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