Elsien's Traveblogue

No blog since Naples ... too busy to blog! I had work in Brussels, then a long summer in Docklands where the constant holding off of imminent chaos kept me occupied full-time; I then had to finish the project for my second year M.A.in Art History, did a pile of telephone tests, had some brief holiday spells: on the Belgian coast for a week and in Zurich for a few days and now I'm back in Paris, where I am teaching at the University of Versailles again, every Monday. I have more hours than last year, which makes the commute more profitable, so I hope to be able to spend more days here after my teaching day.
Monday was my first day and I was really pleased to notice that the students' English seemed much better than last year's lot. Maybe it's because they are studying Economics and History; last year's students were on a kind of business course? I also have a second year Economics class and their English is actually pretty good, so I'm having to re-write my planned programme a little!
It was certainly much better organised than last year: all students arrived and on time, with pens, notebooks and even some with homework diaries. I had a list of names for only one class, but no group was bigger than 26. They also haven't managed to get me on Internet access yet, even though I sent my information in over three weeks ago ... Will have to start nagging...
Yesterday, Tuesday, was my day off in Paris, which I used for research for my MA dissertation. I went to the Musee Carnavalet, one of the museums of the town of Paris. These are all free and unknown to many foreign tourists. The Carnavalet is in the Marais and is about the history of Paris, mainly in paintings. The ones that interest me for my Masters disertation are by a guy called Hubert Robert, nicknamed Robert des Ruines because he loved painting ruins and became so successful that aristocrats asked him to design their gardens for them with a few picturesque ruins in them. In 1793 he fell foul of the Terror, thanks to his association with aristos and ended up in the prison at St Lazare where, amazingly, he continued to paint. It's those paintings that interest me, as well as his paintings of the destruction of Paris during the Revolution and the Carnavalet has quite a few. There are another three, from a later date, in a nearby museum, also in the Marais, so I had a look at them as well.
The weather was pretty good, grey, but dry and not cold and as all the summer tourists have now more or less left, Paris is a pleasant place to wander around again. Still warm enough to have coffees and beers and even lunch, outside.
Back to England today to take possession of my little flat which has been rented out for the last seven months .... Homeless no more!