Hey ya’ll, forgive my long absence, I was out of town with limited internet for four days, and then when I returned to Paris I had two papers to write, one in English, one in French, 240 pages to read, a test, and other various homework all due in the four days after that. Now my internet keeps randomly stopping. I think my family accidentally turned the router off, because our network keeps disappearing. So those are all my excuses.
A few things I’ve done in Paris since I last wrote.
I finally went inside the Pantheon with my history class. If you get confused like my dad, this is the Paris Pantheon, only built in the 18th century, and not built by the Romans, but displaying Romanesque architecture.
Originally started by Louis XV as a church to St. Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, it is now a secular temple and mausoleum to the great men of France. The revolutionists burned St. Genevieve’s body because that’s the kind of thing they were into. In modern times, the president suggests a person be moved there and parliament votes on it. So far all of Sarkozy’s suggestions have not been approved for one reason or another. The crypt contains some of the most famous French people ever, but it is very plain. There is very little decoration so that everyone buried there is viewed as equally important. It’s supposed to be a very solemn and sad place, but I would describe it more as honorable and cool. Cool is a high quality adjective, I know.
I also went to the Arc de Triomphe with my class. It was commissioned by Napoleon, but he died before most of it, including all the sculptures, was finished, so it’s impossible to say that it actually looks how he wanted it to. It touches on Napoleon and his armies being awesome, as they are shown carrying treasures back from Egypt and trampling enemies, but it is mostly an acknowledgement that war is inevitable. War and peace is an endless cycle in which war predominates.
Overall, the sculptures on the side facing Paris are positive and negative on the other side. Then we climbed to the top, which wasn’t too hard, only 300 steps, but it was a spiral staircase, which really made me not feel well. The view from the top was quite nice, even though it was a gloomy day. (PHOTO: Louvre in distance at the end of the Champs-Elysees)
On Thursday I went to a fondue dinner organized by Accent. We had cheese fondue, meat fondue, and chocolate fondue. Meat fondue is just cooking meat in hot oil, similar to shabu shabu. It wasn’t bad, but shabu shabu is certainly tastier. The cheese fondue was yummy, and I wouldn’t have eaten as much of it had I known that there was chocolate fondue on the way. I ate far too much. Je grossis.
It was 75 degrees in Paris this weekend, and I wore shorts for the first time. Of course it was warm enough to wear them when I arrived in August, but I failed to own any at that point. I took advantage of the oddly warm weather and went to Le Jardin du Luxembourg and then Le Jardin des Plantes. Yes, it is named the garden of plants, but it is a scientific garden, so it identifies everything growing there. There’s a section of plants that are odorous and a vineyard and shrubberies of all kinds. There is also a cute little zoo hidden in the trees, so I spent my afternoon gazing at animals, like usual. The highlights were a row of different owl species and a beautiful snow leopard. The orangutans were quite amusing too, although their eyes always appear so sad and intelligent it makes me feel bad that they’re cooped up. =/ That night we had Thai food again, where orangutan was probably on the menu, and I ate some more noodles in coconut milk. Mmm.
At the zoo I discovered that I am indeed, as I thought, a Parselmouth. This snake was curled up with its face against the glass, and I whispered "Hello snakey." and it starting climbing straight up the glass. It was awesome. I promise I am not the heir of Slytherin.
The next day I took a leisurely stroll around Ile de la Cite and Ile de St. Louis, the two islands in the Seine in central Paris. Ile de la Cite was where the first known inhabitants of “Paris”, the Parisii tribe, built their settlement as it provided protection from enemies, around 52 BC. Since then, it has undergone layers and layers of building, but since about the 5th century (I think) it has had a governmental building on the west end and a Christian structure on the other, which today is Notre Dame de Paris. I wandered onto Ile de St. Louis, then wandered into the church and found this placard below a carved scene of St. Louis. Yeah America!
I finally asked my family the culinary question that had been bugging for weeks. What is the difference between a saucisse and a saucisson? In general, they both mean sausage, but I asked for the wrong one at a restaurant and the waiter corrected me. It turns out, a saucisson is generally already cooked/cured/preserved by magic, and is served cold or room temperature. So the sausages that are hanging on the cabinet in our kitchen at room temperature are saucissons. On the other hand, a saucisse is generally served hot, and I assume that it is considered raw prior to cooking. So the sausages here that resemble hot dogs without a bun are considered to be saucisses. So far, I have not eaten a saucisse that I actually liked (granted I am very picky about hot dogs, I don't like all beef), but I have had saucisson at my house and on sandwiches from boulangeries and they have all been delicious. I hope this has given you some valuable insight on French sausage vocabulary.
I will write about my trip to Barcelona tomorrow. I promise. Maybe. But now I must catch up on GLEE!
I have actual pictures of the last six weeks on Facebook now if you want to check them out.
Love you all!
Sarah
