Cato, the Pigeon Man, and an afternoon of wandering

Well, I've spent the rest of the time since Monday in class...things are going pretty well. In general, although being in class is harder than at Richmond (due to that whole being-in-French thing), I have much less homework (although it's also harder). My class at Cato is the only one that's really stressing me out. So far it is three hours a week of lecture. The Wednesday afternoon is the worst since it is two hours straight. The professor gives us a 2-or-3 minute break in the middle of class and everyone just kind of puts their heads on the desk with exhaustion. He talks twice as fast as I'm used to, and even the French students are having trouble keeping up with the constant flow of information. They're very sympathetic to we 3 American girls, and always ask how we're doing and if we're understanding. The good thing is that the professor does repeat a lot of stuff and rephrase it, so even if I don't get it the first time I usually can get it the second time around. The French students are also really nice about letting us peek at their notes if we didn't get something.
So there's this interesting thing going on at IES. IES is located in an apartment building, people actually live on the upper floors, and IES has renovated the lower floors to act as offices and classrooms. There's a courtyard in the middle of the building, like a lot of French apartment buildings. In this courtyard (I'm assuming he must live there or he wouldn't be able to get in), most nice days, sits a man with a pigeon in a cage. My art history teacher told us he's harmless and very nice, he just sits outside with his lawn chair and his pigeon and his cigar. I just think it's really amusing so I thought I'd share. Megan hates him because she hates pigeons (there are a multitude of them in Paris so that's kind of unfortunate).
Oh, I am pretty sure I no longer look like a tourist, because today alone 3 people asked me for directions, and it has happened a few times this week. More on that later.
Today was Thursday so I went wandering on my own again. I followed Mom's advice and went to the Ile Ste-Louis. It was really pretty there! There are a lot of salons du thé (tearooms) and cute little boutiques. Most notably, there is Berthillon, which is like the premier ice cream of France. I'd heard a lot about it so I went to get myself some ice cream, a really rich chocolate. I ate it on the steps of the Eglise Ste-Louis-en-Ile, and then went inside. They have a really amazing organ and give free concerts occasionally, so I'd love to go sometime.
However, my nice afternoon turned a little weird when I was walking to the bridge to Ile de la Cité. I was walking along the Seine and a man stopped in his car and asked if I could give him directions. I said ok and asked him what he was looking for, staying on the sidewalk (which was a good 10 feet from his car), since I was the only person within about 200 yards. He asked if I spoke Italian and I said no, just French and English. He was waving a map and kept asking me to come closer to the car, but not only am I not dumb to begin with, but IES had warned us about going up to strangers' cars even when they ask for directions, so I just asked him what he was looking for. He finally started asking if I was afraid of him, and I said no, but I was fine where I was. He then proceeded to get angry and said he would go away and ask someone "plus intelligent" (smarter), and I said fine, so he left. I was a little freaked out after that so I called Megan for comfort, haha.
Luckily I was almost to Notre-Dame, so I went to the Crypte Archeologique underneath the square there! The crypte is basically underground foundations from both the 1700s and Gallo-Roman times, and a little museum about the history of Paris. I saw things like city walls from the 3rd century and a sewer from when the Romans ruled Paris, as well as some foundations and basements from 17th-century shops.
I decided to finish up my afternoon by getting some more use out of my Louvre card. So I went to the Louvre and decided to go through the entire section of Egyptian antiquities...it's two floors and pretty large. But it was really interesting! They organized everything into little sections-agriculture, food, music, games, make-up, magic. And then, of course, came the death stuff. An entire room of sarcophaguses (sarcophagi?), and statues galore. Once I got up to the second floor, the rooms started to remind me that the Louvre was, after all, the king's palace before Versailles was built. The rooms actually got more interesting than what was in them, haha. So I took some pictures of the paintings on the ceilings and such.
Tomorrow morning I have to be at the bus to go to Normandy at 6:45, which means getting up around 5 am. Ick. But it should be a really fun weekend! I'll be back Saturday night, presumably with tons of pictures and a long blog entry.
oh, all my pictures from today are on my Picasa account:
http://picasaweb.google.com/amandamarz