Another paper to write tonight, this one kinda fun: We were assigned to pick a place described in one of our texts then visit it in the present and do a comparison-contrast, not actually too hard so I'll have to make it beautiful. Choosing the theme 'markets,' I set off this morning to Place d'Aligre and found it mildly busy, so thankfully I didn't have to trek all over the city to find a better one [though, of course, that could have been fun, too]. Mercier, the author, anguished over the state of the poissonnieres, the fish sellers, in particular, and how they made people sick, so I paid special heed to them and got some fresh fish to cook tonight [one that has turned out to be cod and one that isn't translating] [filets, though, nothing too adventurous that still had eyeballs and insides], and asked the merchants if I could take photos:
and then a bit of the market outside:
They obviously said yes, and, dropping my dinner off at the apartment, I made my way to Place d'Italie just to see if the market was being held that day [nope], then went on to Saint Michel, because Thursdays are official Gyro Days now, and I found the best place yet that sells them. Eating it in front of Notre Dame, I went over my notes for the paper a bit, walked around, then rendez-voused with the class in front of the fountain to go to Versailles.
Today we trekked, our line of compatriots slowly stretching longer through the gardens, down to the Petit Trianon, originally build for Louis 15's mistress but which ended up being the gift and sort of private home [as in, not at the court] of Marie Antoinette. We toured the mansion with the benefit of our professor's insight, then went out into the gardens and had an informal lecture sitting on the steps of a fake temple. I've already mentioned she's pretty sensitive about the quality of her slides using a projector; she also tends to lose her train of thought with nearby loud noises or various other distractions, and has been having pretty bad luck this trip. At the Palais Royal, when we were talking on the fountain, a band started to do a sound check for that night's Fete de la Musique. In class, once some construction started going rather loudly in the street, and continued for about half the duration, and another time we were disrupted as two guys came in with a ladder, exited through the window and did things on the roof. Today, a distant Michael Jackson concert and a Korean taunting a swan for ten minutes competed for the attention of our professor, and succeeded, of course. Nothing similar has happened during any of our French classes. Just an aside.
Right, then we went to the hameau, her fake yet functional village, and looked at the pretty buildings and flowers and goats and tiny grapes and cherries and other animals and hungry fish and scenery, and we all lost each other, and I got turned around and ended up in an isolated corner with a field of cows, but hit a wall and got out eventually. Two comrades happened to be there, and hadn't seen anyone else; I walked with them back to the lake/pool, then stayed there to read and just enjoy Things as they went back to the train. Crew practice started, families and friends were picnicking in groups, very peaceful. And now, I'm going to cook my fish whenever the family gets out of the kitchen and do that paper ..... Good day. [later edit] Turns out Maria hates fish. They weren't in the oven three minutes when she began running through the house Sweet Jesus-ing all of the furniture as she frenetically opened windows. Didn't seem to be too upset, though, that was good, and now I will never again bring back fish here.
a fountain and a line of people waiting to sell their books:
guy making bubbles by the fountain for change, made a lot of kids happy:
us walking to Versailles, you can see it was kind-of a stormy day:
gardens again:
the Petit Trianon:
inside one of the rooms, I think a recreation/restoration because the angry mobs cleared the building out from 1789 onwards, but I forgot to ask:
a bit of the hameau, and the combination dairy farm and lighthouse:
mm, residences?
grapes! I've never seen growing grapes before:
a bit more:
this is where I sat by the lake, looking to the chateau:
and this is looking the other way:
and this is just the metro:
You may have wondered what happened to Weird Things About France, the former lifeblood of an otherwise relatively banal blog. France actually isn't that weird.
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