I slept relatively well last night, but probably at my roommate's expense. There was a period of intense nose blowing in the middle of the night... Sorry, Rucha. :( Today in class we covered the Islamic World (which by the way, I did all the reading for, thanks very much.) I find our classes (since they've only been three hours) tolerable with the breaks that we get and even enjoyable with the site pairings. More importantly, the last lecture is still fresh in my mind (at least for MMW) and that makes connecting cultural interactions easier, more logical.
Afterwards, I made a baguette-brie-salami sandwich for lunch and finished up some more readings. At 1PM we assembled to travel by metro to Musée National des Arts-Guimet. There aren't really words for this so here are some pictures and some captions! I actually had a great time (despite being tired from post-lunch lethargy) and the fact that I am not usually enthralled by Asian art as I am usually forced to see it in the form of many, many vases. And/or horse statues.
A few notes: I particularly enjoyed the different statues of Buddha. It was interesting to see the continuity and the differences between cultures whether they were geographically close or not. I particularly enjoyed the statues of Buddha from Afghanistan where he is depicted with a charming little mustache. :) I also found the Chinese landscape paintings (even though I didn't really pay attention to most of the dates because most of them looked like they were from the Qing time) intriguing. Probably because I took a class on the history of the People's Republic of China and how vastly different the propagandistic art of that time differed from the centuries of pro-landscape precedent. Anyway there are a lot of really neat photos that I had to leave out but they're in my photo album so please feel free to check those out if you're curious. :)
And, just because I like this picture: A shot of the window and clouds from the fifth floor of the museum. I like it because it could almost be the backdrop to a René Magritte painting. :)
Next on our agenda was a quick visit to Buddhist Pantheon which was conveniently closed. Here's the picture we got of it. (By the way, that's Christine in the picture, laughing at our luck.) And yes, that's the Buddhist Pantheon behind the bars. And two cautionary signs.
So we trekked to the Arc de Triomphe (very close by) and arranged to meet in 90 minutes. The group I was with walked down the Champs-Élysées all the way to the Obelisk. (Stopped by at the Grand Palace to take a break first.)
Slightly obscured by the seats set up for Tour de France (maybe?!)
After we all met up again we walked to our restaurant--Lebanese food! The pictures tell it all.
The first course: dips (with pita bread)
Second course: Chicken in pita!
Dessert: Assorted pastries
Tomorrow: MONTMARTE! Prepare yourselves for some (hopefully) stunning sunset and Sacré-Cœur by late afternoon and evening shots!
P.S. Thanks so much for your comments! I was pleasantly surprised to see multiple notifications (more than zero hehe) in my e-mail. :) I'm glad I asked for comments because I had no idea anyone besides friends and family were reading. Also, Mollie, yes I have met Jonah! He is such a sweetheart and has already started practicing his French--very impressive, hehe.
1 comment:
I really admire this, I mean it really looks interesting! Very nice write up. Anyways, its a Great post
Post a Comment