How I Spent My Weekend

Friday morning was spent in bed, after a long night of dancing at Duplex, my favorite club (so far) in the city. When I finally managed to peel myself out from under the sheets and after finally doing my laundry, I decided to make a trip to the Musée Luxembourg for the Arcimboldo exhibit. And it was so rad.



The paintings are from the mid 1500s, and each one is extremely detailed and kooky. It must have been revolutionary work in his lifetime, and people still line up and pay 9 euros to see it today. There were kids running around, freaking out about how strange everything was, and I leaned in pretty close a few time, just to lean back out, laughing.

One of the best parts about the exhibit was having a reason to cut through the Jardin de Luxembourg to get to the museum. After walking down the tree-lined, straight gravel paths and shuffling my way through fallen leaves, I think I fell in love. I'm determined to go back soon with my camera, to get some beautiful pictures before all the leaves are gone.

Saturday afternoon, I took my camera on a trip to Père Lachaise cemetary. This was one of those famous Paris places I'd always wanted to visit, but had somehow never managed.

I strode in and brushed my way past all the tourists crowding the oversized map of the cemetary, but after about 2 minutes, I meekly went back and bought one: the place is huge and graves are scattered everywhere, in no particular order or pattern. I made sure to find the big famous graves (tip: just look for crowds of people circled around a grave), and then spent about 15 minutes walking around in circles to find Molière. It's cheesy, but I kissed Oscar Wilde's (which was actually really beautiful, with its pattern of lipstick all over), and then I got back to the metro and went to Versailles.

John, his friend from Venice, and I had bought tickets to see an orchestral concert at Versailles. There's a festival this month offering cheap concerts from the various courts throughout the ages, and we picked one from Louis XVI in the Chappelle Royale.

It was a great time: we spent a few hours showing John's friend the chateau and the grounds, eating ice cream, and then finally running for the show. I was so impressed by the whole thing: the chapelle was gorgeous, the soloist was amazing, and the conductor and first violinist were hilarious. I'm so glad we got tickets. There's nothing cooler than hearing music from the 1700s in a chapel where it might have been performed.

Pictures up later, if I can ever get my act together and study for my midterms.