2 septembre 2014

Today we went on a tour of Montmartre, which is a really artsy district of Paris. It was actually a country-ish region on the outskirts of Paris but it was annexed in 1860. And I learned something really interesting about where the name Montmartre comes from. Apparently, the first bishop of Paris was Saint Denis and this was when Christianity was still against the law. Roman soldiers kept telling him to renounce his faith, but when he refused, they cut off his head (I stood on the spot he was supposedly killed!; this is right next to a Catholic church or a convent or something.. not the Sacre-Coeur). According to the legend, he got up, picked up his head, and marched several kilometers (I actually don't really know how far it is) until his body collapsed. He was buried there and then the Basilique Saint-Denis was built on top of it. Tales of what happened spread quickly and the area became known as Mount of Martyrs (in Latin, of course) which eventually evolved into the French "Montmartre."

Cool story bro. Alright so right outside the Metro stop, I saw this:

I was very excited to see this because I just recently watched the movie "Moulin Rouge" (and it was AWESOME!) It was a lot smaller than I expected though... Anyways, as we went up the hill, into Montmartre, I saw this:

When I first saw it, the guy was carrying one and walked right in front of me. You know, just delivering some animal carcasses. It's chill.

Anyways, there was a beautiful view of Paris and I got to pass by Le Bateau Lavoir, which is a collection of studios that artists like Picasso and Matisse. Although it was very beautiful, it was definitely the wrong day to wear heels. Sigh. Pictures are here:

This is "the Catholic church or convent or something" that I referred to above.

Unfortunately, Le Bateau-Lavoir no longer allows tourists to go inside the studios! They used to though... that would have been so cool to see where Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon!

The back of Le Bateau-Lavoir. So pretty!

This statue is based on the short story "Le Passe-Muraille" (One Who Passes Through Walls) by Marcel Aymé. In the story, this guy can walk through walls and so he would steal stuff and pull pranks using this skill. One day, he meets this beautiful woman and they have a wonderful night together. But when he tries to leave, he doesn't have enough energy to walk completely through the wall and gets stuck forever -- hence the statue. I'm pretty sure there's more to the story, but the guide spoke in French so this is what I got. HAHA sorry #isuckatfrench

These random dudes work for the equivalent of KTLA5 or Channel 3 Local News in Paris and apparently they are in charge of highlighting a neighborhood every day? week? Anyways, they happened to be filming areas in Montmartre today and they asked us to walk by as they filmed us. LOL I didn't see it but I GOT TO BE ON FRENCH TV WOOHOO

Uh, pretty streets yay

More pretty streets yay

Vineyard in Montmartre. Apparently, their wine used to be very popular because it was cheap and close to Paris (as opposed to being brought in from the countryside or even different nations). Anyways, it's super awful and the side of the mountain it sits on (I believe it was north) is taboo for vineyards because it won't get enough sun to make good wine. However, the wine label features a different artist's work for each season so now it's auctioned as a collector's item. The proceeds go towards the upkeep of the vineyard for the next harvest.

These stairs were killer. Note the random cat drawing on the lamp.

The Sacre-Cœur. At this point, I was too hungry to really appreciate the beauty of it and just snapped a quick picture.

Afterwards, me, Justine, Curran, Natasha and Audrey went on a little picnic. I had a jambonette with rice -- not exactly sure what was going on with it (some sort of chicken and ham thing) -- which was REALLY YUMMY. We ate at a little park that had this tile wall full of "I love you"s in different languages. Please excuse my awkward pose; I don't know how to take pictures.

***

For dinner, we had several guests and it was the craziest, most interesting dinner I've ever had. My host parents have 2 rooms upstairs (in what were historically the maids' rooms) that they rent out. Both tenants had just moved in so they were invited for dinner. One of them was this sweet Chinese girl (Dien, 24) who is in Paris for an internship. Although she is from China, she went to UW for college. The other one was a Mexican man (Rosalio, 27) who went to boarding school in Canada where he learned English and a little bit of French. He was a lawyer in NY but began to work for a non-profit that helps Spanish speakers obtain their green cards, visas, and, eventually, citizenship. They also help with everyday stuff like finding an apartment, getting a job, insurance, etc. THEN we had two other men (Pierre, 40 and I forgot the other one's name but he was 39). Pierre was born in Lebanon and my host parents were good friends with his parents; the other one, Pierre's best friend, was born and raised in Chicago. 20 years ago, when they were 20 and 19, respectively, they came to Paris to study abroad!! They actually did the same CCFS program at the Sorbonne as I am doing now. And what is more mind blowing is that Pierre's best friend happened to be placed into the Bouteillon's home for his host family! What a small world.

Apparently, Pierre met his wife during his time in Paris. He was here for two semesters as well, so when second semester rolled around, he just went to the same building for his Sorbonne class. When he realized he was in the wrong place, he got lost trying to look for his actually classroom. He turned to the person next to him for directions, but she said she was looking for that class too! They went together and at the end of class, she turned to him and said:

_Do you have a phone number?

_Yes.

_I want it.

They ended up dating and eventually got married. We joked a bit about me being careful of who I ask for directions BUT I soon found out that they dated for 4 years and got divorced after 3 years of marriage sooooo... Maybe not. His friend just got divorced so he's on this epic journey of traveling the world and living out of a 10kg backpack. He, like me, tried alcohol for the first time at the Bouteillons. He, unlike me, loved wine and eventually became a sommelier! He is one of the most famous ones in the USA apparently. How cool.

I also found out that my host mom, Jacqueline, lived in China for several years and she was part of the movement that led to the Tiananmen Protests! She was pretty crazy... traveling all over the world... protesting for democracy and human rights... Plus she speaks fluent Chinese sooo that's pretty cool. Have I mentioned yet that Claude is an excellent cook? I am eating way too much...