This morning I put my friends Sarah and Jim into a cab to the airport, since the RER was not running properly because of some electrical problem. They had come in from Terre Haute, Indiana for the week, and their visit was most blogworthy.
Sarah and Jim arrived last Saturday. We did some walking around in the afternoon, at Notre-Dame and the Shakespeare & Company bookstore. Then we had a nice late lunch/early dinner. On Sunday they were planning to go to the Louvre and I thought I wasn’t going with them, but then in the morning I decided I really wanted to go to the Louvre again after all. I was glad I did. We rediscovered the flying monk who breaks some debtors out of prison, and the grisly ax-in-the-head depictions of St. Peter the Martyr and St. Angelo.
On Monday we tried to go to Père Lachaise Cemetery, but there was much consternation around the entrance. It turned out that the cemetery was closed, because the previous day had been windy and rainy and several tombstones had been knocked over. An excitable gentleman wearing a silk-screened Jim Morrison jacket explained this to us. So we made our way to the Eiffel Tower instead, then wandered a bit. We ended up finding some Irish pubs on the Left Bank, as well as a plaque on Rue de l’Odéon explaining that Sylvia Beach published Ulysses in this building (Jim is an Irish literature specialist, and holds a special place in his heart for James Joyce).
Tuesday we got up early and went to Bayeux, from whence we took the bus to the American Cemetery, as I had done with my parents. Only it was windy and rainy, so the experience was completely different. Once back in Bayeux, we headed to the Tapestry museum. That was definitely a highlight. There is an audio-guide that goes along with the tapestry. The French version was hilarious. The guy really moves you through there quickly. My favorite moment was when the soldiers were loading the horses with provisions; the narrator pointed out a large cask and said, “Don’t forget the wine!” Sarah said that the English narrator enjoyed using the phrase “No matter,” as in “They can’t find William? No matter. The fighting continues apace.”
Wednesday was the Musée d’Orsay, followed by outdoor wandering in Montmartre. There was a large group of children at Sacré-Coeur, and their chaperones did not do a good job of getting them to be quiet before entering the church. This angered the security guard immensely. We then made sure to be on our best pious behavior so as not to get yelled at.
The Longest Day was on Thursday, when we got up at 6:00 AM to take the train to Arras and then go on a full-day tour of the Somme battlefields of WWI. Our guide, Brian, met us at the train station in a blue minibus. He was impressed with Jim’s knowledge of military history, and slightly put out by my ability to speak French. I should explain. We went to the Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge. There are tunnels there, which were used for both communication and combat operations. You could only see the tunnels on a guided tour, but the next English tour was not until 1:00. I said that if it was OK to translate, we could go on the French tour and I could translate for Jim and Sarah. And, in spite of having to get used to the guide’s Canadian accent, I understood everything and managed to get much of it across. Sarah said she understood some of the tour because of the guide’s excellent hand gestures, but my translation was helpful. Brian apparently said something like, “I guess you don’t need me.” Anyway, it ended up being a very long day, but definitely educational. And definitely something I would not have done on my own.
Friday we made our second trip to Père Lachaise. This time it was open, but I had forgotten the printout map at home. So we had to estimate based on the posted maps in the cemetery. We found Jim Morrison’s grave in section 6, Molière’s and La Fontaine’s in section 25 (they are buried next to each other), and Oscar Wilde’s in section…89? The section numbers were only a little bit helpful, because they are not laid out in a user-friendly way. Also, we had spent much of the previous day in cemeteries, so we decided to get through there as quickly as possible.
Then we did more walking and wandering, and in the evening Sarah and Jim went out for a romantic dinner while Laura and I went to K.’s going-away party. And this morning was the crazy trip to the RER. We were all glad I went with them up to Denfert-Rochereau, as the complications would have been more difficult to negotiate without me.
All in all, we had a really great visit. I was sad to see them go.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Tonight was our third and final performance of Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" at the Ecole Normale Superieure. I played the butler, Mason, and I also recited key stage directions ("didascalies"), in particular descriptions of characters. We have been working on the play since November, but mostly we only rehearsed one night a week. Until last week, when we rehearsed a lot. I have to admit, I was really worried, because Tuesday night was the first time we made it through the entire play without stopping, and we opened on Wednesday! But we carried it off with aplomb, despite a number of technical difficulties.
It was interesting to be a native speaker in what was for the majority of the actors a foreign-language production. I've done a number of plays in French in the U.S., and was the dramaturg for a bilingual Russian-English production at UMass, but I'm really pleased to have had the experience of doing a play in English in France. This may be because people kept coming up to me (most often during the intermission) to tell me how fabulous my British accent was. One woman said, "I could tell you were a native English speaker, but it was more than that. Anglo-Saxons are just born for this acting style."
The end of the evening was a little strange. We all helped with strike, and then people just kind of waved good-bye. But there wasn't much hugging, and there was no post-show revelry at all.
I am also pleased to have learned some French theatre vocabulary. "Souffleur" is the French word for "prompter," and "faire le souffleur" means "to be on book." "Curtain call" is "le salut," and "to take a curtain call" is "saluer." "On vous rappelle," means "they are calling you back," which the audience did every night. Maybe they were just being polite, but I think they really did enjoy the show.
It was interesting to be a native speaker in what was for the majority of the actors a foreign-language production. I've done a number of plays in French in the U.S., and was the dramaturg for a bilingual Russian-English production at UMass, but I'm really pleased to have had the experience of doing a play in English in France. This may be because people kept coming up to me (most often during the intermission) to tell me how fabulous my British accent was. One woman said, "I could tell you were a native English speaker, but it was more than that. Anglo-Saxons are just born for this acting style."
The end of the evening was a little strange. We all helped with strike, and then people just kind of waved good-bye. But there wasn't much hugging, and there was no post-show revelry at all.
I am also pleased to have learned some French theatre vocabulary. "Souffleur" is the French word for "prompter," and "faire le souffleur" means "to be on book." "Curtain call" is "le salut," and "to take a curtain call" is "saluer." "On vous rappelle," means "they are calling you back," which the audience did every night. Maybe they were just being polite, but I think they really did enjoy the show.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
My parents came to visit! They were here for five days, arriving Friday night and leaving on the airport shuttle at 6:15 this morning. We had a really great time.
We went to Notre-Dame and the Eiffel Tower on Saturday, then to the Louvre on Sunday. My mother was suitably impressed with the Louvre. I enjoyed the fact that they are currently running an exhibit called "Counterpoint," which involves contemporary sculptors' responses to older pieces. My favorite was in the French sculpture room, and involved white scupltures of a group of people all holding clocks. I didn't get to see who the artist was, because we were kind of done with the Louvre by the time we got to that point. We moved very efficiently through the Louvre, which was good.
On Monday we traveled to Lisieux and the the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. Lisieux was the home of Saint Therese of the Little Flower (more officially known as Saint Therese of the Child Jesus). Everyone asked us if we were there on a pilgrimage, to which I kept saying yes. We took the train and got there very early in the morning. We walked to Les Buissonets, Therese's childhood home, which is set up with a fascinating tour. The first woman we met there put on the English recording for us, and kept telling me that I spoke really excellent French, and then she wanted to talk about Jansenism and I said something about Pascal and she was super impressed with me for knowing about Jansenism. Then she sent us upstairs, where there were nuns, who both spoke good English and closed the doors behind us. The nun in the gift shop area also complimented my French, so I told her I had spent a year in Angers as an undergraduate and now I was in Paris for the year. My mother wanted to buy relics, and the nun was horrified that she would speak of buying relics. She told us to go to the Carmelite convent, and they would give us relics there. We had already passed by there, and it's closed for renovations until 2008. But Sister had told us to go to the "accueil," or front desk. So we made our way back, and asked for directions in the Pilgrimage Center. The woman there told me to ring the doorbell at the convent. So that's what we did, and this nice lady asked us if we were on a pilgrimage and gave us relics. Then we went up to the Basilica of Saint Therese, which is enormous and very colorfully decorated. And my parents bought a bunch of stuff in the Basilica gift shop.
Then we took the train to Bayeux, and we had time for lunch (but not for the Tapestry) before the 2:40 bus to the American Cemetery. So we found this creperie, and had some very nice crepes. Everyone on the bus was American, but once we got to the cemetery, there were some Europeans (lots of Italians, and quite a few French students). The American Cemetery is building a new "Interpretation Center," and the construction makes it very confusing to find the entrance. But find it we did. The cemetery is very much designed to make Americans feel patriotic pride and a sorrowful sense of loss. I got a little weepy. The most interesting thing to me was that the sea of crosses includes a fairly large number of Stars of David, which you don't really notice in iconic D-Day imagery. (To be fair, I think most of my iconic D-Day imagery comes from the Charlie Brown special about his visit to Normandy, which I believe is entitled "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown...and Don't Come Back!") The whole experience made me wonder if George Bush and his ilk have ever visited that place, and if such a visit would make them understand the gravity of war. But I think they would be more invested in the national pride part of the equation than in gratitude or sorrow for anyone's sacrifice.
On Tuesday we went out to lunch with Laura at Le Zeyer, a restaurant that Laura and I walk by all the time and had never gone into before. (Also, we thought it was called Le Zever, because of the font on top of the awning.) The waiter there said to me, "Votre francais est impeccable" ("Your French is impeccable.") And at that point I decided people were just telling me this in front of my parents to make my parents feel proud of me. (Then again, my parents couldn't understand them...)
Tuesday evening I had rehearsal, and I sent my parents to see "Spider-Man 3" with L. and P. and K. Rehearsal was annoying, but really interesting. I'm playing the butler, and we were doing the scene where I serve tea. It was the first time we had the actual props. Everyone kept correcting me on how I was serving the tea. And at first, I was thinking it was because we hadn't really choreographed the tea service, and maybe we should take some time to do that. But when the one girl with the actual aristocratic last name said "You're going to be a pro at this" for the third or fourth time, I remembered where I was. And it dawned on me that these kids (who attend one of France's Grandes Ecoles) have all had butlers serve them tea, or at least watched butlers serve tea to their parents.
Yesterday we went to Versailles. When we bought our RER tickets, I noticed a sign that said we could buy day passes to Versailles, so I asked the guy about that. It turns out it was cheaper to do that, and we didn't have to stand in line to buy tickets when we got there. The line to get into the palace was almost as long as the ticket line, so we decided to tour the gardens and the "Domain of Marie Antoinette" before we did the castle. Which proved to be a brilliant decision.
We went to Notre-Dame and the Eiffel Tower on Saturday, then to the Louvre on Sunday. My mother was suitably impressed with the Louvre. I enjoyed the fact that they are currently running an exhibit called "Counterpoint," which involves contemporary sculptors' responses to older pieces. My favorite was in the French sculpture room, and involved white scupltures of a group of people all holding clocks. I didn't get to see who the artist was, because we were kind of done with the Louvre by the time we got to that point. We moved very efficiently through the Louvre, which was good.
On Monday we traveled to Lisieux and the the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. Lisieux was the home of Saint Therese of the Little Flower (more officially known as Saint Therese of the Child Jesus). Everyone asked us if we were there on a pilgrimage, to which I kept saying yes. We took the train and got there very early in the morning. We walked to Les Buissonets, Therese's childhood home, which is set up with a fascinating tour. The first woman we met there put on the English recording for us, and kept telling me that I spoke really excellent French, and then she wanted to talk about Jansenism and I said something about Pascal and she was super impressed with me for knowing about Jansenism. Then she sent us upstairs, where there were nuns, who both spoke good English and closed the doors behind us. The nun in the gift shop area also complimented my French, so I told her I had spent a year in Angers as an undergraduate and now I was in Paris for the year. My mother wanted to buy relics, and the nun was horrified that she would speak of buying relics. She told us to go to the Carmelite convent, and they would give us relics there. We had already passed by there, and it's closed for renovations until 2008. But Sister had told us to go to the "accueil," or front desk. So we made our way back, and asked for directions in the Pilgrimage Center. The woman there told me to ring the doorbell at the convent. So that's what we did, and this nice lady asked us if we were on a pilgrimage and gave us relics. Then we went up to the Basilica of Saint Therese, which is enormous and very colorfully decorated. And my parents bought a bunch of stuff in the Basilica gift shop.
Then we took the train to Bayeux, and we had time for lunch (but not for the Tapestry) before the 2:40 bus to the American Cemetery. So we found this creperie, and had some very nice crepes. Everyone on the bus was American, but once we got to the cemetery, there were some Europeans (lots of Italians, and quite a few French students). The American Cemetery is building a new "Interpretation Center," and the construction makes it very confusing to find the entrance. But find it we did. The cemetery is very much designed to make Americans feel patriotic pride and a sorrowful sense of loss. I got a little weepy. The most interesting thing to me was that the sea of crosses includes a fairly large number of Stars of David, which you don't really notice in iconic D-Day imagery. (To be fair, I think most of my iconic D-Day imagery comes from the Charlie Brown special about his visit to Normandy, which I believe is entitled "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown...and Don't Come Back!") The whole experience made me wonder if George Bush and his ilk have ever visited that place, and if such a visit would make them understand the gravity of war. But I think they would be more invested in the national pride part of the equation than in gratitude or sorrow for anyone's sacrifice.
On Tuesday we went out to lunch with Laura at Le Zeyer, a restaurant that Laura and I walk by all the time and had never gone into before. (Also, we thought it was called Le Zever, because of the font on top of the awning.) The waiter there said to me, "Votre francais est impeccable" ("Your French is impeccable.") And at that point I decided people were just telling me this in front of my parents to make my parents feel proud of me. (Then again, my parents couldn't understand them...)
Tuesday evening I had rehearsal, and I sent my parents to see "Spider-Man 3" with L. and P. and K. Rehearsal was annoying, but really interesting. I'm playing the butler, and we were doing the scene where I serve tea. It was the first time we had the actual props. Everyone kept correcting me on how I was serving the tea. And at first, I was thinking it was because we hadn't really choreographed the tea service, and maybe we should take some time to do that. But when the one girl with the actual aristocratic last name said "You're going to be a pro at this" for the third or fourth time, I remembered where I was. And it dawned on me that these kids (who attend one of France's Grandes Ecoles) have all had butlers serve them tea, or at least watched butlers serve tea to their parents.
Yesterday we went to Versailles. When we bought our RER tickets, I noticed a sign that said we could buy day passes to Versailles, so I asked the guy about that. It turns out it was cheaper to do that, and we didn't have to stand in line to buy tickets when we got there. The line to get into the palace was almost as long as the ticket line, so we decided to tour the gardens and the "Domain of Marie Antoinette" before we did the castle. Which proved to be a brilliant decision.
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