Chapter 9

This week marks the beginning of another long excursion, but this time to France. The places we visited were Colmar, Beaune, and Paris. We had to meet up at Hofgarten early in the morning and as a late night owl I was half awake when I got to the stop and fell asleep as soon as I could. We were given time for lunch by ourselves and I went to a pizzeria as it was one of the only places that was open and not overly expensive. My friends and I attempted french at this fine establishment and the fantastic waiter thought it was funny yet friendly. 

Afterwards, we had a lecture tour at the Unterlinden Museum and Isenheim Altar. The finely preserved art showed a lot of patients with symptoms that could have been ergotism or the plague. Besides the main attraction there, I saw a couple of display cases of old waffles makers that piqued the inner baker in me. Later, we went to Beaune and had a group dinner where the majority of us tried snails. I have tried escargot a few times before, but not Parisian style snails. I was surprised that the shells were already removed when the food was served, as I was expecting to have a great complicated mess with the dish (kind of like crawfish). Later, we had a guided tour of Hotel Dieu, which was where the sick were welcomed in. When I walked into the rooms with the hospital beds, the first thing I thought of was Madam Pomfrey’s hospital rooms from the wizarding world of Harry Potter and now I can’t unsee it. I appreciate that the Hotel Dieu is still in use, not only as a museum but also as a retirement home for the geriatric. 

During our free time, I walked around and awkwardly bought some syrupy sorbet from a creperie restaurant and browsed the grocery store before walking around some nature. The next day, we bussed our way to Paris and had a tour of the area with Julien. We saw many things and I felt we were racing against an imaginary clock the entire time. In the middle of the tour, they got us the very macarons. I had often baked them when I was younger and had a more reliable and evenly heated oven (so not my place back in College Station) and had decided then that the effort was not worth it; I’d rather just buy it. Later, I noticed that macaron prices were still high in France as opposed to being a bit cheaper, as some food items are cheaper when they’re bought from its home country. It was nice eating them, and we did it outside of the flagship Louis Vuitton store. Funny thing is, my grandparents wanted to buy LV cross body bags for my aunts in China and my aunts in America told and asked me to be the mail person too late. Apparently, luxury bags are cheaper to buy in Europe. I’m not sure if that would still have been true as I would have had to declare them at the airport when I went through customs, as well as the included cost and hassle of carrying them around the tour or subway. The Paris subway system was not to my liking. It was incredibly crowded and the entire time I kept thinking of all the germs and bacteria I was touching due to how close everybody was in the subway. (Fun fact, I actually hate shaking hands with people because of how much of a germaphobe I can be —  when was the last time you washed your hands??) One time, the magnetic strip didn’t work for me, which was frustrating. However, I knew that doing an overhaul of such a complicated and busy public transportation service would not only be expensive but also a nightmare to deal with. 

After the tour, we had time to get our lunch by ourselves and after walking around a bit we went inside of a place that had a set menu for a certain amount of euros: an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. During our aimless wandering, I noticed a bunch of book shops and many shelves that had signs stating that each book was only 0,50 euro! I wanted to buy a couple but knew that buying books would be a luggage issue later, and from my first restaurant experience in Colmar I knew that my french needed a lot more honing. Later, we also had a guided tour at Le Musée d’historic de la Médicine. The hallways and building were very beautiful and the atmosphere for some reason reminded me of the Boston Public Library back in the USA. In the museum portion of the building, many displays showed historical tools. The tour guide explained a lot of things that probably gave shock value to the average tourist, but many of the topics she discussed we had already seen, heard about, or learned. Whenever we didn’t give an animated reaction, I felt like she kept trying to explain further to get a result from us. However, there was a small section related to dentistry that I found interesting. It featured a lot of fake teeth and tools that still look they are used today. This is probably because the human body has not changed, so the procedure would need similar tools. After that, we had free time. My friends and I wanted to shop around Paris a bit, and we wandered around a little doing just that. We also stopped by the Notre Dame church. Despite this church being a marvel, the Cologne church still has a more special place in my heart. Later, we had the Eiffel Tower tour at night. The line was incredibly long, which was to be expected for such a world famous architectural masterpiece. The way up was tedious as I had to go through many checkpoints and security points, which made sense due to the recent “terrorist attacks.”  The view at the top was pretty and I noticed the smells of the restaurant located inside the restaurant. The way down was more interesting, as the climb was steep. It was more fun climbing down and waving to the people going up on the elevators, but the lights would often blind me when I turned a corner going down the stairs, especially when the tower sparkled. Later that night, some friends and I went to a fandom themed bar that had quirks from tv shows, movies, games, and iconic entertainment franchises. (For example, the restrooms had a sign that announced “The Toilette Zone” instead of the Twilight Zone. 

The next morning we went straight the Louvre after breakfast. The hotel breakfast was very tasty and had several options for bread, jams, and teas. Of course we saw a lot of the museum’s artworks that everyone goes there for, such as the Mona Lisa. The room was apparently not that crowded when I went. I liked Bernardino Luini’s work that was displayed, and the statue of Athena. We didn’t stay long in my opinion and I wished I could have gotten lost in the Louvre. Afterwards, we were all hungry and a bit dehydrated so my friends and I went straight to a restaurant near the exit of the Louvre. My eyes had tunnel vision for the duck confit, which was tasty but the side dish of potatoes were even better with its seasonings of herbs, butter, salt, and garlic. Afterwards, we walked around and got lost and at one point I ended up buying a dress.

We had to get up early the next day because we were heading to Versailles. The walk up to the palace just gave me more anticipation, as the entire building was so picturesque. I walked mainly inside, as I could not find a way to get to the gardens. However, we had lunch outside in the garden that consisted of a baguette, cheese, meats, fruits, and drinks that were representative of a Parisian diet. The day was a rainy and foggy, which was bad weather for the garden. Hopefully I’ll come back when the place is in full bloom, but then it might be crowded. 

After the AIB portion of the program ended, we were free to begin Spring Break. The hotel was nice to let us leave our luggage in their office as my friends and I were flying out the next day. We had time to get pho at the nearby Chinatown, which I did not find that impressing. But then again, we did not venture or explore far into it. There was a thrift shop we looked at, but the majority of items were not practical for Texas weather. Afterwards, we headed to our airbnb which was a cute reworked attic near the airport. At the airport, I really had to use the restroom and waited for about an hour and a half but couldn’t even use it, but the cleaning lady let someone else use it that had only been waiting about 15 minutes. I felt a bit discriminated against, but then again it is important to have tough skin. Once we left Paris, Spring Break officially began!