il fait du soleil...sort of

though today has been pretty cloudy, lately the weather in paris has been amazing! lots of flowers out and buds/young leaves on the trees. they've planted a lot on boulevard richard lenoir. our apartment is along the right.

last week i walked up the boulevard, which eventually turns into the canal st. martin. then the canal turns into the bassin de la vilette. then the canal de l'ourc. etc etc. it was raining but i chased the patch of blue sky and eventually found it!

this is heading towards the 19th arrondisement, which is known for being more diverse (no doubt related to the fact that it is on the peripheral border of the city proper - which separates it from the banlieues or suburbs). it looks much different than the neighborhoods i've been to so far and was a welcome change of scenery! there were some people kayaking, canal boat tours, a hip movie theater with rooms on either side of the river, boats that hold concerts and yoga lessons, and sweet grafitti.

in art news, i'm starting to work on a paper for my art class and went to the musee d'orsay for inspiration. i found the picture that last time i was there eerily reminded me of dad and dave. (dad 30 years ago, dave with much less hair). henri fantin-latour, un coin de table, 1872. d'apres vous, who's who?
in politics, sarko and obama are hanging out in strasbourg. clearly a lovefest (my prof today said, more or less, 'sarko is way jealous of obama'). speaking of sarko, learned today that a book i'm reading for my lit class - princesse de cleves - has a huge political significance here, especially in the university strikes. sarkozy once went off about how books like the princesse de cleves - considered the first modern french novel - aren't relevant for people like postal workers. in a 'pays d'ecrivains,' as nathalie says, this caused QUITE the stir. guess he's not considered the most intellectual president!