fun under the sparkling Eiffel Tower

I've been in Paris for just over five weeks now - which seems like a very short amount of time, all things considered. There is still so much of this city that I haven't seen and experienced, and it's wonderful to know that I have until the end of April!

Last Saturday night my friend and I met at Pont Alexandre III, a grand bridge in front of the Invalides (where Napoleon's tomb is). It was a gorgeous scene just before 8:00, with the sun setting on the gold dome and the statues! Here are pictures taken at one end of the bridge:

(It's hard to see because the sky is still so light, but the Eiffel Tower is sparkling! It never gets old!!!)

My friend and I went down onto the quai (the second picture) and wandered down. This was like where we went about three weeks ago where there were pop-up restaurants and bars. There were plenty of people our age sitting on the edge of the quai, feet dangling over the water with cups of wine in hand. Having felt the strain of two Thursdays spent at places with expensive cocktails, we opted for the cheaper option of finding our own bottle of wine rather than paying for one drink. (Just before coming there, I'd stopped at a market and discovered that buying a six-pack of Leffe Blonde is the cost of ONE of those at all of the bars I've been to so far. Horrifying.) We wandered about half a mile down the river and came up at another bridge, just past what an event hosted by SFR, which is kind of like the French equivalent of Verizon. Eventually, we found a convenience store and bought a bottle of wine, which the obliging cashier opened for us - and he even had free plastic cups on hand to facilitate drinking the wine on the quai! 

We went back down to the quai and got some excellent mozzarella di bufala sandwiches from an Italian food truck, then we sat down at a picnic table to eat, drink, and enjoy the music coming from the nearby stage, where a techno DJ was causing quite a stir - a real crowd assembled to dance in front! 

It was a great way to spend the evening. Our neighbors at the table entertained us with their efforts to build pyramids with beer bottles (which fortunately did not end in a mess of broken glass!), and we got to watch the moon rise over the clouds until it finally settled over the Seine. Here's the moon, around 11:00, shining over the Louvre:

On Sunday morning I went for another long run, but as I was alone this time, it wasn't nearly as fun or easy. My app also didn't work well, so I don't have a cool map to show you, but essentially I ran along the Seine from the right end of this map to the left end (which is where the Eiffel Tower is, and then down the Champs de Mars - the green part).

Eventually I would like to be able to name each bridge along this route! I know a few now, but there are so many! I did finally see something I'd read about earlier this summer: this statue (I forget who it is) is the unofficial measure of how high the Seine is. When the Seine flooded about a hundred years ago, this guy was apparently almost entirely underwater! I think now it's a matter for concern if the water gets close to his knees.

The weather has been amazing this week. The warm weather is back despite the fact that it's now officially fall! I've spent a lot of time reading in parks. Yesterday I did some reading right on the Seine, just across from the Louvre and a mere five minute walk from school!

Last night a group of us went to the Rodin Museum - its garden is open at night on Wednesdays during the summer, and yesterday was the last chance to go. It did not disappoint! I actually went to the Rodin Museum during my brief visit to Paris last summer, but it's a different experience at night, especially since Fashion Week starts on Monday, which means we got to see the site for the Dior show!!! They've essentially constructed an open structure in which they've hung thousands of flowers:

That aside, of course I love seeing The Thinker, a statue that, being a pensive person myself, I appreciate for what it conveys. It's not half bad against the backdrop of the Invalides, either:

It's even BETTER when the Eiffel Tower starts sparkling behind it:

The whole garden is lovely; here's a view from the other side:

I'll try to write more this weekend - it's been a busy week because I have a book report (yes, you read that correctly) due on Monday, and I only got the assignment on Sunday night. My book is in French and 280 pages long, so despite being an interesting and fairly straightforward read (it's about the abolition of the death penalty in France - they were still using the guillotine in the 1970's!), it's taken up a lot of my extra time this week.