Burritos in the Latin Quarter

    So today was quite enjoyable. We woke up early to go to the Orsay Museum. It is an amazing museum. It is located in an old train station, which I found really cool. Most of the time I spent at the museum was spent in the temporary exhibition they had on Black Romanticism. The exhibition is called L'Ange du Bizarre, which translates into English as The Angel of Strangeness. The theme Black Romanticism relates the darker sides of romantic art, dealing with such themes as death, fallen angels, nightmares, demonic entities, lost hope, and fear. For however negative or 'evil' the genre may seem, I was actually really impressed with the artwork and  enjoyed it quite a lot. I forget the names of the pieces, but the two pieces of the exhibition I liked the most dealt with 1) a romanticized depiction of Satan as a much more nobler fallen angel who had in fact been victimized by Heaven and showed him as a human, not some evil demonic figure, wearing Roman attire standing on hill across a river of lava leading an army of other fallen angels in a battle against Heaven and 2) Death dancing in a ballroom wearing elaborate clothing with various symbols that warned of eminent death and turning towards a frightened man in the background. I know this artwork may seem really negative or creepy, but it was actually really quite fascinating and has played significant roles in art history. We then had lunch in of the fancy restaurants at the museum. Apparently the train station had a hotel, too, and the restaurant comes from the time period when the hotel was a popular hotel for nobles visiting Paris. After lunch, I went to the brighter parts of the museum, seeing the impressionist and post-impressionist works by such artists as Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Cézanne that the museum is known for. After I left the hotel, I  met up with an old friend from high school who happened to be studying abroad in Paris. We met at the Louvre and walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral, where we sat and talked for a while. We then had ice cream and walked to the Latin Quarter because I wanted to see what it was like. When we were getting off the Metro, we happened to come across a guy my friend had met while taking classes in Paris. He was on his way to have dinner and invited us along. We agreed because he was wanting to go to some Mexican restaurant that happened to be in the Latin Quarter and he said he'd show us around a little. So we ended up at this small Mexican restaurant, of all places, in the Latin Quarter of Paris and had surprisingly good burritos. Not quite the food one would expect in Paris, but it worked. We then walked around awhile and watched people interact in the local markets going on today. We made our way to the Luxembourg Gardens, which is a very lovely and expansive park where locals like to go to relax. Afterwards, I went back to the hotel and looked up where the Hard Rock Cafe is in Paris, because I like to collect their shirts. I went to the neighborhood where it was supposed to be, but for some reason couldn't find it. So I just went back to the hotel and hung out with some of the other people on the program. Afterwards, I go back to the room to write this post. So, all in all, today was a fun and exciting day. I've always appreciated art and got to see both the brighter and darker sides of it today. And, it was nice to get to see an old friend too. Tomorrow is a free day with no planned group plans. I'm thinking about going to Sacré-Cœur and Montmartre. I'll also make sure to actually go to the Hard Rock Cafe to get the shirt I need. But, that's for tomorrow and all I have for today.