Paris Blog #7: Grand Palais

I can't believe that today was my last day of visiting Paris. I want to live here for the rest of my life, but alas, I have to go back to Montreal. </3

With my last day, I decided to sleep in late and go to the Bill Viola show at Le Grand Palais. It was the final day of the exhibition. I arrived at around 1:45pm and I walked around the entire building just looking at the gorgeous architecture. The science side of the building was closed so I just went to the one exhibition. 

Because I didn't have a ticket, I had to wait in the normal line and it was packed. It took me over an hour and a half just to get into the Grand Palais. My feet were sore just from waiting in line! I was pleasantly surprised to discover, however, that the building had two things that I took for granted before this week: free wifi, and air conditioning! I instagrammed live today and I was even able to post up two videos so thanks Grand Palais!

                    

After having a quick lunch, I went to the exhibition. I'm not sure if it's because it was the last day or if it's always this crazy, but it was packed. Considering that the exhibition was of video art, I was really expecting there to be more seating, because a lot of older people were at the exhibition and they were standing or sitting uncomfortably on the ground in each of the rooms. There were maybe about 20 pieces in the exhibition in all and I enjoyed the vast majority of them.

My favorite piece was the video that I took with the office-like setup. The first time you go in the surprise element is so unexpected. A lot of people screamed if they came in during a semi-scary clip. The television screen on the desk displays someone sleeping and then about once a minute, for a few seconds, the tv cuts out and projections appear on the wall, sometimes of people falling into the water, sometimes of a fire, sometimes of hounds. Presumably it's a few seconds of being in the subconscious of the sleeping people! Scary stuff!

I went through the entire exhibition in about an hour and a half. It was an easy walk-through and the pieces are very cerebral and immersive, so I would have stayed longer if it wasn't for the overcrowded feeling that I had. I was starting to get a little claustrophobic being around so many other people, honestly. 

All in all, it was a perfect way to round out my trip. I'm going to see if I can get some macaroons at the airport tomorrow morning (that should make Karen over on The Red Bow happy), and hopefully I can have some awesome desserts to bring back with me that way! I don't know how I made double the clothing fit into the same suitcase. I ended up shoving more in there today, oops! 

When I get back to the city, I'll be getting ready to move and I'll be at the Just For Laughs festival, so it'll be pretty quiet on the blog, but comment, let me know what kinds of posts you want to see and if you want me to try out any products, just make your wish known!

Paris Blog #6: Brunch & Musée du mode et textile

Note: I took no photos today, they're all courtesy of Dries Van Noten.

Today was a fairly calm day. I began by having brunch with my friend Lucile and her friends from earlier stages of school. It was great! We had a fun time at a lovely little restaurant near Bastille. The food was super good and it only cost 21 Euros - the same price as lunch at museum cafés, but about two times more food. 

I didn't end up going to Notre Dame because I was invited by the people living downstairs from where I'm staying to go and hang out with them and I don't know if I'll get to go tomorrow. It will depend on how early I wake up! Instead, I went to the Musée du Mode et Textile, which is currently home to the Dries Van Noten: Inspirations exhibition. I am so glad that I went because it's been my favorite exhibition by far. I went through it twice!

The exhibition pairs together Van Noten's collections with various artworks and other designer collections that have inspired him. The exhibition opens with a fabulous case containing works by well-known designers, especially ft. Pharrell's well known hat. The exhibition then goes through Van Noten's collections, supplementing the works with videos, photographs, etc.

The exhibition was extremely colorful - the second floor has an ongoing floral motif. The exhibition rooms in the Musée are really dark by nature and I think some people were having difficulties navigating, but this was not an issue for me, personally.

My favorite part of the exhibition was a slow-motion installation work which features models performing various activities in Van Noten's clothing. I got completely lost in watching the artworks and I stayed there for a long while. The section where it's located was framed by two mirrors on either side of the videos, making it seem as if the videos went on forever, making them even more spectacular.

When I got home, I spent most of my evening packing. Somehow, I managed to get twice the clothing into the same bag that I packed - and it was full before. I just have incidentals left. I can't believe that tomorrow is my last real day in Paris. It passed by so quickly. I'm not ready to go home, I want to stay here forever.

Paris Blog #5: Musée du Quai Branly

I can't believe it, I've already been in the city for five days! It feels like no time and like forever, all at once. It's crazy! 

Today, as planned, I went to the Musée du Quai Branly to see the Indiens des Plaines exhibition. And maybe I went a bit crazy because I took pictures of every artwork in the way that they were arranged. I just know that I'm going to end up writing something about this in the future and so it's better to have more photos than less. The exhibition was huge. It took me just under two hours to go through it even though there only four parts. The shoes in today's cover photo are from the exhibition! Bitching, no? There were over 200 art and ethnographic objects from collections around the world.

I have to say that aside from the Musée d'Orsay, today was probably my favorite activity! I was at the museum for six hours - it takes a long time to see. After I went through the Indiens des Plaines exhibition, I took a break and went to the Café Branly. The service was absolutely horrid. It took forever to get a table, my waiter took 15 minutes to come and take my order and almost 20 minutes to bring me my bill. I would recommend eating around the museum rather than at it. It's right next to the Eiffel Tower so there are lots of little cafés around!

After lunch, I visited the permanent collection, which was great. The museum really made use of its nook and cranny spaces in great ways. One of my favorite things is that you can see the museum's storage (or at least some of it - I assume they have more/an offsite somewhere) as you're walking around the exhibition in a dark, circular glass case that goes right up to the top floor. It reminds me of the MET's open storage a little bit. 

Interspersed with the permanent collection, there were three temporary exhibitions. I didn't go visit the Tiki exhibition, but I did go see the Vietnam Women's propaganda exhibition and the tattoo exhibit. I have to say that I was impressed with neither. The Vietnam exhibition was too small to really be effective - there were barely any contextualizing labels, and the labels themselves looked like they were really cheap, which was odd compared to the glossy rest of the museum. 

As for the tattoo exhibition, a year ago I would have been really impressed and I would have learned a lot. But the other Master's student being supervised by my supervisor is writing his thesis about Inuit tattooing and so I've learned a lot from him over the year. As such, I knew most of the information in the exhibition now and the examples of tattoos that they showed were far from spectacular. The only section that I really enjoyed was on the carnival/freak show. The rest was mediocre, but if you know nothing about tattooing, this is probably a good introduction for you and I'm sure you'll feel differently about it than I do!

Since Quai Branly is literally the next door neighbor of the Eiffel Tower, I decided that I had to go see it. I was kind of remiss that I was going to be in Paris and I would see it from afar. I didn't go up the tower because a) so many stairs and how about no after my Arc de Triomphe debacle and b) I was getting nauseous just looking at how high up the observation deck was, so actually going up there was a no-no. But I did get my stereotypical Eiffel Tower shot, so here you go:

I took the bus home for the first time! I had avoided the bus because it scared me (I generally prefer undergrounds in unfamiliar cities when they're available because it's easier/faster to correct a navigational mistake) but my feet were killing me and I didn't want to take a cab all the way back to the 9e arrondissment. It just so happened that there was a "La Halle" about two doors down from the stop. I'd wanted to go to the one near Grands Boulevards but I haven't taken that Metro since the first day I got here and so I wasn't going to go out of my way to go back. I'm so glad that I got to go in today though. I got like six things and it only cost me 38 Euros. I actually asked the girl if she had said that correctly because I was so shocked. I haven't spent under 100 Euros in a shop so far (oops), so this was a total steal, omg!

Tomorrow's going to be a relaxing day! I'm having a girls' brunch with Lucile and her twin sister & friends and if I have time I'm going to Notre Dame, so expect a tame day on the blog, but that's good because it's Stylish Sunday! Check back for this week's shop!

Paris Blog #4: Shopping & Centre Georges Pompidou

Alas, Friday was not a very good day for pictures. It was hot (again), and I needed new shorts! I was down to pants exclusively and it's going to just be way too warm for that until Tuesday. So I started the day at a place that is very near and dear to my heart: H&M. I saw one across from Galeries Lafayette yesterday but I wasn't able to go in because I spent all my time at Lafayette! 

Luckily, they were having a sale so I picked up a great new set of shorts and 2 tops, plus some random other goodies. I'm most excited because I found a top with buttons that doesn't do the boob thing. If you are like me and have something noteworthy in the bosom area, then you know that button-up shirts can be a nightmare. Everything fits, you've got all the buttons done and then you see it - the thing. That distinct pull that looks like you're about to pop outta that thing at any second. It's a constant problem for me, especially at H&M. So when I found one that fit, I was like FUCK YEAH. I was also really excited to see the plus sized area that they had in their store. We don't have that in any of the stores in Montreal. With the weight that I've put on over the last year waiting for surgery, my trunk has certainly got a lot of junk in it, and so I sometimes have to shop in the oversize. In the EU that's definitely the case. 

So after spending like 200 dollars there (I guess "other stuff" was probably a little too ambiguous oops - I'll show you everything in my Paris roundup post... or potentially video???) I crossed the street back to Galeries Lafayette. I had seen that cashmere sweaters were on sale yesterday from the house brand and a girl needs her cashmere... but it's hella expensive in Montreal. You might as well buy angora because the price is nearly the same. I also needed to stop by Joe Malone. Okay, so I technically didn't need to but they don't have Joe Malone stuff in Montreal - not that I'm aware of if I'm wrong please correct me - and I picked up a new body cream and fragrance and yum yum. The combo of the two is going to make me smell delish!

After all that shopping (people were side-eyeing me on the Metro with my bags hardcore omg), I went over to the Centre Georges Pompidou to meet my good friend Lucile. She goes to school with me in Montreal, but she's back in France for part of the summer with her family and friends and so it was great to see her!!! It was weird not seeing her for nearly a month! We went to go see the Magiciens de la Terre retrospective, which was not a fabulous exhibit, to be honest. 

To make a long story short about this exhibition, since I realize that most readers are not Art History majors like me and probably don't care, it placed major contemporary artists of the late 80s with unknown indigenous artists from around the world who 'had not been poisoned by the European art well' basically. It paired the artists up on formal basis, ignoring the more significant connections/points being made by both 'sets' of artists. It got a lot of criticism and the exhibition we saw today was basically displaying the ephemera from the original exhibit, but it missed out on the chance to be self-reflexive and critical of what it did. The best part was a video loop that laid out the exhibition plan and showed photos of all of the artworks. There's not too much about the exhibition online because it happened in the late 80s/early 90s, so it was great to see everyone who was there and what they put together.

After that, we took a look at one of the permanent galleries. I only knew Joseph Beuys and Basquiat in the entire exhibit! After thinking about how I was so uninformed about my contemporary art, I realized that it's because my survey courses and a lot of other courses in my program stopped looking to Europe as a source of artistic inspiration and things seemed to move to Asia/the United States. So it was great to discover a lot of new artists - well new to me, anyways!

I am not sure if it was just the exhibitions on display currently (there was also a small exhibit about Piccabia and Man Ray in one of the galleries) or the museum in general, but I would probably not visit again if I came back to Paris, which is the first time that I've genuinely not been wowed by what I'm seeing in this lovely city! I think that tomorrow will be a lot better! I'm going to the Musée du Quai Branly and I'm super excited to see the Indiens des Plaines and the tattoo show (I have a non-museumpass ticket that I paid for so I have to go tomorrow or I lose my money hahaha). 

Paris Blog #3: More Location Lies...

Things I've learned: I clearly should not try to plan an itinerary for my trips because that just doesn't work. I told you I was going to see Bill Viola at the Grand Palais but nope. My friend Lucile is in town for the weekend for her birthday and I suggested that maybe we go and see that show, so I had to find other things to do today.

It turned out to be a busy, busy day. I am sore all over from the amount of walking and hell that I put my body through. 

I decided to start my day off with L'Arc de Triomphe. It's one of the attractions included on the Paris Museum Pass and I want to make sure that I break even on the pass before I leave! I think it should be pretty close. First of all, this thing was not where I thought that it was. I kind of saw a lot of arches in my Art History class and so I assumed that the arch next to The Louvre was the Arc du Triomphe because since when does a city need two commemorative archways? I was wrong. This baby is in the west end of the city. Luckily I realized that as I was on the Metro or else it would have been frustrating!

When you get out of the Metro for the Arc de Triomphe, it's not obvious that you have to go into an underground stairwell to get in. I walked around for a while trying to figure out how to avoid the death trap that is the street surrounding the Arc and then realized I had to cross underground. With that mishap out of the way, I finally got to the Arc and I guess I assumed that there would be an elevator to take people up because that's really high.

Well, there is an elevator but not for able-bodied people. So instead, you have to walk up ten flights of stairs. Ten spiralling stairwells. It was taking people on average ten minutes to climb up because we'd all have to stop. With the scorching heat (it got up to 37 Celsius today!) we were all heavily sweating by the time we reached the top and out of breath - gross, but my thighs have seriously never had such a workout. I should probably capitalize off of the fat-camp style introduction that I got to keep working on them. If you're going to do this activity, I recommend bringing some personal freshening wipes and carry your deodorant with you for sure. You'll need it. I also recommend avoiding this activity if you're like me and awaiting knee surgery. Whoops.

Despite the hardship of getting to the top of the Arc, the view at the top was totally worth it. See?

What a beautiful view of the Champs Elysées! You can also see the Eiffel Tower from a different perspective, but I didn't want to put up another picture because I put one up just yesterday of that! I am kind of a nerd for spatial perspective because we covered Paris and the way that Paris was designed for surveillance with long avenues like this one in a class, so it was cool to see how much more imposing the long boulevards are in person than in a photo, even though they are already quite impressive as is!

After spending some time on the rooftop, which was a comfortable height for me even though I am scared of heights, I had to go down the stairwell. This was much easier, but I had to stop because the winding staircase was making me dizzy! With the exertion of the morning, I decided that taking the Metro to the Musée D'Orsay was not in the cards for me. Instead of taking a taxi, I took a bide cab from the Arc to the Musée. It was about a fifteen minute ride and cost me 20 dollars. I have to admit, it's a very rickety ride because it's basically a rickshaw attached to a bike, hardly safe, but it was a great refuge from the heat and allowed me a more peaceful view of the Champs Elysées than I would have had in a car.

Again, it pays to have the Museum Pass at the Musée D'Orsay. You get to skip the long line and go through a "VIP" line where you have no wait at all with your pass. I have to say, I really enjoyed this museum a lot. There are two artists that really got me into Art History - Brian Jungen, a Canadian Indigenous artist, and Edgar Degas - and so to get to see some of Degas' artworks, particularly La Classe de Danse was overwhelming, to say the least. I ended up going to the bathroom and having a little cry after I saw it, which I know sounds silly, but if it wasn't for that painting and Brian's mask series, I probably would be doing something completely different with my life, so to see it in person is just an experience that goes beyond words.

I had lunch at the museum restaurant - shocker, I did not have another ham and emmental sandwich! Instead, I had a vegetarian risotto and a chocolate creme brulée. SO GOOD. The restaurant was gorgeous, too! From what I understand, it used to be a part of a hotel and so the entire place looked as ornate as the picture below. As you can see, I had to up my photo game to match the ornateness of the restaurant!

Warning: The restaurant is super costly. My food cost me 22 Euros! Yikes! But you only go to Paris for the first time once, right?

The temporary exhibition at the museum was about a sculptor named Carpeaux. As I mentioned, I'm not one for sculpture, especially large monumental sculpture, so I didn't particularly get much enjoyment out of it, but it was well put together and the artworks chosen by the museum to complement the sculptures were wonderful. I definitely preferred all of the paintings! I wish I could have taken some pictures, but the museum staff was breathing down everyone's necks. I did manage to snap a quick pick in the Deco arts section, though, so here you go!

Even though I was exhausted, it was still pretty early, so I decided to take advantage of the stores being open late and headed to Galeries Lafayette and the Sephora diagonally across from it. I was so surprised to see how expensive L'Oreal Paris products are in France! Mascara was eighteen Euros! I pay 10 bucks for the same thing in Canada! Foundation was eighteen pounds, it was absolutely crazy. I did, however, find a few brands that are not in the Canadian (and I presume US) Sephora stores which I was stoked about. I brought an eyeshadow palette and refill five-piece from Les Merveilleuses Ladurée, a Paris based cosmetics retailer. I also bought two items from another French brand called SAMPAR: A Daily Dose Foaming Cleanser and the "Glamour Shot Mat Perfection" mattifying concealer. It's not to be used with liquid foundation, so that's going to be interesting since I haven't used a powder or cream foundation in years (I find that I look cakey with them!) I'm going to give it a try.

Galeries Lafayette is crazy bananas. It's like a Holt Renfrew or Nordstrom in the US (I think that Nordstrom is your High-End retailer, yes?). You walk in and you're greeted by Longchamp, Dior, Louis Vuitton, etc. all as you walk in and the majority of the retailers are high-end. Even on sale, a lot of items were out of my price range. But I did finally get to buy some Agnes B. clothing! They're hard to find here without walking into Holts or Ogilvy and every time I try to get past the makeup section in Montreal, I feel like I'm hardcore getting side eyed by the sales people because I clearly don't look like I can afford to buy a one thousand dollar dress. I also got a cute top from Alice and Olivia. It was a splurge, even at 50%, but I really like it and I need some fancier clothes for upcoming events in the early school semester, so this seems like a good opportunity!

I will probably do more shopping because I have yet to max out my credit cards haha, but this week has been off to a good start. I really want to go to Zara! From what I understand, Zaras in the EU are way better than in Canada! We shall see! Let me know if you recommend any other stores in Paris!

Paris Blog #2: I'm Louvrin' It

First of all, I am sorry not sorry about the terrible pun in the title. I couldn't help myself. Gosh, was it ever hot in Paris today. Me being the genius person that I am, I decided to wear long pants. I wasn't going to go to The Louvre, as you know, I was going to go to Versailles, but it was just so hot that I couldn't bring myself to even think about doing anything outdoors. I was already boiling in The Louvre, and it's inside! I arrived at The Louvre at 11AM and there was a crazy line to get inside. Luckily, with my Paris Museum Pass, I was able to bypass all of that and I didn't have to wait in the sun!

Tip: If you're planning on visiting Paris this summer, I highly recommend entering either by Le Carousel du Louvre on Rue Rivoli or on the entrance at 93 Rue Rivoli. I did the latter and it took me less than three minutes to get into the museum. Le Carousel du Louvre brings you to the bottom floor and the line looked like it was about 10 minutes long. Waiting for the pyramid entry was at least 30 minutes. 

Note: If you're coming by Metro, Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre's line 7 (pink line) exits are closed. I recommend either travelling on Line 1, since that line still works at the station, OR get off at the Pyramides station on the pink line, which was what I did. It's about a five minute walk to the Louvre.

I started my visit off with a quick lunch in the Museum Café. It wasn't anything special... it cost me 12 Euros for a bottle of water and a ham & emmental sandwich (apparently this is some kind of French staple food because it's been the sandwich in both places that I've gone to so far). After lunch, I started in the Richelieu Wing's 2nd floor, which is home to the large French, Germanic, Netherlandish, and and Flanders collections. I have to say, the salon-style hanging was a bit overwhelming at first. I don't know how people in the academy shows used to be able to see anything!

This was the calmest room in the entire floor and there are still a lot of paintings there. As a curator, I certainly couldn't support this kind of hanging style, but I guess that the Louvre has such a substantial collection that they need to do their best to show everything off!

I breezed through the Deco Arts collection on the 1st floor of the building afterwards because I felt like I was seeing a lot of the same thing over and over. I did get to get my first glimpse (and probably one of my only since I'm not going to visit it) of the Eiffel Tower, and so I took the mandatory tourist picture of it. To be fair, I saw the scaled version of it in Vegas last year and when I rode up on that, I thought I was going to puke, I can't imagine going up to the top of the real Eiffel Tower, I probably would just end up having a heart attack before I got up there.

The sculpture garden is by far the most impressive part of this pavilion, and I definitely recommend sitting down there and taking it all in if you can. You can also sit on the steps and practice your drawing skills if you'd like! It's a great way to take a break! I did a sketch but I'm so horribly out of practice that I won't even upload it!

After I finished that pavilion, I knew it was time to do the thing that everybody goes to the Louvre to do: visit Mona. First of all, I have to say, it was hilarious to hear people talk about this painting. They were talking about it as if she were a real human being! "Can you tell me where Mona Lisa is sitting?" "Oh she's left, left, and another left."

I have to say, I have been to a lot of concerts and been everywhere from the mosh pit to the stands to waiting for the celebrities outside before they hit up their bus. I have never, in my life, experienced the kind of hysteria or madness that I experienced in waiting to see the Mona Lisa. To be honest, I wasn't actually that excited about seeing her, but I was fascinated by the hysteria of the crowd. People were pushing and shoving and I'm pretty sure my body has never been as close to another stranger's as in that crowd.

This was the line to see the painting. As you can see, being the short person that I am at 5'1", I literally could not see Mona Lisa until I basically approached her. In the end, I waited for almost fifteen minutes so that I could actually see the painting, and she's encased behind that huge pane of glass, and when I was going to take my picture, some woman pushed me and so this happened:

After all of that, I DIDN'T EVEN GET A PICTURE OF HER. I'm not heartbroken by any stretch because a) that painting has been burned into my memory and my nightmares (I've have a recurring nightmare where I fail my dissertation defence because I concluded that there's nothing left to say about the Mona Lisa) and b) I can just Google it and infinity results will show up. 

After my time with Mona, I had a much better time visiting with Delacroix, David and Géricault. I love me some dramatic French paintings, so I was so excited about getting to see these in person. I didn't realize how big David's Coronation of Napoleon and Empress Josephine was! It was overpowering and overwhelming. Conversely, I was extremely underwhelmed by the size of La Grande Odalisque. I think I've been spoiled by seeing it on such huge art history auditorium screens that it was a little disappointing to realize that it was so small!

I finished off my grand tour with the Egyptian and medieval Louvre sections. I was pretty tired by that point and I'd been looking at art for the better part of five hours, so I thought it was time to call it a day! 

Attached to The Louvre is a series of shops and restaurants, so before I left, I couldn't help but do a little shopping (you'll see what I bought in a Paris Roundup post next week!) - there was conveniently also an Apple Store in the Carousel du Louvre so I was able to right my plug situation! 

To top the day off, I went to Mariage Frères, the famous French tea house. I had a big pot of tea, the limited edition Haute Couture tea. It was 12 Euros, so definitely a treat for the soul, but I have to say that my tea pot was huge and I drank it all so it was worth the price. The tea was lovely and it was the perfect way to rest my feet and do some reading after a long day. I've been keeping a book with me in my bag all week so that I can spend small pockets of time being productive. 

Because it's so hot in the city (it's going to get up to 32 degrees by Friday) and then from Saturday on it's going to rain, I don't think that I will end up going to Versailles, alas. I won't be able to stand the heat in the gardens and there are too many exhibitions that I want to see! Tomorrow, I'm going to try to make it a four-stop day, since a lot of the museums are open until 9pm! Wish me luck!

Paris Blog #1: Musée Rodin - Rodin/Mapplethorpe!

Bonjour! I am writing from the beautiful 9e arrondissment in Paris. It's currently 2:41 AM here, but I basically slept for 8 hours so I'm wide away (yay jetlag!) I arrived safely in Paris yesterday, thanks to everyone who sent me well wishes! I was pretty tired when I got in because it'd be about 3AM in Montreal even though it was almost 10AM in Paris. But I didn't want to waste any time seeing this beautiful city!

I've decided that I will spending most of my time visiting museums and historical sites - because what else would an Art Historian want to visit? So each day you'll get to see what I've been up to and where I've gone. I'm excited! And don't worry! I've left some shopping time slated for the end of the trip so that I can come home with lots of goodies for a special Paris shopping blog!

Rodin/Mapplethorpe exhibition at the Musée Rodin.

Yesterday's trip was to the Musée Rodin. I was interested to see Rodin's sculptures in person because I've only ever seen photo slides as part of Powerpoint presentations and it's really not the same. I am not generally wowed by sculpture (I'm much more into graphic arts and photography), but Rodin is one of the few exceptions for me, and I was so excited that Rodin was being paired with Robert Mapplethorpe. My friend was doing research in Paris a few weeks ago for her thesis and she mentioned that Mapplethorpe was one of the highlights of her week. Girl was on point because it was an amazing exhibition. I have to say, I think that it did more for Mapplethorpe than it did Rodin, but they were an interesting combination to be put together. I commend the museum and the Mapplethorpe foundation in New York!

I thought that the glass presentoires were an incredibly smart way of displaying the work. Rather than traditional solid walls, this allowed you to see into all parts of the exhibition pretty much at the same time, so that you could kind of formulate your own connections and walk through in any way that you wanted. I'm partial to that kind of exhibition, as it gives me the freedom to do what I want!

The highlight of the Musée Rodin for me, however, wasn't the actual sculptures themselves, it was the amazing gardens and all of the architecture. Hello, gorgeous! Seriously, walking through the garden and getting to look at all the sculptural work was amazing. 

A bonus: I got to try macaroons for the first time yesterday! I know, how does one get through 24 years of life without trying macaroons? I don't know either, but they were delicious! The museum café had such cute presentation for them that I couldn't help myself! I'm glad that I was enticed.

Overall, a great first day. Today's location is Versailles! I'm stoked! I'm bringing a book so that I can spend most of my time reading in the gardens, though I'm sad that I'll probably have to leave a bit early. I didn't realize that my travel adapter was only two-pronged, so I can't charge my laptop, grrr. Here's to hoping that the pharmacy near Versailles has the travel adapter that I need, otherwise I'll have to leave almost two hours early just to make it back into the city! Boo!