There are somethings about Paris that make the list of must-sees, and must-dos for anyone coming for a short stay. I will compile a list at the end of my year here and leave it as the last entry--a relic of a year gone by.

There are also a million little adventures to be had. Thousands of things are happening everyday in this city and these are part of what makes it such a great place to live. Every city has their quirks--and--well, Paris has quite a few. Most things can be appreciated in passing: The angry strikers lining the street in November, the equally angry 13-year olds in the Parc de St. Cloud every Friday morning on their required run for class, the man outside of Notre Dame last Sunday just about to take off on his "bike ride around the world", etc... These are the things that you can not escape when living in a big city, they are the moments that give Paris her character.

Most of the time I prefer to be the passerby, smiling under my French "face" and taking pictures when possible. Over this last semester, I have gathered quite a collection of these moments. Most will have to wait until I return as I can't access all of my pictures--but I can share a few from this past month:

A Rolls Royce parked outside of the Armani Emporium on my way to class. Was the big guy checking out his merchandise?!

Of course the BEST Converses come in neon orange and purple/turquoise!

Harder to see, this is a funeral at St. Germain de Pres: the church near my school. The crowds were massive and there were news crews everywhere. We learned it was "Carlos" a famous French singer who lived on the block.

Sometimes, however, it is just as cool to be right in the thick of it. This last weekend, my French Revolution and Napoleon course took a walking tour of "revolutionary Paris". We met at 1pm and C and I returned home at midnight after a full day of wandering the streets of Paris, seeing the houses where Robespierre, Danton, and Marat lived (and it Marat's case--and died), eating crepes outside the Concergerie where Marie Antoinette was held prisoner before her execution, passing by the home of Dr. Guillotine--the inventor of the "more humanitarian" killing machine, and enjoying a dinner at a pizza place with the rest of our mixed francophone/anglophone class.

Here is our American professor standing up on a post next to the Louvre. We picked up a few tourists on our way.

At 7pm we reached the Church of the Madeleine with intention of WATCHING the planned event for that night. It was the anniversary of Louis XVIth sentence to death in 1793 and we had heard rumors that the Action Francaise was putting on a procession to commemorate the event. Before we knew it, we were surrounded by 200 members. Royalists. Monarchists. After playing up the American tourist facade, we learned that they are a group of very Catholic, old money, families who believe that Louis was "murdered". They are for a monarchy--to them, the French republic is the down fall of society. Keep in mind, this was over 200 years ago. They even passed out fliers for their next meeting where they would be discussing the necessity for a return to the Franc--no more Euro!! The handed us candles and song sheets and began to march and sing.. at this point, there was little we could do and we were enveloped by the crowd and carried along to the church where Louis and Marie Antoinette are buried. Here, the laid flowers at their graves and made speeches. Most entertaining of all was that the participants were all members of conservative, upper class families: there were little boys in scouts uniforms, and girls in pea coats and the best leather boots, there were elderly women in furs and 20 year-old men sporting white scarfs. Not the kind of crowd you would have expected. The whole route was lined with media and people watched from their apartments perched nice and high--unlike us--they were safe from being identified as part of this extremist crowd. In the end, it was one Paris moment among many, but one that I will never forget.

I think this video will better illustrate: Steph and Carly are the ones with the gasping faces!