Ups and Downs

The last few days have been filled with some exciting new developments and a few disappointing discoveries.

Let's start with the disappointing stuff. First, "Le Hobbit" wasn't in French!  Apparently the move away from dubbing and toward subtitles for foreign movies is not unique to America.  So I got to hear the original dialogue and follow along with the French subtitles, which was nice, but not as nice as hearing the spoken French.

On a similar note, I went to see "The Master" at the theater today.  I had hope for it, as Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman starred in the picture, but I was very disappointed.  there was no appreciable character growth on the part of Phoenix, and indeed, no resolution to the movie at all.  I'm not surprised that ithas been nominated for a bunch of Academy Awards, as it's pseudo-spritiual and New-Agey without actually saying anything.  I'm afraid I cannot recommend it at all.

Today I also came to the conclusion that the class I was going to be taking has been meeting for the past two weeks.  Now this confuses me, as all the documents that I have say that the semester at the University of Paris starts in the 21st, but apparently the graduate classes do what they want.  I'm hoping I can catch up quickly, but unfortunately the instructor has not as yet responded to my emails.  At the worst, I'll see him on Monday for my class.

The weather here in Paris has been cloudy, wet, and very cold.  That combined with some blisters I got from  walking too far in new shoes has kept me from doing as much exploring as I would like (but see below).  I will have to make up for lost time as soon as the weather gets warmer.

On the brighter side of things, I got almost everything worked out for my student housing.  I'll be moving in at the beginning of February.  The studio is 22 square meters (which, when you think about it, is actually pretty good for a studio) and is blocks from the University.  I will be 10 minutes at most from my class, which is excellent.

Yesterday, it was actually not quite as bitterly cold and I decided that it was high time I went and saw the Eiffel Tower up close, rather than from a train or across the city.  So I took the Metro there and saw it.  It is enormous.  Standing at the base and looking up, its top is so far up that it's tinted blue by the atmosphere between you and it.  The summit was closed, so I'll be going back later and actually taking the elevator (and not the stars) up to the top of this amazing structure.

The Tower from near the base

From slightly further away

Duplicating the most common angle from which to photograph the Tower

Afterwards, I wandered through the city for a while.  I spotted a golden dome in the distance and walked toard that.  What I found was the Musée de l'Armée (the museum of the army), the national military museum.   There is also a hospital there, and in fact the area is known as the Invalides, named after the hospital.  If you look closely, you can see that this building was once a church.  I am waiting to go inside, but I imagine that to attend here would be an amazing experience.

La Musée de l'Armée

That just about ended my walk, as I was getting quite cold, and I looked for the Metro.  But I was granted one more amazing sight in a church next to the metro station, the church of Saint Francis-Xavier.

Church of Saint Francis-Xavier - If you look closely, over the door it reads
"Venite Adoremus" - "O come let us adore him" (Latin)

Be sure to comment or send me an email at wdtboss@gmail.com if you would like pictures or stories of something specific.

Until next time,

A bientot!