Julia in France: Days 6, 7, 8, 9 - Le Louvre, Classes + vegetarian restaurant + Père Lachaise Cemetary + Giverny

OKAY!

Attempt number three at this update. So, on thursday, we all visited the Louvre. It's a BIG, BIG museum. To see it all, you'd probably need a good week. Well, we started out in the catacombs, saw the Sphinx, then many beautiful Roman Sculptures, and of course, the Venus de Milo. Of course, the Mona Lisa was a must-see. There was a huge line, but just to get a peek of her, I fought my way through the crowd. The painting is actually not as big as you might imagine. After that, we saw many other paintings, had lunch, did a little shopping (got some postcards, and got myself a nice little Swatch watch), and then went back to the Museum. After that, I think I did homework for a long time - I really had a lot of homework, especially for my Civilization class, which is just like the class I took with Madame Ostrow this past Spring. Actually, let's just say it's the same class. It's awesome, cause I've already seen all the material.

Le Louvre

The Sphinx

The Venus de Milo

Inside the Louvre

La Gioconde!

Friday, after going to class, Madeline and I both decided to go to the gym, it was finally time, given that I hadn't gone since Tuesday. I ran 3.5 miles without being in extreme pain at all! We got ourselves ready and decided to go out to town to get some school supplies. Of course, Gibert Jeune, the book + supply store was closed, so we had no choice but to return the next day. Since both her and I are vegetarians, we decided to find the only vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Paris. After much wandering about we finally found it.

'Restaurant Vegetarien' - Le Grenier de Notre-Dame

White beans in a delicious sauce

We were all supposed to go out Friday night, but given just how incredibly tired I was, I went straight to bed at about 11:15 PM - Next day, I woke up at 9:30, and after a nice workout, we headed out to get school supplies and then to Père Lachaise, where many famous people are interred.

Cimitière du Père Lachaise

Madeline trying to get a picture of the cobwebs

R.I.P. James Douglas Morrison

Random cat on a bench at the cemetery

Chopin's tomb

So, of course, right after Chopin, my camera decided to die, so I couldn't get shots of Proust and Wilde, but fortunately, Madeline was kind enough to get those and will give them to me when she uploads them. We left the cemetery at 4:40, since Madeline had a Skype date with a friend at 5:00, and we thought we had to be back for our group outing at 5:30. We didn't get off the bus until 5:25, so of course we decided to run like crazy towards the hotel. We ended of on the île de St. Louis, decided to call Madame Masson, the director of the program, since we thought we were lost and super late, but it turns out we didn't have to leave until 6:30. Let's just say that was quite an adventure.

Well, after we got back, we had a little time to quickly grab a little snack, and then it was time for us to visit the Musée du Vin - yes, the Wine Museum, where we would be dining on sumptuous wines and cheeses.

The visit started out with a wonderful glass of champagne (Not your usual $10 bottle of Asti, mind you) - it was delicious! We quickly toured around this catacomb-like museum, which reminded me a lot of the salt mind I was visited in Austria. After touring the museum, it was time to sit down at the grand hall for our dinner. We were to try six different types of wine along with 5 cheese trays, each with 4 different varieties of cheese.

Musée du Vin

Cara-Napoleon, Napoleon-Cara - Same person

At the big hall

Plate 1 - Goat cheeses - I liked these the best

Plate 2 - Aged cheeses

Plate 3 - Creamy cheeses, including Brie (75% milkfat)

Plate 4 - Really strong cheeses, not of my liking

Plate 5 - Bleu cheeses

Dessert!

We didn't get back from the Musée du Vin until past 12:00 AM, so of course I missed my rendez-vous with Tènimba, my French TA at Wesleyan from last year :-( I hope I can see her before she leaves, since she's going out of the country this coming weekend.

Today, we had to be up and running by 8:30, as we were heading to Giverny, which is about an hour away from Paris. Giverny is the little town where Claude Monet lived and painted all his famous works. This town is really beautiful, and it really makes me miss and appreciate at once all the nature and rural scenery that I'm accustomed to. It was surrounded by mountains, farms, tiny restaurants, and many picturesque houses and the such. I honestly wouldn't mind living in a place like this. We toured around Monet's house, all the BEAUTIFUL gardens, and of course the nymphaeum, where all his famous waterlilies were painted.