wednesday may 16
today I did the marais 1 walk again with melissa since she hadn't done it yet and then we did the marais 2/ jewish quarter walk together. i didn't know what to expect in the jewish quarter but we had a great time. the highlight of the walk was lunch! i stepped out of my comfort zone and tried felafel for the first time and loved it.
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| left: the Jewish synagogue designed by Hector Guimard, its supposed to look like an open Torah scroll. right: my first felafel experience! |
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| the jewish quarter was so funny because it was such a mixture of cultures. example: kosher pizza. there were also bakeries where you would see a window display of croissants and pain au chocolats with a menorah. |
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| this is where we got lunch! |
Next we went to the Hotel de Soubise, which is now the National Archives. Inside there was a photography exhibit, which I dind't particularly like, and then a few rooms designed in the rococo style. SO pretty.
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| Rococo architecture in the Hotel Soubise. |
Next we went to the Musee Cognacq Jay. It was a small home with some rococo art, including works of Fragonard. I was excited because I thought that maybe his swing painting would be there but it wasn't, it was mostly just portraits. The strangest thing about that museum was the top floor, which was part of the museum but it was basically like an attic with the most beautiful sculptures just stuffed into dark corners. The visit was free, and the art was beautiful, but I probably wouldn't go back to this museum any time soon. There was just nothing memorable about it.
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| Cool Phoenix sculpture at the Cognac Jay |
Last on the list was the Musee Picasso. I would have absolutely loved it but unfortunately it has been closed for an extended period of time. I actually listened to a podcast about this for my French class last semester. The works are on the road, traveling to museums all over the world. The paintings are stored in super high tech individual cases that stabilize the temperature and humidity. They are transported by bulletproof trucks guarded by national police. How cool is that?
I'm sad I missed it but luckily there were some wonderful Picassos at the Pompidou center that I got to see, and maybe the pieces will make it out to LA this summer (wishful thinking)
Thats it for the walk but since I am still about 15 days behind in blogging I thought I should just give a little update on how I'm doing right now. Today was day 2 of our bus trip, and although I was so sad to leave Paris I am loving the coast. It is absolutely beautiful and its so fun to be together with the whole group. Today we went to Mont St. Michel which was just the cutest fairy tale little town. We toured the abbey and listened to monks sing in the chapel. Then we went to St. Malo and walked along an ancient city wall next to the most beautiful foggy beach. I stuck my toes in the English channel and took lots of pictures that I'm hoping to paint when I get home. Then for dinner tonight we went to a fancy little restaurant and the food was simply amazing. I am still full 6 hours later. I don't know what we're doing tomorrow but I can't wait, I'm sure it will be another adventure. I'm happy as can be here in France! I feel so blessed.
xoxo Heather
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