Paris

First off, I have just booked my tickets for a trip to Italy! I will be traveling there immediately after the semester for a few days. Cody and I will be flying to Rome and, after a few days, we'll continue on to Florence and Venice. After that we will go our separate ways (me to Paris for Christmas and him to various European countries).

Last weekend was very relaxing. Friday night I watched Good Will Hunting with Amy and Cody. Then, we woke up on Saturday around 10 and had brunch, the best meal on campus. Then around 12 we went to the mediatheque, the public library. After doing some research for our art history midterm, we came back to the college and Cody and I spent some more time studying. Around 4 I took a nap and read until 7 (dinner time). Saturday night we got beers and sat on the terrace looking out over the water. Sunday morning we got up early and headed to the local markets. I also had to stop by the train station. We got back and went to church (which is on campus), then it was time for brunch. This is the first time all semester that I’ve had brunch twice in one weekend. Cody and I headed down to the Hotel de Ville where you can get free internet, we were going to try to figure out our plans for after semester travel. The internet wasn’t working though and after a half hour of trying I headed to the train station to meet my friend Katie, who is studying abroad in Ireland this semester. She had a 10 day break and she came to visit me. She brought her friend Holly with her and after getting them we headed back to the college to get them settled in. Then I took them on a tour of Cannes and we got kebabs for dinner. That night I took them to Quay’s (our Irish pub) for drinks. Monday and Tuesday they spent a lot of time hanging out at the beach and doing some shopping. I also took them to a French movie on campus on Tuesday night, which they understood parts of (it was in French, Spanish and English so it was easy to pick up on). Wednesday night we went out for a traditional 3 course French dinner which was really fun. I left for Paris on Thursday morning and they left to go back to Ireland on Thursday afternoon.

Paris was amazing! We got there Thursday around 3 and Amy, Cody, Sarah, Nick and I decided to start walking around to see what there was to see. We saw the Opera House, the Jardin des Halles (lots of fun pictures from there…there are a bunch of pillars of different sizes and we did lots of jumping pictures), St Eustache church and Pont Neuf (the most romantic place in Paris…apparently). Then we headed to Flunch for dinner. After a very long walk we sat in front of the Eiffel Tower and watched it sparkle before walking to the Arc de Triomphe which was closed (this became a theme for us that continued for the rest of the weekend). Sarah had heard about a really cool jazz club so we decided to head there. There were some problems and by the time we got there the live music was done so we went home.

Friday morning after breakfast we walked to Pont Neuf for a boat ride on the Seine. Then we went to Notre Dame. I really liked the stained glass rosettes and the gargoyles were pretty sweet too. We decided to go up to the towers, and a million steps later we were there. The view was really nice and we took tons of pictures; the best ones are of us acting like gargoyles. Then we tried to go to the Crypte (decided it cost too much), the Deportation (it was closed for lunch), and the Conciergerie (we didn’t want to see it too badly).

Then we decided to go to the catacombs so we got on the RER (a different type of metro) except we got on the wrong one and we ended up at the Musee D’Orsay! We saw Jessica sitting outside so we ended up walking to a nearby café for lunch and then we visited the museum. I really like seeing the actual works of art instead of slides; sometimes it’s hard to remember that it is the real thing.

When we were done there we decided to head over to the Dome church where Napoleon’s tomb is (the Hotel des Invalides). When we got there Cody decided that we should sit for a minute and take pictures…but when we were done with that the place had closed and we couldn’t get inside (we were getting used to this). There was a grassy area behind the church so we sat there for awhile and then walked to the Concorde (I’m not sure what it is other than a cemented area with a tower thing). We got a baguette for a snack on our way back to the hostel and then headed to the Louvre. It’s free for students to go to the Louvre on Friday nights…so if you’re ever in Paris on a Friday head to the Louvre.

Since we’ve been studying art history it was tons of fun to walk around and see the art that we’ve been studying. Cody and I were probably bordering on annoying the people we were with. My family is really going to be excited that I can give them a whole tour of French art. We spent our time looking at works by Raphael, David, Rubens, Watteau, Chardin, Poussin and other classical/baroque/rococo/neo-classical artists. We left the Louvre at 9 and went out for pizza. It was a really great night.

Saturday morning we decided to look for a Starbucks…we had seen them everywhere but we had resisted…then we caved. It took us forever to find one and we had just given up when we found one. After getting a grande to-go cup we headed to the Pantheon. There was an art exhibit inside so it was kind of weird to be there. It was fun to go down into the crypt and see the tombs of a bunch of famous French people (the Curie’s, Rousseau, Voltaire, just to name few). After we left the Pantheon we walked over to the Jardin du Luxembourg (the Palais de Luxembourg is where parliament is held…you can’t go in the building but you can sit outside). The fall colors were gorgeous…we all really enjoyed having the cool fall weather and the orange trees.

We decided to go to the Mosque but it was closed for prayer…go figure! Then we headed to the Arc de Triomphe. There was a really cool view from the top of it, and we took tons of pictures. We had heard that it was a crazy place for pickpockets so we were being overly cautious of keeping track of each other and our stuff. As we were leaving we saw a girl being targeted (they give you a bracelet to wear), so Nick walked over to warn the girl. Well the guy who was giving the girl the bracelet got really mad and grabbed Nick’s collar. It was a little bit scary for awhile because Amy and I were standing alone off to the side (Cody was buying a painting) and we weren’t sure what was going to happen. Luckily, nothing serious happened and we got out of there as fast as possible, all a little bit shaken up but ok.

We headed back to the Hotel des Invalides and managed to make it in before they closed. It was not very exciting and we basically paid to use the bathroom. We did tour the military museum a little bit; I looked at the WW2 stuff which was kind of cool, and the others looked at the medieval stuff. Then we headed to the grassy area for a little nap in the sun. We went back to the hostel and took a little nap. That night we went to the Eiffel Tower. It was really cool. There was this little boy in front of us in line and I passed most of the time getting him to laugh. He loved it, he started looking for me whenever the line moved and he couldn’t see me anymore; Cody didn’t like it so much and started blocking me from seeing him. At the top we took some group pictures and tried not to blow away (it was so windy and cold). We did a little song and dance while we waited for the light show to start (the tower blinks for 10 min on the hour). Then we had to run to catch the last metro because the tower had taken more time than we thought it would. We ended up getting split up and meeting in the metro station, it’s a good thing we did because otherwise some people would have had to walk home (and it’s a long ways).

Sunday morning after breakfast I went to Victor Hugo’s house (he wrote Les Miserables). It wasn’t very interesting but it was free. Then we walked to the Bastille, it’s only a tower so it’s not that exciting either. We took a picture of the girls and then we got on the metro and headed to the catacombs. They were pretty sweet. It’s a bunch of skulls and bones lined up in different configurations. It goes for blocks underground and when we emerged (an hour, and many ridiculous pictures later) we had no idea where we were. Amy, Jessica, Nick and I went to get lunch at a creperie (yummy ham, cheese and egg crepes).

After lunch we went to Sacre Coeur, another very dangerous place for tourists. We decided that we weren’t going to be there long and that we weren’t going to talk to anyone or try to stop someone from getting pick pocketed (at this point 3 people from the SJU group had been pick pocketed; our director lost her wallet, one girl lost her wallet and one lost her camera). When we got out of the subway we had no idea where we were going and we were a little nervous about pulling out a map (it was a sketchy area). We eventually found our way there and after a couple quick pictures and a speedy walk around the church we left.

We got back to the hostel and decided to do a little souvenir shopping (there were lots of places very close, which was good because we were tired of walking). I ended up buying a couple of scarves. Then we went to the Louvre to hang out before dinner. We ate at a great little Italian-type place. SJU paid for us to eat; we got salad, pizza/pasta and chicken, ice cream and beverages. Then we decided to go to Notre Dame to see the street performers, except they weren’t…I wasn’t surprised, I was getting used to some things never happening. We went to a bar instead and got a drink, the boys had cigars. Then, a bunch of people went to a hookah bar, I ended up going back to the hostel and going to bed.

Monday morning we decided that we wanted to go back near Sacre Coeur and go to the markets there. It was a lot of fun; we found a lot of really great deals. I bought some great souvenirs for people at home. We didn’t realize how much there was to see so we missed a lot of it. We got back on the metro to pick up our stuff from the hostel and grabbed lunch on the way. We got to the train station and waited for the rest of the group to show up. Everyone made it on the train and we got back to Cannes around dinner time. It was a really great weekend.

Halloween was a lot of fun too. We all got dressed up, with the stuff that we had available to us here and then we went out dancing. Wednesday we didn’t have class because All Saints Day is holiday. I slept until 9:30 and then met with my echange-langue. I meet with a family (husband, wife and 12 year old son) for a few hours every week. They get to work on their English, and I work on my French. They took me to some mountains near Cannes and we walked around for awhile. Then we had a picnic on the beach. It was fun, but I was really tired from being out the night before.

It’s hard to believe that I’ll be leaving the college in 6 weeks (and France in 8). Everything is going so quickly, I never thought that November would come but it’s already the 4th and all the papers and tests that seemed so far away are creeping up on me. We’re now looking at going to Egypt in a few weeks and opening night for the play is less than a week away! What a crazy, amazing experience.

An expensive weekend to Blois

Amy, Cody and I took a trip to Blois this weekend (it's in the Loire Valley). We got on a train Friday afternoon and had to switch trains in Paris. That gave us a lovely opportunity to figure out the metro system (although we later discovered that there's a bridge that you can go across; a much cheaper alternative). We arrived in Blois at 12:30am and took a taxi to our hotel, but the reception desk had closed at 11 so we couldn't get in. We weren't really sure what to do...sleep near the hotel or try to find another place. We hadn't realized that Blois was so large and our hotel was on the outskirts of town so there weren't a lot of available options. Luckily there was a guy closing up his restaurant next door and he suggested we go a few blocks away to another (more expensive) hotel. So we got a room there and went to sleep.

We woke up on Saturday morning and checked out of the hotel. Then we walked back to our other hotel (the Tour Hotel) and checked in there. The reception desk person was VERY nice and didn't charge us for the room. After dropping off our things we got a taxi (very expensive because he went to the wrong hotel and charged us for it) and headed to the tourism office. We got some information about a few different chateaux and bought tickets to see 3 of them. Then it was time for breakfast. We walked through the labyrinth that is Blois and found a boulangerie (bakery). It didn't have tables but there was a nice bench next to it. We bought our baguettes and coffee and enjoyed watching the French (who always provide a lot of entertainment).

After a while it was time to take the bus to Cheverny. After finding it, we walked around a little bit confused about what we should do. We had read about the hunting dogs that were supposed to be hunting on Saturday so we were hoping to see that. Instead we saw a man roll a HUGE wheelbarrow of dog food and raw meat into the dog kennels and then the dogs were released. It was so cool, although the housing seemed very inhumane. Then we toured the house and tried to learn more about French history and culture. We were trying to figure out what else to do when we saw a sign for a boat tour. So we paid for that and jumped right on. It was really cool to see all the trees. In Cannes they have a lot of palms and other tropical plants but in Cheverny they have deciduous trees (pines, birches, etc). After that we decided to call the taxi to come pick us up (because there was no return bus, another large cost).

When we got back to Blois we started looking for a good place to have dinner. We really wanted to do something authentic to the region and there are some really good menus (3 courses offered for one price) that are fairly inexpensive. Amy and Cody decided that I hadn't had enough practice with my French so it was my job to try and make reservations. That was an experience; one lady didn't like me and kept correcting my French, another guy was full and the third place had food that we normally eat in the cafeteria at the college. Finally I was able to get us a table in the smoking section of one restaurant (I didn't realize that there was a no smoking section because everywhere we go there are people smoking).

We had some time to kill before dinner so we headed out to tour a few churches. Then we decided to get beers because we'd had a long day. After that it was time for dinner. It was the most amazing dinner (and also the most expensive). We started with bread, fish pate, and aperitifs (I had kir, white wine with black currant syrup). Then for my entree I had mushrooms and escargot in a garlic butter sauce (delicious). My plat was duck with fried potatoes and for dessert I had a regional specialty, tarte tatin (like apple pie). We also got a bottle of wine to go with the meal (a red from Cheverny). When we finished dinner we were still having a good time talking and hanging out so we got another bottle of wine and a plate of cheese. All in all for 3 people to eat 4 courses we spent 115€! Well worth it in my opinion. We had the restaurant people call us a taxi and then we went to bed.

Sunday morning we woke up and took a taxi to church. After church we struggled to find a place to get breakfast and we ended up back at the same boulangerie. When we were finished we toured the Chateau de Blois, which was very over patterned, but it was built in 4 different architectural styles. We learned a little more about the history of France while we were there. Then we headed over to the train station to catch the bus to Chambord. This was an amazing chateau. There is a double helix staircase in the middle of the building so Amy took one and I took the other and we took pictures of each other through the openings. We learned a lot more about the history of France while we were there. We also took a ton of pictures, especially of the fall landscape. When we were done touring the inside we went into the gardens and enjoyed our afternoon croissants near some gorgeous changing trees. Then we caught the bus back to Blois.

We got on the train to Paris and arrived in Paris around 8 Sunday night. We had some time to kill so we ate our leftover baguette and croissants for dinner (which is why we could afford to pay so much for dinner...we only ate baguettes otherwise). We had a sleeper train on the way from Paris to Cannes which was really nice because we were able to get real sleep. Although there was a slightly creepy guy who kept looking at me. We got to Cannes at 7:30 Monday morning and headed back to the college for class.

It's so much fun to do those weekend trips although I probably won't do any for awhile until I decide what I'm going to be doing after the semester. At this point I'm hoping to spend a few days in Italy, but we'll have to see if I can afford it and if I can go with other people. Either way this has been an amazing experience and I'm so glad that I've been able to do everything I've wanted.

Recent happenings

Last weekend we took a trip to Les Baux de Provence. It was really awesome. We walked around an old medieval village and then toured a Chateau. The Chateau had the most amazing view of olive groves and vinyards. I tried to load my pictures again but it's not working very well. If I had unlimited use of internet time it would be much easier but sadly I don't.

After the Chateau we went to a super cool "museum" show called Coleurs de Cezanne. The artwork is projected onto the walls of an old cathedral and everyone walks around in the dark and admires the works, which change during the visit (at one point all the pictures are of apples, and during another part the pictures change from the sketch to a drawing to the actual painting). There is also music that accompanies the show which adds to the coolness. After that we went to another wine tasting (this wine was not so good).

That was my whole Saturday and Sunday was spent lounging around. It's the first day in awhile that I didn't have anything to do. After brunch (my favorite meal at the college) we headed down to the beach (that's right...the beach...in October!!!). We were there for almost 3 hours and then we decided that we might be getting sunburned so we should go in and get homework done.

I haven't had a lot of homework with my classes. Our French class (which I get 8 credits for) moves fairly quickly because we are in France and they expect us to understand it much faster that way. We are learning things that I didn't learn in Spanish until my second or third year (different tenses and pronouns). We are also learning things that they think are useful but that I haven't needed yet (how to make a phone call and leave a message).

My art history class is ok, I wish that it was taught differently because it's really hard to understand the completely oral class when you're a visual learner. This is the first time that this lady has taught (she's only qualified because of her art history major) and she's only 25 so she tries to be our friend which makes things difficult at times. She also seems to struggle with the information that she is talking about; at times I feel like she just googled the painting and is saying what other people have said about it. But the class isn't too hard and it is in English.

My French Civ class is one of my favorites now that we're getting into the actual French government system and their ways of doing things. Before we were just talking about the declaration and other historical stuff. The teacher is French and the class is in English so there are times when I struggle to understand her English or she struggles to come up with a word. Some people think that the class moves in circles and we just keep learning the same stuff but I think that the teacher is sweet and the subject gets more and more interesting every day.

My other class is theatre and it's a VERY interesting class. My part has been changed from an old lady to a snobby British lady from the Croisette. By Thursday we have to have our lines memorized (it's been 2 weeks since we've started and the play is in 4). I am not struggling to memorize the lines but to say things with the right inflection; also my Spanish accent (which I didn't know that I had) is getting in the way. I think that's why the director (who is also the director of the school) has me say things in a very humorous, drawn out, over done way. I can't wait to perform it for other people (although no one will understand it) it's definitely been a fun experience.

This weekend I'm planning on doing some more traveling. This time I am headed to Blois, in the Loire Valley. Cody, Amy and I are going to do some chateau sightseeing. There's not much else to do in the region so we should see quite a few. We leave Friday afternoon and get back on Monday morning again. It's hard to do that too much but it's fun to have the experience and this time we got a sleeper car for the ride home so we should be fairly well rested.

Strasbourg

If you ever get a chance to visit Strasbourg...do it! This is my favorite French city so far. It was amazing and so gorgeous in the fall.

We left Cannes at 8:20 on Friday night. I traveled with my friends Sharon, Caitlin and Jessie. The train took forever and was not the most comfortable or exciting thing. We arrived on Saturday morning at 8am. We were all exhausted, sore and hungry. The first thing we did was find a cafe to have some coffee, croissants and to brush our teeth. Then we planned what we wanted to do for the day.

We went first to the Barrage Vauban. It is a covered bridge that was built to protect the city from water attacks. We took pictures from the top of it since you can't really go "in" it. Then we started searching for the Musee Alsacien. After many failed attempts we managed to stumble upon it (it's amazing that we did since there was no real sign). This museum was really cool; an old house that has been transformed and shows what life was like in the Alsace region. One of the first things that we noticed about the city was how obvious the German influence was/is. The Alsace region has switched between France and Germany many times and Strasbourg is only about a half hour from Germany.

We left the museum and headed to the Cathedral; it's known for it's majestic height and now we know why. We bought tickets to climb up to a viewing platform...over 330 steps later we were there and took tons of pictures. The viewing platform is only about half way up to the top of the steeple but you can't go up that high and it's currently under reconstruction. When we got back down we decided to go to the clock show at 12:30. There were tons of people there, like a mosh pit at a concert and everyone was pushing for better viewing position. There is a HUGE clock in the Cathedral and according to the Lonely Planet and Let's Go France books we were going to see this really cool show that depicts Peter at the Heavenly gates...well the books were a little off. Instead, we saw 12 little ceramic figurines move by Jesus and bow and then Jesus made the sign of the cross. There was also a really annoying cock crowing 3 times (we thought it was a baby or a person in pain). This "show" took all of 5 minutes and at the end everyone looked at one another like "that was it?!?!"

We took a few pictures of the inside of the Cathedral and then decided to get on the tram to Kronenbourg. We had lunch on a corner outside the brewery (bread we had taken from the cafeteria at school and apples). We went on the tour; it was so much fun and really educational. And then we had a tasting session (with 2 free beers!!!). All of this was only 4€ which is an awesome deal. We all got a different beer so that we could sample them all (I had a Wel Scotch...whiskey mixed with the beer...not so good but better than some of the others. The best was the original Kronenbourg).

We went back to Strasbourg and started looking for our hostel. Once we found it we were really tempted to crash but knew that if we did we would be out for the rest of the night. The hostel was great: we had a room for the 4 of us, with private bathroom, breakfast and towels included! It was probably nicer than the College in Cannes. We decided to go to mass at the Cathedral and then find dinner. After that we planned on doing a night boat tour of the city.

Mass was, of course, hard to understand but it was nice to be in the huge Cathedral. We got dinner at a pizza place because it was all we could find in our price range. We had been hoping to go somewhere else but we couldn't find it. Then we had a little time to waste before our boat tour so we got some ice cream (even though it was cold and rainy). When we got on the boat the other girls all got tired and were starting to fall asleep but I was very awake after my ice cream. I took tons of pictures (over 100) during the 70 min tour; unfortunately many did not turn out.

We crashed at the hostel and woke up around 8:30 (I slept so hard that I don't think I even rolled over). We got breakfast and headed to the train station to go to the Struthof concentration camp...the only one in France. We got a great deal on the train tickets and arrived in Rothau around 11. We were under the impression that it would only be a mile or so to walk to the camp...we were wrong; it was more like 4. We talked about taking a taxi but by the time we talked to the guy it would have involved a 15 minute car trip (for 15€), only 20 minutes at the camp (for 4€), and another 15 minute car trip (for another 15€). We decided to get lunch.

We got food from a little bakery and found a nice curb near a stream to eat. We met some little French boys who were really excited to see people not speaking French. After we finished our lunch we headed back to the train station. We arrived back in Strasbourg at 2 and headed to Illkirch by tram to see a chocolate museum. To make a long story short the same thing happened with the concentration camp. Essentially, Sunday was a bust and we did a lot of tram/train riding and walking.

We went back to Strasbourg and had crepes by the Cathedral before catching our train. The train left at 6:20 and we cut it pretty close. We were pretty uncomfortable on the train but we didn't sleep much since we were arriving in Lyon to switch trains at 11:30. We met up with some other people from the College who had spent their weekend in Dijon. We left Lyon for Cannes at 1 and made it back around 7:15. We got back to the College in time to shower before having breakfast and going to class.

It was a great weekend (even with Sunday's misfortune) and I would recommend Strasbourg to anyone looking to travel in France.