Bonjour tout le monde!

Mes amis!

I hope you really didn't think I would stop blogging, did you? Goodness there's so much to write about, so I'll do my best.

Friday: hmm, what I do Friday? Ah, here we go. I went for a quick visit (quick because I will come back to spend more time) at the Memorial de la Shoah, the Holocaust Memorial Museum here in Paris. What is incredible about the Museum is the amount of documents and written sources it has. Unbelievable.

I went there because the Museum has an exhibit on the writer Irene Nemirovsky. She was Russian born, but her family came to Paris. While Jewish, she, like many upper-class Jews, assimilated into French society. She was an acclaimed author; her works today are a joy to read. The book I just finished that she's very famous for, is titled "Suite Francaise." Besides being an incredibly written book, it's incredible because it is unfinished. Nemirovsky was arrested and deported to Auschwitz in 1942. Her husband would follow.

Intense? You bet; you saw photographs, her diploma from the Sorbonne, her belongings, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, everything under the sun! It was incredible!

What was very sobering and moving though was the crypt. You enter a giant room, and in front of you, is a grave. It is a giant black Star of David, and within this star are ashes of Holocaust victims, and earth from Jerusalem. On the wall is a passage from the Book of Lamentations, to the effect of, "See my sons and daughters, killed by the enemy's hands."

But what also fueled my emotions was this rude comment left in the guestbook by an American visitor. She was so appalled by the use of French in the museum and thought more English should be used.

IT'S A MUSEUM... IN FRANCE. And if she had good eyesight, everything had translations. The Irene Nemirovsky exhibit was all in French, but it's a temporary exhibit. Why waist time and money making translations on something that won't stay?

I retorted back in the guestbook: "One doesn't need a translation of language to learn of the horrors of the Holocaust. As an American student in Paris, I look forward to my return."

Take that rude America. Who would have thought that the first moment of rudeness that happened in France came from an American, and not a French person. Whoever started that "rude Frenchmen" stereotype needs a slap in the face.

I ended my Friday by visiting the house of NICOLAS FLAMEL. If you are not a Harry Potter fan, you will not understand why I was so thrilled. But if you are a fan, you know why. Hint: Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone. Another Hint: Harry Potter & the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, first book.

Get it? I'm glad you did.