A little film history...

Yesterday, C and I went to "La Cinematheque Francaise," which is the French Film History Museum.

This museum is AWESOME!! For one, they have a full calendar of classic films they play throughout the month (Everything from French Film Noir to 'Land of the Dead.') Secondly, their exhibits are huge, well conceived, and most of the displays have English plaques! The only floor all in French is their Permanent history of Film display, and that comes with a free English audio tour!

What I originally went for was the Melies exhibit. If you want to know more about Melies, check here.

For the most part, he is recognized for the film with this iconic image:

The museum has a huge collection of his cameras, notes, film props, etc. Very cool and important!

One entire floor right now is dedicated to Dennis Hopper.. It's not so much about his films, as it is about him as a person.  Pieces from his art collection, some of the photographs he has taken (he is a great photographer), and some clips from different projects he has been involved in!

Two other things I thought that were very cool was the original film prop "Mother Bates" head from Psycho, that was a gift to the museum from Hitchcock, and a version of the woman robot from METROPOLIS that was built for the museum by the guy who built the one for the original film.

Treasure Hunting....

Today we went to a giant brochante in the Bastille area! Essentially, it is like a giant, very high end outdoor flea market! Stuff ranges from 5 euro to 20,000 euro! It's really fun! 

We didnt go with anything in mind.. Just to look..  and to drink the hot wine that booths seemed to be serving!

We did however, find a treasure..  a 1920s liquor set..  We had been wanting one for a while, and we thought this one was perfect!!!

Afterwards we walked home and stopped at a chocolate shop for a snack! Good day!

New presi!

Here is a sign that was in the window of the bookstore where we saw David Sedaris read last night.  There are a lot of posters in windows and newstands with Obama on the cover, but I had to take a picture of this. 

I think its awesome that Obama was elected, it shows so many things about the people of our country and what a democracy is really about, electing officials that we want to run our country.  What I was most impressed about is the number of people who voted, that is really remarkable and to have a president that gets people out there to take action.  It is, in my opinion, exactly what our country needs.  I hope that the momentum keeps up and that not only will Obama take this opportunity to make positive changes for our country, but that Americans see this as we can do something, we can make changes and all we need is to get up and do it!

David Sedaris and the 6th

Today was a fun day in Paris. they are all fun, just different levels of fun. 

Today was a 9.

We started out the day going on a walking tour of our area of Paris. For those that dont know ('those' being maybe one of the three people who are following our journey) we live in a district of Paris called 'The 6th.' The 6th has two famous churches... St. Germain, being the oldest church in Paris, and St. Sulpice, which is the church that recently found fame in 'The Divinci Code' (Unwanted fame, according to the church!) The walk took us through both churches, through the streets where Picaso, Delacroix, and Catherine Deneuve all lived, and to the cafes where Hemminway would sit and write his stories.

After that, we stopped and had lunch at a great new place that the tour guide told us about.

We ended up back at home at about 3 pm, and sort of rested up.. because at 7 PM, an English bookstore down the street was having a reading with Courtney and my favorite comedic author, DAVID SEDARIS!!! (He apparently has a place in the 6th!) He was HILARIOUS! He was there to promote his new book, but before the reading he told us all he was sick of it, so he read some of his other short stories! Each was funnier than the next. I swear I looked at Courtney once and she was actually crying from laughing so hard!!

After the talk, we formed a line to get books signed, and what impressed C and I most was that everyone that came up for an autograph, he talked to! What is your name, what are you doing in Paris, etc...  Sometimes, he would try to guess your astrological signs.. He guessed me a Pisces, not right..  haha

Im my book, he wrote "To Tyler, David Sedaris" and drew a picture of some misseltoe, (other people got turtle drawings, etc...  and in C's book he wrote "To Courtney, I am so Happy that you are alive, David Sedaris" 

After that, we went to our favorite Italian restaurant for dinner.. We started out just going for a quick bite.. then the owner sat and had dinner next to us, and we were having such a great time we got dinner, dessert, and coffee!!!

Today was an A+ as far as fun days in Paris go!!! Here is a picture of David. After I took this, they gave a "no photos" talk, and afterwards when a fan wanted a picture, he was told "I don't have my picture taken." So this is rare!! haha

3 days in Beaune

Court and I decided to take another trip out of Paris. Instead of leaving the country, we chose to go to the town of Beaune (literally pronounced "Bone") in the Burgandy region. We took a 90 minute train ride to Dijon (yes, after the mustard) and then changed trains and took a 20 minute ride to Beaune. We stayed at a small, very cozy and nice Bed and Breakfast / winery called "Le Jardin Du Lois."

Beaune is a sleepy, beautiful town. When we got there everything was closed (closed because it's Monday...  strange) so we booked a van tour of the burgandy vineyards. This was a really fun, 3 hour drive all through the areas wine region.. Their "Napa." We saw the vineyard of the most expensive wine in the world, ROMANEE CONTI, whose annual production of "Grand Cur" is 5000 bottles, which sell out immediately at 10,000 EURO per bottle!

After that, we came back and got ready for our dinner. We made reservations at a 12th century castle / chateau (It was a strange hybrid of the two) which was about 25 minutes out of town. It was a classic multi course French dining experience. 

1) Lobster Bisque

2) Frois Gras

3) Sword Fish over artichokes

4) Lime Sorbet floated in Lychee liquor

5) Fillet with rabbit sauce (me), Chicken (C)

6) Cheese sampling

7) Apricot Custard

8) Caramel Soufflé with ice cream and Grand Marnier

It was a huge, huge meal.

The next day we got up and went to HOTEL DIEU, which is a museum of the hospice hospital in town. It was built in the 1400's and was in use up until only about 20 years ago! It is the "must see" of Beaune history. Also, every year, the hospice holds the worlds largest charity sale. the nuns that now own / run the hospice have been given acres and acres of prime wine growing land, and every year they auction / sell the hundreds of barrels of prime wine that they harvest.

We spent 2 nights in Beaune. Tuesday was a 'normal' day there.. Stores were open (except for the 2.5 hours a day they were closed for lunch.. even including food places)   Wednesday we had our train ride back to Paris. Before we got on the train, we went to the Mustard Museum. It was actually a lot more interesting than it sounds. (I know.. it SOUNDS thrilling....) It was especially nice since we were the only ones there, and we got a private tour in English.

These pictures arent in any real order..  Blogger is a little tricky that way..

These flower arrangements are all over Beaune, almost on every street light  (Beaune isnt too big.. everywhere you go, when you ask where something is, its always "a 3 minute walk away.")

This is Courtney sitting on the wall in front of the ROMANEE vineyard.
Another shot of the ROMANEE vineyard. The cross is there in memory of the family that first founded the vineyard hundreds of years ago.
This was "Lulu" our guide to the vineyards. He was very friendly and very into wine. 
Have you ever seen a happier person making mustard? Making mustard is AWESOME. I'm going to do it back in America.
Just a town view from walking around Beaune. 
Courtney made a new friend at the mustard museum. We named him DIJON.
The castle / chateau we had our 8 course meal in.
Court in the park in Beaune.
The lights and flowers of Beaune. All this is done just in preparation for the large wine sale.

(It is in 2 weeks)
Sunset view from out hotel!

Musee Magic & Our next trip...

Today C and I went to the Museum of Magic...

This was a cool museum, although very small for the entrance fee..

(9 euro each.. should have been 5)

This would have been a great place to bring a kid, and I think it would have been much more interesting if I could read French. It is (I think) full of vintage magic tricks, and props from an (I think) famous French magician named Robert-Houdin... This was what I sort of was able to translate..

Either way, it was a fun to see museum that could be gone through entirely in 20 minutes.. They had live magic shows, and live magic explanations, but being all in French, C and I were lost..

(But the people who understood seemed fascinated!)

Tomorrow we go on our 3rd trip..  Again, like Provence, we are doing it in France. This time, to the region of Burgandy!  We are staying 3 days, 2 nights!  We already have reservations to eat dinner in one of the castes down there.. Should be fun! We will do a post about it with pics in a few days!

Game Time:

We just also finished watching one of the most boring movies I have ever seen..  Ill buy anyone who can guess the title a box of macaroons...

Hint: It was nominated for best picture, and it starred Brad Pitt.

Paris Walks

Today is a big Holiday in France.  It is called 'All Saints Day.' Today is the day they honor their dead. Ironic that they dont celebrate Halloween, but spend the entire next day at the cemetery... Anyhow....

There is a tour company here that does english tours. You get a calendar, and every day they have one or two tours that you can go on.. Todays tour was "Crimes and Mysteries of Paris," which sounded kind of fun, and I wanted to see more of Paris than just the 6th... (C wasn't into the tour today, so I went solo)

The tour had 6 people, all from the US, and lasted about 2 hours. It mostly talked about Medieval Paris, up until the French Revolution. We saw Paris' "Torture Tower," the spot where Marie Antionette was put on trial, the square where public executions were once held, and the exact spot where the king Henry 4th was assassinated.

Crazy facts! The last public execution in France was in the 1930's, and the last death by guillotine was in 1977!

This company also does a tour of the Paris Opera house, and a "Paris chocolate" tour, that C and I are thinking about going on!

Speaking of tours and walking.... These socks were BRAND new before we came to Paris. I bought all new pairs and didnt even open them until we unpacked in the apartment.. This is how much walking we have been doing  (all 6 new pairs I brought look the same)