Le Printemps

Spring is here and Paris has come to life. On the first beautiful day people poured outside and the streets, gardens and cafés instantly filled. Because the Sorbonne does not have a central campus, we don't really have a main gathering place and we were often forced to take refuge for hours inside cafés when it was too cold even to wander. Now instead I can walk along the Seine after lunch to get to the Musée d'Orsay instead of taking the metro, and of course picnic season has begun. There are parks and gardens everywhere to spend an afternoon doing homework or of course the always important activity in the Miskell family...
Exercising. This part of the blog is for those of you (Miskell's) who value physical activity over relaxation and eating. While am a Miskell, I have done my best to find a balance while here. When I first started running, I ran along the Seine from my house to and around Notre Dame, but I have to go down a few main streets to get to the Seine and I grew tired of weaving around people. I then found the Promenade Plantée, which is a 4.5 km elevated park very close to my house. The park is in a converted railway passageway, which starts at the Bastille and continues to the Bois de Vincennes. Right now it is a beautiful place to run in the early afternoon before it fills after school gets out. I have also been running in the Luxembourg Gardens although this is usually an afternoon event as I either metro or bus there.

The Promenade Plantée

In addition to running I have been taking dance classes at Studio Harmonic, a large dance studio close to my house in the Bastille. Studio Harmonic has many open dance classes of all styles and levels Monday through Saturday and they are all drop in so I can go whenever I am free. This is perfect because although my class schedule is the same every week I am always doing something different in the afternoons and evenings. I try to take a few classes each week, either ballet or modern. I have taken modern from an Italian teacher whose style of modern is a mixture of yoga and modern dance, so it is very focused on stretching and fluid movement. I have also taken ballet from an American teacher and a French teacher. Taking these dance classes in French is not too difficult as most of the vocabulary is the same. The only time that I don't understand is when the teachers go into detailed analogies about how a particular section of a combination should be executed and I don't understand all the vocabulary, but I usually get the general idea of what they are saying. I am very happy to have found a dance studio here in Paris so that I can continue to dance while I am here. I continue to avoid the favorite Miskell form of exercise, biking, as that is a death wish and I am not brave enough to face off against the traffic. I don't plan on trying it.

Tomorrow's activity is a two hour wine tasting, so I will have updates after that. Mom and Dad have the same activity planned for tomorrow to get ready for their trip here in three weeks!