Quelques vieux documents…

I was absolutely DREADING going to the National Archives this morning, especially because I’m usually supposed to have Fridays off.  I felt that it was bad enough that I was obligated to do something for school, but it was even WORSE that I had to be there by 9:30.  Meaning that I had to get up significantly earlier than I have been getting up for the past several weeks (save for the welcome program).  With all of this rage and bitterness just about bubbling to the surface, I readied myself and left, allowing my Parisian scowl to take over my whole disposition.

As I emerged from the metro, I was startled to see myself standing next to the Centre Pompidou, which is this big, loopy, and quit ridiculous building that is essentially “inside out.”  As soon as I saw it, I thought to myself, “well, if the rest of this day is terrible, at least I saw this absurd building.”  I made my way down the street, peering inside the bakeries, markets and butcheries.  I eventually arrived at the National Archives, and was taken aback.  It was an absolutely beautiful building, and the architecture was quite impressive.  I was 15 minutes early, so I awkwardly chatted with my professor until two other girls showed up.  By the time 9:45 rolled around, there were about 10 of us (5 were MIA), and our tour guide and her son came to greet us.

She introduced herself…and off she went.  She spoke so quickly that I found it hard to understand anything, except maybe every 17th word.  Which makes it quite difficult to get a general idea of what a person is saying, let alone fully understand.  Regardless, our little group followed her into the archives.  She led us up a staircase and through a door that said Acces Interdit (access prohibited).  I immediately perked up; I was being allowed somewhere that most people weren’t!  As my eyes adjusted to the lighting, I was astonished to find myself standing amidst a very large, cold library.  I looked around, and was excited to find on the book bindings dates prior to the French Revolution in the late 18th century.

As if it wasn’t cool enough seeing books from 1712, our guide led us into another section of the Archives and showed us a large, papyrus scroll dated 700.  Yup, that’s SEVEN HUNDRED.  As in 1,300 years ago.  It was INCREDIBLE to see such a thing preserved.  One of them was addressed to Charlemagne, King of the Franks!  And then, on top of all of this, our guide opened up a set of metal doors…and then another set of even thicker metal doors…and then finally a third set of doors, thicker than the previous two, to reveal the sacred set of French constitutions.  I saw the original constitution of the French republic, King Louis XIV’s signature and all.

After I returned from the Archives, I took a quick power nap.  Since it was so nice out, I decided to go explore the Jardin du Luxembourg, which is a gigantic, beautiful park that’s located 30 seconds from my apartment.  People go to the park to eat, chat, read, relax, and exercise.  I noticed that a lot of people were running, so I’m definitely planning on doing that myself once it gets a bit warmer out.  I can see myself doing some homework there, too…if I ever get into the groove of school again, which at this point, isn’t very likely.

Anyways, so I wandered around for an hour taking pictures and basking in the late-afternoon sun by the fountain in front of the Palais du Luxembourg.  I found myself doing some serious people-watching, as the weather, time and location were all perfect for doing so.  I saw an older man teaching a boy how to maneuver a little, toy sailboat in the fountain with a stick.  I saw a little girl and a little boy feeding breadcrumbs to the pigeons (which actually in my opinion, isn’t the most sanitary thing to let your children do…where was the mother while all of this was happening?!).  I saw adorable older couples walking hand in hand through the lazy shade of the trees.  I also saw an older man sitting in one of a pair of chairs with his arm draped around the other one, as if he was missing someone or something.  Something about the scene was so striking, so captivating, that I decided to take a photo of it (which I’ve inserted to the left).

I started getting hungry, so I decided to run to the grocery store to pick up some food.  I was craving shrimp, and I remembered making a pasta dish that was lemony and used white wine and garlic, so I picked up the ingredients I needed to make something along those lines.  Here’s the recipe I ended up using:

Shrimp Lemon Pepper Linguini

Ingredients:

• 1 (8 ounce) package linguine pasta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add linguine, and cook for 9 to 13 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and saute garlic about 1 minute. Mix in chicken broth, wine, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat, and simmer until liquid is reduced by about 1/2.
3. Mix shrimp, butter, parsley, and basil into the saucepan. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, until shrimp is opaque. Stir in the cooked linguine, and continue cooking 2 minutes, until well coated.  Serves 4 people.

It was scrumptious.  But I must be off, the boys and Melanie are here and we’re heading out to the bars!  Bonne soirée!