After 2 weeks of hard work, the time has finally come- Spring Break 2k18. Our first stop: France. On Monday morning, our entire biosciences program hopped on a bus and road-tripped down south towards Colmar, France. Colmar is a cute little town in Alsace, France, filled with cobble stone streets and multicolored half timbered houses. When we arrived there, we walked around to find lunch- it was both warm (ish) and sunny, so it was a delightful start to our excursion. Madeline, Lauren, Emily and I ended up eating at a french cafe and ordered flambee, a traditional French thin crust pizza. It was delicious, albeit expensive. One thing I noticed almost immediately while it tastes good, food is wayyyy more expensive in France than it is in Germany. After lunch, we all met at the entrance to the Unterlinden Museum, which houses the famous Isenheim Altar. For the next couple of hours, Dr. Wasser took us on a tour of the museum, explaining the medical/ historical significance of such an exquisite artistic masterpiece. In each of the paintings associated with the altarpiece, the artist Matthias Grünewald depicted the people with some of the horrible diseases that plagued the people of his time (such as Jesus on the cross with horrible plague boils). After the tour, we had a chance to wander through the museum on our own before returning to the bus to head to Beaune, a medieval city in the neighboring region of Burgundy.
After checking into our hotel in Beaune, we headed off to dinner at a fancy French restaurant in town. I didn't have to worry about the price of the food because the AIB paid for it- thus, I was able to get whatever I liked. Well not really, because we could only choose between a couple of things on the menu, but I absolutely loved what I ordered. My meal consisted of three courses- traditional "escargot", or snails, served in a pesto garlic sauce, beef burgundy, and soufflé for dessert. I was a little nervous to try the snails at first, but they were absolutely delicious and did not taste fishy at all. Probably the best part of the meal was the red wine- Burgundy is the wine region of France, and thus the wine was some of the best that you can find in the entire country. After dinner, we walked around the town in the dark, exploring some of the dark streets and medieval buildings in the town. From what I could tell, it looked beautiful, and I couldn't wait to see it in the daytime. Finally, when I arrived back to the hotel around midnight, Corey convinced me to come watch "Monuments Men" along with Darby, Camella, Lois, and Deanna, as we had learned earlier that day that the Isenheim Altarpiece was rescued by them from the Nazis during World War II.
The next morning, we headed over to the Hotel Dieu, which is the one of the oldest hospitals in France (founded in 1443). Walking into the building revealed a beautiful old courtyard surrounded by multicolored tiled roofs. From there, we started our tour throughout the building, which took us through the old infirmary rooms and the old kitchen, from where the prepared food and wine (yes wine, not water) for the sick patients. It was amazing how unsanitary things were back then, despite the honest intentions of the nuns to care for the sick; in the poor people's room, patients would often have to quadruple up on a twin sized bed, even if they had completely different illnesses. After the museum, Corey, Katie, Emily, and I walked around the town in search of food. We came upon a small cafe where I ordered a slice of "fromage" quiche. I ordered "fromage" instead of the other type because it sounded more fancy- when I was disappointed when I tried it, Emily told me that fromage just meant cheese in French. Welp, I guess you can tell that I don't speak a lick of French. After walking a little more around the town, we re-boarded the bus for the last time to embark on our 6 hour journey north to Paris. I told myself that I would write a ton of blogs, study 211, and otherwise be super productive, but I ended up only accomplishing a nice 6 hour nap. At least the bus ride went by quickly! When we arrived in Paris that night, Corey and I decided to go exploring in the 20 minutes that we had before heading off to dinner. Leave it to us to get lost in such a short amount of time, but we ended up running around frantically trying to find our way back to the hotel before the group left us (if you've been around us this last semester, you'd know this is an everyday occurrence). We finally made it back and headed off with the rest of the group to eat crepes in the Paris Crepe district. Lemme just just say that I have never seen more crowded public transportation in my life. The first subway was too full for us to hop on, so we had to wait for a second one, which was almost too full to hop on as well! I was definitely ready to get off the crowded metro car and eat get some delicious crepes for dinner. The crepes definitely did not disappoint, and they were served with a delicious fresh hard apple cider. That night after dinner, I and a few others took the subway (it was still crazy crowded at 9 at night) to the Eiffel Tour and walked around there for a couple of hours. The Eiffel tour lit up at night is truly a sight to see, especially the first 5 minutes of every hour when the twinkly blue lights come on. While walking around the tour, I got approached by a street salesman who offered me a small Eiffel tour trinket. When I said no, he then proceeded to offer me weed and then cocaine. I don't know what kind of vibe I gave off to that man, but that was quite a quick escalation if I do say so.
The next morning, we woke up early for a speed tour around the city. Our tour guide, Julian, attempted to take us to all the main sites in Paris in just one day, so we saw a lot and learned about this massive capital city. The best of all the sites for me was the Arc du Triumph, standing gloriously in the middle of one of the busiest traffic circles in Paris. After walking around, I got the chance to try my first macaroon which was absolutely heavenly. Julian was giving out extra macaroons to anyone who could recount the Paris facts that he had been telling us over the last couple of hours, but I was busy taking pictures much of the time, so no extra macaroons for me. We were then set loose for lunch, so Corey and I looked for the cheapest place we could find to save some money. We ended up getting panini's at a small hole in the wall place, while most everyone else went and enjoyed three course meals. After lunch, we took a tour of one the other most famous landmarks in Paris, the Notre Dame. I can definitely see how it gets its fame, due to its beautiful architecture, and its prime location on an island in the middle of the Sane River. It had been a raining most of the day, but when we walked out of the church, the skies were completely blue. We had the rest of the evening free, so Austen, Lexie, Corey, and I went to eat at a delicious French cafe, where I tried Ratatolliue for the first time. To end the evening, we meet up with the rest of the group at the Eiffel tour and got to go up inside it to the top. It was absolutely freezing at the top, but the views of the city from such an iconic landmark were unbeatable. (and this time, I did not get offered cocaine)
On Thursday, we headed into the city again, this type for a tour of the famous Louvre. Although I had visited here a long time ago, it seemed like a new place. I have never been much of an art lover, but having Julian (an art history major) take us around the gigantic palace made it so much more interesting. Surprisingly, the Mona Lisa was one of my least favorite parts of the museum- I am slightly confused as to why such a small portrait of an average woman gained so much fame amidst thousands of other extraordinary pieces of art. My favorite part of the tour was actually walking through the old ruins of the Louvre, dating back to the 12th century when it was a fortified castle. After the tour, we were set loose for the rest of the day to explore the city. I ended up heading to a military medicine history museum in a beautiful old cathedral in the Latin Quarter with Dr. Wasser and Julian. Afterwards, I met up with another small group and we went to the Montmarte Basilica, which is located on a the top of a small hill overlooking the city. Exploring the old cobble streets around the basilica turned out to be quite fun, and we ended up eating in a charming music bar. I ended up dropping 24 euro (the most I´ve ever spent on a meal) for a three course meal, but I can say that it was completely worth it. If I am going to spend money, I´d rather spend 24 euro on a filling traditional 3-course French meal than 11 euro on a baguette with 2 slices of ham, one tomato, and no spread. We concluded the night with a walk down to the Moulin Rouge District. On our way back to the metro station, we began seeing an overwhelming number of ´´Sex Stores´´ with draped windows in the floors above before we realized we were casually strolling through the Paris red light district.
On our last day in Paris, we took the train to Versailles for a tour of the beautiful Palace of Versailles. Julian gave us an overview of the history of the palace before setting us loose on a self guided tour. I was expecting to learn more about the Treaty of Versailles and the significance of the palace after World War I, so I was a little disappointed to find out that the tour did not cover this topic. However, the furnishings of the rooms and halls in the palace were absolutely exquisite. No wonder the average people of Paris were so frustrated with the royal family- they lived a wastefully posh life while the people of Paris struggled with disease and famine! After the tour of the palace, Julian set up a traditional French picnic with a variety of breads, cheeses, meats, and wines to try. He gave us a 30 minute lecture on what types of foods go well together, but I know my sandwich would have been a complete disgrace to him (it still tasted delicious however). The rest of the day consisted of sitting in the lobby of the hotel doing differential equations homework until it was time to leave for the airport. Getting to the airport proved to be a little more challenging than we first expected, as the airport was 90 minutes outside of the city, but after a stressful ride, we made it. Portugal here we come!
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