Fish, Art, and Music

We last left off with burgers a week ago. I'd like to get better at keeping track of what's going on but when I look back, I haven't had time. I'm going to split the last week up though, otherwise this post will be really long.

*It's also probably worth mentioning that a lot of these photos are presented in a grid that might not display to the same effect on a mobile screen. Just means you'll be scrolling past photos one at a time if you're on your phone.

So Tuesday rolled around and since I didn't have class, Flatmate and I went looking for a flea market. The one I had originally intended on visiting is closed Tues-Thurs so I found a smaller one closer to home and we poked around for a bit. When that packed up, we took the metro up to Sacré Cœur again and went exploring down streets, wandered into every shop we took notice of, ate waffles, and eventually walked home after dark.

Wednesday was rough. In order to be ready for class by 7:15, I try and get up at 6:20. By 7:30 am we were beheading whole fish, gutting them, poaching them, and serving them with a decidedly bitter court-bouillon and beurre blanc. I think my plate could've been neater, and my court-bouillon wasn't transparent enough, but my beurre blanc was spot on thankyouverymuch. As a whole: Not my cup of tea, did not bring it home.

The demo later was a little more interesting, foie de veau (calf liver) and quiche lorraine. I snapped a picture of the taste-test we get to participate in at the end of the demo.

Thursday I had another day off so I took myself to the Louvre at 10:45 and didn't reemerge until at least 5pm. There was nobody there.

Weirdly proportioned medieval paintings, subtle modern windows, famous paintings, paintings that I liked, and a few sculptures that caught my eye.

I had a late breakfast at this cafe inside the museum and it was pretty busy but they wedged me right up next to the balcony and I people watched for a bit.

And after a while, I did start to take notice of the amount of dogs in all the art:

Also I found the basement which has some of the medieval foundations of the Louvre on display. Not a soul down there, but they really cranked the heat up so it was nice and toasty.

I made it all the way home and got a text from my classmate who had also been in the Louvre-vacinity asking if I wanted to get dinner, so we met up for burgers (our first option required reservations, which we didn't know in advance). I almost didn't go because I was so tired from walking around the Louvre, and he almost didn't make it because the metros were super delayed. Eventually we met up and I learned a metric ton about sailing culture in La Martinique.

Friday: Slept in. No class so I took myself to the Bourdelle museum, which is free and in my neighborhood. Most of the museum is an outdoor garden though, so I could only stay for so long before the snow started to get to me.

I went home and reviewed some trumpet music,

then took a break to go church exploring with Flatmate.

St. Germain des Pres:

And St. Sulpice:

And then at 6:30-ish, I slung my trumpet across my back and went across the city to meet my French band for a Basque-style celebration of San Sebastian.

I met them when I was doing my semester abroad here, looking for somewhere to play trumpet while I was away from home. They're a Southwest-of-France style "banda" that plays music specific and well known to that region, where a lot of them are from too. They adopted me, taught me a bunch of the music, and are the most enthusiastic at introducing me to new foods and drinks. I took a couple of videos, someone else took more but I haven't gotten my hands on them.

I love these people. I haven't seen most of them in six years, a few I just met that night, and it feels like no time has passed. They're friendly and love to party, so I got flung around for several dances. I was the only person who knew the majority of the words to the YMCA (beyond "YMCA!") and their version of the Cotton Eyed Joe involves grabbing a partner, making a tunnel, and just continuously going through the tunnel around the room getting jovially harassed by other tunnelers.

When we weren't playing, we sat down to eat family-style. First course was a giant fish omelette, second course was beef and potatoes, and dessert was cheese, apples, and quince paste (kind of like jelly cut into slices). Oh, and walnuts.

I didn't crawl into bed until 4am- and that was because Remy and I missed the last metro headed in our direction and had to wait for someone to give us a ride. (We fit five people, one tuba, one bass drum, one euphonium, one saxophone, and one trumpet into the world's smallest car, but I made it home safe and sound!)