"Shopping in Paris! Can you believe it?!"

Okay, not gonna lie. Today, not much happened. Paris and I got up, took our cakes and crepes to go, went to class, followed Mr. Erickson to see where the Petit Palais was, then did one of the required walks for our 445 class. We saw where the French stock market is, one of the national libraries, the home of La Comedie Francaise, the palace gardens, and stuff like that.

La Comedie Francaise is the group that was formed after playwright and actor Moliere died. It was a combination of his group of actors and another group of actors in Paris. (The king combined them.) The theatre we saw was where they were finally stationed in the 1700s. The only thing about the theatre is...Moliere never actually performed there (he had his own theatre nearby that has since been torn down, although many of his descendants are actors in this theatre) and you can't actually go inside unless you buy a ticket and go to play there... From the outside, it's pretty boring. It's in a covered walkway and the door and sign are pretty plain....

The palace gardens were weird. The park on one side was pretty, but not much different from the other parks we've seen, and I like the Champs de Mars better anyway. (I'm just a little prejudiced...) On the other side had a bunch of "controversial" "statues", which I didn't think were very controversial at all, nor did I really think they looked like statues. They were just cylinders of varying sizes with black and white stripes. Controversial.......

Then we walked on and saw some stores that had glass ceilings over the walkways between them. Probably some of the first shopping malls ever, as they've been around since the 1800s.

After that we went back to La Defense to one of the biggest malls I've ever seen! Les Quatre Temps. The metro station exit is in the mall, and it took us forever to find the exit from the mall! Then we decided we wanted to go back in. Oh, la la! There were dozens and dozens and dozens of stores! It's one of those malls that is an avid shopper's heaven. Paris and I found some pretty cute things to buy- Paris got some earrings and a vest, and I got a shirt and earrings. Something funny about French malls (and French stores in general) is that they always play American music. I don't think I've heard more than one or two songs that were French while shopping.

After a couple hours in there, our feet were dying and so were our backs. lol. So after we searched for a while to find the Metro, we finally came to it and rode home. And, Paris decided (and I heartily agreed) that shopping with a backpack is a stupid idea and so not fun. Needless to say, we're not doing that again.

Dinner tonight was much better than last night. lol. We talked about movies and TV shows. Although, Aude was appalled that we didn't know a bunch of American movies and a bunch of American actors that she loved. lol. It's not a surprise that I didn't know them, but I felt a little better that Paris didn't know most of the ones I'd never heard of before either. lol.

I decided that in one way, Jeff would fit in here. I saw a lot of French people today wearing black and brown together! It was so weird! And it wasn't just khaki or tan and black, either. It was chocolate brown and black! With nothing- no black and brown shirt, or belt, or skarf, or anything- to tie them together! And it was stylish people doing it, too! So strange. Cuz I think it looks really funny if it isn't done right and done carefully. *sigh* And therefore, Jeff would fit in perfectly.

One more thing I decided (before I go). I decided that I actually like French bottled water. I hate the taste of bottled water! Always have! I think most of them taste like plastic. And yet...it tastes good here! You can't taste the bottle! I'm not sure why this is... But I like it, especially because there aren't any drinking fountains.