Paris – Valpo Voyager

Tag: Paris (page 1 of 3)

Checking In and Catching Up

Okay, I realize it’s been a while. I just got so caught up in traveling that I forgot to document the traveling. And general life experiences. We’ve traveled a lot. Since I’ve written last, we’ve been through the lands where Luther and Bach walked. We’ve seen Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Budapest, Prague, Munich, and Paris. At points, we also attended class and slept.

Brittany and I were amazed at the precision of our neighbor’s leaf raking.

I have just looked at when I last posted. September. Sorry, guys. I’m going to try and catch you up with the last month or so in my next few posts, but to keep the ball rolling forward, let’s start with the last weekend: Paris.

Me! In front of the Notre Dame.

Paris was not originally on my must see list. It seemed to be such a cliché- See Paris! See the World! The city of lights was more beautiful than I expected it to be. It is also way too crowded a place for me to ever live in. Parisians are strangely bad at English, considering that it is basically the language of international tourism (i.e. how to make money off of all the culture they’re so proud of.) The first day in Paris, we took the metro to a stop near the right bank of the Seine River. From there we walked across the Ile de’ Cite, which is the island home to the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Palace of Justice. The latter is known primarily for something involving the revolution (as well as being a beautiful old building). Notre Dame means the Church of Our Lady in English, and it is quite impressive in person, although there were too many people there, a general theme for famous tourist spots in Paris.

There were a lot of cars, and a roundabout with no lanes, which to me seems like death.

We then crossed over the Seine and took the RER suburban metro train to the Eiffel Tower, which is much larger than it seems in pictures. It’s massive. 986 feet, according to my Art History professor. (He actually gave it to me in meters, but I thought you would all appreciate the imperial system. I definitely miss it.) It is also gorgeous at sunset. I took approximately a million photos, one of which I shall share with you now.

Sunset at the Eiffel Tower, just as the lights were being turned on.

Perhaps most importantly, across the Seine from the Notre Dame is a little bookstore, one may safely say is the best in the world. It is known as Shakespeare and Company, and coming to Paris, it was the only thing I needed to see. It did not disappoint. It was, in fact, the most magical place of selling books that I could have ever envisaged. Outside, there are carts of secondhand books for sale, spanning everything from the most generic children’s book about football to obscure short story writers from the 1930’s. The ground floor is overrun with bookshelves, new stories from the US and the UK. The second floor has a collection of children’s books in the landing and two perfect reading rooms filled with books. There is even a cat, who only sleeps in the best of the reading room chairs.

Here I am, in front of my favorite bookstore in the world.

So, Paris was a beautiful and hectic city. Coming back to classes and responsibilities in Reutlingen was a little painful, but such is life. I will begin catching you up on the rest of my adventures soon!

The study abroad kids at Professor Springer’s house for lunch- but more about that later.

At the Louvre

Paris: Surfing and Skimping

April 2, 2014 / Danielle Steinwart / 4 Comments

Whenever I travel with my family, my mom always insists that we get to the airport at least 3 hours before our flight. This almost always results in us sitting at our gate for two and a half hours. “It’s better that we wait now than get here late and miss our flight,” she always said (and always will say). When I travel on my own, I thought, I will never take such superfluous precautions. I will cater to my impatience and make sure I’ll only have to do the least amount of waiting possible.

I was wrong (cue Mom’s smug look).

As close as we got to the Arc de Triomphe

Julia and I had a flight out of Barcelona that left at 9:45 AM. We left the hostel at 5:45, and got through the empty security and to our gate before 7. We were one of a dozen people in the whole area. On the bright side, we were one of the first in line to get on the plane. Also, general advice: make sure that the airport you’re arriving in is actually located in your end destination. Case in point, while in line for the plane, we discovered that this Parisian airport we were going to wasn’t actually in Paris, but actually over an hour outside of the city. A bit loopy on the bus ride into Paris, Julia and I entertained ourselves by pretending to be French tour guides, pointing out popular sites like the Bridge de Croissant. And I wonder why the French don’t like Americans.

Eiffel Tower

After getting dropped off in the giant city, we hit two monuments that are perpetually littered with tourists: the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. Since we are both extraordinarily cheap, we didn’t pay to go up close to the Arc or to go up the Eiffel Tower. Although both sites were incredible, the random lurking homeless guys were a bit off-putting, as were the countless old ladies that all seemed to have crafted the same sign exclaiming they had 17 children and 3 dogs and therefore obviously needed spare change.

Aurelien's flat

Eventually, Julia and I made our way to where we would be staying that night. We were using Couchsurfing for the first time, and we were honestly a bit worried about the whole ordeal. For those who don’t know, Couchsurfing is a website that promotes cultural exchange by acting as a hub for travelers and willing hosts. You create a profile (trying to be as thorough and likeable as possible, since this is what possible hosts look at before responding to your request), then Surf for hosts depending on the city you’re traveling to as well as the time and duration of your stay. You want to find hosts that have similar interests as you and, more importantly, have positive reviews from people who have hosted or been hosted by that person. When you find someone you think you want to stay with, you send them a request, telling them about yourself, your plans for your visit, and why you would like them to be your host. I wholeheartedly recommend this website for anyone who wants to meet people who are a part of their destination’s culture as well as anyone on a tight budget (the stay is completely FREE).

Hall of Mirrors in Palace of Versailles

Julia and I had two different hosts in Paris. Our first night was with a guy in his early twenties who lives in the south of Paris named Aurelien. We met up with him at the underground station a few minutes from his flat and then, after dropping our stuff off at his place, went to the grocery store to buy food for dinner. We cooked pasta and garlic bread together and had apples drizzled with chocolate for dessert. Aurelien was really kind and interesting; we had conversations about our travels, reggae music, and s’mores (he didn’t know what they were. We introduced him to pure magic that day). He had a futon that Julia and I shared, and he let us leave out stuff at his place the next day so we didn’t have to lug it around Paris all day.

The weather was less than pleasant

Our second day in Paris was admittedly miserable at the start. We got up around 8 and headed off to Versailles, which is only half an hour from Paris by train. But it was rainy. And cold. And very windy. And I didn’t have an umbrella. See where the situation gets tricky, here? I was able to buy an umbrella from one of the street vendors, though it broke within 30 minutes of purchasing it. The Palace of Versailles was gorgeous, ornate, and full of history. However, we were only able to go outside to see the famous gardens for five minutes before feeling that we were in serious danger of losing some appendages due to the cold weather. As soon as

Maeva and Julia in the dorm

we left Versailles, the sun came out (typical). We ventured to a place called the Anticafe, a cafe that charged you based on how long you stayed, in order to meet our Couchsurfing hosts for the remaining two nights. They were two roommates who lived in a building owned by their engineering university, and all their friends were on their floor. After grabbing our bags from Aurelien’s, we went to the girls’ dorm room (Virginie and Maeva) and spent a fun night with them and their friends. They had a student-run bar on the ground floor, so we were able to score a couple free drinks as well (seriously, Julia and I are all about the free things).

The Notre Dame

Our final day in Paris was spent hitting some of the sights close to our hosts’ dorm, like the Pantheon, the Notre Dame, and the Lovelock Bridge. The Notre Dame was amazingly beautiful and did I mention completely free? Julia had a lock that we were going to use to secure our bags at the Barcelona hostel, but we hadn’t needed it. So we wrote our names on it and the date and added it to the bridge. It was a pretty cool moment, adding our friendship to a bridge thousands of others had utilized—next to a grim Scottish guy complaining about the irony of having his picture taken alone on a bridge symbolizing everlasting love.

Our lock for the Lovelock Bridge

We had both grown quite hungry at this point, which is a dangerous situation, since we also both suffer from high irritability when our blood sugar is running low. Thankfully, a small sandwich shop saved our friendship (and, more importantly, saved the integrity of our lock). We had big toasty subs with a large chocolate crepe for dessert. It’s the only crepe I’ve had that compared to the those at the Cambridge Crepe cart.

Selfie with the Mona Lisa (don't judge)

After regrouping at the dorm for an hour or so, we headed off to the Louvre, since you get in free after 6 on Fridays. It was the perfect mix of interesting and fun. We were surrounded by thousands of art pieces crafted by some of the world’s most brilliant minds. Julia and I got to experience first hand what the Mona Lisa and Venus looked like; we learned a lot about foreign and ancient cultures through their art. However, that did not stop us from making fun of a few of the paintings’ subjects or adding stupid captions to some portraits or fist bumping the occasional statue. In the end, I was with one of my favorite people in the world at the most famous art museum in the world. How could it not

Fist bumping the statue

have been a blast? Three and a half hours later, we dragged our tired butts back to the dorm, where we cooked pasta and spent the night without our hosts, oddly enough (they had gone back home for the night).

Julia and I on the bus back home!

The next morning was very stressful because we had realized the night before that we had to print out our tickets for the bus ride home. The only problem was that no one had a printer, and our hosts weren’t there to help us. An incredibly nice friend of theirs offered to take us to his university that morning (a Saturday) to print out the tickets, but all the printers were jammed. Thankfully, the bus driver accepted the confirmation email on our phones as tickets and let us on.

It was a long bus ride back to London. At one point, our bus was put on a train that rode under the channel (and under the Chunnel). After a 6-7 hour bus ride, an Underground ride to King’s Cross, a train to Cambridge, and a 40 minute walk back home, we were more than ready to flop onto our beds and not move until Monday.

Until we remembered that 10 page art paper due Monday that we had neglected to start all break.

Dun. Dun. Dun.

These are the cliffhangers of my life, people. Exciting stuff.

Danielle

The Best Things I Ate This Month: Part 2

March 23, 2014 / kaitlyncarzoli / 0 Comments

Since this wasn’t the most exciting week for me, instead of writing about going to class and doing homework, I thought it was time for the next installment of my favorite foods of Europe. As you are probably well aware, one of my favorite things about living in Europe is eating in Europe. Since my last “Best of” food post was so much fun to write (and research) I have, in fact, decided to make it a series. For each of the four months of my travels, I will post the very best things I ate. While the first post was dedicated to German favorites, this one also includes culinary pleasures from Austria and Paris. Since I only spend 36 hours in Paris, there’s no way I could possibly do its incredible cuisine justice, but rest assured, I’ll be back someday. I have many, many things to share this month, so this is going to be mostly pictures (in chronological order) with short commentary.

First, the Thüringer Wurst, my first experience with street food. Surprisingly good for just 1 euro!

Next, there’s Spaghetti-Eis. It looks like spaghetti, but it’s ice cream. And it’s terrific!

I had this meal in a very old Austrian restaurant in Salzburg. It’s pork roast with the best gravy and a giant Knödel. That’s a dumpling, but I just like the word Knödel.

This was my meal at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich. This establishment isn’t exactly known for the food, so the schnitzel cordon bleu was just okay.

The apple strudel, however, was perfect. Fresh and not too sweet.

On a day trip to Ulm, we stopped at a little café for cake and coffee. This is a slice of blueberry goodness.

And now, on to Paris! The first thing I ate there (besides the free breakfast at the hostel) was a Nutella crêpe. They don’t skimp on the Nutella!

While in Paris, we decided to have one splurge dinner at a real brasserie. The steak-frites was great!

And the crème brûlée was even better! That crunch of the sugar on top is the sound of perfection!

So those were the highlights. Over the next month, I’ll continue to be that tourist, taking pictures of all my food, so I can share it all with you! And next week, I’ll have more travel experiences to share!

Paris and La Joie de Vivre

March 9, 2014 / kaitlyncarzoli / 0 Comments

One of the best things about this study abroad program is that every weekend is a three day weekend. That way, we can maximize our opportunities to travel. So this week, we finally decided that it was time to activate our Eurail passes, and what could possibly be a better first stop that Paris? I’ve wanted to go to France ever since I was about 5 years old, so even though one weekend couldn’t possibly be enough time to explore this beautiful city, I jumped at the first chance to go. In our 36 hours there, we missed so much. The Louvre, Versailles, L’arc de Triomphe. But what we did get, was a wonderful introduction to one of Europe’s greatest cities.
The train from Stuttgart to Paris only takes 4 hours, so we left after class on Thursday and arrived at about 11p.m. I’m glad that we did this so that we had more time there, but unfortunately, our first experience in Paris was a stressful one. In the dark and without a real map, we got lost. Now, I know I’m not alone in this. Several of my friends have told me about their similar first experiences in Paris. It seems to be a right of passage. But my tip is to get to your destination before dark and not to rely on google maps. That little blue dot isn’t always right.
Anyway, we finally did find our hostel, and after a good night’s sleep, we were ready to go get our real first impression of Paris. Of course, our first stop was the Eiffel Tower.

The line for the elevators had about 72,000 people in it, so we decided to get up there next time we’re in town. And there will be a next time. After that, we stopped for lunch at one of the many quaint cafés, where sitting outside in the 60 degree weather, I enjoyed my first authentic French crêpe. After lunch, we took a free tour of Paris’ other most famous landmark, Notre Dame.

In the afternoon, after a quick ice cream stop, (Salted caramel and butter is my new favorite flavor.) we decided to go on a short sightseeing cruise on the Seine. It’s such a touristy thing to do, but I love river cruises because there a great way to see a lot with very little effort and really get an impression of the whole city. After the cruise, we headed back to get ready for dinner. For lack of time, we had to skip many of Paris’ main attractions, but one thing we wanted to make sure to do was go have a fancy French dinner.

Time for a funny story: After deciding on a restaurant out of our Paris guidebook, we read the metro directions in the book and hopped on at the stop closest to our hostel. After following the directions exactly and even switching lines once, we got out of the metro station near the restaurant, only to realize that we were just down the street from our hostel and could have easily walked there in less time. Note to self: next time, knowing where you’re starting will help a lot to figure out where you’re going. When we got to our restaurant, the waiter was extremely friendly and patient, taking time to explain all of the specials in English. Later, he even offered to take a picture of the 3 of us enjoying our meal.

After our steak-frites and crème brulée, we made one last stop to go see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. Standing there watching it sparkle, I had another one of those moments where I just have to stop for a second and marvel at the fact that this is my life right now. That I get to stand here in one of the most beautiful places on Earth and experience a moment of perfection. And this is for school. I feel like coming back to school and begging everyone I see to go study abroad because I really can’t understand why most people don’t. Just sign up, and then you get to live this amazing life!

After years of hearing about how great Paris is from everyone who has been there, I needed to see it for myself. Now that I have, I feel like I’ve been let in on the big secret. I just get it now. I’ve been to Germany 3 times now, but never anywhere else in Europe, so I’m glad I finally got to change that. Before going to Paris, I was a little nervous because of the pickpocketing horror stories I’ve heard, but I have to say, I didn’t feel unsafe once. The city certainly does have a different atmosphere than German cities, which are so safe it’s almost funny. I was a little more on alert than I usually am. Still, I feel like I could love Paris like I love Germany. I could live here someday. In fact, I want to. All weekend long, I had such a strong desire to go eat in every little café, to hop on the back of somebody’s motorcycle and race through the narrow streets, to really experience la joie de vivre like a Parisian. So someday, I will live in Paris, but right now, I live in Germany. I just realized that I actuallylive here. It’s not just an extended vacation. But that’s another story for another post.

Paris- The City of Lights

October 14, 2013 / Phil Schroeder / 0 Comments

So this past week has been an interesting week to say the very least. I started my third week of classes and again, I’m very blessed to have such wonderful teachers who are patient teaching classes that I want to take (minus grammar but that comes with the territory I suppose). One thing that was a little bit different from past weeks was that I started my service learning at a non-profit organisation. It’s very different from anything that we have in the United States, but I think it’s closest to an after-school program, that does a lot more. It was a different experience and I look forward to contributing more in the future.

Thursday night was an experience to say the least. We went to the Opera Bastille for my first ever professional opera experience! To see the Opera Aida by Verdi performed in one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world, is something that I’ll never forget. It was largely unforgettable because of the reaction of the audience.

Aida takes place in Ancient Egypt. One of the main arguments a director must make is about the costumes and the setting. Should they be dressed like in the story, the time period in which it was written, or in today’s time? The director chose the latter of these options… and was very political. I won’t go into much detail, but the worst of it was when one of the main characters was singing the KKK walked on stage. People were not happy. At curtain call, the audience couldn’t have cheered louder for the the performers. However they booed louder than the refs making a call in favor of the Packers at Soldier Field. It was bad. Good experience though.

Friday and Saturday I was blessed with some visitors from Valpo who are studying on the Cambridge program: Grant, Lisa, Rachel, and Cat. We had a wonderful time and I finally was able to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower! It was amazing to me that we were so high up, I could barely recognize Notre Dame from the top, yet from the ground in front of it, Notre Dame towers over you. It was indescribable. One reason I find the tourist attractions very easy to spot and beautiful is because at night, everything that is important to the French are lit up at night; even The Eiffel Tower sparkles at the top of the hour on top of being lit up after dark. I suppose that’s why they call Paris The City of Lights!

On Saturday night we went to the Fete des Vendages. Found at Montmarte, this is a wine festival and a festival of love. Every year they have a brilliant firework show on the steps leading up to the famous basilica, Sacre Coeur, and although crowded (it was so crowded at one point, I moved ten yards and my feet didn’t touch the ground. I was carried by everyone around me because it was so densely packed!) we (accidentally) got some of the best seats in the house. Unfortunately, my computer is being stupid, so I can’t upload a little video of the fireworks, so here’s the crowd behind me. Mind you, this is a small portion of the actual crowd and it took us 40 minutes to get from about 20 yards from the stairs to the bottom of the stairs.

All-in-all it was a wonderful weekend, full of new adventures with some familiar Americans!

The Honeymoon is Over

October 9, 2013 / Phil Schroeder / 0 Comments

The honeymoon is over. For that reason, I have found it difficult to write as often as I would’ve liked to since my courses have started. Although I am busy, I am truly enjoying my classes here! I’m of course taking six credits of French language and a phonetics class. My electives though, they’re pretty awesome. I’m taking a course on the History of France from the French Revolution to WWI. The other class that I’m taking is Tourism and Gastronomy; aka we eat food, talk about food, eat it, and discuss the implications of said food on culture and tourism (did I mention we eat food too?). So I am really enjoying these classes largely because the professors are extremely awesome. I like every one of them.
As for what I’ve been doing outside of classes, just adjusting to style of living… and doing some pretty awesome things as well!
First off, last time I posted I mentioned that I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in my free time. What I decided to do on that particular day was to climb Notre Dame! It was very cool to see the city from a gargoyle’s eye view (see photo #1). The stone stairs actually have an indentation from all the footsteps of people walking up them over the last few centuries. It’s really cool to think that the church recently celebrated its 850th anniversary, or just under four times the number of years the United States has been a country. In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue… and the church was older than the United States currently is (by almost 100 years!) So it was extremely humbling to be at a place with such a rich history. Also, feel free to “like” the second photo, it is in a photo contest and the most “likes” win. Click here http://www.central.edu/abroad/photoContest/photoDetail.cfm?ID=3975 to vote (I could use all the help I can get!)

Gargoyle’s-eye view of Paris with the Eiffel Tower

Another place that I visited was the Catacombs. Now THAT was super cool. I went with a few friends and it was extremely fascinating. However, that is not a place that I would want to be stuck at by myself on Halloween. Six million dead people, no thank you.

This is me and the dead peeps.

On the 28th of September, The Central College program went and we toured the Palace of Versailles and the absolutely beautiful gardens. I’ve been telling people that the best way to describe it is grand and immense. We spent the whole day there and we saw the majority of the castle, yet in the hours we spent in the gardens, admiring the fountains (there are several hundred I believe) and the greenery, we only saw a portion of the gardens. It’s no wonder the French government went broke! In the first picture, that is me in the world famous “Hall of Mirrors,” and my favorite part of the whole day in Versailles! The second picture is of a fountain that I really admired in the Gardens. It is not the most celebrated and is actually one of the smaller fountains. If you want to see a fountain show, go to my facebook page and go to my videos and you can watch two short clips of a wonderful show.

Palace of Versailles: Hall of Mirrors

Palace Gardens: My favorite fountain

The most recent mini excursion that I went on was to Disneyland Paris! For those of you who know me well, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to go to see Buzz Lightyear (see photo). I went with two other classmates and it was a good, really fun trio. In all honestly, it was a really cool experience because the parks have pretty much the same setup, and they have almost all the same attractions (the rides themselves obviously aren’t the exact same layout), but the atmosphere was different. It truly was a world attraction. On rides (other than It’s a Small World), they switched between mainly French and English so that more people would know and understand what was happening. The closing ceremony was absolutely breathtaking! It’s one of my favorite memories so far.

Buzz Lightyear and I

So if you managed to read all the way this far, thank you. It was a short summary of two weeks, but like I’ve said, not even counting these mini-excursions, I have managed to stay busy and am working hard at improving my French, take in the culture, and adjust to the daily life in Paris. I promise you’ll hear from me in less than two weeks, I’ll be better about writing my blog!

Week #1- Tourist Week

September 16, 2013 / Phil Schroeder / 0 Comments

It’s amazing how much I’ve learned so far; I’ve only been here twelve days and I’ve done so much and seen even more. So let’s start at the beginning:

: Tour Eiffel et moi!

I arrived in Paris, completely unaware of where I was in regards to where I needed to go. Let me tell you, it is so much harder to approach a native and ask where you are for the first time, than to ask your French professor on which main themes you should focus for your rather large French literary analysis. After some time and a few wrong turns, I got to my hostel. Tired, I went to bed early.

After finding out the hard way that I wasn’t doing my homestay with the original host mom, I met the rest of the wonderful people on my program. Since then we’ve been doing practically everything together.

: Just South of the famous Luxembourg Gardens, home of the French Senate

So what have I done besides be homeless and get lost? I’ve been what I call a “residential tourist.”

Technically I am not a tourist, because I have a visa and I live in France. However, I’ve done about everything tourists do. I’ve been to the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Le Louvre etc. I’ve visited several museums and other locations. However, in Paris, it is so good to be a student on a Student Visa. I say this because, if you are a resident in France under the age of twenty-six (no discrimination to race or ethnicity) you are allowed into museums for free… all of them! There is one dilemma: there are just too many museums to visit and check out in the time that I am here.

: The Moulin Rouge is a cabaret show that was known for its… classy broads. It remains very classy, with the cheapest show 180 euros which is over $200! Don’t worry Mom out of my budget.

I haven’t just been a tourist though. I have also started taking a class at Ecole Etoiles, a school for international students looking to improve French grammar. I start my classes at L’Institut Catholique next Monday, September 23rd, and that is when life will get a little more interesting.

A Place to Crash

September 5, 2013 / Phil Schroeder / 0 Comments

For my first night in Paris, I needed a place to stay. For a student like myself, a hostel is the best choice. In America, we really don’t have anything that are quite like youth hostels, but they are EXTREMELY common throughout Europe. Hostels are great choices for any young person on a budget who is looking for a place to sleep for their cheap price. Many of the people who stay in hostels are people who are backpacking across a country or across Europe.

: Peace and Love Hostel

I have posted a picture of my hostel, The Peace and Love Hostel. Sounds a little sketchy at first, but it was actually a great place to stay. Obviously, it isn’t a five-star hotel, but it isn’t a terrible place like in the movie Hostel. I stayed on the 7th floor (which in America is the 8th floor), so my legs got a workout. The room had a tiny bathroom and an even smaller shower, but it had a bed so I can’t complain.

I ended up staying in a four person room: myself, one roommate was from Austrailia, one from Holland, and the other came in rather late so we didn’t get to talk. It provided a great opportunity to meet people, and there is a possibility of traveling closer to Christmas with my new friend from Austrailia.

: The view from the 7th (8th) floor of the Peace and Love hostel.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience (even though I went to bed early because of jet lag). Like I said before, it was inexpensive, not overly luxurious, but had the essentials that I needed, and I met some people from around the world that I wouldn’t have met otherwise.

View from the house

Monet’s Gardens in Giverny

April 26, 2013 / Emily Hardesty / 0 Comments

Biking to Giverny

Just as spring finally made its way to Paris, my program and I spent a little time enjoying the sun in Giverny, France where we visited Claude Monet’s house and gardens. One thing I’ve learned to love about Paris is the short amount of time it takes to take the train anywhere. If you want to get out of the city for the day, all you need is a train ticket, and in about a short hour, you’re there! After we arrived at the train station in Vernon, we rented bicylces and took the scenic route to Giverny just a few miles away. The day was absolutely gorgeous, so we stopped and had a picnic for lunch. The town of Giverny is a typical small, French village or in other words, just adorable. I just love seeing the other side of French life outside of Paris. The green fields and complete silence reminds me of my home in the country back in the states.

Monet’s house and gardens are quite a popular place to visit in France, and we saw at least four other American study abroad groups there on the same day. The property has been open to the public since 1980, but before that, it took many years and a lot of money to restore the house and gardens back to their former glory after the bombings in World War II.

Monet's home

I had seen Monet’s water lily paintings in the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, and I was very excited to see them in person. Unfortunately, the water lilies were not in bloom yet (July is when they really bloom), so we were a little disappointed. Despite this small setback, the rest of the gardens were quite beautiful. It was so refreshing to see so many colorful flowers everywhere after such a long winter. There were tulips, violets, and many other kinds of flowers that I couldn’t name offhand. By the small pond, there was a weeping willow along with a Japanese bridge, which can be seen in Monet’s paintings.

I naively assumed that Monet’s house wouldn’t be anything special next to the amazing gardens, but I proved myself wrong as soon as I stepped in the door. Monet’s house is moderate in size but makes up for this fact with what is inside. All of the furniture is old fashioned, and the walls are covered with Japanese art. One thing I really enjoyed was the brightly colored walls in the dining room and the kitchen, which were yellow and blue respectively. My favorite room was the studio, which held at least twenty paintings by Monet. I am currently learning about Monet in my art history class, so it was really nice to see some of his work and its inspirations in person. I would love to come back to Giverny someday in the summer to see the water lilies in full bloom and to see this quaint house again.

View of the pond with the Japanese bridge

View from the house

Parisian Society from the Seat of a Train

December 23, 2012 / Gregory Maher / 0 Comments

It’s rather revealing taking the RER train from Paris to its outskirts (banlieue). The RER lines, the few larger trains that service the city like the metro, allow access from Paris to its many neighborhoods and beyond. Students like me take the RER to reach tourist sites like Versailles, le chateau de Chantilly, or other Aristocratic domiciles-turned-tourist sites. And yet the RER serves another purpose – that of piercing the bubble that surrounds the city of Paris. For the habitants of suburban Paris, the RER allows direct access to the heart of the traditional city, cutting across the different layers of social stratification. It’s funny then, as I take my train to see France’s “treasures”, that the ride reveals such marked societal differences.

An intriguing aspect of society that is revealed en train is the very active graffiti culture. Graffiti marks the walls of ancient buildings, the dripping subterranea of the metro system, apartment buildings, monuments . . . anywhere really. The graffiti often serves, like below, as a a sort of transgression of the sometimes-stifling bubble of the past that France often hides under. Or at least that’s how the younger generations are likely to see it.

Graffiti can reveal a certain irreverence for traditional french art, a statement against a seemingly regressive adulation of France's cultural past

There is, in effect, a twofold stratification that marks the Paris (and France) of today. There is the economic and social stratification that reveals itself in the daily RER users (the predominance of which I can assure you are not white). The “liberated” and “modernly educated” youth may not have completely freed themselves of the traditionalism of their society. I notice, on the ride back to Paris, a young, white teenager seat himself on the RER. He waves fondly to his parents out the window as he rolls away to the “real world”, the city that is Paris. I notice his face marked with displeasure as two black men seat themselves beside him at the next stop. And I wonder how real this world is, this Paris the french youth experience? The further you get to the center of Paris “the escargot”, the lesser the diversity, and greater the affluence. Wealthy youth parade in heels, blazers, dresses seeking neon lights and alcohol on weekend nights. The Parisian nightlife is “super cool” . . . if you have the money for it.

France is marked by a certain social atmosphere. Older generations prefer the rosy image of the France of their youth – that which is daily “transgressed” by the younger generations (citing graffiti, proliferation of American culture, etc.), shifting the conventional view of French identity. Traditional France – its art, culture, and markedly its social hierarchy (purism) – is guarded carefully. The government creates around Paris a bubble that idealizes the golden age of Paris. And on the surface Paris succeeds in matching itself to its postcard depictions for the economic support of tourists. The Péripherique (autoroute) cuts Paris into an awkward oval, yet very distinctly walls in Paris Proper. Outside of the Péripherique, cités (towering low-budget apartment complexes) rise amidst a dreary, decidedly unromantic landscape. And trailing from the banlieues into the countryside, the bidonvilles flash by, desperate shanty towns of which many Parisians are unaware.

A bidonville seen by train

The rosy Paris of Woody Allen’s A Midnight in Paris or countless other Hollywood films is the dream it appears to be. One can, in fact, limit himself or herself to this romantic apparition of the past. The tourism industry tries desperately to preserve the romantic Paris of bygones, because who would come to France to see American plays, movies, concerts . . . who would buy postcards of a Parisian Bidonville? The sad truth is that the prior occurs regularly (a fear of embracing the otherness of France’s own media) and the latter is photographed for its quaint “primitiveness”. It’s sad to face the realization of this ignorance, avoidance, or plain naivety, though it is the world in which we live. If we can but be aware and try to share this awareness, that is enough – for ignorance plagues the world over.

Valpo Voyager

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