The highlight of today was my architecture visit! We met at the "Bourse" metro stop, which is indeed where the Bourse (stock exchange) was once located. It was constructed under Napoleon in the early 19th century, and now contains offices and conference spaces, etc. The current Bourse has moved elsewhere. But the building is pretty incredible -- in the neo-classique style -- with huge columns surrounding it, and just a very massive presence in general. We walked in to try and look around, and there was some sort of exam going on in the main hall. It kind of reminded me of the O.W.L.S. scene in Harry Potter -- where they're all sitting in the Great Hall taking the exam.
From there, we walked down the street (we were in the 2nd arrondissement) to see some apartment buildings that began using metal as a construction material -- they were quite impressive as well. The 2nd arrondissement has a wonderful feel to it -- kind of a mix between business-types, quaint Parisian stores, and then chic designer stores as well.
We then walked to a little plaza where our professor took us to a boulanger and bought us all tea and coffee (there are only 5 of us in the class which helped...) and caneles (can-a-lays) which actually means fluted or ribbed in English -- so he said it was because of its architectural relivance that he got those for us.
From the boulanger, we walked to the Place des Victoires which used to be a private square but has been open to the public for quite some time. The buildings are placed in a circle around a statue of a king or prince (someone royal), and the roads all lead up to it like a star.
Our final stop was the Palais-Royal, which is really quite incredible. We spent a few minutes looking around the main courtyard, and then our professor took us to the parfumerie "Serge Lutens" (all of the stores around the Palais-Royal are tres tres chic) which is this tiny boutique, and what he considers one of the most beautiful stores in Paris, and I have to say that I would agree. While in the tiny shop, you are surrounded by hand-painted flourishes and designs all in dark purple and blue -- very striking. There's a magnificent sprial staircase right in the center of the room that leads up to a second floor (not open to customers).
Since we were the only ones in the store, our prof talked the saleswoman into giving us some samples to sniff and told us about the Serge Lutens perfumes -- which are apparently, the first ones to not distinguish between scents for women and those for men. It was really quite an interesting experience! And thanks to our prof once again, we all walked out with a little envelope of their different scents! We all felt so cultured. It was very cool.
I spent the rest of the afternoon buying a backpack for next week, coming back home for lunch, going to practice, and then coming back home to continue working on my paper for tomorrow -- which I now need to get back to.
My blog entries might be a bit sporadic over the next 10 days because I won't be in Paris -- so I'll update when I get the chance! But, I did take some pictures today!
The first of the "Bourse" building, and the second is of the beautiful tiled wall at the boulangerie we went to during class:
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