Les Passages, Aux Printemps, Jardin du Luxembourg, Pere Lachaise

I'm backtracking here a little bit so bare with me...

Tuesday, July 3rd we headed over to the Catacombs... an underground ossuary. A final resting place of human skeletons... pretty scary. However, the line was way too long, and since they only let in 200 people at a time, we decided not to wait. Our T.A. says to us "I don't know about you guys, but I say we come back and do this another time. Let's go shopping!" But this shopping trip did serve an educational purpose. We have to write an essay discussing the concept of the flâneur, or person who strolls. In the 19th century this word was associated with the wealthy in Paris. We visited les passages, also called the arcades, which are basically little streets in between two buildings that contained stores and a glass ceiling as a roof. Paris is famous for these passages but there are only a few left. It's where "window shopping" was pretty much invented. After we went to the les passages, we went to the large and famous department store, Aux Printemps... talk about luxury! Everything is designer, and while the sales may be anywhere from 40-60% off.. it's still very far from my budget. Nonetheless, we did enjoy browsing through all the handbags, shoes, and clothes... I guess you could say we were the epitome of the flâneur that day.

Les Passages

A little bookstore that I found very charming

A hotel at the end of les passages.

Aux Printemps - the department store

Chanel's awesome window display

After our long day of window-shopping, we decided to get a drink in the latin quarter during happy hour. We decided on the piano bar, a quaint little bar with velvet stools and booths, bookshelves, stone walls, and of course a piano. One drink ended up turning into 3 because we were all laughing, talking, and enjoying the piano man play so no one was ready to leave. We also saw Kyle Richards (from Real Housewives)... not really but if she had a twin, this girl would be her.

Morgan and Danielle

Katy, me, and Leah 

Piano Man quickly became our favorite when he played our song request, Layla by Eric Clapton

In case you want a bottle of Smirnoff.. only 80 euro. Good thing it was happy hour.

Morgan posing so I could snap a picture of the Kyle Richards look-a-like.

Monday, July 2nd  we were free in the morning so a few of us decided to walk over to Jardin du Luxembourg since it's pretty close to where we are staying. All of us were not expecting to find such a beautiful park right in the city. The lawns were perfectly manicured and outlined with flowers and large trees lined the walkways. There were beautiful stone vases that contained bright pink flowers surrounding the center of the gardens, and a little pond. There were people reading and lounging in chairs all around the manicured lawns, others were doing yoga or just sunbathing. We'll definitely be going back when we have another free morning. Need an escape from the big city and crowds of people? This is the perfect place to get away and it's only a 15-20 minute walk from where we stay. I think I also enjoyed it so much because it's not overrun with tourists. It would be a great place to read or do some homework.

Alicia, me, & Katy. The building behind us is the Luxembourg Palace where the French Senate now resides.

   

In the afternoon, we went to Père Lachaise... the famous cemetery where many famous people are buried. It's also home to the Wall of the Paris Commune, where the anarchists and communists who sealed themselves off from the rest of Paris and lived under their own government were lined up and executed. It was very haunting because you can still see the bullet holes in parts of the wall, that is now a vine-covered memorial to those that died there.

Père Lachaise

Frédéric Chopin

Where Edith Piaf is buried. 

Edith Piaf again 

A memorial to those who died at concentration camps during the Holocaust

A wall memorializing those who died from the Paris commune. Interesting side note... after France had lost the Franco-Prussian war, they called Prussia back over to help them take down the Paris Commune.

After we went to Père Lachaise we headed back over to St. John's, but since it was still early we decided to see what stores were open. Surprisingly for a Monday, many were. (In Paris many stores are closed on Sundays and Monday). We went into a vintage store right down the street from us and I found a jean jacket that I'm absolutely in love with! I also found some black jeans, (which are a staple here in Paris... everyone wears black jeans) and some cute shirts, oh and some sunglasses, too! These sales occurring only 2 times a year is the best invention ever! Clothes are marked down so much it's completely unreasonable for Paris... I am so glad our program took place during this time of the year.