Anna Karenina; this weekend

I must write this now, before the transcendental mood passes, even though it is a most inopportune time given the loads of unfortunate homework I have to do.

I just finished Anna Karenina and, as one always does after finishing novels of epic proportions, I feel especially pensive. As I walked from Café Beaubourg near the Centre Pompidou to Pub Saint Germain to meet up with Heimunn and Farah, I felt very much alive and free. I saw commotion near Les Halles, dogs walking, people taking pictures, and all the monuments lit up. It was beautiful and I loved it all, and I felt as though I understood Paris better than I had understood it, up to that point. Of course these lucid moments are fleeting and nearly always instigated by some rhetoric found in books like Anna Karenina, but nonetheless I appreciated walking and breathing Paris to the marrow. This is an inarticulate description of my current mindset, but it will have to suffice.

With that out of the way, some criticism and general remarks on the book. I have been reading Tolstoy’s novel for many months now, spanning the end of summer, a break during fall quarter, and recommencement during winter break. I enjoyed it for the overwhelming majority of the time and I am impressed with Tolstoy’s story-telling abilities and character development. As I neared the end, however, Anna’s character grated on me more and more. Her paranoia and irrational jealousies, self-pity, and overall ridiculousness were difficult to digest. It is likely that this was intentional, but still. Stupid Anna! I was probably supposed to pity her more, but didn’t. At all. I found her to be selfish. Perhaps this will change as I distance myself from the book, but those are the current impressions.

Also, the last forty pages of the prose were a bit too philosophical. The ideas those forty pages described could be better expressed in twenty pages. This is not to say that I didn’t and don’t appreciate the ideas and the conclusions Levin in particular came to, it’s just that Oscar Wilde’s insight always rings true: “Brevity is the soul of wit.”

When I finished, I wanted to read some of the critical articles at the back of the edition. The writing in the front cover— “Eric Saar, 5th period AP English”— made me miss the critical analysis that English classes force upon you. I wished to think more about the book in a directed manner, but the dim light of the Beaubourg Café and the impinging dinner rush rushed me out to seek another hideout. Which is where I find myself now.

Pub Saint Germain is amazing. I should have come here sooner! The ambiance beats that of any other café I’ve been to yet. It’s huge. It’s warm. It plays jazzy but not cheesy music. A tap dancer just made his rounds to the various floors, giving a little performance to the delights café dwellers. The décor is decidedly India-inspired, but in a chic way. And free wi-fi! The prices reflect all of this, unfortunately.

Quick recap of the weekend. Friday I was once again out of commission due to the pesky food poisoning. After watching some Sex and the City, I retired early. Saturday was better since I finally flushed the norovirus from my body. I met up with Farah, Fadlo, Jen and JW on Rue Cler for lunch. Rue Cler is a picturesque cobblestone street with all the specialty food stores that are so Paris: fromagerie, boucherie, boulangerie, épicerie, etc. Plans in the future include getting yummy treats and picnicking under the Eiffel Tour. I want warm weather!

Semi-candid shot at Blue Elephant. Note decor.

I spent the evening back at the abode before heading out to the Bastille for dinner. It was amazing! We went to this incredible Thai place called the Blue Elephant that Heimunn’s host family recommended. The food was good and really hit the spot since I’ve been craving good Asian food. The décor was impressive, very novel and jungle-like. We sat at low table with floor cushions; there was a hole under the table for our feet, though, so it felt as though we were seated at a normal table. We split appetizers and entrees, and had a lovely range of flavors artfully presented to us. After dinner we attempted to look at the Bergé-Laurent collection on display in the Grand Palais but the line was out of control! It wrapped along the side of the Grand Palais and poured onto the sidewalk, creeping toward the metro stop Champs-Elysees Clemenceau. We ditched those plans and killed some time loitering outside the Petit Palais before going to Showcase, a club that has been recommended to us by many.

Heimunn, Farah and Fadlo outside Grand Palais;
you can vaguely see the enormous line!

We went early to avoid paying cover, and the large club was almost empty. The architecture was cool, since it is literally built underneath Pont Alexandre, but that was the only thing cool about it. The music was downright bad. A bunch of twenty-something dudes gesticulated onstage, too excited about their live electronica performance to heed that it sucked. One of them wore a deep v-neck t-shirt, clearly from American Apparel, and when he raised his arms (which was often), large pit stains were presented to the audience. Disappointing. We tried to stick it out, waiting for me more people to come and the music to pick up, but it never did. The evening had started out so strongly at Blue Elephant, but Showcase really sucked. Oh well, at least I made the metro home.

This week will be packed with tests and things due, but it will be capped off with five days in Barcelona! We are renting an apartment in a good neighborhood and I absolutely can’t wait. If you have suggestions for our trip, email me! N’hésitez pas.

This week: Musée Chirac, Practicum, L’Assemblée Nationale

I can’t believe it’s February 19! The quarter is over in a month and then it’s back to the States. I hope I’m still making the best of my time here…you can be the judge.

On Tuesday, I met up with Emilie again and we went to the Musée du président Jacques Chirac, the legacy of the former President. It was quite large and crowded, with a lot of interesting and novel art. The museum focuses on non-Western art and is arranged by continent: Oceania, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Emilie brought her camera and got some good photos. You can check them out on Facebook; I think I’m tagged in a few and maybe you can see her album from there. We had hot chocolate and a waffle at a café nearby before I met up with Jen, Michael, Heimunn, Mackenzie, Farah, and to catch up on our weekends spent in Amsterdam, Morocco, and London/Edinburgh, respectively.

Dinner was a yummy salmon and spinach quiche, but I had eaten a suspicious tuna sandwich for lunch and I felt quite nauseous. I went to bed and had trouble sleeping and woke up the next day with nausea and a headache (as I wrote in the previous posting). The presentation at Musée d’Orsay went all right. I presented La Blanchisseuse by Honoré Daumier, a painting that piqued my interest because of its pleasing composition and use of light. There turned out to be an interesting story behind it and I came upon some intriguing interpretations. Unfortunately I felt very ill and very tired the whole time.



After Musée d’Orsay, Jen and I headed over to Ashley’s house in Montmartre to do our Practicum Project. The idea was to recreate some of Ingres’ tableaux, in which the body proportions are physically impossible, with real people who, inevitably, have real proportions. I posed as La Grande Odalisque and Jen posed as La dormeuse de Naples. We had fabric and some props from BHV, copies of the paintings, and Peter’s nice digital camera. Farah was behind the lens and Ashley and I acted as set assistants for Jen’s photo, which we composed first. I’ll just say it was freaking hard to get everything right! The body of La dormeuse is impossibly round, her arms are impossibly positioned, and La dormeuse looks impossibly relaxed. Nonetheless, Jen did an amazing job of posing, Farah flexed her photographic muscles, and Ashley and I held up the red sheet in the background with all of our might.

Next was La Grande Odalisque. The body positioning of this one was relatively easier, although still quite uncomfortable. For the record, I didn’t feel that awkward being unclothed since it was a very artistic and professional production overall. The pictures turned out pretty true to the painting, except with a normally sized back, not the absurdly long back of the woman painted in the original. I’ve included the Odalisque below; I couldn't find Jen's. You can imagine the rest.



The presentation of our project went well. It was a little nerve-wracking to stand in front of the class with a gigantic photo of me in the nude on the projector, but really it wasn’t so bad. I thought all of the photos were extremely tasteful since we had put so much genuine artistic effort into them. A little shock value never hurts, either.

After the presentation, Stanford had arranged a visit to L’Assemblée Nationale. After going through much security and passport viewing, we were finally allowed into the hall to observe the going-ons of the National Assembly, in action. They were discussing a bill to provide government-subsidized housing and the back-and-forth discussion was quite amusing. One side would interrupt the other with peanut gallery-esque remarks, laughter would ensue, more commentary, and then defensive reply. There were even butlers in coat tails who brought beverages and papers to the representatives on demand. The hall was extremely stately and impressive with beautiful marble pillars and gilded carvings. “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité,” was written on each side of the center wall, with “La République Française” taking center stage. I was impressed and felt moved by the legacy of French politics.

The visit would have been much more enjoyable if the woman in charge of keeping the peace in our section wasn’t such a bitch. I don’t use this term lightly. For example, when Kai stood up (very conscientiously, mind you) too see if there was an open seat below, this woman snapped at her and told her if she wanted to see, she should have sat more toward the front. Which is what Kai was trying to do, but that’s besides the point…Not. Then, when Roberto leaned over to whisper to someone, the evil woman rushed over to reprimand him and consequently created much more noise than there was in the first place. I blew a bubble with my gum unconsciously and the evil woman, where a simple “Please don’t do that,” would suffice, proceeded to fly into a rage, saying it was disgusting, and asking would I do that in class? CRAZY. When there was a short intermission after the housing bill was passed, she went into a tirade saying we were the most inappropriate group she had ever seen and went on to single me out, remarking that “Never in my life have I seen someone blow a bubble here.” Likely story. Anyway, I stormed out with as much spunk as I could muster and I hope she got the message that it was actually SHE who was the most impolite person there. She reprimanded us as though we were two year old who were out of control. She’s on a power trip, if I’ve ever seen one.

Ah. So now I am back home and have ambitious intentions to start some homework. I have another presentation tomorrow for my Health Systems class, and plenty of things due next Tuesday. I still haven’t fully recovered from my illness, but I’m hoping some more rest will have me ready and raring to go this weekend in Paris.

Amsterdam update

It seems I have fallen ill. I have been feeling nauseous since I ate a suspicious tuna sandwich yesterday for lunch. I had trouble sleeping last nigh, and now I have a pounding headache and perhaps a fever. Yuck. And I have to leave for Musée d'Orsay in 20 min to do a presentation for my art history class. I wish I were still in bed! Things have been kind of non-stop for the last few days.

Amsterdam was wonderful. The city was beautiful. I loved its atmosphere; it had a perfect balance of being ridiculously picturesque and being a legitimiate big city. There are tons of museums I want to go back and see, since we only got a few in (although we were quite faithful to our itinerary).



The first day we all arrived at different times. I was the last to get there, and after struggling a bit trying to figure out where to buy a tram ticket and which tram to get on, I made it to our hostel. The hostel was better than the one in Dublin and we weren't with any randos since we (JW, Jen, Michael and I) had a 4-person room to ourselves. After settling in, we left to wander a bit. We made it over to Leidseplein (the happening night-life area), and found an Argentinian grill with a 10 euro tourist special for dinner. It was mediocre. Also, they didn't understand "tap water," so we were forced to purchase expensive bottled water. I must say, however, that the Dutch are fabulous with language in general, and could speak to us in English almost better than we could. Anyway, after dinner none of us had much energy to rally and we went back to the hostel to call it a night.

The next day, Michael, Jen and I went running in Vondelpark, which was close to our hostel. It was a gorgeous day lit by a brilliant sun, and the park was full of runners and surrounded by amazing architecture. Breakfast was at Bagels & Beans, a cafe chain near our hostel that was delicious. I had fresh-squeezed orange juice, coffee, and a toasted ham and cheese bagel. Afterwards, we walked over to the Red Light district. It was bizarre and kind of sad. Only in Amsterdam. After getting some cone fries with spicy mayo from a street vendor, we visited the Rembrandt house. It was a bit cheesy, but interesting nonetheless to see what Rembrandt's domestic life was like, and what his home looked like when he lived there. Plus, free audio-guide!



The rest of the afternoon was spent on a canal tour. We got on a boat and learned some basics of Amsterdam's history, and got to see many of the famous sites from the canals. We spent the rest of the evening at the Van Gogh Museum, which had just opened an exhibit called "The Colors of the Night." Yes, we saw The Starry Night and yes, it was incredible. The whole museum in general is well done, and we looked not only at Van Gogh's work and his influences, but also some Danish graphic prints of which there is a grand collection. The special exhibit featured works from Rembrandt, Millet, and Van Gogh (of course), among many others. Well-curated, well-presented.

Oldest house in Amsterdam

We had an 8pm reservation at Tempoe Doeloe, an Indonesian restaurant recommended to us by Mark, who had a fantastic experience with their rijstafl. We did too. You basically get rice and then about 14 small dishes to eat with the rice, ranging from pickled vegetables to chicken in spicy peanut sauce. It was great! And the flavors were so novel and diverse. Desserts didn't disappoint, either. I had a dessert drink of orange juice with coconut ice cream, star fruit and melon. Yum! The others had equally delicious treats, and Jen and I even got red roses since it was Valentine's Day. The service was great; everyone who worked there was incredibly nice. I'd recommend it if you're heading to Amsterdam!

That night was quite low-key. We went to a café in Leidseplein for a bit before retiring, ready for the next day.

We woke up late the next day. Michael and I went running again in Vondelpark and explored a bit more of the residential area surrounding it. When we finally dragged JW out of bed, we had breakfast again at Bagels & Beans. This time I had an omelet bagel with ham, but the service was quite bad. There was a nice cat that jumped on Jen's lap which made things better. After breakfast we went to the Rijksmuseum, the biggest and most famous museum in Amsterdam. We browsed their collection of Dutch art from the Dutch golden age in the 17th century. Highlights include fabulously ornate and detailed dollhouses, unbelievably beautiful cabinetry, and of course Rembrandt works and beautiful still-lifes.

We walked along the Prinsengracht canal in the light rain to the Anne Frank House, which I visited while the others went to relax at a café. Being inside the Secret Annex was moving and I feel motivated to reread her diary. I will admit that I teared up at times, reading excerpts form her diary and quotes from the people who helped them.

I met up with the others when I had finished to get dinner. We had traditional Dutch food- pancakes! We went to the Carousel Pancake House and had generous portions of scrumptious savory and sweet pancakes. That night, we stopped at a bar recommended in the guidebook called Lux. It was very chicly decorated and has a good atmosphere. We then went to see a movie, Revolutionary Road, at the Leidseplein theater. Acting was superb, writing was great, and it hit very close to home, being about a couple who lives in the NYC 'burbs. It was then especially depressing for me.

Our train left early the next morning, so we went to bed. Of note: Thalys had a promotion and we all rode first class, both ways. I never want to ride anything but first class. It is amazing. You get so much food and service, treats, and pampering. My next goal in life is to fly first class. I bet it would be amazing.

Ok, must head off to Musée d'Orsay. Wish me luck!

French people running and other news

French people running

Most French people I see running are wearing normal running gear. There is a significant proportion, however, that wears clothing not at all suited to athletic activity. Some of my favorite sightings:

• Man wearing striped collared shirt with sweater over, running shorts, sneakers.
• Woman with hair down, wearing leather jacket, running pants, sneakers.
• Old man wearing long overcoat, bowler hat, sweatpants, sneakers.
• Woman wearing furry vest over sweater, sweatpants, sneakers.

Mind you, they are running. I don’t just see them ambling down the street, they’re running (slowly) in Bois de Boulogne. I couldn’t make this stuff up.

Other News

I forgot to say that I went to the Marais on Sunday to meet and have lunch with Michael’s sister who was in town from Liverpool. JW also came. We wanted to go to L’As de Falafel, this famous falafel place in the Marais on rue des Rosiers, but when we got there the entire street was filled with people waiting to order. We decided to go somewhere else, and ended up at the café we went to after the IRCAM concert. We saw the nice waitress we had had, although she didn’t serve us. I got a cheeseburger but I wish I had ordered the full brunch since I was still ravenous after I finished.

In fact, I have determined that I eat approximately 3x the average French woman, and possibly 2x the average French man. My host mother makes plenty of food—if I ate normally. I think I could eat all of the food that is prepared every night.

On Wednesday, I met up with Emilie again. We went to Sainte-Chappelle, a really famous and beautiful church on Ile de la Cité. The stained glass windows were spectacular that covered the walls, all the way to the soaring gothic arched ceiling. I’ve included some pictures. Emilie took some too; photography is one of her hobbies. We got crepes near l’Hôtel de Ville and she gave me a book by her favorite author! I’m still amazed by her thoughtfulness.

Rose window

Taken by Emilie

Wednesday night Mark’s class went to his house for snacks and experimental French cinema. We watched Un Chien Andalou by Luis Bunuel and Salvatore Dali. It was very strange. We also watched music videos by Michel Gondry, including “The Hardest Button to Button” by the White Stripes, and a Chemical Brothers video. I pigged out on junk food, (it was “dinner”), and then a few of us went back to Jen’s house for a sleep over. Total middle school throwback.

Today I took a long nap after getting back from Jen’s. When I finally got moving, I went to Montmartre and did a self-guided walking tour I looked up in my guidebook. It was a pleasant afternoon, although I forgot my gloves and my hands were very cold as a result.

View of Paris from the steps of the Sacre Coeur

Tonight we’re going to the Lido Cabaret! Roberto, one of the program coordinators, has an in and got us discounted tickets. I can’t wait and will certainly report back.

This weekend will be spent in Amsterdam. Jen, JW, Michael and I have an ambitious itinerary and I hope we will get to see it all!

A comment on the weather

The weather has been crazy lately.

On Saturday, I awoke to snow and freezing rain with gusting winds. Good thing I spent half the day underground visiting Les Egouts, the sewers of Paris, and the other half chatting in a chic café next to Pont de l'Alma with JW and Jen.

In ze sewers!!!

Sunday evening it began to rain and this continued until this (Tuesday) evening. This would be normal, except the wind was unbelievable! It was howling away as I was taking midterms and handing in papers and such.

I left ISEP to come home this afternoon. It was raining when I went underground. When I emerged from Metro, the sky was perfectly clear without a single cloud. Freaking tempests.

A cool night picture, mostly irrelevant.

art? music? Fontainebleau

It has been an interesting week.

Tuesday was full of class and such.

Wednesday, we were at the Louvre for Estelle’s class, looking at Gericault and Delacroix, which was a nice change of pace from the inundation of Ingres we’ve been having recently. Afterwards, I met up with Emilie, my host sister from the family I stayed with in the summer of 2004! We hadn’t seen each other or corresponded in years, but I found her on Facebook and we arranged to meet for coffee. It was wonderful to see her and hear about what she’s been doing since I saw her last. When I stayed with her family, she was always so helpful with my French and went out of her way to tutor me and improve both my speaking and writing. We’re going to meet up again next week and hopefully go to some photography exhibitions.

Thursday was the day of Practicum presentations. It was really interesting to see all of the various and creative things people have been working on. (The projects could take pretty much any form, and are supposed to reflect, comment on, interact with, etc. some aspect of your experience in Paris.) I made a “Self-sidewalk,” which consisted of papers I’ve been accumulating in my room that represent parts of my life here—an article Eleanor sent me from the Boston Globe, a document from my French bank account, a handout from Le Mariage de Figaro, an article about Obama from a French paper, and an article my host family saved for my about Bruges and Ghent. Each paper was a paving stone, and on top were Paris sidewalk mainstays: dog poop (sculpted from clay), a cigarette butt, and a discarded metro ticket. I was feeling pretty good about this project, but Mark pretty much ripped it apart in front of the whole class. Not my proudest moment. We talked about my stupid sidewalk for about half and hour, and he asked questions about my reasoning behind every little detail, i.e. why did I place the poop where I did? Why did I choose five papers and not more or less? Why did I leave one paper ragged and not the other? I’m hoping I got the grilling because I was the first to present visual art, but maybe I’m really just a horrible artist with no capability for creativity or artistic thought. It’s kind of what I felt like. Constructive criticism is always good, I just felt the analysis of my project was harsher than that of the others.

Some of the other projects were really great. A few highlights: JW made a giant cigarette butt out of a baguette with acrylic paint and a lighter, Natalia made a moving film about people passing by graffiti that reads “White Power” in Montparnasse Bienvenue without even noticing, and Scott and David sang an epic duet with their guitars about missing the metro.

Ashely, Jen and I had a long and decadent lunch with Mark in the Latin quarter, remplis de bonne conversation, and then made our way over to the Marais. Mark had graciously arranged for our class a private tour of IRCAM, a part of the Centre Pompidou that specializes in sound. There are three branches: pedagogical, where people come in to learn software and technology; creative, where composers come in to use the resources of IRCAM to create music; and research, where engineers are working out the latest audio technology. We got to go into the anechoic chamber (room absolutely free from echo). Supposedly you can hear one high frequency and one low frequency when you’re in there, which are your nervous system and circulatory system, respectively (!). Unfortunately, I didn’t hear it when I went in, but Jen said she heard the high frequency.

The tour was followed by a concert of modern music played by a string quartet. It was interesting at first, since it used play-back technology so we heard both what the musicians were playing real time, and a selection of what they had just played, and the two streams worked off of each other. The second piece was unpalatable, to say the least. The notes played were just continually dissonant and there was no relief from its harshness. The instruments were played well out of their “normal” ranges and the screeching that resulted was not my cup of tea. I don’t know enough about contemporary music to have any authority on this sort of thing, but I can say with confidence that the music played was not something I would want to listen to.

Friday (today), Jen, Ashley, Mackenzie and I went to Fontainebleau to see the chateau and visit the town. After floundering around Gare de Lyon for about 20 minutes, we finally got the group together to go buy tickets for the train out to Zone 6. We made it onto the train and in 40 minutes we were in the quaint Fontainebleau-Avon area. We walked into town where we came upon a farmer’s market that Mackenzie remembered from his youth (he lived in Fontainebleau for two years when his father worked at the nearby university). We browsed a bit, and bought two delicious boxes of fresh raspberries. The town was charming, as one would expect a town in the French countryside to be. Lunch was eaten outside at a café, and we enjoyed the relatively warm temperature.


Next stop was the castle, which housed the kings and emperors of France for 700 years. It was remarkable. First of all, there were peacocks in the garden. We got some pics. Second, the chateau was gigantic and beautiful. Third, there was no one there and it was much more pleasant the hordes of people who flock to Versailles. Fourth, the history of the castle is incredibly rich because so many kings have lived there. It was a really pleasant visit (and we got the audio-guides). On the way back to the train station we stopped at Mackenzie’s favorite patisserie and bought amazing pastries. Amazing. I had a meringue that was huge and delicious for only one euro, Mackenzie and Jen had something called La Religieuse, which is this delectable chocolate/mousse/cream/biscuit concoction, and Ashley had a scrumptious raspberry tart. All in all, a successful outing.




Now it’s off to sing some karaoke!?

Alimentary Pleasures

breakfast: homemade banana/nutella crepe

lunch: quiche lorraine, goat cheese and prosciutto on baguette

dinner: potato/meat dish, salad, cheese, fromage frais, jam crepe

“Plus on est belle, plus on est froide”

The prettier one is, the colder.

I would say that sums up the weekend. I feel like a really accomplished tourist, braving glacial temperatures to see the sites in Lille, Ghent, and Bruges—our trifecta tour of Flanders. It was an extraordinary weekend but I am exhausted now! Nonetheless, I wish to recount the experience whilst it is fresh in my mind.

Before Flanders, there was a week. During this week, I did things of interest. Wednesday (1/28) was the Triptych sensory tour of the Marais as part of the Practicum arts class. Each student in the class received an address to check out and to subsequently make up “facts” about to give a “tour” to the Survey arts class. One of the most interesting assignments I received, it was a little difficult to strike a balance among believable, funny, and ridiculous. My address was 28, rue de Venise, a rather ugly modern building on a miniature street near the Pompidou Center. I made up a story that included 15th century painters, Italian merchants, Wiccan settlements, cabaret assassinations, magical trees, etc. I enjoyed walking through the Marais, which could be one of my favorite quarters in Paris. It has great character, shopping, food, architecture, and vibe. I must go back to explore more.

The real icing on the Wednesday cake was dinner that Mark planned for our class. We went to a restaurant called “Dans Le Noir,” (In the Black), that was exactly as its name sounds. We dined in total darkness. Our servers were blind people who led us to our seats and brought us our food. We had no idea what we were eating. To fill up our glasses we had to stick our finger inside to feel the level of the liquid. I realized how little I actually know how things taste independent from what they look like. For example, I thought the main course was beef, but it was actually duck. Needless to say, it was quite the experience! Bravo to Mark for organizing the whole thing.

On Thursday I got my haircut with Jen. She and my hairdresser ganged up on me the whole time and I was persuaded to cut my hair much shorter and get bangs. So my hair is much shorter and I have bangs. It was a fun little experience; French hairdressers are very different from American ones! I told my coiffeur to keep the length and do a little fringe in the front and he told me that it was absurd for me to pay him 50 euro to do nothing. I told him I wanted a shape to have more volume and he told me he couldn’t change the nature of my hair. He was very candid but charming and did a good job despite my reluctance. I’m not sure I like the cut but it looks kind of French (I think) and my hair is healthier. Voilà.

On Friday, it was off to Lille for the Bing Trip!

The rendezvous was at Gare du Nord directly after Friday morning class, which was joyfully held extra early to accommodate our train. Just after an hour on the TGV we were transported to the north of France in Flanders. Our hotel was beautiful and charming, the oldest hotel in Lille! Farah and I shared a lavender room, a huge step up from our nasty little hostel in Dublin. Lunch was at “Les 3 Brasseurs,” a traditional brasserie. Food was delicious and filling and I ate my share along with whatever the others left on their plates.

We had a walking tour all afternoon with the most horrible guide who talked incessantly about the most useless details. Luckily she didn’t stay with us when we went to Roubaix to see the Museum of Art and Industry, whose façade is an old cotton factory and whose building is a converted public pool and bath. The museum was incredible. The architecture of the pool is all art deco and a masterpiece in itself, and it has been tastefully redone as a museum. Dinner was free and a group of us found a restaurant with a 20 euro formule—much cheaper than Paris! I had frog’s legs (!), steak and mashed potatoes, a cheese plate, and chocolate mousse. Amazing.

The next day was spent in Ghent.

Lille is very close to the Belgian border, so we arrived in Gent quite early. The city is amazing. Flemish architecture will blow your mind. It is mostly gothic and neo-gothic, and it is freaking old! Our guide was thankfully a charming quadralingual man named Luke, who told us many interesting things about buildings and the history of the city in moderation. There are large places in the middle of the city where merchant would come to sell their good, with beautiful buildings all around and belfries and church towers all over the place. Jen, Michael, JW, Thierry and I lunched at a brasserie with questionable medieval murals on the wall à la Red Carpet Inn. Food was great, once it got to our table. Service was despicable and we had to rush back to meet the group on time.

Harp from a church in Ghent

The afternoon was spent touring the Chateau des Comtes (Counts), a medieval castle that has been well restored. The grand conclusion of the tour is that the Middle Ages were retarded. Everything was fashioned as preventative measure of defense, like mini windows to shoot arrows out of, holes in the floor to pour boiling oil onto intruders, etc. Dinner was at an incredibly chic and hip restaurant called Belga Queen with the coolest bathrooms ever. You go into the stall and the door is transparent. You lock the door, and it turns opaque! It’s magic.

The last day was spent in Bruges.

I’m convinced Disney created Bruges sometime in the 20th century to be the quaintest little town there ever was. The place is unreal. It peaked in the Middle Ages, when its population was twice that of its current size! It is called the “Venice of the North,” because there are dozens of charming canals off of the two rivers that traverse the town. The streets are narrow and all cobblestone, and nearly all the buildings are at least two centuries old. Highlights of the day include getting moules frites (mussels and fries) and Italian coffee (coffee and amaretto liqueur), buying amazing chocolates, eating Belgian waffles, and the horse-drawn carriage ride through the northern part of town to the windmill. We also went to an interesting medieval hospital turned museum to see primitive Flemish art.

but…

IT WAS INTOLERABLY COLD. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO LOSE MY TOES TO FROSTBITE. LEATHER BOOTS DO NOT SUFFICE IN GLACIAL TEMPERATURES. HATS ARE NECESSARY. YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DON’T HAVE GLOVES. BRUGES IS BEAUTIFUL BUT SHE KNOWS IT AND IS ACCORDINGLY COLD.

We went to city #3 of the day (Lille) to catch the train to city #4 (Paris). Home sweet home. But I couldn’t retire yet for I was going to the Picasso exhibit at two in the morning! Hooray! “Picasso et les Maitres” is the most successful exhibit they’ve had at the Grand Palais for thirty years, and we were going on the last night. They opened it up to be 24 hours a day for the last weekend, and thus we bought tickets for the only available time: 2:00 am. So we took the last metro to the Grand Palais to see said amazing exhibit. Check out the P.A.R.I.S. blog for a more detailed account.

I spent today (Monday) sleeping and puttering around, running errands and such. Jen came over for dinner at my host family’s house to eat crepes, a February tradition. It was wonderful to have her here. Now it is late and I must go to bed! E-mail me what you all are up to. I like e-mails. Letters okay too.