France: Pre-Spring Break

Week 9:

Our trip to France began in Colmar. Here we visited the Isenheim Alterpiece.  This piece folds out to have four facades. Each shows different pieces of Christ's life. This was an impressive piece of art and is rightfully renowned. I was amazed how much medical history is embedded into this piece also such as the plants growing and the blemishes on Christ himself to resemble plague boils. Ironically enough, even though Dr. Wasser and Nick told me that the Museum in Colmar was not famouns for much besides the Isenheim Alterpiece, it was not my favorite piece in the place. In a room all by itself, there was a wooded sculpture of Christ's crucifixion which hung on a wall. It was about 1.5 - 2 times life size so one had to look up to see God's face but he looked back at you from not so far away. What struck me was the emotion on the wooden face of God. Usually crucifixion pieces have sadness or repentance in their eyes, but this one had only love. The expression captured me and I stood alone in this room for many minutes just looking upwards. I was moved almost to tears by this piece and considered for a while kneeling in front of it even in the museum. I have never seen such a moving version of the crucifixion before. I wasn't allowed to take a picture of the piece and I was so engrossed that I didn't even catch the name or artist, but I'll have it in my memory forever.

We drove from Colmar on Monday afternoon to Beaune. In Beaune, I had some great escargot and chocolate mousse. However, I ate a new food, a mashed fish rolled patty, that I was not as big of a fan of. However, the croissants in provincial France are as wonderful as advertised. In Beaune we visited the Hôtel-Dieu, a hospital run by the nuns. Here the amount of work that the nuns did to heal the patients really struck me. Also, the fact that the hotel focused on curing the mind as well as the body seemed very standard for the time, but struck me because it would be incredibly strange to me to see an elaborately painted altarpiece near the beds of hospital patients in today's society. I enjoyed Beaune because the narrow streets made everything beautiful and shrouded in adventurous mystery.

On Tuesday we left Beaune and arrived in Paris. This was the main portion of the trip and we got to see so much! It's funny, although I recognized things from the trip my parents and I took a few years back, I still felt like their was infinite parts of the city to discover. I could go back 100 times and still not be satisfied that I had seen enough of Paris' beautiful cityscape and landmarks. The most memorable parts of Paris to me were the incredible crepes, both the savory and the sweet; the trip up to and the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower; and the artist village on top of Montmartre with Sacré Couer. These were all new to me despite the trip I had previously taken with my family to Paris. Although I really enjoyed the Louvre, where I was able to see the Mona Lisa, the Winged Nike, and Venus de Milo, these were not new experiences for me and thus I felt less awe than the first time I saw these pieces. However, I got to stand in the Eiffel Tower with friends, on my way down the stairs when the twinkling lights went off. I was able to sit in Sacré Couer staring at one glass stained window for ten minutes or so in just utter awe. The building and the pieces were incredible. Overall, Paris once again captured my heart. I particularly enjoyed the relative dichotomy in the fact that the first time I went to Paris I explored the city as a dependent person, rarely making any substantial decision, and this time I was able to find time to explore on my own and I was responsible for myself. This made me feel more grown up and mature and I enjoyed the freedom and fun that this allowed.

On Friday, our trip to France reached a conclusion with a quick trip to Versailles and a wonderful picnic in the gardens. This was amazing because we were able to eat antipasti like the French do with many different types of bread and jam and cheese and meat and wine. I enjoyed it a lot and I plan to have parties like this as I get older to share quality wholesome food with my friends. At the end of the day, I set off to begin my individual spring break by boarding a flight to Barcelona, but I'll talk more about that in my next blog.