Bonjour internet!
By now, the Paris excursion has come to a close and everyone
is heading on their merry way to their spring break destinations. But first,
let me tell you all about France!
The morning of the excursion appeared to begin well. I was
out the door with breakfast in hand at a reasonable time and I knew I wasn’t
going to be super late. But of course, as I was walking through Hoffgarden
towards the bus, I realized I forgot a major item pertinent to the next two
weeks of traveling: my Damn Passport. I had to take a taxi back to the house to
run and get it while the rest of the bus waited for me, which was not the best
way to start the day, but it was a growing moment.
After that was solved, we were on our way to the little town
of Colmar.
In Colmar, we went to visit the Isenheim Altar, a marvelous
wooden masterpiece rediscovered by the monuments men depicting Jesus Christ in
various paintings. The altarpiece was definitely astounding, even to a girl who
doesn’t have a strong faith in religion. After seeing that marvelous sight we
went to Beaune where we ate dinner in the cutest restaurant. I had the snails
for starters, a weird fish thing for my main course, and the chocolate mousse
for dessert. The owner of the restaurant joined us inside and taught us a fun
French song to commemorate our meal together and it was a very lovely first day
in France. That night, these two French boys were dancing along the street. I
tried to join in, but they shut me down. Now I know that French boys aren’t for
me.
In Beaune, we visited the Hotel Dieu, which is this old hospital/church
where sick people would go for free healthcare. It was a pretty cool sight,
seeing the red silky beds that had to be shared by 4-8 people, and it showed
how little we understood about medicine back then since people would pass
sicknesses along to each other by sharing these beds. I think I recall them
using snail slime as a kind of ointment too. Bottom line, French people love
their snails.
After these two town hops, we made our way to the main attraction:
Paris. The Eiffel tour at night was remarkable, and the lights of the city
surrounding the tour illuminated far and beyond. It was not as pretty as
Budapest, but it’s up there. The Louvre is the best museum I’ve ever been to in
my life, with its fair share of history from its exhibition of its original
walls, to its paintings of the French Revolution, and the very underwhelming
Mona Lisa. No offense to da Vinci, but he’s done better.
In Paris, we got to try French macarons which was delicious
(obviously) and our tour guide Julian had just the right of amount of style and
sass, so I whole trip was a great time. On the last night, we explored the city
and went to the Moulin Rouge and had a delicious 3 course meal out in the city.
Other major landmarks we visited included the Notre Dame, Arc of Triumph and
the city of Versailles.
Anyway, I got to go
since I’ll be heading to Croatia soon. I’ll share all about it in my next blog
post.
Ciao!
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