nattynattynattyinparis!!: exploring and learning

So lets seeee, since I last left off there has been SO much going on! Mostly TONS of homework and 3 hour a day french class, but I can't complain...I'm in Paris!

So Jenelle and I have mostly been exploring our area and the bastille area a lot. We visited the Place de Vosges (oldest planned square in Paris), Victor Hugo's home, the Marais, a French art history museum, and some other places around us.

Bastille area

I've gone on a few excursions around the city, like the Mosquee of Paris and the area of Belleville as well as the Latin quarter. I loved the Latin quarter, it is where the elite universities of Paris are located, like the Sorbonne. Also it is a great spot for us young college kids, a bunch of bars, cheap eats, and cute cafes. Also the Pantheon is located there (which is gorge! and amazing) and underneath/underground the pantheon is where many philosophers and writers and others like Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, Voltaire, and Rousseau now rest. It was really interesting to see!

I had another excursion with my class to the Mosque of Paris and I'm so glad they planned this for us because I would have never thought of going. Remember that scene in Paris Je t'aime with Zarka and Francois? Yeah I saw all that on the excursion and more. Like the seine, the botanical gardens Francois runs through and the Mosque of course. I also got to see the Paris Zoo from the outside (Menagerie) and the natural history museum near by. Anyway, the Mosque was BEAUTIFUL, the mosaics were AAmazing as well as all the little details like the tapestries the ceilings and just everything was soo ornate and beautiful.

Natural History Museum/ gardens

botanical gardens

Mosque

On another excursion I visited the area of Belleville where many famous french peeps are from like Edith Piaf. This is not the best looking area, but I can appreciate it for its uniqueness. It was known for being a sort of a country side of Paris a long time ago where they would have vineyards Today there is a great open air market, it has a great street art scene, it is known for being the area where immigrants go to when fleeing other countries, also for being a melting pot of different cultures and for its famous cemetery (pere lachaise). I got to visit the place where Edith was born there. She was born on the steps, on a busy street (Rue de Belleville) in what is now Chinatown...yeah the steps. To make the bio of her short, she had a rough childhood, she had a great voice that made her very famous and she is now one of the most loved people in France. We then got to visit a Park where I got to see the very famous view of Paris. It was gorgeous. I saw the Eiffel Tour on one side and Sacre Coeur on the other, b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. Afterwards we visited the famous cemetery Pere Lachaise, where Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and Edith Piaf now rest. It is HUGE and actually beautiful, old and very very interesting. I visited those three graves and I have to say my fave was Oscar Wilde's, just because it is so interactive (the kisses on the grave/people write on it with lipstick) and interesting. I didn't kiss it, nor would I want to haha. I would only go as far as to write on it with lipstick. Another Paris Je t'aime scene of this place btw!