This morning we met at Daniélou to head to Galleria museum where garments of the French Revolution era kings and queens are preserved and displayed. Led by me (with help from Ms. Mahr), we took the bus to the metro where we rode the suburb train into the city. We took a bit of a detour because the RER train goes faster than the city train, so stopping at Nation, we switched trains and headed to Voltaire where we met Mademoiselle Selim and headed towards musée Galleria (thankfully I hadn't gotten our group lost in process).
We arrived at the museum and met Mrs. Balesterous Gorguet, the museum director. She was very kind and it was a pleasure to have her lead us around the part of the museum not allowed for public view. We entered the first room and watched a seamstress work on a blue and white dress. There were washing machines all over the room and she told us that the dresses and other garments are put in bags to be cleaned because they are very delicate being hundreds of years old.
We headed downstairs into the room where all of the clothes are stored and it looked more like a bank than anything! It was incredible to watch her (with gloves of course) remove each piece from its drawer and give us endless information about each. There was so much to say about each garment and they were all so interesting too! First, she showed us a corset owned by a pregnant woman. We could see the careful stitching still present as well as teh adjustments made for the woman to be able to change the tension as she pleased. Mrs. Balesterous Gorguet told us about the common silouette that women usually had when dressed in this period. Their torsos were commonly an upside-down triangle and then billowed out at the bottom of the dress. The two sectors of the outfit were not connected to allow women to do much curtseying and limited movement dancing as their hearts desiered.
We also looked at suits beloning to Leo XV as well as Leo XVI. One of the suits included stiching of two famous French philosophers of the time, including Voltaire (yes, like the train stop). The other included silver thread wrapped in thin gold, and had no stitching. To do this, it was necesesary to weave the fibers together.
After that, it was sadly time for us to part, so we thanked the museum director and headed out into the rain, something we've grown used to. Walking down the sidewalks in a sea of parapluies (my favorite French word meaning umbrella) we stopped at a park to eat our lunches. Afterwards, we went into a famous candy store to pick up some presents for our famlies and some yummy ice cream. Then after another train ride, we went to the artist city of Montmartre to look in some shops and climb a ton of stairs in process. The shops all reflected the artsy mood of the town.
Shanzay, Mira, and I went straight to a café upon seeing some French hot dogs. I'll never think an American hot dog is really good after eating that massive one that the three of us shared with some icecream and lemonade, because it was fantastic! After eating our hot dog and being swarmed by an army of fearless pigeons (a recurring nightmare we've experienced a few times) we walked to an antique shop where we met up with Kat, Kenya, and Ashley, as well as our new best friend Opal, the super cool owner of the store.
I wish we could've stayed longer because we all were having such a great time looking at the clothes, wigs, shoes, records, sunglasses, and book that was on sale there! We got back on the train at 4 and casually munched at a baguette Mademoiselle Selim picked up at the best bakery in town this year. We returned to the school and parted ways, except for Mira and I, because we carpooled to hers and Mélo's house and then I headed back home with my host family. Right now Claire is working on some homework as I write this and I'm excited to go with her to another one of her dance classes! She says hi as well! See you all soon!
♥ Kendall Turner
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