Walk like a Parisian

Jam-packed day y´all!

I started out by checking out the surrounding area.  I´m off of the Les Gobelins stop where there are essentially 6 major roads coming out of a circle.  All have quite lovely, and what I would call not entirely touristy, selections.  I also inadvertedly stumbled upon the Rue Mouffetard that I had heard about.  Evidently, every day there is a street market with locally grown food.  I´m totally going back there for dinner one night!

I then sucked it up and went forth to conquer my fear: semi-permanent Métro passes.  I had a horrid time with one of the ticket-window ladies who would not help me out at all with the multitude of passes they had.  WELL...Matt did his research at home and figured out exactly what I needed: the Navigo Découverte.  I can load either a week or month onto the card and then get unlimited uses in the designated zones.  And it went off without a hitch!  You get a little pack with a hard plastic case holder, the smart chip Navigo card, and then an id card you affix a picture to and then sign and seal.  I´m like a legit Parisian now :)

I also went to the American Embassy (by which I mean McDonald´s because I was dying for unhealthy food).  Put your judgment away.  I can see it; it´s still there.  Seriously, put it away.  Ain´t nobody gonna stand between me and my Big Mac.  I´m a fan of France´s notion of meal size.  The burger and fries were the same, but a ¨normale¨ drink was the size of an American small...which is just right for me.  Rock on France.

After this, and since my Navigo doesn´t kick in until tomorrow (their week is Monday through Sunday) I decided to go on a far walking adventure.  I trotted up the Boulevard St. Michel and end up in the Jardin du Luxembourg and the accompagnying Palais, now the seat of the French Senate.  Absolutely lovely.  There were hoards of of French people out enjoying a Sunday afternoon on the grass...weird...reminds me of a painting or something...

I then trotted still farther north to the Panthéon.  Didn´t pay to go inside, but got to enjoy the freize we studied in 19th century art.  While looking at my map, it occured to me I was standing right in front of the Bibliothèque Saint-Genviève...one of the foremost in the city...hopefully I can take a peek inside at some point.

I also walked around the slightly-hard-to-pinpoint--because-it-takes-up-a-few-blocks Sorbonne, the flagship of the Université de Paris.  Uber construction going on so I couldn´t see much (and it certainly didn´t help that it was a Sunday during Summer).

I walked up still further to the church of St. Severin.  One of the Cubists I´m studying, Robert Delauney, did a whole series of paintings on the unique columns and corridors inside.  I love entering a space and feeling like I´ve been there before because I´ve seen a painting of or about it.  Had a similar feeling in the Gare St. Lazare thanks to Manet.

I ended up back at Notre-Dame and entered back in with the hoards of tourists.  After breaking slightly, I managed to find the fabled Shakespeare and Co. bookstore...one of the first and most famous English language bookstores in Paris.  Absolutely the coolest bookstore interior.  Couldn´t take photos inside, so that will just have to remain in my noggin.

Had dinner at a nice café not too far away from my apartment.  I had a croque jeune-homme, a bit of a play on the typical croque-monsieur.  toasted bread, with ham and melted cheese on top.  I have to say Parisian café culture is interesting.  Very lax, you sit down at any table you like, and most of the chairs face not each other, but out onto the road.  It´s as if the road is suddenly a stage for the spectators in the café.  Kind of turns the notion of peering in at restaurant-goers through a window on its head.

The weather is starting a gradual descent.  We crested 70 today, but not by much.  So I guess it´s going to be pants for the rest of my trip.  Not necessarily a bad thing.  Everyone else wears them.  On that note, French fashion.  Everything flies here.  Everything.  And to the websites that say only tourists wear shorts...not true.  I´ve seen plenty of shorts-clad dudes walking around, open their mouth, and eloquent French comes out.  And choices seem so random.  Honestly, I think some of them just put on the first things they find in the morning and work it no matter what.  Certainly a city of confidence...among many other things.

Walking like a Parisian isn´t about just a language or an article of clothing, it´s a state of mind.