all the sights of paris

The program officially started on Tuesday, and what that means basically is seeing most of the city and eating wonderful food for free. The woman who runs the program is named Nathalie and she's wonderful. That's one of the first things all the past Dijonettes have told us and it's completely true. Nathalie does not disappoint. She's sweet and helpful and patient with our awkward French. She's led us all around Paris these past few days.

But before I describe any of that, let me begin with an amusing anecdote. It seems that I somehow mildly sprained my ankle, or something. I don't even know. Literally I woke up one morning and I couldn't walk on it without pain. I vaguely remember stumbling over the gap when I boarded the metro on the first night, but other than that possibility I have no idea what I did. I ignored it for a while but by Tuesday it was really painful, so Abby, Erica and I trekked to the pharmacy, dictionary in hand, and came away with some bandages and glorified ice.

So fifteen minutes later, there we all were, crowded into my room, with Taylor wrapping up my foot. And I was just hoping that we wouldn't be walking too much that day. Because, seriously, of all the times to hurt my foot! But I'm fine now, so there's no need to worry, parents. The experience was, on the bright side, somewhat of a learning experience: I now know how to say bandage, wrap, ankle, and strain.

Anyway, that day we did not do too much walking, thankfully. (And Nathalie, of course, was very nice and always made sure that I was comfortable.) We went on one of the bateaux mouches -- the touristy boats that ride along the Seine. So I was able to simply sit back and take pictures at my leisure. I have found that, against all my instincts, sometimes it's nice to let go and be an unabashed tourist.




Le Pont Alexandre III


Le Musee d'Orsay, which we sadly didn't get to visit


The oldest bridge in Paris



This thought continued when, later that night, we rushed over to the Eiffel Tower after dinner, so that we could see it light up at 11. It was wonderful -- all I could think about was the first time I did this. When I came to Paris as a kid with my family, we missed it each night. We would see it from afar, and literally run toward the glittering lights, but never make it. So this was ten years in the making and, aside from being beautiful, gave me a sense of finality that was nice.



The next day was not so easy on my foot. We started the morning with a three hour tour around the Quartier Latin. It was interesting and beautiful, but my feet were in so much pain that it was really hard to fully enjoy it. This day in general was rough. It was the biggest walking day and also the point at which my foot was the most agitated. But I took a bunch of aspirin and sucked it up, because I was in frickin Paris, man!


A small taste of the Quartier Latin -- This is a statue of Michel de Montaigne, a French humanist. It's considered by scholars to be good luck to touch it's foot, so students do so before an exam in order to do well.

We saw an exhibit at the Centre Pompidou that was surprisingly good. The artist's name is Soulage, and I'd never heard of him. He paints in all black, and it's really quite beautiful the way he plays with light and texture. And I enjoyed this despite the heat of the museum and my foot and the tiring guide.


The view from the Centre Pompidou

And after the museum, we simply had to take advantage of the huge sales that are going on this month! Thanks to a few more aspirin, I was totally ready to brave the streets. I came away with, believe it or not, a pair of heels. Because even when my feet are in immense pain, I cannot resist brown leather oxfords. Mes pauvres pieds.

I will stop here because it's late and because today was an even bigger day, far too big to attach on to the end of this post.