et en un eclair, la deuxième semaine a passé
It is terrifying how time warps when you travel. A part of me feels like I just got here yesterday…another part of me feels as if I have been here forever. The magical thing about finishing week two is that I feel comfortable navigating the city yet I still have so much more to explore. This second week opened up the bridge to museums, starting with Centre Pompidou and expanding to the Louvre (twice) and Petit Palais on a rainy day. I’m proud to say that not a day went by without a little adventure.
TUESDAYS >> NO CLASS >> EXPLORATION
Part I: Grande Mosquée de Paris
While the Travel Study program includes several excursions as a part of the program, such as the visit to Louvre, and the UCLA faculty provides other group activities, such as the scavenger hunt in Montmartre, our lovely TAs also go out of their way to invite us on other little trips to interesting places. The Tuesday of week two, they invited us on a tour of the biggest mosque in Paris. It somewhat corresponded to the culture aspect of class as we were learning about immigration and a little about the cultural and religious demographics and issues in modern France.
The mosque is located in the 5e arrondissement near Place Monge on line 7. Our tour guide took us around the mosque, explaining the religious, cultural, and architectural history of the building and garden as well as the traditions of Ramadan. Every minute or so she would pause so that one of the TAs could quickly summarize her main points in English.
This was my first time going to a mosque and I found it to be a very peaceful start to the day. Hearing our guide explain the symbolism throughout our tour gave me flashbacks to AP Art History and I remembered loving the intricate patterns, even more impressive when seen up close. After touring the mosque, we sampled some sweet herbal tea and sugary pastries at a nearby café. 
Part II: Eating, staying dry, and more eating.
After our morning tea and snacks, we branched off from the group and headed back towards Place Monge area for ice cream.
Amorino is a popular gelato chain store found all over Paris. They are most well known for serving petal shaped gelato in a cone. They have a bunch of flavors and if I understood the server correctly, you can choose as many as you like (granted, depending on what size you get, you may be limited), and they’ll make petals out of the flavors you choose.
[two_fifth]
[/two_fifth]
[three_fifth_last]
[/three_fifth_last]
The weather made the decision of where to eat lunch a lot easier. We went to Rue des Petits Champs to a random ramen place and enjoyed our food while the sky dumped water down on the streets of Paris. I love that Paris is such a pedestrian city…but pedestrians and rain are just not compatible. So we stopped by a café near the Louvre for some coffee and to browse through some French fashion magazines.
While sitting at the café, we planned our next stop on the agenda…checking out Shakespeare & Co by the Latin Quarter near Notre Dame.
Part III: Shakespeare And Company
Shakespeare and Company is an adorable tourist attraction right near the Seine by Notre Dame. I believe it is the biggest English book store in Paris, so there are a lot of English-speaking tourists there and everyone that works there speaks English. While the lower level contains mostly overpriced novels and books (classic and new), the upper level has old books and a piano which creates a super cozy ambiance. Actually, the entire place is pretty cozy considering how many people are there and how many books and shelves are crammed into the space.
I am fairly certain that you can find any book on the lower level for literally a third of the price on Amazon, and it kind of amazes me that people even both browsing that section, but one area that is worth checking out are the sale stands outside that has discounted (used) books. Many bookstores are set up where the sale books are located right outside the front door, but this is the only one featuring English language books. Personally, I prefer the French bookstores, which tend to have cheaper options. Their English sections tend to be super small, but after all, I’m here to learn French! So whether it is a grade school chapter book recommended by our TAs or a youth literature classic translated to French, it is cool (and more common here) to carry around a book and read while enjoying coffee at a café. People actually read here (real tangible books, not kindles!), it is amazing!
Part IV: Notre Dame
Then, just because it was right there, we decided to visit Notre Dame. The line extended super far, but also moved really fast, as it was basically just a line of people slowly entering in the church.
My favorite part about visiting churches is that it is a cultural and educational experience, you get to walk into a work of art from the Middle Ages, and (most importantly for us poor travel study students), they are usually free!
They were holding a service when we went in, and it was cool that they still open up the church to tourists, and cool that the tourists were all respectfully quiet as they choir sang.
I cannot articulate how humbling and awe-inspiring it was to be in such beautiful architecture. It is amazing that this structure was created so long ago. And amazing that some lucky people actually go to this church regularly. It still catches me off-guard how often we run into gorgeous cathedrals when walking around Paris and how these are still used as local churches.
I hope I will have the chance to go to the top before I leave Paris.
Part V: Pompidou…area
Afterwards, we walk through Cité and towards the other side of the Seine, by Hôtel de Ville.
We keep on walking straight and turn into the Pompidou area where we encounter the Stravinsky Fountain. Is it possible for a work of art to transform the ambiance of a block of Paris? I would have to say yes. Because this colorful bridge attracts a lot of artistic activity and paired with the crowded cafés makes for a lively ambiance.
These sixteen sculptures, some animated, were created by Jean Tinguely and Nicki de Saint-Phalle in the early 1980s to represent the different works of Igor Stravinsky.
My favorite part about this spot is the juxtaposition of old and new, gothic (the church in the background) and modern (sculptures), decorative and practical, fine art and street art, permanence and temporariness. I think that it is a good representation of Paris as a whole, retaining and valuing tradition while striving to embrace modern culture.
There are also a lot of street artists around, playing music, creating chalk masterpieces, even blowing giant bubbles! This little courtyard is definitely one of my favorite parts of the city.
Mosque, Shakespeare and Company, Notre Dame, and Stravinsky Fountain. A whole day of free activities, besides food, and a great way to spend a Tuesday off.
VIGNETTE: Dim Sum in Paris?
After going to the Louvre Wednesday morning, many of us went back to our apartments to finish homework, grab backpacks, and take a nap. My roommate and I decided to check out an interestingly named to-go place next to Place des Victoires. The result…was an interesting insight to Asian food in France.
Thai rice, cole slaw, weird vegetable dumplings, shumai (filled with pork and vermicelli), edamame and sweet soy sauce and sweet sriracha (?!?!). Actually, everything was sweet. Weird. Anyways, that is “Mum’s Dim Sum,” I got a kick out of it, thought you might too!
VIGNETTE: Evening Stroll
On Monday night after dinner, we wanted to walk off our huge meal and walked to Les Halles. But hey, welcome to Paris, everything closes at 8, and dinner isn’t even until 8:30, so we were fresh out of luck. Except we weren’t. We spontaneously boarded the métro and ended up with this amazing view and live music from the random piano situated at the bottom of the steps from Sacre Coeur. Some guy played Adele and everyone sang together. It was magical.
Montmartre is pretty at night, the only annoying thing is avoiding the people trying to sell you souvenirs and alcohol. But if you stay safe, it is totally worth the trip for the beautiful view.
Our host family was out for the weekend and our host mom explained to us basic safety precautions and informed us that she would set breakfast for us the next morning and make sure that someone is home to cook dinner for us on Monday night. I was glad that they didn’t leave us to ourselves until well into the program and I and my roommate felt safe and relaxed in the home with access to all (four!) phone numbers of the family members in case anything happened. Although it was a little weird for me at first, living in someone else’s home without them there, I felt that the mutual trust was very valuable and enhanced the relationship between us at our host family. Furthermore, with the guidance of both the CIEE staff and UCLA professors and TAs, I knew that I could always count on someone being available to help me at a moment’s notice, which is very comforting when traveling abroad.
Next stop, the weekend!