Das Lourve

Guten Tag! So I am actually writing from Frankfurt, Germany right now, as I await my train to Berlin via Weimar, where I plan on stopping for a couple of hours to visit the Buchenwald concentration camp. The ys and zs are switched on this keyboard, and I have no idea where the apostrophe is, but I will do the best I can. Also, I have no idea if the Louvre is feminine, masculine, or neutral, so I do not actually know if "Das" is correct, or if I should be something else. I know I can count on Kendall to correct me (and Kendall, I skimmed your comment; I will respond soon). Anyway, a quick bit about the Louvre. I loved it. Loved it loved it. I was super-excited going into it, I was really getting chills in anticipation. And it did not disappoint. I could never imagine how amazing it is.

But zesterdaz (ok, I am just going to leave that one), I said I would focus on people or favorite places. So. My favorite place in the Louvre? Undoubtedly, second floor, far left corner of the Richelieu wing, the Germanic painting area, room D. There are only a few paintings in there, and there were 3-4 sets of six small painting of Norweigan and Danish landscaps, fjords and sailboats and the like, by Peder Balke. I really just loved them, and sat in the room for a little while just admiring. Plus, off in the far corner there, there was almost nobody, and I had the room to myself for a while, until some lost British tourists came in looking for the Mona Lisa. (They were far from it; I pointed us out on a map and sent them on their way.) So that was the Louvre. Haha, understatement of the year, but I am moving on in any case.

My people incident? Well, I will start with the bad news and then end with a happier story. The bad news is that this morning, some Japanese guys in my room snagged my room key and I lost my 5 € deposit as a result. See, I woke up early to catch this train, even though I looked up the wrong Frankfurt station and now it turns out I have an hour to kill, and after breakfast I went back upstairs to gather my things. While I was in there, someone used a key to come into the room, grabbed something off the desk, and left. I did not think much of it. 10 minutes later, though, when I went to look for my key, it was nowhere to be found. After searching as quietly as I could for 10 minutes (lots of people were still sleeping, it was about 7:45), I realized that what the guy must have grabbed was my key, presumably to avoid losing his 5€ deposit. Sure enough, when I went down to check out, and told the guy my suspicions, he said that two Japanese guys had just checked out, and one of them could not find his key and went back to the room to look for it, and came back down with a key.... grr!! His key may still be in the room somewhere; but with everyone still asleep and thinking I was going to miss my train (which I would not have), I did not want to spend the morning tearing apart the room. Argh. Well, in the end it will not matter.

Ok, back to the upside. Yesterday, on my way to the Louvre, I decided to stop in my favorite neighborhood (see previous entry) for a coffee and some pastries. I picked up a lovely sweet brioche and a chocolate croissant, and walked along the street eating and enjoying my coffee. As I walked by the Palais Royal, a police officer called out to me, "bon apetit!" I smiled and said, "merci!" and walked on. :D It made me happy for the rest of my walk. Well, anyhoo, that is all for now, I will be sure to report back from Berlin. I am going to be there for four nights with my friend Laura from work, and two of her other friends. Should be a party!