Quick Update

Hello all! Quick update on a few of my adventures this past week...

I went to the national ballet at the Opera Bastille! I'd really really wanted to see the Paris ballet company while I was here, so that was awesome- plus, I won my ticket in an IES contest so it was free! It was a really interesting show- it didn't really have a title, other than Soiree Noureev/Balanchine/Forsythe. Those were the 3 choreographers, and the idea was that each of them demonstrated a different approach to dance. The first piece was very minimalist- one or two dancers at a time, in practice leotards, concentrating on the purity of the form. The second was a grand spectacle style ball, with elaborate costumes and gala group numbers. The third was modern ballet, with the curtain going up and down as the dancers made formations and such. The whole thing was lovely, and I'm so glad I got to go!

Last night I went to a play at the theatre des bouffes du nord, which is Peter Brook's theater in Paris. The show was made up of 5 fragments from different Samuel Beckett works, and was quite excellent. It was interesting to see Beckett played in France, because so much of his work is rooted here- and it was the first non-Shakespearian play I've seen done by Peter Brook (and the only time I've seen one of his plays live). The theater was very cool too- the perfect type of space for Brook (and Beckett at that).

Saturday my friend Whitney and I took the train (and then the bus) out to the chateau at Fontainebleau, the royal (and eventually empirical) hunting lodge. I loved it- I was primarily interested because that's where Francois I brought his favored Italian artists to work, but that turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg. The coolest thing about Fontainebleau was the fact that in just a single room you could see hallmarks of so many epochs- for instance, in Napoleon's throne room the decor was his, along with his crest, but on one portion of the ceiling you could see Henri IV's fleur de lys and H's, the wallpaper still had Francois I's salamanders, the Boucher paintings over the doors were commissioned by Louis XV, etc. After touring the chateau we had a nice picnic lunch and then explored the grounds and the town before heading back to Paris.

As far as my list progress other than the ballet and Fontainebleau...
-I saw the interior of Sainte Chapelle on a sunny day. The windows are just spectacular and I was surprised by how small and intimate it was.
-Went inside of Notre Dame, spent some time enjoying the decor and architecture. It was, of course, lamentably crowded.
-Climbed to the top of Notre Dame. The view, although certainly not as spectacular as from the dome of Sacre Coeur, was lovely. Moreso because knowing Paris so well now I was able to recognize just about everything I was looking at. Plus it was a cool angle on the architecture.

I also spent some time wandering/reading by the Seine on a sunny day. And I rescued Harold Bloom- someone had moved him to a different room in Shakespeare & Co, but I stubbornly found him (I'm not giving up on my 494 pages of progress!).

Tomorrow morning I leave for my 10 day trip through Morocco, which I'm super excited about. It will mark my first time venturing out of Paris this semester, and I can't wait. I'll likely be out of touch while I'm there, but I'm sure I'll have lots to write when I get back!

Love and miss you all!