these famous windows.

The beautiful ceiling.

le Musée Rodin:

This sculptor, Auguste Rodin, left his whole life works to be put on display after his death, but on the condition that they be displayed in this mansion in the middle of Paris. Here are some of my favorite pieces.

Well, this isn't one of his sculptures, but it's the museum/mansion where they're kept now.

La Porte de l'enfer

Les Ombres

Le Penseur

Ugolin et ses enfants

Le Baiser

L'Âge mûr

The Market:

We went to check out a market on a lovely Saturday morning, and this is what we found...

A garden/walkway built on the old railway.

And tons of booths selling fresh, local produce! Notice how there aren't tons and tons of people there yet? I sure did, and it was fantastic!

There were so many pretty flowers! Seems like a good place to happen to come across when Mitch is here visiting ;)

So many of the vendors wanted to show you the insides of the fruits and to give you a sample. Definitely a good way to try things you normally wouldn't buy.

La Bastille:

This is Paris' most famous monument that doesn't exist anymore. The famous storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution was a big part of what began the demolition of the fortress, but then later on it was completely demolished so new buildings could be put up. So when you visit there today you can find these two things:

These rocks are what's left of the foundation.

And this monument is where the fortress used to be.

So that's about it for specific places. I've also visited the Musée du Moyen âge and l'Orangerie (that was just earlier today, with works by impressionist painters). I've been able to enjoy some of this nice weather we've been having. Everything is in bloom here now, so every day the trees and gardens keep getting more leaves and flowers coming out.

Gardens outside le Musée du Moyen âge

Railway gardens by the market.

Tiff, Mindy and I had a wonderful picnic lunch in one of the parks. What a fantastic way to spend a few hours of an afternoon!

I was having fun feeding the birds.

And the travels around the city bring us near the Eiffel Tower often enough, so here's a picture from a particularly sunny day. 

Living in the city has it's good and bad parts. There's always noise and always tons of people everywhere you go. But there is also so much to see and do, all just a few metro stops away. I'm definitely thankful that there's lots of green things to see now. I also have a great group of friends here and lots of love and support coming from home, so it makes all the difference!

Thanks for reading!