Fourth of July - Paris style

It's been a busy couple days... and classes haven't even begun.

Can't remember what I did on Friday. I think mostly details sorts of things. Grocery store runs. Sleeping in a bit. EAMA meeting that night. And getting to bed early. Didn't get into the city. I was way too tired.

Doesn't really matter though because yesterday and the day before made up for it.

Yesterday we went out to Ravel's house in Montfort. Super cool little town. Very quaint. Quaint as in the smallest town I've ever seen. In the town center are some sandwich shops and a gorgeous cathedral. Probably small by cathedral standards, but for a small town, a very large church. It's the sort of church that I imagine the entire town walking filing out of on Christmas eve in good cheer to snow-covered buildings. Very picturesque with gorgeous stained glass, some that was leaded, but remained unpainted. The first I'd ever seen glass that old that wasn't finished. The bells chimed every quarter hour. Apparently Ravel was an insomniac and had an ordinance passed to stop the chiming of the bells past 11. When they rang, they rang for a LONG time. So I sympathized with him.



(Flowers on the hillside. Looked like something my mom would put in her garden)

His house is great. He was a very small man. Close to 5'1". His house definitely reflected that. Very narrow hallways. Very low ceilings. He was somewhat obsessive and a jokester. His house was filled with little toys, practical jokes, and knick-knacks that he collected. He was a craftsman and painted and modified his house just to the way he liked it. He put in a false wall to make a room symmetrical. He painted columns on his bedroom wall upside down so that when he was laying there at night they would appear right-side up. Seeing the way the man lived and connecting his idiosyncrasies to his music was eye opening. The way he lived and viewed life came out in his music. It made me wonder if what I enjoy comes out in music. Or if my music displays my personality and character. It also made me okay with the fact that I still love to watch cartoons.



The town also has some Roman ruins which a group of us went up and saw. I forgot to take a picture but got some pictures of the town from the top of the hill. I heard there was a cemetery there, but I never did get around to seeing it. I ended up talking with different students on the front steps of the church. I pictured us as pigeons, crowding up the town center. We eventually got kicked off the steps and moved to what I thought was a side alley. It ended up being a VERY narrow one way street. We had to move often to move for cars.



I had wanted to check out a diner last year called Breakfast in America, but never made it over. I was talking with folks throughout the day and they said they'd tag along too. I figured it was the best place for a 4th of July anything. 12 of us ended up going over and celebrating the fourth by getting burgers in a place that had red, white, and blue balloons on the walls. The illusionist was playing on the TV, plastic bottles of French's mustard were on the tables, and the waiter and waitresses spoke English with British accents. Fitting that they were serving us dinner on the day we gained our liberty from them. Awesome restaurant. Had a mushroom swiss omelet and tomatoes. 8 Euro for the whole. Burgers were served open faced. The French people next to us ate their top bun separately and their burgers with their forks. All in our group ate with our hands.

Afterwords we walked to Notre Dame and from there walked all the way to the Eiffel Tower. It's a long walk.



Slept well that night.

Today was placement exams. I felt good about it. I hope I made Invertible Cannon and Fugue. I think I'll find out tomorrow. I may also have a lesson tomorrow so I'm gonna have to edit a score tonight. I also found out I'm in Keyboard Harmony IV. It was really hard for me last year so I'm gonna have to step it up. But it's good because I really wanted to spend a good amount of time on Keyboard Harmony for my own music. I think I got my wish.



Also, free museum day. I went and visited my lady at the Louvre (long line to get in, stretched all the way through the courtyard). And also visited my Egyptian friend. For those who know him, Dale Dimapindan also permanently resides in the Louvre. I saw his sculpted head on a pedestal, dated around 1300 BC (? a little sketchy on this because I don't really know french abbreviations.)






I stayed for a couple hours and then made my way to the Rodin museum. Absolutely brilliant. I'll actually post another blog about some of the ideas I got while I was there. A continuation on last year, but I'm still processing. Gorgeous gardens. Great house. I think I'll go back and just hang out in the garden on Bastille Day.



Got back to the dorm around 5 and made a great dinner. Also got some food ready for breakfast tomorrow. I'm off to do some work.

Just wanted to fill you all in.

I leave you with this photo from the Louvre. I have the name plate and painter if you're dying to know, but it reminded me of sci-fi baby Jesus portrait. I realize it probably loses something in the translation, but I like to call it "The Christ-child Strikes Back."



-Brandon