The title of this post was uttered by Christina during our excursion to Sacré Coeur today. I didn't think it was so bad.
The weather report called for a chance of rain at 11am. Why does it always rain when I got to Montmartre (this is the second time that its happened!). I got myself up at 8am and then had a lazy morning getting myself ready to go out. I ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich while checking my emails and rereading the weather report. I was having an internal struggle about wearing my rain boots. I'm still scared after the little episode in Venice, but I hate my rain boots. They're too small and heavy so I end up squashing around all day with hurt feet. I decided to wear them anyway and pick out an outfit with some color (white is a color, right?) so that I wouldn't look like Darth Vader in my black raincoat and boots. I left the house at 9:15 and walked to the metro. I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get to Sacré Coeur.
It must have been rush hour because the metro was super busy. I stopped to buy more metro tickets before taking the one to Concorde. I was supposed to transfer to the 12 from Concorde, but in the mass of people, I couldn't find the platform! The sign wasn't two sided, and I accidently walked past it when it didn't mention my direction. I forgot that google maps refers to the direction as Front Populaire (after the Socialist party of the same name) and that the metro calls it something else. I finally made my way to the platform and took the metro until Abesses (literally monks).
I took the elevator upstairs (I'm never taking the stairs at Abesses ever again) and was greeted by the rain. It was actually coming down pretty hard. I put up my umbrella and hood and started to walk. There's actually another metro in Montmartre called the furnicular, but I wasn't about to waste a metro ticket when I could just walk for five minutes. Maybe I shouldn't be so cheap. The two, huge flights of stairs were a workout. I walked through Montmartre and tried to take the short cut to Sacré Coeur. Too bad there was some kind of construction so I had to walk around. I knew I was early so I sat on a bench in front of the lookout terrace in front of the church. The rain was seriously coming down, and I was getting soaked despite having my umbrella up. While I was sitting there, a woman came up to me, blew me a kiss, and tried to get me to sign a petition for deaf and blind people. Why is your petition in English in France? Scam.
A few minutes before class was supposed to start I walked to the front entrance of the church to wait for Christina. I finally spotted her and went down to meet her. She signed me in and gave me the project we were supposed to work on. It was a sheet of paper with a vague outline, of what was supposed to be mosaic behind the altarpiece, on it. I took it inside and sat in the back of the church. Security was tight and I didn't want to get yelled out for filling in a worksheet instead of praying. We got 45 minutes to work on our project. We were supposed to fill in the sheet with either numbers corresponding to a legend or drawings.
I couldn't see anything, except for a huge Jesus, from the back of the church. I finally moved closer and then got the bright idea to walk around and behind the altar. It was like night and day. I was able to see every little detail of the mosaic from that close up. I struggled to identify some of the figures, but I did appreciate how beautiful it was. I was a sad that I didn't get to study the decoration in the rest of the church, but I managed to see some of it inbetween filling out the worksheet. As we were going outside to meet Christina, a mass began. There was a nun singing on stage, and I felt like the Lord might come down to yell at me for my evil, worksheet filling out ways. We scampered out of the church and into the rain.
It was pouring my this point. Christina looked like a sad, wet dog smoking and trembling in the rain because refuses to use umbrellas. She says that if you use an umbrella then you're only left with one hand to do things. I think it's worth it. We tried to talk about the symbolism of the mosaic but we were all cold in wet. I tried to talk notes, but life really is complicated when you're holding an umbrella, a pen, and a notebook with papers coming out of it.
Next up we walked to the Church of St. Pierre. Of course on the day we're there a man is vaccuuming the church. We can't catch a break. We talked for a bit before leaving to see a fountain and a statue in a nearby park. Christina let us out 10 minutes early because she just couln't take it anymore. I feel bad that she had to lecture for another group.
Morgan and I walked back down the hill and got on the metro. I took the metro to Madeleine and then transfered to the eight. After mom's badgering, I decided to stop and get Caroline a small hostess gift. Mom suggested flowers, but I thought that it was unpractical. Caroline and Marcel don't live in the country home full time and I'm sure they don't want to be carting around a plant. I went into Monoprix and agonized over chocolates. I finally picked out two small packages that weren't too expensive and went to pay. My total was six euros on the dot. The cashier and I smiled at each other over this little miracle and then I went into the rain.
I stopped to get a baguette for lunch and then came upstairs to pack. I am taking my small suitcase with me this weekend. I know that I'm only going to be gone for a short time, but I have books and boots and a coat that needs to go with me. It might be overkill, but it's already packed. I read half of Horne chapter 17, edited my histories rewrite (that is sounding much better), edited my pop paper (that's barely making any progress at all), and then finished the other half of Horne before studying for French.
Now it's time for a shower before I have to meet Caroline at 6:45 at France Studios. At least it stopped raining. Countryside, here I come.
*Oh, I'll be away from the internet until Sunday. You'll just have to wait to hear about my adventures. I miss you already.
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