Montparnasse, le Quartier Latin, and some food!

Well, it has been an extremely busy past two days. I don't even know where to begin. First of all, I am pretty much settled down in the apartment. I'm figuring out my host family's schedule, and getting to know them. We get along really well. (In my opinion, at least). All my suitcases are put away, and in a weird way it almost feels like I've always been here, or that Paris is strangely familiar. Maybe that's just because I've been here before, haha. Or maybe it's because since my level of French is a LOT better, things seem less foreign and overwhelming. I think already I've been mistaken for French, or at least a native French speaker, which is a mega-win in my book. Anyway. About yesterday.

Tuesday, September 11th

Today we discussed finances, and received our "Cartes Bleus", which are our Visa credit cards for our French bank. Pretty boring, since it basically functions the same. Except for there are a lot more account numbers to memorize. Also, I learned that in French culture the subject of money is very taboo. You never discuss with the people what things cost, how much you make, etc. This has a lot to do with the distinction between the new and old rich, la nouvelle riche et la noblesse. For lunch that day, we went to a "creperie", or crepe restaurant, in the section of Montparnasse (which is in turn a section of Paris), that has a history of hosting immigrants from Bretagne. This is because the train station from Bretagne to Paris is located in this quarter, so they just hopped off the trains and set up shops right away, I guess. Anyway, I forgot my camera at the office, so I couldn't take a picture of the food. :(. I know it gives you away as an American right away, but I don't care. It's too fun. Plus I've had several requests to take pictures of the food I eat. For my entree, I had a traditional crepe from Bretagne, "une crepe bretonne", that had sausage, tomatoes and cheese in it. For this type of crepe, which is known as savory, the flour is buckwheat flour, and actually the crepe itself is called "une galette". For dessert I had an actual "crepe", which is made of the whiter flour because it's sweet. I also chose a traditional "crepe bretonne", which was just caramel and salted butter. I'm pretty sure I have a couple cavities now. Whatever. After lingering around for awhile, since the French take a lunch of at least an hour, we had another group session at the Tufts office then when on a sort of scavenger hunt through Montparnasse. The scavenger hunt was to help us discover the restaurants and useful stores in the area, and also to teach us valuable Parisian life skills. For instance, when you order a cup of coffee here, your are actually just ordering an espresso. As I understand it, there is virtually no way to order a real "American" cup of coffee. I don't care, since I hate coffee, but I find that interesting. Also, depending on the cafe and its location (near the tourist district, off the beaten path, etc), drinks and meals will cost more or less. In addition, depending on the place you choose to enjoy your beverage in the cafe (at the counter, standing up, outside on the terrace), the drink will cost a different price. The more the server has to walk, the more expensive it is. Makes sense. However, you never have to tip in France because it's already included in the bill, which makes life a lot easier. After regrouping at a cafe, where I had a hot chocolate that really lived up to its name (I'm pretty sure it was just melted chocolate), we were done for the day, so some friends and I decided to explore. We attempted to visit the Cemetery of Montparnasse, where many famous writers are buried, such as Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Samuel Beckett, but it closed at 6pm, so we were too late. I did get to use one of the self-cleaning public toilets, however, which are basically a really large, cylindrical port-a-potty that has an actual toilet and you can use it for 20 minutes for free. Then afterwards it cleans the floor and the toilet and everything for a couple minutes by itself. Truly magical. I then returned to the apartment for dinner, which is at 8pm here. I got lost for about 20 minutes on exiting the subway, even though my house is literally 4 minutes from the station. AND I had a map. I'll blame that on the jet lag. For dinner we had duck with carrots and potatoes and then afterward cheese and baguette and for dessert coffee flavored ice cream. The French really do it in courses here. I got used to that working at Lac du Bois, so it didn't surprise me too much.

Wednesday, September 12th

Here are just some of the pictures I took today. We began at L'Hotel de Ville (city Hall) of the fourth arrondissement, which is at the center of Paris. We then did a walking tour of the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank, which is for students, intellectuals and artists. We also saw Notre Dame, many colleges of the Sorbonne, ate at a Resto-U, basically a cafeteria for universities in France, and if you are a student you have access to all the Resto-U's in France. They aren't attached to the colleges, because there really are no campuses, but can be found throughout the city. For 3 euros and 10 cents you can get a complete meal plus dessert! We also walked through the Luxembourg Gardens, such the Luxembourg Palace, which is also the Senate, and then after the tour I went with a friend to the Arc du Triomphe.

 I see this obelisk on my way to the metro. It is a monument for the French soldiers that died in WWI and WWII.

 This is my street, Rue Berteaux Dumas. It's pretty snazzy.

This is the door to my apartment building, number 15. I haven't counted yet, but I know there are at least 6 floors.

This is the Hotel de Ville, where our group met this morning.

This is a typical place where one can buy breakfast, lunch and snacks. Some popular chains are Pomme de Pain and Brioche Doree. 

This is the view when crossing from the right bank to the left. In the middle is one of the islands in the Seine. 

This is part of a bridge. Apparently, the tradition is for lovers to leave padlocks on the grate inscribed with notes or their names. When the light hits the padlocks, it looks like the bridge is made of gold. 

When we were crossing the bridge I saw this boat on the Seine that looked cool. I guess there's a little restaurant on it. 

This, obviously, is Notre Dame, aka Quasimodo's house. In front of the cathedral there is also a plaque that marks the square as the "center'" of Paris. That means that when distance is calculated from anywhere else to Paris, they use that plaque est the end point. 

I'm pretty sure this is the Palace of Justice, where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned, tried, and sentenced to death during the Revolution. It operated as the revolutionary tribunal for two years.

This is the door to a theater in the Latin Quarter that has played the same two plays by Eugene Ionesco for over 50 years. Ionesco is known as one of the famous playwrights of the Theater of the Absurd. 

This is the oldest tree in Paris. It was planted in 1602. 

This is the oldest restaurant in Paris. Apparently, when Ben Franklin was diplomat to France he ate here. 

This is one side of the inner courtyard of one of the buildings of Sorbonne. As you can see, a lot nicer than Tufts. No offense.

This is the other side of the same courtyard.

This is a view of the Palais du Luxembourg, which is also the Senate building. In France, these buildings are closed to the public except for one weekend every year. 

It's a tradition in the Luxembourg Gardens for little kids to bring/rent little boats and then push them around the fountains with a big stick. This child is doing just that. 

This is me (back right) and other Americans (minus Paul who is taking the photo), at a cafe in Montparnasse. We're so French!

This is the view of the Arc du Triomphe upon exiting the Metro. 

When we arrived, there was some sort of ceremony going on with a lot of generals, soldiers, and official looking people. From what I gathered (while dodging a super angry pigeon that kept swooping at the crowd and actually tried to nest in some guy's hair), they were honoring the French soldiers that died in the American Revolution. Apparently they have ceremonies like this all the time. 

This is the fish we ate for dinner. Notice that the cook the whole entire fish, and then Monsieur (my host father) removed all the meat and most of the bones. We then put lemon juice on it. And I don't have a picture of it, but before the fish we each ate half on avocado with vinaigrette on it. Better than I thought it would be. 

This was my dinner plate for the entree. To the left are potatoes, and the little red thing is this type of mini-tomato that Monsieur grows in his garden. 

Ok, sorry that was super duper long, but I had lots to say. I'll try to update after this weekend, should have lots more good pictures. Until then, happy reading! :)