After a not so great night's sleep, I got up and ate my usual breakfast (which continues to be a little 'pot' of yogurt and a bowl of a mixture of random French cereals, and then a piece of fruit) with Marilu. It being a Wednesday, I had an architecture visit -- we met at the Pont Neuf metro station today. It was a really neat class -- we saw the Pont Neuf (duh), and walked across to the Ile de la Cite and saw the Place Dauphine -- which is also very cool and features a lovely monument of Henri IV on a horse (one of the first statues like that). We stolled along the Seine and then went back over to the other side of the river to the back courtyard of the Louvre and looked at the "L'aile Lescot" -- which was the part of the Louvre that was started under Philipe-Auguste and then finished under Henri II -- the funny part was, that he put his wife's initials under each window -- which coincidentily enough, happened to look just like those of his lover....whoops.
After that, I made my way home -- walking through the market and stopping my Dia (my favorite discount grocery store) and picked up a salad which had some lettuce, spiral pasta, corn, and then pieces of ham and cheese -- it sounds really odd, but is really delicious. Especially after I added a tomato and some leftover chicken to it at home!
I walked to the pool (the other great thing about going to swimming is that I also get a 3km walk along with it!) and did about 10ish minutes of abs and then got in the water -- well. That didn't last too long. I had done about 400 meters when I heard banging on the sides of the pool, yelling, and saw everyone swimming towards the edge of the pool...so I figured I should do the same. It turns out that some little kid couldn't hold it -- and let it go in the pool. So that ended all practices for the day! Our coach was out of there faster than anyone...it was pretty icky, but I also couldn't help but find it pretty funny.
I took a little 30 minute jog after I got home and then came home to shower and eat before the theater! Marilu went to this Italian restaurant around the corner and picked up a pizza -- which was wonderful. Thin and crispy crust that was nice and buttery! Yum!
I took the metro to the Sevres-Babylone station where I then walked to the Vieux-Colombier theater -- which is part of the Comedie-Francaise -- to see La Pluie d'Ete. It was so bizarre. Technically, it was an adaptation the book -- I would use the word adaptation lightly. I would explain some of the oddities but I don't think they would really make sense to someone who hasn't read the play. On the other hand, the theater was really beautiful -- much more modern than the other that we went to a few weeks ago, and everything on the inside was a dark wood. To get to the theater, you had to walk through a cafe/restaurant -- which was clearly the place to be!
Seeing plays continues to be something that perplexes me somewhat -- not that I don't enjoy them, but rarely do I sit and watch a play without having my mind wandering and pondering life. I know that different people have different motives for going to a play -- but it seems that "going to the theater" is so much about the experience and the act of going out and feeling cultural. Oh well -- I guess it could be worse -- being forced to go to the Comedie Francaise on a Wednesday night for my theater class. Ho Hum.
Well anyways, it's off to bed for me. Here's a picture of the Pont Neuf from our tour this morning!
A bientot!
Usually my first objective when seeing a play is to stay awake...harder for me in the first act than in the second, oddly. Next objective is to forget it's live people on stage and see if immersion in the story (if there is one) is possible. Here in Rochester, the third objective is to resist joining in the obligatory standing ovation, unless the performance is actually something special in which case I'll go along with the crowd. But I agree...the urge to do "something cultural" is a strong driver.
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