We first went to two small towns, Colmar and Beaune. Both were cute and had some interesting medical history, but I love Paris so much I wish we would have skipped these to allow more time in Paris. I suppose seeing the medical museums is our only excuse for taking a week off of school though, so I understand why these were stuck into the itinerary. Colmar is a very German-looking French town known for the Isenheim Altar, which depicts Jesus crucified and covered in plague sores. This represents His understanding and sharing of the plague-victims' afflictions. Beaune is known for Hotel Dieu, which used to serve as a hospital for plague victims and the poor but now serves as a museum and retirement home for the elderly. My highlight of both of these cities was speaking French with the locals.
Finally, PARIS. I will live here one day. It feels like home to me. First we met our amazing tour guide, Julien. He was so great! Throughout the trip, he would help me with my French, teaching me new vocabulary and working with me on pronouncing the French R sound (it's really hard for me). I learned so much in the three days we had with him!
Because I had already been to Paris twice before this trip, a lot of the things we saw I had already seen. I was completely fine with this of course because I will go back to Paris a thousand times before it gets old, but I am going to gloss over everything I've already seen and just talk about the new stuff. First of all, we took a guided tour of the history of medicine museum. The tour was pretty interesting, but my favorite part was listening to our French tour guide occasionally revert back to French when she stumbled on the English and trying to think of which English word she was searching for. Then, in our free time, Claire and I found the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, which is where Mother Mary appeared to St. Catherine of Laboure to request the creation of the Miraculous Medal. It was so beautiful. The next day, Julien led us on a tour of Montmartre (one of the most difficult French words for me to pronounce because of the back to back R sounds. I think Julien made me say it twenty times before I got it right. Thank you to everyone on the tour for being patient with me, because yes, he did make me practice in front of everyone!) in the old cabaret district. It was so cool to walk where so many of the artists I have studied walked.
The low point of my trip to Paris was the very last day when I had planned to visit the Orsay Museum. It is a famous impressionist (my favorite) art museum, which I have never been to. It was my goal to see it this trip to Paris because on the past two trips I have not had time or have tried to go on a day it is closed. So. It is my last day in Paris. It is 5:20 pm. We make it to Orsay. The guard at the door tells us they stop allowing visitors to enter at 5:15 pm. Yet again I miss Orsay. Mais, c'est la vie. Je retournerai a Paris, et je verrai l'Orsay.
These few places were the only new sites of my trip to Paris, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself nonetheless. It felt really good to share my love of Paris and French and experience it with friends. All the typical monuments still astonish me, and I can't look away from the Eiffel Tower every time I see it. My goal in Paris was to soak up as much French culture and beauty as I could because I don't know when I'll be back. I do know that I will be back though.
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