Une and Un

Dear online diary,

This morning I woke up, ate some yogurt and walked out to the Louvre. As I was walking I thought what I might see there and decided I really wasn't all that interested so I kept on walking, crossed over the Pont Neuf bridge and walked toward the Musee D'Orsay. Three of my favourite artists have nice collections housed at the Orsay: Degas, Cassatt and Manet (not to be confused with Monet). 

Lucky for me, there were two really interesting exhibits. One focused on pastel works (with a heavy smattering of Degas in there), another on Picasso's fascination with Manet's Dejeneur Sur L'Herbe. 

You know the painting:

Picasso spent the better part of a year making different paintings and sculptures playing with it. The actual painting is HUGE. I wasn't expecting it to take up a whole wall but, boy, did it ever!

After walking around the museum for around 3 hours I ventured out into the drizzle, back across the bridge and through the tuileries to find myself a croissant. On the way a couple stopped me and asked in an American accent, "excusez moi, monsieur, ou es le Palais Royale?" I responded with "Je ne parle pas Francais." They did not press further. 

I found a croissant at the Monoprix -- the line ups at the patisseries at the time were too long. Monoprix is sort of like Woolworth's in South Africa. They're a department store with everything in it. Clothes, toiletries, kitchenware, food, alcohol. It was really busy and when I finally got to the front of the line I asked in my best French, "Bonjour. Une croissant, si vous plais" to which rapturous laughter ensued. "UNE croissant! Daccord. UNE croissant!" Right. Croissant is a masculine form word.  I said OON instead of EN. Heaven forbid the croissant be termed in the feminine. Hilarious the Monoprix baker seemed to think -- so much so that she called her friend over to discuss the UNE croissant. I smiled but she knew what I was thinking: "If I had a razor blade I'd shove it in the UNE croissant and make you eat it." She handed my "UNE croissant" and I was off. It wasn't even that good, Monoprix.