o'er the keys, the ivories

today while on the train i looked down into my purse after taking out my book and this was the sight i saw. all the things i could ever need: my water bottle, my ipod, my wallet, burt's bees, mac lipstick, and KINDER. i love my life. i knew it was bound to be a good day.

after french, we had our mid term interviews for our conversation class, and emily and i decided to go explore a bit while we waited for james to finish her test. the sun was shining and we left our coats at the institute. i decided it would probably be best to pop my collar. (jamie influenced me in this decision) it was pretty ridiculous, but i just rocked it the rest of the day.
emily and i found yet ANOTHER thrift store called hippy market. it was a little bit more high end and had a fabulous selection of corduroy and leopard/cheetah print. it had an even better selection of boots. prepare yourself for what is to come.

why yes, they had a pair of thigh high, full leg, white go-go gone wrong boots. naturally i had to put them on. good thing they weren't my size, because i probably would have been tempted. who doesn't need a pair of full leg boots... for every occasion?

there were also at least 20 pairs of spice girl style platform boots. emily tried on some sky high patent leather red ones and i went for the fake snake skin. due to the small amount of space to work with, we could not get a good self timer picture. these will have to do.

check those platforms.

hippy market for a hippy kind of girl.

peace and love.

we headed back to the institute to check on the progress of tests. still going on. emily and i tried to play heart and soul and failed, so i decided to make up songs instead. i was just closing my eyes and feeling the music. i turned it into a little game, i had emily give me a topic and i made up that song right there on the spot, then we traded and she did the same. by then allison and james were done so they joined in. our songs were so grand. shame they aren't recorded.

the topics:

love in the moonlight by mads

hate love by emily

the day i ran away with a frenchman by james

and my first kiss by allison.

we were dying of laughter, and we are actually all really good at rhyming on the fly!

doors please and ivories

after our little piano charade we decided to hop to and go on another walk even though we are WAY ahead of schedule. emily and i have now done 11 out of 14 walks. it was a quaint little walk today called 'follow the money'. i am not really sure why it was called this, but i liked it all the same. we started off getting a good look at the comedie francaise, where emily and i went to that Shakespeare the other night, and right nearby was the palais royal and we walked through the jardins there.
i love that french people love to sit outside in the sun. i love that only the benches facing the sun are occupied. i love that it is mostly old people, like this precious old man in a purple beret. a purple beret!
i also love that spring has sprung! or at least it has started springing! the daffodils are beginning to bloom and the trees are starting to blossom. allison sometimes likes to try and sing "i love paris in the springtime" but often sings it to the tune of "springtime's coming up all over". funny. i am glad paris is finally beginning to merit songs of spring.
after the jardins, the walk took us to the bibliotheque nationale, aka the national library. i love libraries, in fact, i want to be a librarian when i grow up. but french libraries are especially great. this one had a room, the oval room, that was just wall to wall, ceiling to floor, and we are talking four story room ceiling to floor, filled with books. think the library that the beast has in his castle in beauty and the beast. (no it did not look like the hogwarts restricted section). i wanted to break out into song! it was literally beautiful.
some of the architecture here is so crazy, allison loved that the end of this building was purely round rooms so we did the ultimate tourist move and stopped in the middle of a crosswalk to take a picture. i love it. best durned building we ever durn seen.
this is the paris stock market. maybe this is where the follow the money comes in. it wasn't all that exciting, but i suppose all the action is happening inside.
nothing like a creepy door knocker in the shape of a hand in the middle of your door.

windblown gals

we walked down one of the first covered passages in paris, where all the classy stores that are now on the Grands Boulevards used to be. now it is mostly indian and Lebanese restaurants but it was epitome of old-school parisien quaintness. please note the still ridiculously popped collar.
we finished up the walk and went on a little hunt for a love charm for the grandparents, but had no luck, emily and i got on the train exhausted, happy, and ready for a delicious dinner with nannick. she made us broccoli because all those american girls just love broccoli. she also told us that it was good we walk a lot because most of the girls who live with her 'grossir' aka gain weight because she feeds them so well and so much! let me tell you, we are living proof of that. yikes!
just another glorious day in france.

Post Script:

i almost forgot!

policemen on rollerblades? yes, PLEASE!

now that's a surefire way to make my day.