deux cents

As I mentioned yesterday, I had quite the weekend in Paris. It was my 4th time there and yet it was as exciting as my first grace â my impressively knowledgeable professor and the spring weather.

We began at le Musée d'Orsay...

For a little Monet,

Manet, and such.

We even saw the stars of the infamous Theatre du Chat Noir!

Then we pranced through the streets a bit,

before checking out the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Grande Palais.

That night I met up with the lovely Marie and friends près de Bastille.

And the next morning, we were up bright and early for the Louvre.

We even went down into the original foundations of the castle that had once stood in it's place. My friends got trapped in one of the nooks ;).

Lunch was eaten on the outside of a café while people-watching. I enjoyed every last bit of my Quiche Lorraine... yet forgot to photograph it :(.

And the rest of the afternoon was spent at le Musée Gustave Moreau.

The gallery was situated in the exact studio where he had worked, above the apartment where he'd lived, it was incredible.

The night was spent in the Marais district, one of my favorite areas, and apparently Sarah's as well :).

We ate dinner at one of many Israeli restaurants there (delish) and then met some of my friends from school that were also in Paris for the weekend with a class, they're currently studying in London.

On Sunday, following a visit to the Notre Dame, we were out and about once more for le Musée national Picasso Paris.

The building was also holding great temporary exhibitions of Daniel Buren and David Douglas Duncan.

Afterwards, I needed sushi ;) so we lunched at a nearby restaurant.

YUM.

Followed by a visit to Chez Maxime's

for the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit.

The Art Nouveau style of the building was fabulous.

And last, but certainly not least, we spent time in le Jardin des Tullerie,

ate a scrumptious dinner, and caught our train back to Strasbourg.

Just so you know, girlies, this Parisian photo medley marks my 200th post. I can hardly believe it myself. I definitely believe that I've grown as a person since my first one as I've been exposed to more things than I could have imagined, met people that I hope to stay in contact with for the rest of my life, and seen places that I cannot wait to go back to. My entire world view and cultural understanding has reached beyond their former limits and I'm happy and proud of the progress I've made while traveling. And so, I would like to thank you for having joined me :) and, of course, for wishing our very special Veggiegirl the happiest of birthdays!

le printemps

The weather is absolutely, positively gorgeous outside! Oh my, the sun and the breeze and the flowering trees everywhere. It makes me so happy that I can't help myself from rhyming :). I love the spring. It has been 8 months since the beginning of my lovely Chilean spring and I'm more than thrilled to be in my favorite season again.

Paris, of course, was fabulous. I haven't had the pleasure of visiting during the month of April but the city is bloom made everything even better than I had remembered. I spent a great deal of time outdoors, wandering through the streets, people-watching from a café... plenty of window-shopping, sitting in the park, and so on and so forth.

But the weekend wasn't leisurely at all! There was a great deal of museums and exposition-hopping, early mornings and late nights, and my train arrived at midnight in Strasbourg yesterday. Needless to say I'm exhausted... and without any time to rest since I'm leaving for Istanbul, Turkey in three days. Would everyone mind very much if I got into detail about my artistic Parisian visit tomorrow? I'm hoping that's a no :) à demain, mes chéries! Thanks for always understanding!

welcome to strasbourg, mr. president

President Barack Obama is coming to Strasbourg tomorrow afternoon. Our U.S. president and countless other country delegates are basically taking over this Alsatian city for the entire weekend as a result of the NATO summit being held here, in my very backyard.

Many people may not have heard of Strasbourg, France before, and I'll admit that I hadn't until I looked at the abroad programs offered at my university. But let me assure you, it's a very important place :). This city is the seat of the Council of Europe and their Court of Human Rights, in addition to the EU's European Parliament.

Currently, the city is... I've heard helicopters overhead for the past 24 hours if that gives you any perspective. The most extreme of extreme security measures have and will be taken to ensure the safety of the delegates that are here and will be coming.

Schools are closing, troops and police are plentiful, and even manholes are being sealed up. Strasbourg is shutting down this weekend.

Good thing I'm leaving for Paris, right? Not so fast.

I'm catching a 9 am train to the "City of Lights" tomorrow and as a result will be missing the town meeting that President Obama is holding for American citizens that will take place early that afternoon.

My friends are volunteering to aide the president in ensuring that the meeting runs smoothly. I could've been able to meet President Obama!

And I'm missing my chance almost as quickly as it came :(.

Nonetheless I hope that his time here is worthwhile and productive in protecting our (American (U.S. & Canada) and European) solidarity, freedom, and security.

Perhaps he may even be inspired by the recent green developments in the European Union lately, including new energy-efficient buildings, energy performance requirements for appliances, and a greater investment in the infrastructure like public transport.

I sincerely hope that with President Obama and countless leaders from around the world we have a bright future to look forward to. Literally.

And I'll leave you with that, everything that has been on my mind (and in my mouth) for the past couple of days. I've got to get ready for my weekend getaway, a very full schedule of art museums with my class and social plans with Marie and others. I guess I have nothing to be too upset about then, do I? Take care lovelies, wherever you may be :).