I made it to Paris. Amazing! So, the woman I am renting an apartment from told me that I came to Paris during the worst time possible. Every year, apparently, there is a 10-day period between two saints days in May that is marked by horrifically cold, stormy weather. And here I am in the midst of that period. It's actually not that bad - about 50 degrees and mostly cloudy with the occasional rain storm passing through about 10 times a day (ha!) I am glad I have all the heavy-duty rain gear from my excursion in Iceland.
But, the nice thing about all of these rainstorms are the rainbows that shine through afterwards. Here is a great view of one that I saw from my apartment window:
Not too bad, huh? So, Arielle - the lady I am renting from - showed me around her neighborhood when I arrived. We went to the local bakery and the local corner grocery to get some essential items etc. She is very sweet and kind and has been a wonderful host. I'm sleeping really well in her apartment too, which is nice.
So, with a good night's rest under my belt, I woke up on Monday morning and planned my trip to the National Archives. This included me cold calling the archive and explaining to them (in French) what I was hoping to research etc. This also required me to listen to their response (in French) etc. It actually went down without any major hitches, and I confirmed that I needed to visit the site de Pierrefitte-sur-Seine to access the documents that I've been hoping to look at for over 6 months!
Before I knew it, I was on the Metro hurtling toward Saint-Denis in the northern part of Paris. Once I got off the metro, there were numerous signs guiding me to the National Archives. What a site for sore eyes!
The building is actually quite modern (electronic lockers and fancy space-age bathrooms etc). The staff was extremely accommodating and friendly. For the most part, I actually navigated the archives really well considering everyone was speaking in rapid, jargon-y French. There were a few moments where I was like, "huh???" When that happened, the staff member would normally slow down a bit, and speak in a slightly simpler way so that I could understand exactly what they wanted me to do. If things got really tough, my good friend, Abdel (who helped me registered and put all my info into the National Archives system) came to my aid. I even got a fancy ID badge with a photo and chip in it so I could access everything I needed to while in the reading room.
It was so overwhelming and wonderful to successfully gain access to the materials detailing the regulation of the central market in Paris. I thought I was requesting a few dozen documents. In fact, I was requesting archival boxes filled with hundreds of documents. Woooah! There were detailed reports from government officials regulating the market, petitions from food vendors, annual reports created by the government detailing how many pounds of meat were sold and at what cost etc. I could literally spend months or maybe even years in the archive looking through all of those reports. Alas, I don't have that much time, so I had to be pretty choosy about what I was taking photos of to read in detail later (I have to keep things manageable). Anyway, before I knew it, the archive was closing and I hopped back on the train to head back to central Paris. I met a Yale friend for coffee at Cafe Francais in the Bastille district -- always good to connect with friends!
Since then, I've been processing my data (e.g. plugging it into the database on my computer), updated my blog, and doing a bit of grocery shopping. I felt so Parisian going to the local Patisserie and ordering "une baguette traditionelle" to take home for dinner. Love it!
But, the nice thing about all of these rainstorms are the rainbows that shine through afterwards. Here is a great view of one that I saw from my apartment window:
Not too bad, huh? So, Arielle - the lady I am renting from - showed me around her neighborhood when I arrived. We went to the local bakery and the local corner grocery to get some essential items etc. She is very sweet and kind and has been a wonderful host. I'm sleeping really well in her apartment too, which is nice.
So, with a good night's rest under my belt, I woke up on Monday morning and planned my trip to the National Archives. This included me cold calling the archive and explaining to them (in French) what I was hoping to research etc. This also required me to listen to their response (in French) etc. It actually went down without any major hitches, and I confirmed that I needed to visit the site de Pierrefitte-sur-Seine to access the documents that I've been hoping to look at for over 6 months!
Before I knew it, I was on the Metro hurtling toward Saint-Denis in the northern part of Paris. Once I got off the metro, there were numerous signs guiding me to the National Archives. What a site for sore eyes!
The building is actually quite modern (electronic lockers and fancy space-age bathrooms etc). The staff was extremely accommodating and friendly. For the most part, I actually navigated the archives really well considering everyone was speaking in rapid, jargon-y French. There were a few moments where I was like, "huh???" When that happened, the staff member would normally slow down a bit, and speak in a slightly simpler way so that I could understand exactly what they wanted me to do. If things got really tough, my good friend, Abdel (who helped me registered and put all my info into the National Archives system) came to my aid. I even got a fancy ID badge with a photo and chip in it so I could access everything I needed to while in the reading room.
It was so overwhelming and wonderful to successfully gain access to the materials detailing the regulation of the central market in Paris. I thought I was requesting a few dozen documents. In fact, I was requesting archival boxes filled with hundreds of documents. Woooah! There were detailed reports from government officials regulating the market, petitions from food vendors, annual reports created by the government detailing how many pounds of meat were sold and at what cost etc. I could literally spend months or maybe even years in the archive looking through all of those reports. Alas, I don't have that much time, so I had to be pretty choosy about what I was taking photos of to read in detail later (I have to keep things manageable). Anyway, before I knew it, the archive was closing and I hopped back on the train to head back to central Paris. I met a Yale friend for coffee at Cafe Francais in the Bastille district -- always good to connect with friends!
Since then, I've been processing my data (e.g. plugging it into the database on my computer), updated my blog, and doing a bit of grocery shopping. I felt so Parisian going to the local Patisserie and ordering "une baguette traditionelle" to take home for dinner. Love it!
No comments:
Post a Comment