Sunday the 4th was a dinner at our professors’ house. Our theater and civ professor are married and the directors of the program, and they very kindly invited us to their house to have dinner and watch excerpts from the first play we read (La Reine Morte, by Henry de Montherlant, if you were wondering – I know you were). The play itself was interesting to read, but this is one of those times when it really helps to see it put into action (or mise en scene, as the French say). The prince on paper was a wimpy baby, but the man who played him made him stronger than he was written, and so you didn’t get annoyed by him the way he was in the book. The end scene was a little creepy. The book ends with the prince’s secret wife being murdered by the king (drama, huh?), and in the very last scene, the king has died, making the prince king, and you see the dead body of his wife propped up on the throne and he makes all the nobles come do their obeisance to her. Meanwhile the dead king is left to rot in his bedroom, and why not? I would be angry too if I were the prince and my dad killed my wife and unborn child. This piece had some serious drama, and it was actually really fun to see it played out by some actors that I thought were really talented.
Dinner itself was a mix of foods, punctuated by the dog Bernie wandering around and literally trying to hump every person there. It’s so funny to watch, because Mr. Sinniger hates that dog (who is really a nuisance) and Mme Sinniger loves him. Thankfully, their son-in-law, Matthieu, was there, and has the gift of making the dog behave. For dessert, Mme Sinniger had made an apple tart and a half-baked chocolate cake. Amazing. Wow. After that dinner, it’s a really good thing they drove us home, because I would not have made it on my own. I could have been rolled up the stairs to bed.
The following Wednesday was another one of our weekly visits. This particular week was Notre Dame de Paris. You know, the really famous one. The gorgeous cathedral with gypsies out front trying to steal your money. We had come by Notre Dame the first time we were in Paris, but this was our first chance to actually go in. Tourist trap or not, it’s stunning. You can easily spend an hour in there just looking and looking and looking. I wandered through, just enjoying the serenity and the stained glass windows, and taking pictures along the way. After about 30 minutes of just looking (my neck still has a crick in it), I snuck out past the nuns at the door, and made my way to a nearby alley. Just across the river from Notre Dame is a super-touristy alley with creperies and Greek food galore. For 3 euros, you can get a steaming hot crepe chock full of Nutella – it’s the same place that has the head sized jars in my pictures from Paris.
Two days later, we made for Normandy on a three-day weekend. But that’s going to be its own entry, so hold your horses on that one. Just know that it was really great. There. Now you know.
This past Wednesday, the 14th(we’re almost up to date!), we went to the Palais Garnier. If you don’t already know it, think of the gorgeous opera house that inspired Phantom of the Opera. As that’s one of my favorite musicals ever, I was really excited to go. As was Kirstin – we’re starting to realize that we’re the same person, and it’s a little unnerving sometimes.
The visit started off really promisingly. We had a guide who was really amusing and very illustrative with his stories. He’d tell us about each room as though we were Parisians living in the early years of the Opera. Then we had the good fortune to sit in the actual theater section for a few minutes and got to see the stage crew working to set up for that night’s production of – I’m not sure, maybe Joyaux? It was an opera, but I can’t remember what it was (and I had never heard of it). The famous chandelier was there, of course, so see the pictures on Picasa. The ceiling above it is modern and is only about 20 years old. If you look closely, you can see various monuments from Paris, and if you know your culture, the most famous ballets and operas are depicted as well. Look for Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, The Magic Flute…and that’s all I remember at the moment.
We also remembered to ask, and sadly there is not precisely a lake under the opera. Due to the enormous risk of fire (remember, that chandelier was filled with candles in the 19th century), they needed something to put out fires quickly. So they have a reservoir of water under the opera for just such purposes. Kind of redundant now since we have electricity, but useful nonetheless. We also learned that plays and opera make their acts as long as it would take for a candle to burn out, and then the entire chandelier’s candles would be replaced at intermission. So they came up with a phrase to describe plays they didn’t like– “Ca ne vaut la chandelle.” Literally, “it’s not worth the candle.” Hah.
We then went wandering through the dance foyer, which was modeled enormously on the Gallerie des Glaces at Versailles (they’re easily mixed up, in my opinion). The most amusing thing about the Opera Garnier is that Andre Garnier (the architect), was something of a prankster. No one expected him to get the job of building the opera for Napoleon II, and there were a considerable number of people upset that he did. So once he got the job, he played a few “tricks” on those who attended the opera. For instance, if you look at the pictures of the dance foyer, there seems to be a lot of gold, which would make the hall really expensive. It wasn’t. Except for the parts of the columns that are struck by light, it’s all fake — paint instead of gold leaf. In addition, the fireplaces are completely useless. You can’t actually light a fire in the opera because of the huge risk of fires, so the fireplace is just there to torment people when it’s cold. He was a mischief maker, that Garnier.
After the foyer of fake gold, we found the library. It has basically every score of any opera, ballet, or oratorio that you could think of. Kirstin and I decided to be really rebellious and touched Mozart scores through the bars, just to say that we did. Take that, France. What a way to end the visit. It was marvelous.
Thursday was a quiche lesson with Madam Chauchat. She had very generously offered to teach us some French recipes, so we learned how to make quiche and then had lunch at her house. Yum. And so useful to know. I can now make my own pie/quiche crust. Also on Thursday, Dr. Allen arrived in France. We were all really excited to see him, because after spending a month and a half with each other, anybody new is welcome. We also got to go out to dinner to celebrate his coming, Dr. Maiden’s return, and Scott’s birthday. After dinner, we went next door to the professor’s hotel and had a really good cake for Scott’s birthday. Strangely, it had popcorn on top. Hmm. Still delicious, though.
The following weekend was another free one. It started off interestingly – my French mom was having a dinner party, and she invited me to stay and have a drink with them. Incidentally, this is where I learned that Martini (the liqueur) is something to be avoided when possible. I got served some by the uncle and found I didn’t particularly care for it. So the next time my French mom went to answer the door, I snuck into the kitchen, poured it out, and put the same amount of water into my cup. I like water. :P
Highlights of the night: apparently South and North Carolina are too hard to tell apart. Every time someone found out I was from South Carolina, they asked me if I was from Charlotte. In fairness, it’s an honest mistake, given how close Charlotte is to the border. I also had the good fortune to hear a French man with a lisp for half an hour. I spent most of that time trying not to destroy French-American relations, since giggling in his face might have done just that. All in all, though, I met a bunch of really friendly people, including one who could actually say my name without an accent (they have just as much trouble with our “r” as we do with theirs) and the sister of my French mom, who is wonderful as well and reassuring to have around (she teaches French to Americans). Plus, my mom told me later that everyone said I spoke really good French – they even complimented my ability to say the French “r.” Hooray! It took me so long to get that blasted “r” right. It’s so easy to overdo. Or under-do.
Saturday, I ended up just spending the day being lazy with my family, which was really nice. Emily came over that night, so we made a quiche (spinach and feta, mmm) and watched Finding Nemo in French. Super. Sunday was a lunch with family. I had gone to church in Paris that morning, and on the way back to Versailles, I got on the same train as Austin! The odds of this happening, especially in Paris, are hilariously low, but it happened. We get back at the same time, and we find out that the “family” lunch is actually an extended get-together. So I got to meet what seemed like half the family. And the entire lunch, I was sitting there thinking “nobody talk to me!” 10 native French speakers are a little much to have aimed at you all at once, and I was extremely glad Austin was there with me. After lunch, we all watched a slide show of the daughter, Agathe, and her party that she’d had the night before. So adorable.
Having had a four-course lunch, you’d think I’d have taken it easy for dinner, right? Of course that didn’t happen, don’t be silly. We got invited to have a cheese and wine dinner party at the apartment of Matthieu and Marie, the son-in-law and daughter of two of our professors. So off we went.
The second we walked in the door, we got to meet Philippine, their adorable 2-year-old daughter. This child literally looked like an angel. She had big blue eyes and messy blonde curls, and literally was the prettiest toddler any of us has ever seen. She took right to Dr. Allen, and ended up sitting on his knee for most of the night. She kept wanting water, and would say “Eau. Eau!” So then we’d all coo over her and of course she got her water.
In between these bouts of fawning over Philippine, we actually managed to have dinner. Matthieu is something of a wine connossieur, and he got a couple of whites and a red for us to taste. Thankfully for a complete novice like me, he picked really good wines – they were so different I could actually taste the contrast. They also had bought about 10 kinds of cheese, which we naturally felt obligated to try. On top of this, they had bread and cold cuts and chocolate cake for dessert. We stuffed ourselves, but even so, at the end of dinner Marie thought we hadn’t eaten enough. The French really do seem to eat more than us at times. Marie may have thought we didn’t eat much, but my stomach begged to differ. Totally worth it though. So good.
Wednesday following, we went to Musée Jacquemart Andre. I would love to tell you all about it, but unfortunately, I didn’t pay so much attention to the audio-guide. It was boring. And we couldn’t take pictures in the museum, so boo. It was basically a house turned museum, so a lot like a chateau, but smaller and more boring – short visit though. That was good.
Next to come…Toussaint and the Tour of France. We currently in the middle of cavorting around the South of France, doing way too many tours and learning an awful lot of history.
