Week 10/11 (France Excursion)

Mar. 20: Lithuania State Philharmonic

I was very grateful to have the opportunity to see the Lithuania State Philharmonic in the beautiful Kölner Philharmonie concert hall in Cologne. The show easily rose to the top orchestral performance that I have yet to see so far and was well worth the trip.

France Day 1: Colmar

Courtyard of the Unterlinden Museum

To start of the group excursion into France, we began in the small northern town of Colmar. Known for its picturesque architecture and being the home to the Isenheim Alter piece housed in the Unterlinden Museum, Colmar turned out be a perfect slice of both art culture and a village feel. 

France Day 2: Beaune and Paris

Inner Courtyard of the Hotel Dieu

Beaune Alterpiece

Before reaching our final destination of Paris, we took a small detour to visit the town of Beaune which is also home to its own famous art piece: The Beaune Alterpiece housed in the Hotel Dieu. The Hotel Dieu was a charitable almshouse founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin as a hospital for the poor. Given that the ability for the poor to seek medical treatment during this time was an extreme rarity, the Hotel Dieu represents a ray of light in the often despair-ridden past of medical history.

Notre Dame Cathedral

After the Beaune detour, we finally made our way into Paris. While we arrived slightly later than we had anticipated, we still had time to fit in one of the most iconic landmarks in Paris: the Notre Dame cathedral. This was certainly one of the most aesthetically unique cathedrals that I have had a chance to visit and was far less imposing and ominous than the Gothic cathedrals that have become commonplace during our travels.

To end our first day in Paris in one of the most French ways possible, we headed to Rue du Montparnasse which is a street lined almost entirely with creperies. The aroma of the restaurant was unlike anything else I've experienced. Savory crepes for dinner, sweet crepes for desert, and sparkling cider throughout, this was a fantastic ending to an already fantastic day.

France Day 3: Palace of Versailles, Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower

Inner Royal Courtyard

The Palace of Versailles was easily the most nauseatingly ostentatious and exuberant structures that I have ever been in. Each of the 700 rooms is ornately decorated with priceless murals, paintings, sculptures, antiques, furniture, etc etc.. I find that both what I can say and show about the palace fall short of really describing the experience of walking through the palace in full. 

Picnic in the Palace Gardens

As one might expect, the gardens of Versailles were as expansive in scale as the palace was regal. After having an hour or so to explore the gardens with all its statues, ponds, fountains, an enclaves, our program director and tour guide set up a proper French picnic with fresh salted baguettes and a selections of various meats, cheeses, wines, and deserts from all over France. I never knew that so much flavor and character could be captured in bread. Every meat and cheese was so unique in its flavors and qualities. Our guide was knowledgeable about every product on the blanket, adding an extra element to the event as we got to hear him detail the history and origin of each meat and cheese. 

View from the Arc de Triomphe

France Day 4: Visiting the Lourve

The Panthéon

Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

Jardin du Luxembourg

Small Park on the Way to The Lourve

Much like the Prada in Madrid, the sheer scale and magnitude of the Lourve is difficult to describe in words. Weeks could be spent going through each room. I will certainly need a return visit to Paris if I hope to see the other 80% of the museum. 

Mar. 31: Brussels

The musical instrument museum in Brussels was an absolute must for me. The museum houses hundreds if not thousands of instruments from all over the world, many of which are unknown in the western world. It was incredibly interesting seeing old versions of modern instruments as I was unaware of the dozens of strange iterations most instruments have gone though to get to their modern rendition. 

Since I only had four and a half hours to explore Brussels before catching my bus home to Bonn, I had to prioritize how I wanted to spend my time. As I saw it, there were 4 main things I needed to hit: (1) the instrument museum, (2) Belgian Waffles, (3) Belgian Beer, and lastly (4) Belgian fries. Given that Brussels is a fairly small city especially in comparison to the city I just came from, I was able to knock out each of the things I wanted to do on top of wandering and exploring various parts of the city.