Paris

Time to catch up on some blogging...

This one is about our week in France. We started out by getting on a bus at 7 in the morning (yay) and driving for five hours (yay) to Colmar. The bus ride wasn't too bad; after everyone slept for a while we started playing telephone pictionary, which was very entertaining. We got kind of a late start and stopped a lot along the way so we arrived a little late for our tour, but we still got to see the museum with the Isenheim Altarpiece and walked around Colmar, a cute little French town. I got a two-foot-long baguette for like 60 cents! Then it was back on the bus for another three hours (yay) to Beaune. We checked into the hotel, which was really nice, and then had a group dinner. I am always a fan of group dinners, and this one was no exception. We got traditional French cuisine and plenty of wine. After that we went back to the cute hotel and fell asleep since we were all pretty tired from all the traveling.

The next day we had a tour of the Hotel Dieu, a hospital for the poor founded in the 1400s. It was neat to see how a hospital was run in the middle ages. After that we had some free time and walked around Beaune, another cute little French town, for a bit before getting back on the bus (yay) to go to Paris. When we got there the weather was beautiful, even though the forecast had predicted rain every day we were there. We met Julien, our super French guide for the next couple of days, who took us walking around different parts of the city and then to a creperie for dinner. I was super excited about having two group dinners in a row, and the crepes were delicious. That night some of us went looking for the French nightlife and had a little trouble finding it, but we ended up at a bar close to the hotel called The Gob (I think?). Then it was back to the hotel to mentally prepare for the bike tour the next morning.

At 8 AM we left for the bike rental place. I was a little nervous because I am the least coordinated person west of the Mississippi and haven't ridden a bike since I was like ten. However, after a while my bike (called Birthday Cake) and I got the hang of it, and I wasn't run over by an angry Frenchman so I guess it was a success. The first place we rode to was the Eiffel tower, which is beautiful and made me feel like I was in a movie or something. Then we saw the palace thing where all the military stuff happens and something about Napoleon. (The headsets we were wearing combined with Julien's nice but sometimes thick accent made it hard to understand sometimes so I still don't know exactly what that place was. It was probably important though.) Then we rode across a bridge and down by the river Seine, which was really nice. Then we returned our bikes and got to find lunch on our own. We found a playground/park area and tried to play Frisbee there but the French Playground Police told us there was no throwing allowed. So apparently the French hate fun. Then we went to the Pasteur Museum and had a guided tour of his house. After that we had free time, so some of us went to the Shakespeare Company bookstore, which was really cool. I could have spent the whole day in there. Then we went into Notre Dame, which was impressive. No hunchback, though. After that we ate dinner at a pho place and then had to be back for going up the Eiffel tower. I snagged a crepe before we got on the elevator, and then we went up to the second deck. It was nighttime at this point, and the tower lit up with blinking lights every hour and the view was amazing. We went up to the top level as well, and for some stupid reason Ryan, Shawn, and I decided to take the stairs down. That was not a great plan. But we made it, and after stopping by the hotel we decided to take some beers down by the river. However, the river looked way closer on the map, and after walking for about 30 minutes we just decided to sit on a bench and talk/drink. It wasn't until after we finished the six pack that we realized we were sitting right in front of a police station...but no one ended up in French jail so I consider it a good night.

The next day was another early start as we headed to Versailles. We took a train, where I had a good nap, and then walked up to the shiny golden gates. The palace is really big and more ornately decorated than anything I've seen in my life. And I've seen like twelve castles since being in Europe. We walked through all of the bedrooms and war painting rooms and the hall of mirrors. Even more impressive than the palace was its backyard. The gardens went on forever, with fountains and statues and hedge mazes everywhere. We walked for a long time to a grassy clearing, where Julien and his girlfriend were setting up a picnic. They had some really good quiche, like five kinds of cheeses, champagne, wine, fresh fruit, and about 50 baguettes. It was really good. After eating we went to Marie Antoinette's village, the Queen's Hamlet, which looked like it came straight out of a Disney princess movie. There were even swans. I really want to live in a house with a water wheel now. After that we headed back to the front gates, and Ashley and I fell behind because we stopped for some fresh orange juice (worth it). After we rode the train back, some of us took a tour of the arts district with Julien and got to see Moulin Rouge. Then we ate at an Italian place by the hotel. Shawn, Ryan, Reagan, and I had some deep convos and bonded. After dinner some people went out clubbing, but I had to register for classes at one in the morning, so I stayed to try and plan out my life for the next year. This was exhausting and my least favorite part of the trip. Really good day otherwise.

The next day was the last day of the Paris trip. We woke up early (what else is new) to go to the Louvre. I didn't realize how big it was, or that people used to live in it. The glass pyramid things that you see in every picture are much cooler in person, and the little metal circles marking the Rose line from the Da Vinci Code movie are there too. We had another guide that wasn't Julien, but he was still pretty good, and we got to see the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, and some Michelangelo pieces. The Louvre was the official end to the program, so we split off into our different traveling groups and said goodbye for the weekend.