Week 8: Beaune & Paris

The week prior to Spring Break, we spent an exciting, and tiring, week in France. The fiirst 6 hours of the trip were spent in the bus; where many of us slept, some sang, and the rest found ways to wake up or annoy the others The rest of the first day we visited the towns of Colmar and Beaune. In Colmar, the group toured an art museum before heading to Beaune for the remainder of the day. The same night we dined on some delicious French cuisine and superb red wine. The following day, we spent some time at Hospices de Beaune- a hospital run exclusively on donations that provided for both poor and well off patients. During the tour, we learned about the architecture, history, medicine production, and religious aspects of the hospital. The most interesting parts of the tour, was how recently the establishment had been used and the "pharmacy": A wall of ingredients and compounds used to make the treatments provided to the patients.  After the end of the tour, we loaded up the bus once more, to begin our journey to Paris.

The first night in Paris we ate crepes paired with cider. Not just any crepes; freshest, most authentic, and most filling crepes I'm ever eaten in my life. (We also met our tour guide and figured out the underground transit disaster we would be dealing with the next few days, but free food- duh).

Our first full day in Paris was the best, but also the longest. We got to tour the most touristy places in the city - on bikes. Over Bridges, past the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, free macaroons,  and so much more. It was incredibly thrilling and fortunately we had only a few casualties- even more fortunately, I was not one of them. A few bumps and bruises later we reverted back to foot and walked to a History of Medicine Museum. This museum was intriguing because the tour began from the earliest instances of medicine up until the most recent. We saw devices that were used for lobotomies, bladder stone extractions, and my personal favourite, a table made entirely out of human body parts! It was incredible really, but by that time everyone was hungry and fatigued, and in general not having a fun time.

At some point during this trip, half of us split up and went to one of the most expensive streets i've ever been on. All the high fashion and most expensive cars lined the sidewalks. Needless to say I couldn't afford to spend much time there, but the visit was nice.

Later in the night we gathered at the base of the Eiffel Tower to witness the beautifully flickering lights across the dark sky. Shortly after, we took a lift to the very top where the wind and rain made taking photogenic pictures much more difficult.

 Montmatre just so happens to be the most creative and lovely parts of Paris. Some of the most renown artists including Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso have passed through.
We saw an entire square dedicated to street artists creating portraits, landscapes,  and their creative interpretations of France.
On the outskirts, we passed by the Moulin Rouge, and a chocolate shop. The shop had to scale replicas of famous landmarks made entirely out of chocolate.

At the end of the day on our last day in France we visited the Palace of Versaille where we explored many of the adorned and gold rooms and had a lovely picnic in the garden with some of the finest French ingredients.