Friday Wanderings

Today I wandered all over the place. First I had my French course. Then at the suggestion of my French professor, I spent some time wandering around the gay district. There was so much interesting street art there! The gay district is also the old Jewish district, which I found interesting. When I started to get sick of walking around, I sat down to a delicious lunch at a place in the Jewish section of town.

Church.

Preparing for the fireman's ball.

Entering Square Louis XIII

Square Louis XIII.

Me in front of Victor Hugo's apartment.

Statue of King Louis XIII.

Fountain in Square Louis XIII.

Graffiti.

Street art.

Me at the museum.

Museum gardens.

Street art.

Pretty buildings.

Flowers in the Jewish quarter.

Ivy-covered buildings in the Jewish Quarter.

Me with a random bull sculpture in a wall.

Street art says: "We all grew in the body of a woman."

Street art.

Graffiti.

Jewish Quarter.

Street art.

Graffiti.

Disco ball! Proving that it's the gay district...

Graffiti says "Kraken I love you!"

Statue.

Going into the station.

After lunch I hopped on the métro to the Basilique de Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre. I managed to get there in time for mass. The mass was beautiful and the Benedictine Sisters participated. I didn't take any pictures inside out of respect for the prayers taking place. I did decide to take some time to pray for friends, family, and for the black community in the United States because this week has been full of horrifying and disturbing police violence against them. No pictures of the inside since they're not allowed and I was busy praying anyway.

Mural in the station.

Mural in the station.

Going up the huge stairway.

Isn't this impressive?!

Me in front of the view.

The view is amazing.

Locks on a fence.

Me on the lawn.

They have a merry-go-round.

When I left the Basilique de Sacré-Coeur, I spent some time walking about the fabric district searching for new buttons. Then I made my way back to the métro and to the Opéra Bastille to see the ballet.

Me on the lawn by the Sacré-Coeur.

Street art.

Fabric district.

Tiny museum.

This ship is made out of chocolate.

Me eating gelato.

The first half of the show was a modern piece called "Entre Chien et Loup" by Justin Peck and the second half was the more traditional "Brahms-Schönberg Quartet" by George Balanchine. My friends' neighbor Josua Hoffalt was the principal dancer in the fourth movement of the Balanchine piece so that was exciting. Also exciting was the fact that the costumes in the Balanchine piece were designed by Karl Lagerfeld, who is a very famous and talented designer even if he is also a dick. At any rate, here are some pictures of me and the trailor for the show (Josua is in the Russian outfit):

Me in front of the Bastille Monument.

The Opera building is to the right of the Bastille Monument.

Me with my program book.

Weird statue inside the Opera.

I got there super early. Incredibly super early.

By the end of the ballet I was super tired so I went right back and crashed in bed. All in all, I'd say it was a good day.