Getting back really late Sunday night from Amsterdam, I only had a couple of hours to pack and sleep before we had to meet at 7AM to depart for Colmar. I ended up sleeping the entire way on the 5-hour bus ride. In Colmar, we saw the Isenheim altarpiece. Painted in the 1500s for the hospital chapel of St. Anthony’s monastery, Jesus was depicted as having some sort of skin disease to bring comfort to the hospital’s patients suffering from similar diseases, such as ergotism. The time spent in Colmar was too short and after this museum, it was off to Beaune! After we arrived, we had a delicious meal of boeuf bourguignon, a traditional meal of the region, paired with burgundy wine. The next day, we toured Hotel Dieu (Hospices de Beaune), a hospital built for the poor in the 1400s. The hotel itself was beautiful, with its colorful roof covered in ceramic tiles. The highlight of this tour was definitely the Beaune Altarpiece (aka The Last Judgement). We got to look at it through a magnifying glass and the details of it was mind-blowing. The fact that someone so painstakingly painted this, worrying about details right down to the fibers of the robes, is so impressive.
After another 5 hour bus ride (and another 5 hour nap), we arrived in Paris! I had been to Paris 2 years before and absolutely loved it, so I was extremely excited to be back! I also took French class from pre-K to 12th grade but am nowhere near fluent (sad, I know). But I promised myself this time I would speak it more while in Paris (I was too self-conscious the last time) and I actually did!! After our arrival, we ended the night with a group dinner at a creperie, where we had delicious galettes and crepes. The next morning, our tour guide Julien led us on a bike tour of the city. I hadn’t ridden a bike in years and having to ride in a group of about 30 people on the streets, with cars and pedestrians, was slightly terrifying. But we all managed to survive! I do wish we had been able to go inside some of the buildings that we saw on the tour though. Later that day, we visited the Pasteur Museum and learned more about Pasteur’s impact on modern medicine. Then at night, we went all the way up the Eiffel Tower where the view was breathtaking. I could’ve spent the entire night standing up there, taking in all of the twinkling lights of the city life.
The next day, we toured the Palace of Versailles, which was built by King Louis XIV. This place is so extravagant and grand it’s ridiculous. It’s hard to imagine people actually living here! Even though I had been here before, I was still astounded by it all, especially the Hall of Mirrors, my favorite room. After a lovely walk through the massive garden, we met up to have a picnic, which Julien and his wife so kindly put together for us. There was lots of wine, cheese, quiche, fruit, and most importantly, baguettes! It was amazing. The weather was also absolutely gorgeous this day too. After Versailles, a few of us went on a tour of the Montmartre district of Paris. Unfortunately, it started raining pretty hard so we took cover inside the Sacre-Coeur Basilica, which was beautiful. After the rain lightened up a bit, we continued the tour. It was so cool to be able to walk the streets that several famous artists, like Picasso, van Gogh, Monet, Dali, and Toulouse-Lautrec, walked and see the cafes that they spent time in. That evening, I ate at a Vietnamese restaurant with a couple of friends. Our waiter had actually lived in Houston (where I’m from) for 2 years and worked at a restaurant just down the street from where my parents currently work! Such an awesome coincidence. Then at night, I went to the Musee d’Orsay. There was an entire floor dedicated to impressionism so, of course, that’s where I spent all my time until the museum closed. It was so wonderful I went back to the same floor of that museum the next day!
Our last day started off with a tour of the Louvre, where I got to see my favorite statue, the Winged Victory of Samothrace. I felt like the tour was a bit rushed though, which was understandable considering how much time we had and how large the museum is. I feel like I could’ve spent the entire day there and still not see everything. After the Louvre, the group split up for the weekend and I went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber with Ryan, Koi, and Caleb. We decided it was a good idea to drive through the night since we didn’t have a hotel for that night. And when we got to our hotel around 6am, we couldn’t even check in until 3pm so we slept in the car for a good 2 hours. It was also raining the entire time we were there but the city itself was still lovely and so picturesque. We ate some schneeballen, visited the medieval crime and torture museum, climbed up some very narrow staircases in the Rathaus tower, and went to a shop that literally was an explosion of Christmas inside (it was magical). Oh and we did the Night Watchman tour and had the most interesting tour guide. All in all, a pretty chill weekend in a small, lovely town.
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