Spring has arrived in Paris, France!

Before I forget, check out these pictures- I took them this weekend when I went to Champagne!

Ok, so just got back from class- it's finally beautiful out! Spring has sprung in Paris as the weather forecast (excepting tomorrow) is 16 (57F) and sunny! A great way to start April- for all those readers out there who know me (how pathetic- hi mom, that's about all of my readers - anyway :P) I did some spring cleaning today - hardly sufficient though. Laundry was CERTAINLY in order- that's in the machines now. New sheets, food shopping- cleaned my VERY mini-fridge and my "quarter bathroom" (only a sink- quarter or third?).

So I'm just realizing some frightening things: a. It's April (well, tomorrow)- and that means I'm so close to the end of this wonderfully amazingly ethereal euphoric (sephoric!) experience - which makes me very sad (though I am very happy to see my family and friends) - this friday morning, Jess and I are leaving Roissy (Charles de Gaulle airport, it's what "we" Parisians call it) for a stopover in Francfort (as it's spelled in French) and then landing in Istanbul, Turkey- to meet Meg! I can't wait! Unfortunately, the last weather forecast I checked said rain- but I'm keeping my fingers crossed- Istanbul is an incredibly beautiful and historicc city- and yes, don't worry Mom, Nan, etc. I went on the US State Dep't website and read all of the warnings about traveling in Turkey- and specifically Istanbul, I'm practically half way to a J.D. in Turkish law- so we'll be fine! Be right back, laundry! Not that you're going anywhere...

Never-mind, wasn't done yet. So yes Turkey, then the Ballet on the night of Fri, 11 April, then the next morning Jess and I are going to Vienna (to discover some of my heritage and origins.. ? ). The week after Mom, Dad and Brett are coming (can't wait!!) - then Italy for 11 days, then Valencia, Spain for 5 days - studying for finals and a week in June before I come home. That's fast! So we're not allowed to look forward to anything other than "le maintenant" (what's happening now- that's our rule so as not to help the time fly by faster)

and b. I have two-10 page papers due 16 April that I just got the topics for today- So this week is going to be, yeah (and next week too)- and God knows, with the way the internet works here- I might just commit su. (Now I'm in the laundry room- FYI** ["Eff you FYI, guests should never wear more jewelry than their hosts!" lol for those of you who get that Brenda Dickson reference]). One paper is for art history- it's on the shock of Impressionism at the time, it's immediate rejection and it's later adoration. My other paper is on the euro, the unification of Europe and the new European identity (since the 70's). Then in May I have a 10 minute presentation on the big literary movements of French literature (SEE! I actually do have work!!)

So needless to say, I'm going to get cracking on those. (Sorry for the long post, it's been a while, with 3 weeks of visitors- so I'm catching you up on my life!) This past Saturday, we took a day trip to the region of France called Champagne (2 hours east)- the only place in the world that Champagne is made- otherwise it's Sparkling Wine, Spumante, Shit, etc. We first went to the town of Reims (pronounced "Rahnns)- Oh boy these dryers better finish soon, I don't like a pile of wet laundry..... - Anyway, focus. So Reims is the town in France, capital of the region Champagne- with the largest, most beautiful gothic cathedral. It's like twice is big and decorated as Notre Dame de Paris. Due to the bombing during WW II, many of the beautiful stained glass windows (henceforth to be referred to as the French word "vitraux" because it's WAY shorter) were destroyed. So the famous artist Chagalle replaced a section of the vitraux and they're incredible. The rose windows (see pictures above) are nothing short of breathtaking. This cathedal (C. de Reims, I'll call it) is where the first (Catholic) king of France, Clovis, was baptized. In fact, since then- every King of France was crowned there. Down the street is the Basilica of St. Rémy, which is even older and dates back to the years 500- so it's way different looking- older, obviously, but Romanesque style- also quite impressive. St. Rémy is buried there.

We then had lunch on the main pedestrian street in Reims where they were having an outdoor fair (the weather was perfect) for the French organisation "SIDAction" (in French, AIDS is translated to SIDA)- so AIDS Action- concerts, etc. and we had lunch (with Céline and her daughter, Laetitia) at a sidewalk café - mind you all drinking beers together (not Laetitia, though it wouldn't shock me- she's 5). From there, we went to a town called Hautvillers (where all of the huge Champagne "houses" are - Moet, Taitigner, Mercier, etc. We went to this small church where Dom Perignon is buried - he was the monk that invented Champagne. The view from his church is spectacular- see pictures above. In that church are some ridiculously old relics- bones of Saints (that don't decay- since they're saints- so them Catholics say...) dating to the year 300! (In a gold/glass case- pretty cool - random people though, the mother of St. Rémy, etc.)

The views were great, but we had had enough of the educational part, we were ready to hit the Mercier Champagne cellars hard. We took this cool tour on a train through the cellars and learned about the history of Eugène Mercier, a real advertising genius- during the World's Fair of 1889 (the debut of the Eiffel Tower) the rival of visitors was Mercier's champagne and the Hot Air Balloon tours of Paris, while drinking Mercier. Cool.

The tour was great and all, but then we got a glass of champagne (only one! "Not nearly effective" {another great reference for those who get it}). But I bought a bottle to enjoy with my family when they come here- if I don't drink it before then. They're coming in 10 minutes.

What else? Then bus ride home.
Due to my S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder), I'm in a phenomenal mood- and will tentatively be for a while! Wonderful (as long as these papers and the lack of adequate internet don't make me hurt someone).

I miss you all very much and love to hear from you- so if you see I'm online, but not there- please leave me a message or send me a quick e-mail! I miss you guys so very much!

Here's a shoutout to KCavs and Kelly who I know always read my blog- my mom reads Meg and Laura's blogs all the time too.
Love Love Love
Bisous

Tchao!

Hey.



I guess the Fondation is like a hotel- Callie left, and now Isa and Laura are here with me for the week. It's SO nice having guests!! People should come more often. It's even nicer since, you know, we've already seen Paris before- we don't have to do cheesey tourist things. So we're enjoying our time (or at least I know I am...)

Classes are good and um - yeah- same old same old here in Paris. The weather has gotten a bit cold, and as QUITE unusual, we have snow predicted for later in this week- it NEVER snows in Paris! Global warming for you-

But we're still making the best of it, I don't mind the temperature, just as long as it doesn't rain!! It always rains in Paris in March, but thankfully, March will soon be over- and with April comes the nice flowers and sun!

That's all from Paris now- no news is good news.

Love you all very much
Bisous

Josh

Shoutout!

This short post is a shoutout for Kelly, sine I promised her one and didn't follow through!
It was great to see your daughter- and the rest of my friends too this weekend

I hope you and Wendy have a great trip to Italy!
Buon Viaggio!!

Bisous-
Josh

Visitors! Finally!

What an amazing weekend! Thursday night, I went down to Orly Airport, which only took 25 minutes (how convenient!) to pick up Alli and Meg- it was so nice to see them! Meg got her hair cut in Italy, and she looks so great! It's a bit shorter, but it frames her face and she looks so pretty! It was great to see the two of them- they strutted off the plane like two Italian models, dressed to the nines. We took the Orlybus back to Paris, and it was great, it took 15 minutes! They came back to my place, we hung out for a bit, then went to their hotel and stayed up talking.

The next morning, I had phonetics, but after class, I picked up some fresh pain au chocolate for Alli, Meg, Norah and Laura and we to go meet Laura and Norah at Denfert- Rochereau, where Orlybus drops off. We dropped their stuff off at the hotel and hit the town. We did major site seeing at the Pantheon, which was decorated in honor of Women's day. We checked out the necropolis (greek for "City of the Dead" - enjoy that Big Fat Greek Wedding reference, that's all you're getting Nan!) Seth, Norah's boyfriend (studying abroad in London), met us (after finishing up his spring break in Rome). We did tons of site-seeing from there. We went to Trocadéro, the Eiffel Tower in daylight, dusk and night- then headed over to Notre Dame to have dinner at Hippo- a great chain restaurant in France- with AMAZING sangria! We had a nice dinner, went for Gelato and Hot Chocolate, then headed back over to the Eiffel Tower, to see it again- and then head up to the Arc de Triomphe.

We were pretty beat after that, so we headed home. The next morning, I woke up, did some food shopping for my guests- then headed over to Charles de Gaulle- the largest, most confusing airport in Europe. I found Callie, which was so nice- even though her flight was a bit late. We came back, she freshened up and we hit the ground running, again. We went to meet everyone else at the Louvre and we walked down rue de Rivoli to see the Vendôme, Concorde and then a bit of the Champs Elysées, over the the Grand and Petit Palais, pont Alexandre III, the banks of the Seine, the Invalides, a cute garden- then took the metro up to Montmartre. We walked around admiring the artists paintings, then walked the corner to see the greatest views of Paris. We also enjoyed the beautiful Sacre Coeur basilica before going to a Fondu restaurant- where they pack you in like sardines (Brett would hate it- no leg room)- and drink wine out of a baby bottle. Of course, me like an idiot, never having gone there- dipped the raw beef in the cheese and continued to eat it until the guy who works there came over and called me an idiot (basically) and gave us oil to cook the beef in- oups. Luckily, I am salmonella free.

After that, we walked around Montmartre and had desserts and after-dinner drinks at this bar where they decided to play the Sax and piano extremely loud- nice. We left there. Walked around the Faubourg Pigalle (sex district) and saw Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergeres - before coming home wiped and tipsy.

The next morning, we woke up to go have these great pastries for breakfast, but the Patisserie was closed! Pas de soucis- we went to Crêpes à Gogo for the best French Onion soup in Paris (or as we call it - Onion soup)! Meg and Alli had to return to Italy so we said our "au revoirs". After, we headed over to the Impressionism museum - Musée d'Orsay (a former train station,n converted) for a few hours, before grabbing a quick lunch and sending Laura and Norah back to Spain. Seth later went back to London, around dinner time.

I was sure to stuff them with amazingly delicious Parisian food. I gave them quite the tour, spitting out endless facts about the sites. I really enjoyed being a tour guide of Paris! But even more so, being with my friends.

Now, I'm so lucky- I get one-on-one time with Callie for the REST OF THE WEEK! I'm so happy! Tonight I cooked us dinner, and we had tacos- yum!

Today, Callie and I did the Louvre in the morning. I hate the Louvre for so many reasons- mostly being the fact that it's always crowded and it's poorly organized (you always have to backtrack to get out! and it's impossible to find what you want to see too!). So after getting quite frustrated- but still seeing the sites like Napoleon III's apartment, the old fortress of the Louvre, the Jaconde (Monda Lisa), Coronation of Napoleon, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory and the Cheater- I headed over for class- and Callie chilled out in Subway- right across the street (They have self-serve soda fountains- so I load up on ice, a luxury in France!). After class, and in between the bouts of rain, we checked out Notre Dame, which Callie really liked, the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) and the modern art museum of the Centre Georges Pompidou.

It's so nice having this company here! I missed her (and the rest of my friends) so much!
After Callie leaves, Laura and Isa will be visiting for a few days too- it should be great.

Anyway, Callie and I are going to go watch some Will & Grace.
Hope all is well with all of you- I'd love to hear from you!

Miss you!
Bisous
<3 Josh

Photos to accompany

Here are some new pictures- enjoy!

Fashion week!

Paris is amazing to begin with! Fashion week in Paris, or as we say in French, "Fashionweeeek"- is phenomenal!

Last night, we were on the VIP list at the most exclusive club in Paris, "Le Cab". It was amazing! Not only did we get in, for free (there's 20 € right there!) Drinks were 13 €, which roughly equals 20$- yikes- even worse, I had two- oh well. They were well mixed- if you know what I mean. With or without those drinks, the club was awesome- we had so much fun!

We were out quite late- so I slept late today, until around 12:30. Lauren and I went over to rue de Rivoli- the really ritzy street of Paris, that makes the Champs Elysée look like route 59, or a collection of Wal-Marts. We had lunch outside on the sidewalk dressed for the fashion show, divalicious, with our sunglasses (as it was so beautiful out!) lol!

After the worst server in all of France, we left. We walked across rue de Rivoli to the Tuileries Gardens- the gardens of Catherine de Medici, at the Louvre. There was an accessories show where we entered, but that's not what we wanted. We walked through the gardens to the other side, obviously enjoying our location "Le berceau de Paris" (the cradle of Paris). The Vendôme, the Concorde, the Champs Elysées, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower. We went to the Chloé Sevigny fashion show. Amazing.

There were so many models and rich élites- it was cool. As we were enjoying the beautiful weather and warming sun (after two days of grey, rain), the paparazzi began going crazy- no, not taking pictures of me- they did that when we walked in- but of who? Kanye West! Very cool. I kept my cool, I don't really get star struck, but gotta love Lauren, whipped out her camera to snap any possible picture- embarrassed, she explained to me, "I can't help it, I'm from Binghamton!" It was funny.

After all of the fashion show-ness, we walked down the Champs Elysées a bit to the metro and came back home. I consequently passed out on my bed for three hours. Great success.

Now, it's 22h19 (10:20PM my time, 4:20PM in NY) and I'm still debating going out again- though I probably will.
So at that, I'm going to go shower and get ready!
Check out fashion show pictures on my Facebook!

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