Today we arrived in Paris! After landing each of us made our way to the pension, the bed and breakfast where we will be living for the next two weeks. The pension is located in a charming neighborhood in the 6th arrondissement of Paris and greets its guests through a large wooden door, a walled courtyard and a winding staircase.
We took a tour of the neighborhood and oriented ourselves to the metro and boulangerie in the area; lucky for us numerous bakeries populate our street! Directly across from our pension is the Jardin du Luxembourg; these beautiful public gardens were built for the court of Marie de Medici in the 17h century and contain a multitude of walking paths, fountains, and flowers. Today the gardens host a museum; modern art installations, petanque courts, and attract Parisians students, families and artists alike.
Not long after our neighborhood tour we headed inside for our first lecture to discuss the major themes of the course and to review the daily schedule of activities. Looking across all of the art forms in the early part of the 20th century, we focus on Paris and the resources of the city to articulate the role Paris played in the foundation of modernism.
We share dinner together tonight at the pension and then climb into bed determined to ward off the jetlag and dive into Paris tomorrow.
