Living in a Painting

Friday, May 24th

Another free day, which meant another day solo-adventuring in Paris. I had created a long list of places I wanted to go see and planned to start from the top and get as many done as I could. The day was overcast, a little windy and gray. It was on and off drizzly rainy so I figured I'd spend some time museums. I started the day off by going to the Delacroix museum, who is an artist I really like and is most known for his painting "Liberty Leading the People". His museum was pretty small but I enjoyed  his art. After the Delacroix museum I went to another that I had been dying to see - the Rodin museum. Rodin is by far my favorite sculpture (and yes, he is the only sculpture that I know...) and I really like his pieces. The museum is unique in the sense that some of the smaller pieces are inside but most of the larger ones are outside in the garden. I absolutely loved almost every piece. And best of all I was able to see the famous "Thinker" in real life! One of my other favorites from his museum is titled "Le Baiser" - or "the kiss". It was simply remarkable to me how Rodin was able to breathe life into his sculptures. The marble/bronze is so smooth but at the same time it is so detailed even down to the most minute aspect. I just had such a respect for the amount of talent and artistry that was represented, I mean I was truly looking at someone who was a master in his element. 

This is a sculpture Rodin made of Victor Hugo - with a muse

After the Rodin museum I met up with a friend to tour the park Buttes-Chaumont, which is one of the largest in Paris and is in the 19th arrondissement. The park is absolutely amazing. It is so beautiful and so big! We were walking around in some drizzling rain which surprisingly just added to the beauty. The rain meant that the park was completely empty, 100%, we saw maybe one or two other people. Plus it made the whole scene look like something out of an Impressionist painting. There is this small mountain/hill in the middle of the park that has a big white gazebo/Roman style temple built on the top. Looking out from this temple you can see the whole park and even an amazing view over Paris - you can see the Eiffel Tower on one side and Sacre Coeur on a different side. I was pretty speechless. I mean it was this picture perfect view underneath the light rain fall. Since we were pretty chilly from the rain we went and grabbed a chocolat chaud and chatted for a while. Then I went and met up with the rest of my friends at the Sprenger's apartment before we all went home. 

I Conquer the Versailles Gardens Single-Handedly

Thursday, May 23rd

Another free day with no school! Some of the girls had made a plan for the weekend and today's schedule included visiting the town of Giverny, which was the home of Monet and about 20 min outside of Paris. There you can visit Monet's home and especially his gardens, which provided him inspiration for his beautiful paintings. I planned to accompany them until I realized that the cost would be a little bit more than I thought, since you have to take a train and bus. After a small internal debate I figured that I could save up my money and possibly put it to use on a plane ticket - like my plans to visit Italy after the program ended. That meant I was all on my own in Paris for the day because all the other girls had left! I was a little bummed out by the prospect of flying solo but tried to summon up a spirit of adventure - on the plus side I definitely enjoyed the increased mobility that came with a one person party versus eight! Deciding that maybe a trip out of Paris would be a nice change of scenery, I chose to head up to Versailles and enjoy the gardens that I had missed out on during our first trip. The gardens at Versailles were incredibly pretty and did not disappoint all the expectations people had created for me. They are pretty huge so some people opt to rent bikes but instead I decided to really take the time to enjoy and see everything by walking. The gardens themselves really are a work of art and are made up of so many pieces. 

It's not just like the backyard of some châteaux, there are various little gardens - and even minor estates - that are a part of the Versailles gardens. The three other buildings include the Trianon, the Petit Trianon, and the Queen's Hameau - all of which have their own "gardens" that are a part of Versailles. Perhaps infamous of all was the Queen's little "village" that Marie Antoinette had built for her. She would go there with close friend's sometimes to escape the palace life and essentially "play peasant". Other people criticize her pretty hard for some of the things she did but ultimately she ended up dead, with most of her family being split apart or also similarly dead, so I think she paid a pretty high price for whatever she did. 

The weather was almost perfect, sunny with a light breeze. And walking around was quite peaceful. My favorite spot might have been a field outside the little village looking over it. But I also enjoyed sitting on the bank of the large lake that Louis XIV had built. It's completely man-made but it's huge and in a shape of a cross. In fact it's so large that courtiers used to ride gondola boats (that they imported from Italy, along with the gondoliers) up and down the lake on their picnic outings. Today you can still rent a boat, although it's a rowboat and you have to row yourself. 

After a time well spent in Versailles, my legs were feeling a little tired and I was ready to catch the train back in to Paris. I had a couple of things I still wanted to do that day including picking up some postcards. I headed to the familiar métro of Hôtel de Ville and around the Pompidou before spotting a good deal. As I was perusing the post card selections, the man I was standing next to asked me if I was French - a misconception I had probably given him since I was counting the number of postcards I already had chosen in French. After I replied no, a conversation struck up about why I was there and then continued on to other topics. We decided to continue our conversation over un café (chocolat chaud for me). I made my first French friend! And a real Parisien! Plus it was so great for me to have an actual conversation in French that went beyond merely ordering a sandwhich or crêpe! We talked about French society, French politics, American politics, the new gay marriage law passed in France, travel in general and differences in culture. It was such a good opportunity for me to practice my french and make a friend! After that I went home to have dinner with my family and my roommate and I swapped stories about our day. I thought my day alone in Paris had been a success!

Market at Motte Picquet

Wednesday, May 22nd

No school! So as part of our program we have certain weekends off to travel - free travel days. The travel can be anywhere as long as you travel in groups of three and file hotel and contact information with the Directors. Anywhere! I mean in France, out of France - heck out of Europe is even an option! So where do you go when you have nearly unlimited options? No where. Ok, to be fair, I and some other girls wanted to go to Dublin, Ireland but because of skyrocketing plane costs and other complications, we didn't end up making our plans a reality. So I and some other girls stuck around in Paris. And even though I was disappointed by the canceling of the Ireland plans - (I mean I had dreams to finally go to a real Irish pub and grab a pint...of Sprite or Coke or something) I also figured I'd make the best of my stay in Paris and take the opportunity to really see the city. It would be a good chance to go around and see the sites as well as daily street life - since typically as a class we stick to the museums. Today, a group of us girls started out by going to another brocante (antique/flea market) at Motte Picquet. Again, I totally loved the brocante. There was so much to see. Some vendors were selling furniture or jewelry while some had fresh fish and meat on display, still others had little knick-knack trinkets on sale. Perfect place for souvenirs! And I wasn't disappointed, since I came home with several in hand. 

My favorite stand was one manned by a large man with a big voice who had a large pile of scarves that were overflowing from cardboard boxes and he would call out "2 euros - les écharpes!" while brandishing the scarves high in the air. He would pluck a particularly flowy one - or one with a unique pattern or beautiful color and wave them in the air. Sometimes he would attempt to engage a lady standing nearby while showing off his wares with flare. It was a good deal - and a quite popular one, if you were to judge from the horde of busy ladies digging through the boxes surrounding the stand. I was convinced enough and found a couple that I liked - after all, buying a french scarf was long overdue since the french people wear scarves like they are as essential to an outfit as underwear. 

What would a French outdoor market be without a huge cheese stand? After we finished at the brocante, we attempted to take a tour of the Catacombs but once we arrived we saw they had been shut down for the day, much to our disappointment. Next we decided to go to St. Chappelle, an old church (possibly older than Notre Dame?) that was famous for its stained glass windows. There wasn't much too the church since it was a small ground floor room - maybe a fourth of the size of Notre Dame - and then an upstairs the same size. But upstairs, what St. Chappelle lacked in size, it made up for in intricacy. The stained glass is truly amazing. If you do your research (which I didn't really) you'll find out that each panel depicts a scene from the Savoir's life and that there are over ______ (fill in the blank with an impressive number here) scenes. The stained glass are floor to ceiling - and the ceiling is Gothic sized - it is HIGH.

After that we visited the Conciergerie, which used to be a small prison and was the prison that held Marie Antoinette before she was beheaded. It was neat but there wasn't a lot too it. Lots of old-ish (because of the restoration/repair work much of the building wasn't original) looking cells. Hers was the only real one of note, and they had recreated it to appear the way it had during her occupancy. Then we went to La Defense again and took some time to peruse the shops before going home.

Apple of Love

Tuesday, May 21st 

So today - same as every Tuesday, we had class at the BYU appartement and then a real french home-made lunch. And just like every Tuesday, the food blew my mind and was utterly delicious. Today it was ratatouille and cordon bleu, which made it the second time I had had ratatouille in France - proving both that it is in fact tasty the second time around and that it's truly a popular French meal. After stuffing myself at lunch, we went as a class to the Marmatton museum. It's a small museum with more impressionist art but it's main claim to fame is some of Monet's works including one or two of his "water lilies". After that a group of us went in search of a bakery recommended by the locals. After successfully locating the bakery, some of the girls wanted to show us an amazing chocolatier they had stumbled upon. We rode the métro over to hôtel de ville and walked down the streets until we spotted it. What I would come to consider THE best chocolatier in Paris. Maison Georges Larnicol. It might have all these other claims to fame (they have this specialty bread/pastry called Kouignettes that my friends couldn't get enough of) (plus I hear their caramels are supposed to be quite good) but that day I fell in love with one particular goodie called "Pomme d'amour" - literally "Apple of Love". Well it sure did do the trick. Ok so while it might look like just an everlasting gobstopper - it's not. The red shiny color is just a color-coating applied to the chocolate. When you bit in, it's as soft as any other chocolate ball - no crunch. Except it's not just another chocolate ball. In the middle is a piece of soft candied apple. Like I said, apple of love is a pretty apt description. It worked on me. After our trip to the chocolatier (and my subsuquent eye-opening experience) I went back home and had dinner with my family. And had another round of delectable french food :)

Impressionism in the Rain

Monday, May 20^th 2013

So the weather in Paris hasn’t been all that nice, but starting on Monday it took a turn for the rainiest. After class, we had free time to go see and explore but it was so rainy and windy and chilly, no one wanted to be outside. A few of us tried to visit a couple of museums but they were closed. I’m not sure exactly why but most museums are closed either on Monday or Tuesday, it’s a little rare for them to be open more than 5 days a week. Luckily, we eventually found success at the Orangerie museum, which is in the Tuileries gardens. It’s a smaller museum with impressionist artists and is especially known for a whole room that has huge paintings of Monet’s water lilies. It’s a big circular room and on each wall panel, there are long paintings that curve with the wall. So you can sit on a bench in the middle of the room and just spin in a circle, surrounded by Monet. I really really enjoyed the art from this museum. Partly because I enjoy impressionism so much but also because I didn’t know many of the artists so it was cool to find new people whose works I enjoyed so much. The paintings look both so real and also so dreamy. I love it. I would definitely put this on the museum list of must-sees. Unfortunately, they don’t allow pictures in most of the rooms so I only have limited shots of some of my faves.

After the museum, we went to this place called La Défense. I had heard that there was a big shopping mall there (which is rare in France. Even in Paris there are only a few) but none of us really knew what to expect. So the place is also called La Grande Arche, after this big building/monument. I’m pretty sure that la Grande Arche is made up of office buildings – so it’s not just a monument to look after, it’s more for utilities sake. But of course it’s still way cool. We actually really enjoyed the area – it’s nicknamed petit Manhattan because it’s one of the few places in Paris that has skyscrapers. It was so funny, but being around the skyscrapers and mall made me realize what a difference there is between Paris the city and New York or practically any other American city. There are no skyscrapers in Paris – the streets are typically still very small and the buildings have kept their old classic architecture. I love that. Of course there are still lots of people and the metro can be packed but the feeling of Paris is completely different than other cities. It’s still so charming. The mall was super awesome. It was huge and shiny and so clean. It was ultra-modern. In fact the bathrooms were the nicest I had ever seen and for France that is practically a miracle. In France, they have NO public restrooms. And I mean NONE. Plus! We found out that they’re building a Chipotle!!! I was so excited, I had to take a picture with the sign. I was so excited to discover how cool this place was because I had practically never heard of it before. I was expecting a little mall and a little of this or that but then BAM! We found this whole snazzy galleria! Then we went to FHE and had dinner with the jeunes adultes (young adults).  We had a type of hawaiian haystacks, with rice and chili. Not too French haha. After that, the day was winding to an end (as was my energy!) so we headed back home. But proof that even with bad weather, Paris is never boring! 

Lazy Weekend Part 2

Saturday and Sunday, May 18^th and 19th 2013

Once again, I had a lazy weekend in Paris. I went to the supermarket for the first time, which was a really interesting experience. First of all, you never realize how much the product design affects you until you’re in a different country and can’t read the label. I could tell what the food was in general but I didn’t know enough vocab to catch all the little words and descriptions. What’s more, they don’t even measure calories the same! I felt like a total dork wandering around the supermarket with my empty basket trying to find the few ingredients I wanted. And then once I found the ingredients simply standing and staring at the options for 20 minutes while trying to decipher their labels. But it was a cool experience – and allowed me to flex my deductive reasoning skills. The one item I simply could not find, even after wandering all (and I mean each and every one) of the aisles, was peanut butter. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to communicate with a worker because I didn’t know the word for “peanut butter” or “peanuts” in French, and without those two words I was all out of ideas on how to describe it. But I finally broke down and asked a salesperson, and simply used the American name for it, and she directed me to the international aisle. Yeah. They don’t have peanut butter in France! They import it from England, but the French don’t ever eat peanut butter – like ever. Most have never even tried it. That blew my mind, considering what a rich role peanut butter plays in American culture! Nearly everyone grows up eating that stuff. So after my peanut butter debacle I checked out, although I felt a little bit ashamed because I hadn’t brought my own recyclable bag. Everyone in France brings his or her own bag – and I mean everyone. In fact it’s so the norm that you have to pay (PAY!) for a plastic bag that the store gives you. I mean the bags are cheap but still, it was surprising the first time I went to a store here and had to ask for a bag – and then had to pay for the bag. (This doesn’t apply to clothing stores, they just offer theirs freely – I guess because it’s not like a repetitive thing, you don’t go out and buy clothes every week. Well some people do. But I certainly don’t.) 

After that I worked on some homework and then rode in to meet up with some of the girls at a museum. This night was the free museum night across all of Europe so the museums were packed! Unfortunately, that meant that the girls couldn’t get into the museum of modern art that they wanted to see, typically something I wouldn’t lament since I don’t like modern art except that we ended up at one much much weirder. When the first line was too long they simply went across to the museum next door, which had no line and was called Tokyo Palais, and I ended up meeting them there. Did the museum have anything to do with Tokyo? No. Not at all. I suppose you could leniently call it modern art but you could also call it disturbing – at times- or simply bizarre – at best. I won’t go into any specific works except to say they were featuring some screamo music as the background ambiance. I would not recommend it. Even to my worst enemy. Any who, since I arrived late, we left soon after my arrival (yay!) and then walked along to a spot on the Seine. No day can have been spent badly when you end it with a view of the Eiffel Tower across the Seine :)

Look at that. Amazing. And it was just while I was waiting in line - no special view or anything.

Excuse the blurry-ness, my camera doesn't handle night time all that well.

On Sunday, I went to church and afterwards visited a brocante, which is essentially like an antique flea market. They have this really popular one every Sunday on Rue Cler (which happens to be right next to the BYU apartment).  I love little market stands at fairs and festivals so this was fantastic for me. Most of the stands were selling china or silverware – I saw one that was even selling furniture! But a lot were selling jewelry, or watches or scarves! There were just a lot of old knick knacks, which is exactly what I love! A friend and I even haggled with a lady for a clock necklace and she dropped her price from 20 to 10 euro! I also successfully found a souvenir gift for one of my sisters (shout out to Kylee!), which I hope she looooves! As we walked along, my friend Greta and I grabbed a one euro baguette and ate it for lunch as we perused the market. It is so fun for me to discover all these unique items and interact with the sales people. One our way back through the market, we bought a raspberry tart to finish up our lunch and boy, talk about heaven. This is a pastry to write home about. It was delicious. It had like a pastry dish bottom (think a mix between the consistency of a sugar cookie and cake) and then crème filling and to top it off a ring of raspberries on top. It was so good, I forgot to take a picture! But you better believe I’ll be going back for more! Honestly, this day was one of my favorites from the whole trip, just because it was everything I had desired from France. I was walking through this open-air market, just wandering and admiring while eating a fresh baguette and a sweet raspberry pastry. 

If you look closely, you'll see the clock necklace I bought!

 It was such a calm and tranquil afternoon but with lots of fun. After that I went home to have dinner with my host family. Every Sunday, our host mom makes crêpes as a family tradition. I personally don’t love the traditional French galette (a meal crêpe), which is jambon and fromage but I do like just a fromage crêpe and all sorts of dessert crêpes (all of which I love). One of the girls who had done the program a few years before, came back to visit the family with her husband. I had a nice chat with her about all of her favorite spots and where to go in Paris. It was so cool to hear from someone who had done the same thing and had more experience. It was really cool getting to talk to her. It was definitely one of my favorite memories in Paris.