Monday, March 5
We spent a lot of today on a bus which I obviously did not enjoy. There just wasn't a lot of space and I slept curled up in a ball in my seat, so when I woke up every few hours or so I was really sore and stiff. Ibk and I tried to brush up on our French together towards the end though and I really enjoyed that. The actual events of the day, although few, were quite nice. Once we arrived in Colmar we were given two hours of free time to walk around and get lunch. My little group wandered quite a bit trying to find the next words for our Alphabet Game and eventually ended up in a pizzeria. The pizza was okay (I really like American style pizza more than European pizza--unpopular opinion I know, don't @ me), and the streets were absolutely adorable. The architecture was an odd mix of German and French but it worked quite well in my opinion. After free time we went to the Musée Unterlinden and saw the Isenheim altarpiece. Dr. Wasser was extremely knowledgeable (as always) and gave us a mini lecture in regard to it before giving us some time to explore the rest of the museum ourselves. I wasn't a huge fan of the rest but it was still fun to walk around and look at the random artifacts and paintings. After that we went back to the bus and headed to Beaune. The hotel we're staying at here is really cool and has an odd layout. Ibk are lucky in that we're on the ground floor, and we get to pass through a small, cute courtyard to get to our room. After dropping our stuff off, we went out for dinner at a really sweet little restaurant. All of the waitstaff were super nice and the food was delicious! The wine there (special to the region) was probably the best red I've ever had, not that I really have much experience with wine. We stayed there for a while, learned a traditional French song-type-thing that is used to express that you've really enjoyed your time and meal (it involved a lot of La's, hand waving, and clapping) and then walked back to the hotel, at which point Ibk and I started going through a bunch of the French songs that I learned during high school but haven't heard much since. I was really happy to learn that I still know a good portion of them, and I found my old playlist so it can be our soundtrack for the rest of the week. Today was a good first day in France and I'm super excited to try brushing the rust off of my language knowledge over the next couple of days.
Songs:
Allo Le monde
Andelouse
Derniere danse
Elle me dit
Je te donne
Liberee, delivree
Tuesday, March 6
What a long day!! We started off with breakfast at the hotel and then our tour of Hotel Dieu, or House of God.
Highlights:
-the tile work on the roof of the building
-the foldable art piece, no idea what it was called sorry!
-an interesting vaginal wash instrument which was used as a sort of pre-birth-baptism in case the baby did not survive
-the amusing origin of the phrase "comment t'allez vous"
Next up was some free time in which Ibk, Jack and I explored Beaune a little more.
Highlights:
-the small bookstore we went into and the shopkeeper that owned it (he used to work in a vineyard in America and requested we say hello to the states for him upon our return)
-looking down a French street is really aesthetically pleasing
-finding random statues and parc de lyon
-the quiche-like (but more cheesy and less eggy) snack I had for lunch
After that we all met back up and headed to the bus to start our ride to Paris!
Highlights:
It was another bus ride. Another hours-long bus ride. During which my congestion reached an all-time high and my head felt ready to explode. There were no highlights.
Just kidding I'm not THAT pessimistic! The French countryside can be super duper pretty. I love looking out over cities when the road is at a higher elevation, and even random empty fields looked very nice against the bright blue sky. Seriously, it looked like we were driving through the old Microsoft Windows default background. And there were rainbows!
But finally we made it to Paris, checked into our hotel, and went out for a group dinner at a creperie.
Highlights:
-our room's tiny balcony
-ham, egg, and cheese crepe, yum!
-butter and sugar crepe, YUM!
After dinner we returned to the hotel and after a little break Ibk, Jack, and I went out to explore Paris on our own. We started off by just walking to the Seine and along it for a while. It was a pretty long stroll but it was with good company and we all really enjoyed the (albeit a little sketchy along the riverfront) atmosphere. As we walked along the river we passed many a bridge (at least eight) as well as many a rat (enough to take over the world??). The first one we saw scurry past us scared the bajeebies out of me, but I got used to seeing them rather quickly.
Highlights:
-the random artwork on the sides of buildings along boulevard de hopital
-the green vendor boxes along the river (they bring back very happy nostalgia from my first experiences in Paris)
Finally we made it to our destination: Notre Dame. It was as magnificent as could be, and I don't remember seeing it from the back the last time I was in Paris, so I made sure to walk all the way around and see it from all sides.
Highlights:
-I made it to point zero, I don't think I saw it the first time I came (or maybe I didn't know the significance) but this time I made a wish and I hope it comes true!
Lowlights:
-the lock my best friend/current college station roommate and I left on a gate in front of the cathedral two years ago has since been removed
And thus began the long walk back. It was the same as we'd taken to get there, yet it seemed twice as long.
Highlights:
-we encountered a green box that said "tourists go home" just as I was talking about how much I loved them
Wednesday, March 7
First up today was a walking tour with our guide Julien. He took us to see all of the famous sites (la tour Eiffel, l'arc de triumph, notre dame) and some of the not-so-famous sites (the site of Marie Antoinettes beheading--now where the much loathed Ferris wheel stands, a flower market on ile de la city, the opera house, Alexander III bridge, the oldest clock in Paris, and a cathedral--I don't know which--with the most absolutely beautiful stained glass windows).
After that we took a lunch break and went to the History of Medicine Museum. It was really interesting, but being inside for a long time is really bad for my head. It gets really stuffy and hurts so badly that it becomes hard to focus. Nevertheless I did learn some cool stuff. I think my favorite moment of that tour was when our tour guide was talking about a doctor treating a woman who couldn't seem to give birth. As treatment he gave her a doll to take care of instead--our guide pretending to be the doctor: "here is a doll for you, take care of it" then to us, "it was like a tamogatchi!"
We ended the tour at Notre dame after the museum, and I feel like I actually enjoyed my time inside it more this time around as I was less concerned about taking pictures than actually enjoying the architecture and the beauty of the sunlight streaming through the stained glass. If I have any say in my future home it will definitely feature stained glass as well as the landscape paintings I talked about weeks ago.
Then came free time in which Corey, Mitchell, Austen, and I wandered around a bit just enjoying the streets. We stopped to take pictures of the pantheon and eventually for a quick dinner. Or, at least what we meant to be a quick dinner. It turns out we were much further from the Eiffel Tower (our next meeting point) than we'd thought, so we were quite a bit late! But back to the restaurant, I had a really weird feeling of deja vu there. I kind of think I ate there when I was in Paris two years ago, in that same exact booth, but I cannot confirm it for sure and it would be quite a coincidence if that was correct.
By the time we met the rest of the group at the Eiffel Tower I was really peeved. They'd all left the meeting point by the time we got there since we were so late, which I didn't mind, but they didn't tell us where they'd gone and it took forever to get a response from them. Eventually we made it inside and met up with them in line though so everything worked out fine. I was kind of disappointed to see on the schedule that we were going up at night. The view from the top was very pretty, but in my opinion it's much nicer during the day. Also, it was a special day because along the first floor landing of the towers was the phrase Maintenant On Agit which had to do with recognition of women's rights. Camella, Darby, Mitchell, Corey, Lois, and I took the stairs down and were on them when the tower started its five minute twinkling on the hour. It was super pretty and the inside of the tower is a really interesting sight that not many people see, so I recommend taking the stairs down if you can.
After that we met up with Jack and Deanna on the ground and headed back toward the hotel. We stopped for some wine and a good night time chat on the way and then I returned to my room, wrote this entry, and am now going to bed! Bonne nuit.
Thursday, March 8
We started off our morning by going to the Louvre. It really is true that every time you go you'll see something new because it's just impossible to see it all at once. I think my favorite part was when Julien took us to the remaining bits of the former fortress that was the original structure of what eventually became the large, expanded palace the museum is based within. After visiting that, we went through the section that I'd gone through during my last visit. It's the most popular branch for first time Louvre goers since it has the Mona Lisa but again, there were plenty new things to see and learn about, and I even enjoyed it more this time because Julien was such a great guide and seemed to know absolutely everything about absolutely anything. Following the Louvre, we had the rest of the day free to ourselves. Camella, Darby, Deanna, Lois, Corey, and I grabbed lunch and then headed to Montmartre for exploration. After a never-ending staircase up from the subway station, we happened upon Eglise Saint Jean which was a quiet, less extravagant church than many that we've seen in the past couple of months. Even so I really loved the arched design of the balcony and how that same design was also applied to the stained glass windows. We continued to make our way up hills and stairs until we reached Sacre Coeur, a beautiful white basilica with an excellent view of the city. The inside of the building is equally as breathtaking as the outside and it's definitely worth a visit if you're in Paris for a couple of days. The surrounding area also has lots to offer in the way of art, cafes, shops, and cute streets, so we wandered around for quite a while before leaving. Once our feet were sore and we were tired of the cold rain and winds pelting us, we went back to central Paris for macaroons and crepes then returned to the hotel. At this point I watched a movie before I started on my homework (clearly, not the best idea). I finished that at about 3:30, at which point I packed up my bag and collapsed for a nice, long 3 hour nap.
Random things:
Concorde metro station
Friday, March 9
Today we visited Versailles. I woke up a little later than intended and ended up not having time to go down for breakfast, so I was pretty hungry all morning but I managed just fine until lunch. The palace was of course huge and unnecessarily extravagant for the time, and still a wonder to look at now. I didn't really see anything I didn't the last time, so even though I had a great time walking around with the others, it wasn't too exciting. We had a group lunch of a large arrangement of French meats, cheeses, and fruit--complete with a Parisian baguette. Almost everything I tried I really enjoyed, and it was surprisingly filling. After lunch, Julien took us around the gardens a bit and then we returned to the hotel to get our stuff and split up for our respective spring break plans. I'm currently sitting in the lobby writing this, and I will be leaving for the airport in an hour or so for our first destination: Porto, Portugal. Unfortunately it seems we're in for some nasty weather and I'm trying to ignore the fact that we may be flying into a tropical storm. Hopefully the weather isn't too bad, but we will make the most of whatever happens regardless.
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