When it snowed in Paris, and other events

Yes, this is what Hannah woke up to on her first morning in Paris. I'm sure that all the men in the migrant worker foyer thought that I had never seen snow before, the way I was taking pictures. Au contraire...

More snow, on the cars, although not enough to need a scraper.And then for more crazy events that same day, the Olympic Torch passed through Paris and right under my window at work. Of course me and my co-workers couldn't get anything done all afternoon, as we were too busy trying to see the torch. But, by the time that the parade got to us, they had already been so harassed that the torch was inside of a bus somewhere, as were all the honored athletes who were supposed to march.

You can see all of the police walking up and down the sidewalk. To me, the whole thing seemed like one big police parade, because most of the vehicles that passed were police ones, as well as officers on roller blades, on bikes, on motorcycles, and on foot...

This is the view from right outside my office window where I could see these two guys climb up to the roof with a banner of some sort and then lie flat on their stomachs so as to not be seen by the police......but they were of course spotted, what with there being a million to one ratio of police to onlookers/protesters. This officer promptly started climbing the roof but had a lot of trouble.My co-workers and I were highly amused...

...but the police took it all very seriously and when they did finally make it to the roof, a chase ensued, in which one of the protesters actually repelled half way down the building and then hung on to windows as he climbed around the side, trying to avoid being caught. It didn't work, and the banner got confiscated, as you can see. I don't even know what it said.

Here are the protesters, after being caught by the police. They were held here, right under my window, for at least an hour, while a crowd gathered in the courtyard to defend their right to protest. All in all, very exciting!The whole Olympic Torch thing happened while Hannah was visiting me. Poor girl, she came during the week, and so she had to be a good sport and explore on her own all day long while I was at my internship. She soon came to the realization that Paris is really not that big (shocking, I know). You can walk almost anywhere in the city in not too much time. Which she did, and then came home and wondered why her legs were so tired. She also made me dinner in the evenings, putting up with my gross kitchen, calling herself my housewife.

This is the Grand Mosque of Paris, built in the 1920s and really beautiful. Allegra, Daniel, Hannah and I went there for tea (you were right Eleni, there is a tearoom in a mosque in Paris, sorry we didn't find it when you were here!).

Having tea...the room was so beautiful. Next nice weekend day, I have vowed to go there to do homework, because they have an outdoor courtyard, with these low hanging trees, and it's really wonderful.

This is Hannah in front of the amazing view from the top of the Belleville park. What an incredible sky. We just sat and took it in for a while, while we let our stomachs digest the Algerian food we had just eaten.

more view of Paris (with what I like to call a "Simba sky" - those of you familiar with The Lion King might know what I am referring to)

I had to take a picture of this, because, even though we didn't eat here, it is named for me.

Then the Defiels came to visit...and also walked everywhere (I think they took the metro twice while they were here!). This is the group under the Eiffel Tower (funny, that is the name of this blog) just after they had been hounded for their food by what Jodi called a cult, and what most people refer to as gypsies. They ask you if you speak English, then hand you a piece of paper telling their life story and why you should give them money. Only apparently the two that the Defiels met chased them, and were demanding their grocery bags of picnic food.

A very tiny Liza and Abbie under a very huge Eiffel Tower

Yes, I did buy green pants. And you are allowed to be critical.

It had been the most beautiful day out, until we wanted to sit and picnic. Then it got windy and cold and started to rain. So we had to find shelter under this tree, where we stood since the ground was wet. Well, Olivia, Will's friend did sit, and this picture shows her inquiring whether of not she got bird poop on her butt. She did.

Jodi, not finding Paris to be that fun.

But then, when we'd finished eating, the sun came back out and it was nice for the rest of the day. Will was even nice enough to give both Olivia and Abbie piggy-back rides because, after walking all day (they didn't use the metro until 10pm!) their feet were killing them. Aren't they so cute!?!

Well, that's it for visitors in Paris, but here are some pictures of where I work now.

This is the courtyard that luckily happens to be just under the window in the office where I work. So spring-like!

more garden in the courtyard

And here is the view as you first walk in the gate to the courtyard. If you go through the arch, you come to a stairway that leads up to IISMM, where I'm an intern. You can just see the bottom of my window in the tope right-hand corner of this picture.

Well, that's it for now, folks. Not too much exciting going on this week, because the institute, being part of the national education system, is on holiday like all the students in Paris. So instead of going to work, I go to my program's office and try to work on my memoire (so hard to get started). I have a "soutenance" or defense of my thesis and my outline on Monday, so I have to get prepared for that. I'm a little nervous, but it's good motivation to really get going on the paper. So wish me luck, and I'll write again soon,
Liza

Just a note...

I just posted a bunch of pictures but for some reason blogger.com is not working very well, and so it dated the post April 1. So there is a new post, it just looks like it's not new. So you have to scroll down a little to find it.

Olympic Torch

Well, in case anyone is wondering, yes, I did see the protests against the Olympics today, because the whole parade passed right by my window. I didn't get to see the actual torch though, becaus apparently by the time it got to where I was, people had already put it out 3 times and they had moved it into a bus for safety. So all I got to see were a ton of police vans and buses, a few cars full of politicians, and protestors. There were actually 2 guys who got up on the roof of my building to hang a sign in protest, but then were chased all around by the police. Very exciting, because it all took place right outside my window. Me and a few of my coworkers were highly entertained. I did get some photos of the whole debacle (how often do you see police on teh roof wnd a parade of what should have been the Olympic torch?). I will upload them soon, I promise. I have to go and take advantage of the fact that it has stopped hailing. Oh yes, it snowed here last night, and there were still remnants of it on the ground when I went to work this morning. I guess I may have jumped the gun on thinkin gthat spring was here.
Happy Monday,
Liza

Hey everyone,
This has to be super fast because I have to go to the train station to pick up Hannah (hurray), who will be staying for a couple of days. I just wanted to let everyone know that after some problems with my first internship and lots of discussions with my program, I've switched internships and am very very happy about it! My new internship is at the Institute for the Study of Islam and Societies of the Muslim World, which is a research center within the network of the national School for High Studies of Social Sciences. I'm going to be translating the Institute's information packet as well as parts of their websites. I started doing that on Friday, and wow! translation is so hard. But I'm very happy to have a job to do (at my last internship I didn't have any work, I just followed people around). And I'm going to get to talk to and read the articles and books of the most preeminent scholars of Islam working in France. The Institute welcomes scholars from all over the world to study in Paris, and so I am really lucky because that means that I have access to all sorts of opinions and research. I do have to start my memoire (30 page) paper all over again, but I think that it is well worth it. I know that I still have to post the pictures from Eleni and Miles' visits as well as the ones I took when I went to Montpellier (in the south of France) to visit Abbie. I will try to get on that in the near future, but at the moment I feel so busy that my head might explode. Good thing Hannah is coming, because that forces me to take a break, at least for today, on Sunday.
Well, I'm off. It's the first Sunday of the month which means all the big museums in Paris are free. What a perfect day for Hannah to arrive. Love to you all, and I promise to write again soon,
Liza

A lot of pictures that I've been meaning to post

Here are some pictures and anecdotes about the visits I've had in Paris and my trip to Montpellier. I know that they're somewhat scattered, but that's what happens when you fall behind in your blogging.

Eleni, looking pensive, as we stopped to get some coffee/tea to get out of the rain
This is a view from the bottom of the steps going up to Sacre Coeur, in Montmartre. It's a great people watching spot, especially when you get to see all the tourists get cornered by men selling bracelets (really just pieces of embroidery floss, not even braided), who will put them around your wrist without you even realizing it and then tell you that you have to pay 10euros for it.
One of my favorite statues in Paris, because you can climb on it. There was actually a little boy on the statue when I took this picture, but when he saw me get out my camera, he hid.
Look, Eleni's found a new family. Aren't they cute!?! We found them at Les Halles, the big shopping center. It was closed because it was Sunday, but we did find a shoe store that was open and so tempting that Eleni ended up buying boots. Eleni and Pierre, her Parisien friend that she met at her job last year in New York. He came along with us to le Marais, the Jewish quarter. Unfortunately, the synagogues are under tight security (unlike the Catholic churches, which anyone can just walk in to) and so Eleni didn't get to go into one or even take any pictures like she had hoped. We went to the Picasso museum to make up for it, and it was fabulous!

This is the Eiffel tower, looking all sparkly...

...and this is us, really cold and wet, stuck in the pouring rain underneath the Eiffel Tower, which is one of the worst places to find shelter from any sort of bad weather. As you can see, we were soaked!
Here's Eleni sporting the I love Paris t-shirt that she bought and wanted to wear around the city. I forbid it, thinking that we looked enough like tourists already, without advertising the fact on our clothing.

And then Miles came to visit. He was only in Paris for one full day, and two nights, so we did a whirl wind tour of everything you can do on Easter Sunday in Paris, for free (both of us not wanting to spend ridiculous amounts to get into the really crowded Louvre and such). We did go to Pompidou Center, the Contemporary and Modern Art Museum (I think it has the biggest collection of its kind in Europe). This is us, in a cave in the museum...contemporary art is so strange!

This is a gnome that we found in the museum, and Laura we knew that we had to take a picture of it for you (for everyone who doesn't know Laura, she has an obsession with garden gnomes)

And of course I had to take a picture of the huge red rhino, for Rhino, to prove that I've been thinking of him. I hope he appreciates this!

This was my favorite piece in the contemporary part of the museum. This guy had written the names of famous people from all over the world (like Michael Jackson, Mohamed Ali, Picasso, and a bunch of people I didn't know) in Arabic on cardboard, and then had different people (mostly boys) hold the signs and walk around, following the camera. It was really great to see all people's reaction to these kids who were just walking down the middle of the street, holding up the names of famous people.

This is when Miles and I decided that for our house next year, all of our furniture is going to be inflatable. I had no idea that you could make so many different kinds of blow up chairs, beds and sofas! I think it's going to be the next craze!

Now its Miles' turn to be freezing under the Eiffel Tower.

This is a memorial to people who died in I can't remember what war (I know, that's really bad of me!), but I just thought that it looked really beautiful, all lit up, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Behind me, as I'm taking the picture, is the Military Academy, set up by Napoleon.

Our Easter Day experience at Notre Dame. I should have thought that everyone in the world and their family would be trying to get to mass in Notre Dame on Easter. Needless to say it took us a few hours to work up the courage to come back and brave the line. Once inside, we did get a chance to hear an organ concert, which was a very cool experience (although, I forgot how much organ music really scares me...it's so dark!).

And then, after Miles left, I went to Montpellier, which is way down south near the Mediterranean. Abbie and Diana are on a program there, and so it was lovely to get to see them. I stayed in Abbie's apartment, and this is the incredible view from the alley way where she lives.

This park made me think of you, Mom, because it looked so Dr. Seuss. Too bad I was a little too old to play on it, especially since it was full of kids. But I do think that I know a few daycare children who would have appreciated it.

It was gorgeous out the Saturday that I was there, and so Abbie and I took a 20 min bus to get to the sea.

We amused ourselves by writing in the sand, taking shadow pictures, and collecting the most beautiful shells (the water was a little too cold to do any swimming!).

Oh, and yes, cartwheels as well. I am pretty proud of this picture!

Me with the sea (my first time!)

I had to include a picture or two of Abbie's apartment, because as she says, it looks as though the Victorian era vomited all over. Every room is covered from floor to ceiling (and including the ceiling) with flowery wall paper. This is her living room.

Abbie, being the creative soul that she is, bought paints immediately upon arriving to France, and has friends over to paint. This is the display above the fireplace of all the paintings she's collected. Miles is even on there somewhere, along with Diana, and mine.
Here's a view looking out from the center of Montpellier at sunset. I just thought it was so beautiful. We were on our way to Diana's host family's house, where her host mom made us a delicious meal. And here we are, Abbie, Me and Diana, walking out of the center of the city.

So now I'm only 2 or three weeks behind in pictures, instead of 6 weeks. I still have to post pictures of the Olympic torch, my new internship, Hannah's visit, and the Defiels' (who are here right now in Paris!). Hopefully I'll find a few moments in the next couple of days to do that. But right now, I have to go because I am meeting Jodi, Abbie, Will and Olivia for a picnic lunch on the Champs de Mars (right next to the Eiffel Tower).
I love and miss you all, and will write again soon, I promise.
Liza