Big Day

Wow, I had a great day, no joke. Here's a breakdown.

6:30: I woke up early because my neighbor was listening to TV in her room, even though we made a noise-control pact earlier in the year that she wouldn't make any noise after 4:00. I felt kind of gross, not having slept well, partially due to the anxiety of the expose that was due the next day; that is, Friday. I lay in bed, even after my alarm went off, just not wanting to face the day.

7:15: I struggled out of bed, put on my nicest button-down white shirt and the pair of shorts without the hole in it, and ate some yogurt while reviewing my expose transcript.

8:00: Class began in the Provinces of France building in the Cite Universitaire, where I live. The first order of the day was my joint expose with Pauline. The assignment was the analysis of one of one of the ministries under Louis XIV; on my suggestion, we had chosen the ministry of finances, not only because it was the most famous and apparently the most important, but because a certain Mother of mine talks a lot about the Comptroller General, a certain M. Colbert (and, hey, I am taking this class partially because I just want a better understanding of what the family historian studies). Louis made a real revolution of the whole royal administration when his personal rule began in 1661, and he began with the finances. Pauline explained the general power structure of the ministry, why it was part of Louis' government-by-council, and how it managed to control just about anything else. I discussed first the presence of the ministry in the provinces (mostly a description of royal taxation, the ministry's most important task), and then the judicial limits and institutional rivals of the ministry. The prof. grilled us, asking me, for instance, what the royal domain was (successfully fielded), what the most important indirect taxes were (I got gabelle right, but not traite), and whether I was certain that the Court of Justice I was describing wasn't actually a Chamber of Justice (it was a Chamber).

10:00 After class, my prof. talks to me about the weekly assignments that the class is supposed to be completing, and which I have been doing my best to complete, but which I have not been fully understanding, apparently. Pretty, much every student needs to prepare a weekly "introduction" to the week's primary-source reading. Basically, we don't need to actually write a composition on the reading, but we need to prepare an introduction as if we were. The prof. (he's a prof. in France, but he would just be a student in the U.S.) really doesn't want me to work too hard on these intros, because of the language barrier. He also discussed the expose, saying that our main problem was that we chose the most complicated ministry; we should have just written about War or the King's Household, or something like that. Oops. Furthermore, although the whole project was well-done and well-researched, part II, the part on which I had lavished the most amount of time, was off-topic, because it was not about the ministry itself, only about the process which it supervised. At least Pauline was patient with me, as she always is. I don't feel comfortable being the object of indulgence and lax guidelines, but it's true that all of the other students have been writing introductions and preparing exposes for three years now, and know what the instructors expect of them. I don't. I think the instructors are happy with my effort, even if the results are sub-par; that could just be me, however. I walked back to my dorm with Pauline and her friend, who left to get on the Metro; Pauline had woken up at 5:50 that morning in order to be certain of arriving on time...

10:50 I left on my run, which I really needed, after that expose. No, really. I took a 50-60 minute lope around the Cite U grounds, and then around the Montsouris Park. I was kind of tired, so I didn't push myself too hard (I left that for the next day). I get back to my dorm, find that the bathrooms are finally open again, take a quick shower, make a sandwich, which I eat on my way out.

12:25 I boarded the Metro at Porte d'Orleans. Although I don't usually ride the Metro, my rendez-vous is at 1:00 in the 2nd arrondissement, and I just wouldn't have had the time to walk that distance. I arrive at the Bourse metro station (bourse has many meaning in French, including "chest" and "scholarship," but in this context, it means "stock market"), and wait outside of the exit, where I'm supposed to meet Prof. Longino (EDUCO pres.), a tourguide, and the other students, none of whom I see. Where is everyone? I decide to just walk over to the Musee Carnavelet instead, and not wait around for a tour I can't find.

1:10 I see Prof. Longino, who is walking towards me; apparently, the Metro has 2 exits, and, no, the info I received did not specify outside of which one. Well, no use complaining: the tour begins of the financial district of the 2nd arrondissement. There's a Parisian saying which I should mention before I go any further: La Rive Gauche pense , et la Rive Droite dèpense, or "The left bank thinks, and the right bank spends." The left bank (south of the Seine, the side of town where I spend virtually all of my time) is the location of the Latin Quarter, whereas the right bank, which I rarely visit, now, is the site of the banks, the stock exchange, etc., as well as many of the large department stores, such as the Galleries Lafayette. Our guide showed us a few of the local sites, such as a street designed by Napoleon I, designed entirely with pillars and other Egyptian-style motifs, and brought us around to one of the former giant warehouse/department stores of the 19th century, as well as to the former Parisian branch of the bank of Lyons, which was remarkable for 1) its very small minimum deposits, and 2) its universal accessibility: you could draw upon the same account whether you were in Paris, Lyons, or any of the other branches. A little but of the general history which our guide described to us was familiar to me already (such as the 1720 failure of John Law's "System"), or I had learned from the documentary which Prof. Longino had forwarded to us ahead of time, "Au Bonheur des Dames," which the history of the Grands Magasins ("department stores") of Paris, in particular, that of the Bon Marche, but she was also full of observations on city planning, art nouveau architecture, the Paris skyline, and quotations from Balzac and Zola.

3:00 We ended the tour on the top floor of the Galleries Lafayette. The view is phenomenal from there, and it's even better when you're with a guide who can tell you which steeple is which. It's also only from there that you can really appreciate the size of the Paris Opera House, which is just next door, and even higher! If you ever happen to be in Paris, and walk by the Galleries Lafayette, I highly recommend you take the 10-20 minutes to mount the stairs (checking out the colorful art nouveau cupola on the way) and take in the view. The girls all went back inside to go shopping, and I realized that I had the rest of the afternoon to do whatever I wanted. What did I want? I wanted to check out the Louvre (for the 4th time).

3:40 I entered the Louvre, and headed to the temporary exhibit, on the world of Alexander the Great. I saw some great stuff, and some not-so-great stuff. In general, what makes the Louvre better than most other museums is that it's collections are so enormous that it can afford to show the absolute cream of the cream, the masterpieces of the masters, etc. However, in the Macedonia exhibit, everything was out for exhibit, even objects of secondary importance to the life, times, and legacy of Alex. But let me focus on the positive. I saw an amazing golden Bacchic funerary crown of oak leaves, for Alex's dead son, Heracles; I saw silver vessels from the tomb of Phillip II, Alex's dad (and, in my opinion, more deserving of credit than his universally-known son). I saw examples of Macedonian glass-work (mostly long perfume bottles), gold-work (many spiral motifs and forms), and pottery (OK, it looked an awful lot like other, contemporaneous Greek pottery). There were grave goods, including two or three "reconstructed" tomb dioramas, coins, highway markers, pillars, statues, and figurines. I saw a slightly worn bust of a passionate young Alex, made shortly after his premature death, and a bronze "aegis-bearing" statuette of him, a motif which became a sort of popular talisman.

6:00 I got a call from Bruno, while leaving the Louvre, and we decide the meet the next day, to visit the Parisian catacombs (wait until the next blog entry to read all about it).

6:25 I stopped by Gibert Jeune, in order to pick up a copy of Moliere's L'Ecole des Femmes (The School for Wives). Gibert Jeune is one of the two stores I really enjoy in France, and I wish could be found in the U.S. (the other is my favorite boulangerie). It is a massive bookstore, with a mix of used and new items, taking up several buildings just south of the Place Saint-Michel. I couldn't find any used copies, but the new copies, complete with an introduction and copious notes, was only 2,80, which is pretty cheap for France.

7:10 I make it to the student cafeteria at CROUS, in order to eat dinner.

8:25 I get back to my dorm, and read Le Roi-Machine for most of the rest of the evening.

12:00 I go to bed early -- it's been a really long week!

"Plus il est traite comme un dieu, plus il se comporte en petit bourgeois dans son quotidien... il se plait a entendre pour la emieme fois les airs a sa gloire composes par Lulli, et que les musiciens de l'Academie viennent lui chanter" [The more Louis XIV was treated as a god, the more he acted like a petty-bourgeoisie in his daily life. He was satisfied to hear, for the ninth time, the odes to his glory composed by Lulli, which the musicians of the Royal Academy came to sing for him] (Jean-Marie Apostolides, Le roi-machine, 138).