Day 5: Don't blame the bus...it tried its best!

Our “host mama” sat down with us at breakfast today, like she frequently does, and told us a story of a girl she had in her and her husband's home who ate too much pizza, had indigestion, had asked to be taken to the hospital, and proceeded to perk up immediately when "cute young doctor" walked in. Apparently the doctors are young and cute just like the firefighters, the EMTs, and the police officers. This is something my observant eyes have caught here is this beautiful city. My mom taught me to be observant. It is a valuable trait. Well, that value is paying off right now, let me tell you.

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A little metro travel alone, 5 minutes in SFR, and my cheap-o phone is now my B(est)F(riend)F(orever) and ever and ever... I take back my vendetta and deeply apologize.

Then, off to the first official exploration of the course, the 1er arrondissement. Starting at Le Palais de Justice de Paris, then to Les Halles, next La Comédie Française and Le Palais-Royal, topped off with a beautiful cherry, Le Louvre.

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11h was the start time. There are varying levels of lateness: a couple minutes, a little longer with a prevue of lateness, even longer if there is constant communication and a problem that is just LIFE. But two hours with no communication, the bus instead of the metro (which inherently takes longer), and little to no apology nor true explanation...

How peeved would you be? Please, by all means, let me know in the comments down below.

A comedic slew of events, I hold my calm in a respectable manner, and everything gets seen albeit in a massively superficial and tragically limited way.

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Respecting other people's time is just a sign of empathy, of awareness, of matureness. If that is what is required to demonstrate this kind of mutual respect, then today can be defined by an utter lack of maturity and empathy, and a complete lack of awareness. Oh, ask me in person, this is a story to tell.

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Le Palais de Justice de Paris was darkened from car soot on one side and brilliant in the light on the other side. I found a beautifully serene park where there were less tourists in which I sat peacefully until one of my late companions arrived. The fresh breeze and long gazes towards the romanesque columns and the glaring tigers at the entrance did me some good.

Les Halles was next. Wow. Smack dab in the middle of Paris is this strangely open yet incredibly modern mall. Now, not a strip mall but unlike all the surrounding pieces of architecture. Strange and almost anachronistic it feels upon initial view, it sits in the oldest arrondissement as one of the newest curving structures in Paris. I am not entirely sure how I feel about it.

La Comédie Française was where Molière was and is revered. Le Palais-Royal consisted of an exploration of the mix of modern black and white striped columns in the courtyard and vibrant greens sprouting in the garden. There is more, we just did not do it.

Then the heavens opened up. It was pouring.

Making our way to the Louvre, we felt quite special as we were privileged to enter through the "Les Amis du Louvre" entrance with our special cards (yippee). A quick perusal of Marie Antionette's accessories, some looks at French paintings from the XVII and XVIII centuries (as I was writing this, it took me a long time to remember what the word "centuries" was in English...fluency here I come, baby), and a shortened exit through ancient Roman and Greek artifacts. Simply breathtaking.

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Metro to Reid Hall, an espresso with milk later from the vending machine, and two hours of class on post-modernism later, Anna and I walked to the apartment for dinner with the shy sun peaking out from behind ominous grey clouds.

Fresh salad was a god-send and some necessary chocolate pudding with red wine to top it off, all in all it was an eventful day. EUGGGHHHHH!