Tonight G. and I went for an amazing bike ride through the Bois de Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris. We passed the chateau de vincennes which was immense, it’s quite ridiculous to realize how stinking rich the royals actully were when you come face to face with one of the places they built. K. leant me her grandmother’s sea green pugeut bicycle and it’s so perfect for tooling around the city, though it shakes and shudders, I feel so free being able to explore the city by bike.

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Originally uploaded by killerfemme.

On the Canal de St; Martin, an area that is incresingly branché (hip yuppie) but I found it pretty neat. Um, I hate to say it, but this rivals the graffiti in the Brooklyn Museum’s Graffiti show.

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Originally uploaded by killerfemme.

So obviously I love horses so I couldn’t resist this horse on top of the carousel near tourist infested Sacre Coeur, which G; told me was built after the first Paris Commune to wash away the sins of the communarts. Thata made me look at it way differently.

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Originally uploaded by killerfemme.

Chirac’s museum, the Quai Branly (see entry below for a critique) and the Eiffel Tower in the background, classic landmark and new institution. Where’s the dialogue?

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Originally uploaded by killerfemme.

Looking over the Seine at sunset. Is this what makes Paris romantique?

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Originally uploaded by killerfemme.

What more to say? I went up theEiffel Tower with my family when I was 12, so I am spared that tourist rite now. It’s still a good photographic subject though.

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Originally uploaded by killerfemme.

On a very hot day last week I went walking in theJardin des Plantes. My favorite part was a wmall labyrinth which lead up to this coupola.

This past week I went to the new museum for “primitive” art, Quai Branly, which just opened and has been called Chirac’s project. Interesting that he should go on about “dialogue” accross cultures while immigrants are being treated so badly in France and while legislation has been passed that students without papers in schools can be deported. I thought the special exhibtion of Chiwara masks spoke to this contradiction. The way they were displayed silhouetted them against a window through which you could view the Paris skyline. I think this is a metaphor for the treatment of the “other” in a northern/western postcolonial nation- separate, an object of interest, curiosity, desire and maybe study, part of the society, but only in specific ways which are defined by the majority, relegated to their own separate places, objects to admire but not see as participants in a dialogue, and still a bit mysterious, weird and strange. Wait, sounds a lot like colonial nations.

Right now cries of “Allez les bleues!” ring out from everywhere. There is a quiet tension building up for the match this evening. Some kids have proposed a huge critical mass style bike ride through Paris while the streets are empty due to everyone watching the game. I will be watching though and not riding as I am spending the weekend at my sister’s house 60 km outside of Paris.

Today I completely forgot the significance of today’s date for some people in the US until I sat down on Gael’s windowsill to write in my journal and wrote the date. Hah hah hah happy birthday US, or not, this probably being the best fourth of july I have ever spent since I don’t have to acknowledge it at all (and yet I am).

Speaking French is actually not that scary (speaking it correctly being another matter all together), but I am somewhat baffled that anyone could actually understand what I am saying and I know my pronounciation totaly sucks. An example of this being that I totaly confused a waistress in a sushi restaraunt by asking for “suelement concomber, pas de saumon” but my “seulement” (only) sounded too much like “saumon” (salmon) and so I ended up with salmon sushi, which I embarassingly had to explain why I could not eat. But I will always enounciate “seulement” from now on.

The other students at the language school are from countries all over the world, easing my fears somewhat that I would just be surrounded by a bunch of people from the US. It’s a nice challenge too because often French is the only language we really have in common and so if I want to have someone to talk to and eat lunch with I have to talk to people in French. It also automatically makes me really open and friendly with people, which is a nice feeling.

Now if only I could always use the correct tenses when I speak that would be awesome.

I have arrived and wandered around and felt out of it and then went to the bois de vincennes with gael and we ate sandwiches and looked at swans. So far the pace of Paris is to my liking. But tonight is the big France vs. Brazil game and though I do not plan to watch I am sure I will know about it either way.