Post Number 7 - Paris

It occurred to me that I have been in Europe for slightly more than a month now. How time flies. My WAAPA years feel like a distant memory. Did I even go there? It also occurred to me that I have been alone for slightly more than a month. I have spent time with some of my friends here, and I truly appreciate it when I can walk down a street and talk to someone else and not to myself. I have spent more time alone than with another person. It will change tomorrow, because Noodle is arriving! I will pick her up from the airport tomorrow at 6am. Only God knows how I will get there at that time, but everything always works out in the end.

I didn't get to do any dancing today, because it's Sunday and the number of classes are limited. I choose instead to go to 

Number 5: Musee d'Orsay

Today is the first Sunday of the month, and that means all the museums are free of charge to enter. In order to beat the queue, thinking that my pass won't save me now, I aim to arrive at the museum 15 minutes before it opened. When I got there, the line was already 600 people long. I am almost defeated, until I turn to my right to see a family of four waiting at another entrance. I go to that entrance, and show the ticket man my pass. He says to join this line, which is called the Priority Access line at Entrance C. Once again, the pass saves me waiting in the line. I am the 5th person in the museum that day! The Musee d'Orsay displays art from 1848 - 1914, pre-, post- and Impressionist art. I am astounded at the collection in this museum, that houses work by Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, Whistler, Manet, Rodin, Picasso, Renoir, Delcroix and Carpeaux to name a few. I spent a good 3 hours there and pored over the paintings and sculptures. I'm such a sucker for good museums, and Paris has good museums. I am looking forward to Amsterdam. I know I sound like such a bore, but I'd rather spend my money on looking at and appreciating art than on alcohol, drugs or sex. On a slightly more disappointing note, the audio guides were a bit boring and not very engaging. Good information, but it was the way they put it.

After that, I tried to go to Saint Chapelle, but the line was incredibly long and I couldn't use my magic pass. I must have used up all the luck on the card. I did, however, go into

Number 6: Conciergerie

to look at the prisons, and the cell that Marie Antoinette was imprisoned in before her sentence. There wasn't much to it but now I can tick it off my list. I think the rest can wait until I return to Paris. I don't know when exactly this will be, but I am sure I will return.

After that I went to the Place de la Vouges, which is a park in the midst of the Jewish quarters. Philippe's girlfriend told me about it, so I thought I would go and have a look around. It was certainly very nice, but all the shops were way out of my budget. It was nice to have a walk around anyway.

Now that I have all this time to read, I have been plowing through my books faster than I imagined I could. I've already finished five books, and my sixth quickly runs out of pages. I went to the English language bookshop in Concorde and budgeted 10 euros for a new book. It was hard to find a good book within this budget but I eventually found When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro. I loved his Never Let Me Go, and apparently this one was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Plus it was only 8.50 euros, so I bought it. Whew!

I met Philippe's girlfriend yesterday. She also works in films with a company called Mk2. She knows someone who works with Ballet Preljocaj, and said she would try to put me in touch with them. Finally, someone who knows someone! We'll see how this goes, it might very well be another opportunity for me.