Ma semaine!

That, mes beaux amis, was taken on Wednesday. We've been having absolutely GORGEOUS fall weather. I can't praise the weather enough. So, I think I need to fill you in on this week.

Tuesday was special. We saw the Claude Monet exhibit at the Grand Palais, the building you see in this photos. The exhibition, titled "Claude Monet 1840-1926" is probably one of the most talked about art exhibitions going on. And it's a hard one to get into; people were buying tickets months in advance. Why? Well, because this is a retrospective exhibit of Monet's work.

The last time a full retrospective Monet exhibit was held?

1980. 30 YEARS! And I was there.

Our guide, the dapper and fabulous Julien with his wonderful suit and green scarf, gave us commentary. This made the exhibit more special. We learned so much about each painting or group of paintings. And it made me sympathize Monet. For such a talented artist, he had an incredibly tough and tragic life. But what amazed me were Monet's sunset paintings. I swear to God these paintings were glowing with the light of the sun, I wanted the lights to turn off and I bet these paintings would glow.

Wednesday, that gorgeous fall day, I went to the church of St. Germain des Pres, founded in the 6th century. It's quite cool. Just a different interior, and home to the grave of Rene Descartes, who knew? I didn't! I then met up with Natalie, a Salve alumna ('08) who's teaching English in a school outside of Paris. We had some classic cafe fare for dinner and just walked around the St. Germain des Pres area. It's wicked nice, very quaint. Very much enjoyed that day.

Today, for my fashion class we went to the Invalides, specifically the Musee de l'Armee, and saw this incredible exhibit of military uniforms, regalia, weapons and art. It was just impressive, everything is laid out so nicely and there was so much. It just kept going and going and going.

Now I'm here, trying not to study. And this weekend I'm very excited. Since the French don't celebrate Halloween, I'm doing my own Halloween weekend!

Friday:

St. Denis Basilica after class.

Satuday:

Montparnasse Cemetery, Les Deux Magots & Louis Vuitton store! Not related but it'll be fun to window shop.

Sunday:

Catacombs and the Pantheon.

Monday: Mass at some point, Salon du Chocolat & Pere Lachaise.

And I leave you with a photo of one of my all time favorite historical figures!

Entrez Jeanne d'Arc!