June 2, 2011

Today was a national holiday for la France so guess what? No class today!

We still met with the Clemson in Paris group, though, in les jardins du Luxembourg, to discuss some poetry readings before our Louvre promenade with Christina! The weather was absolutely beautiful!!! It was perfectly sunny, with soft fluffy clouds dotting the sky. And it was upper 60s/low 70s with a gentle breeze. Aaah. C'est la vie. It was so nice sitting in the gardens with our group and eating lunch under the Parisian sun reading poetry together!

As an English major, there are very few things that warm my heart more than reading poetry. In a garden. In Paris.

Is this heaven?

Afterwards, we went on a tour of the Louvre exterior with Christina. That's right. We didn't actually 'go in,' but Christina knew so much about the architecture it was still fascinating! (I had a terrible afternoon with my camera--all of my photos ended up being overexposed and I couldn't fix it to save my life--but it was still a great tour, nevertheless!

Did you know:
#1) The Louvre used to be the seat of power until 1682 when Louis XIV built Versailles? Louis XIV was  known as the "Sun King," so he added images of the sun and of the "fruits" of harvest and of war to the palace exterior.

#2) Remains of the medieval Louvre fortress can be seen beneath the present museum? (I saw these on the tour! Very cool!)

#3) Across la rue de l'Amiral de Coligny in the back of the Louvre (away from the Tuileries) stands the church Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. The church was built over a period of time and reflects a mix of Roman, Gothic, and Renaissance architecture, and the ringing of the church bells signaled a start to the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of French Huguenots.

Needless to say, the tour was super interesting & I was able to appreciate the building as a piece of art itself!

Afterwards, I headed up to the H&M (pronounced "osh ay emm"in French) on Rue de Rivoli. It is impossible for me to describe to you my love for this store. I was first introduced to it my junior year in high school on a trip to Chicago, where I found the most wonderful little black dress. It's chic, made well, and (most importantly) it fits well!

So, naturally, I'm more than thrilled to be living in a city with multiple H&Ms this summer. There have been a few surprisingly chilly days here, so I bought a navy cardigan (with pockets!) for about 10 euro, as well as a SUPER pretty cream-colored scarf with tiny coral and khaki flowers on it, in addition to two makeup bags for only a few euros each. Did I mention H&M was also extremely affordable?

I also made my way towards another store called C&A, but I didn't have any luck there. It looks like I'm a solid H&M fan through and through.

Bonne nuit!