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Tag: Paris (page 2 of 3)

Paris

Why Let me ask you this: Why not Paris?

December 13, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Bonjour! Je m’appelle Emily Hardesty et j’étudierai en Paris le semestre prochain. And for those of you who don’t speak French: Hello! My name is Emily Hardesty and I will be studying in Paris next semester. Oh, Paris. The city of love. Who wouldn’t want to spend four months of their life in one of the greatest cities in the world? Not this girl. I am an old fashioned romantic, and I constantly dream about sitting in a quaint little café by the Eiffel Tower sipping a café au lait.

Paris

But let me start from the beginning. How did I decide to study abroad in the first place? I grew up in a small, not-so-quaint village called Beecher, Illinois. Yes, you read that correctly. Village. It’s not even big enough to be considered a town. Because I spent twenty years surrounded by cornfields and stranded thirty minutes away from the nearest shopping center, I dream of the day when I can live in a big city filled with excitement, strangers, and opportunities. I am tired of living in a town where I know everyone by name. To put it simply, I want to see the world and understand how the rest of the world lives.

France

So why Paris? Let me ask you this: Why not Paris? I started studying French my freshman year at VU, and I fell in love with the language. After declaring a French major (and an English major), I knew that I had to visit Paris someday, and what better time than when I am learning French? I will be completely immersed in the language while I am living there. My speaking skills are not quite up to par just yet, and although I am a little anxious about communicating with native French speakers, I am ready for the challenge. It’s going to be tough at first, but who said life wasn’t going to be tough? After I knew I was going to be studying in Paris, I immediately chose the Central College Abroad program for one main reason: it’s in Paris. Since I’m going to be studying in France, I’m going to make sure that I’m living in the city where all of the action happens. It may be the number one tourist destination in the world and full of lost tourists who can’t speak French (hopefully not what I’m going to be!), I think that’s sweet. The whole world wants to visit the most romantic city in the world. If that doesn’t tug at your heart strings a little, you need to go watch The Notebook one more time.

Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy

If you haven’t realized it yet, I am so excited for my trip to Paris. I want to see and experience everything I possibly can while I am in Europe. The Nôtre Dame Cathedral, the Musée d’Orsday, the Louvre, and obviously the Eiffel Tower are a few places on my I-have-to-see-this-before-I-die list. Outside of the city, I plan to see the D-Day beaches and the Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, the palace of Versailles, and the Alps in the East. I also plan on traveling outside of the country as much as my budget allows. While I would like to travel to every major city in Europe next semester, I am sadly living on the budget of a college student. (Easy Mac is my best friend.) So, I narrowed my must-see cities in Europe to London, Rome, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Madrid. I’m pretty optimistic that I’ll get to go to all of these cities, but I know they will all be waiting for me in the future after I return home in May.

French Café

Sometimes I can’t believe that in less than two months I will be living in Paris. How does a girl from the middle of nowhere get the chance to fulfill her dream of traveling the world? The answer is through extensive planning; a great support system at VU, Central College, and at home; and a student loan. (I’d have to say that last one may have been the key factor!) While I may be apprehensive about living in a huge city where I may not be able to communicate perfectly or I may get lost sometimes, I know that my time abroad will be well spent and will be one of the greatest experiences of my life. I hope that students reading this blog will understand the value of traveling abroad and will do whatever it takes to make their dreams of traveling the world come true like I did.

 

By Emily Hardesty, English and French majors, from Beecher, Illinois.  More posts to come!!

A Change of Seasons

November 24, 2012 / / 0 Comments

If you have not seen the movie Amarcord, by Federico Fellini, I suggest it – if not for the nostalgic setting of prewar Italy – then for the vignetted coming of age of Titta, the young lead. The film opens with the arrival of the puffballs, the small white “manine” announcing the coming of spring. This simple event captures the attention of the townspeople, bringing them to the street to hurrah and parade in joyous celebration. With the arrival of spring is the spirit of renewal, the white – purity, and the sense, simply, of time passing, moving forward.

The changing of seasons is not something I can greet here, in Paris, so easily, so markedly as in the Midwest. There, cornshocks rustle in a dry wind (that same wind which brings in, year after year, the puffballs), forest gleam in passionate shades, as families decorate for those wonderful holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Here, alas, the city is self-contained, the onset of fall marked by temporary death in the rare inner-city vegetation, while October and November greet me with torrents of rain and slowly cooling temperatures.

Yet the city moves on, progresses as usual, seems even to thrive on the effrontery of the seasons. The city is business – while American hands trade lattés for their holiday counterparts, the Parisian continues to consume that potent drug (upon which the city endlessly runs) expresso. There is, I have noted, a continuity, an unparalleled movement that exists here, that feeds on the activity of Parisians, in the change of money, food, products, in the rush of the metro, the larger Grandes Lignes, and the continual activity of Charles de Gaulle International. 

It is this movement that keeps the city alive. Parisians are too busy living, truly living to stop and enjoy a calmer pace. For who lives so precarious, so vivant a life as the young Parisian? Overcome with desire for an ever-changing adventure like beloved Mr. Toad of Graham’s Wind in the Willows. Each new day, new fad, new acquaintance seizes hold of the mind and holds sway until the night of that day fades into the next – the mind effaced, open now to new horizons.

So life goes, the Parisian (really, not so different from the New Yorker, the Chicagoan, you see) living life from link to link, chain stretched endlessly on the horizon, waiting to *snap* like a firecracker. And so Keroauc describes such folk, like On The Road‘s anti-hero Dean Moriarty: “. . . the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”

And again, the little white puffballs, drifting into town to wash again the minds and hearts with a new season . . .

Museums of Paris: Un petit goût

October 7, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Paris is a city of culture, undoubtedly, but how does one judge that culture? There is the food, of course, the people, their mannerisms, the language, the buildings, and then, there are the museums. Museums, as I perceive, those institutions that center their interest on a topic (be it medieval tapestries, art deco furniture, or contemporary installations) and attempt to find some connection/significance between the objects/information displayed, and the visitor. And so I am fascinated by the manner in which museums attempt to create this connection, instill significance, or simply make their visitors marvel. There are two trends I especially noted, the first being the general lack of analysis and interpretation of art or artifacts- this is something I certainly appreciate. The other is that museums either display their artifacts in a completely black atmosphere (in vitrines lit from within), or showcase their works in completely white, well-lit galleries. What a contrast. So here I will describe many of the museums I have visited thus far, and my impressions.
Cinémathèque Française: Modern, an intriguing building from the exterior. Magical, the permanent exhibition, like walking through a dream. The vitrines are lit from the interior, there are clips of audio and snippets of film projected or playing on all corners of the black space. The collections are organized not by time period, but by theme, be it Russo-Germanic avant-garde or early collectors of moving photographs. Fascinating, and I need to return for their cinema, which has a regular schedule of cinematic gems.
Musée d’Orsay: Fantastic collection of Impressionist works, organized by theme or artist as much as time period, but the density of grand works makes no single one better than another. This is how Impressionism should be displayed. It’s interesting too, that the converted train station (a symbol of industry, smoke, movement) has become a peaceful white, and quite elegant space for exhibition.
Centre Pompidou: So cool, I would spend days here. All white walls, it shows the progression of movements from modern to contemporary, which is quite helpful from an art history perspective. My favorite room is the studio-apartment of André Breton, father of Surrealism, artist, and collector. The single wall recreating his studio is replete with African and Oceanic masks, works of fellow artists, sculptures, exquisite rocks, stuffed animals, shrunken heads, ornate furniture- a vast colloquium from which to derive inspiration.

Mur d'Atelier d'André Breton (not my picture)

Musée de Quai Branly: Ethnographic drama, sculptures and masks floating, glowing in a completely black museum. I loved it, and it felt modern, not stale like certain ethnographic rooms at the Field Museum. Also, there is little to no interpretation regarding the artifacts, leaving you often to imagine their function (though there are a number of videos and images that show use for more modern masks or artifacts). I have never quite seen ethnographic objects displayed as such, and I’m quite pleased with the way they make such important artifacts interesting and important in their own right. The exterior of the museum is intriguing, composed of a forested campus (more like a jungle with small walkways) that you must traverse to get from one part of the museum to another. The part of the building directly facing the Seine is actually composed of vegetation, growing straight off the multi-story wall. At night, glowing light rods spread throughout the grounds illuminate the dark vegetation, accompanied by well-hidden speakers that play (slightly unnerving, but really cool) jungle noises. I loved this museum.

 

Mummy's skull, gold leaf

Sculpture, skeleton motif

Musée de Quai Branly, exterior

Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris: This museum pales in comparison to the Centre Pompidou, its open spaces home to but a few contemporary installations and works. It almost feels like the space is filled with the leftovers of Palais Tokyo and Centre Pompidou. Not really worth my time. Certain exhibitions, though, were very interactive, including such aspects as adding your height to an installation (solely composed of the names and heights of visitors), or being able to press buttons and see and hear live feeds from major subway systems around the world.

Height "installation"

Musée du Chocolat: This museum is new, and has a bof (expression of indifference) exhibition showing how cacao is grown and harvested and made into chocolate. The cool part of this museum is the interactive aspect, where one first watches the chocolatier make pralines using a machine (it takes as much expertise on his part as on the part of the machine) as it would be made in a factory. Then we participated in a workshop, where a traditionally trained chocolatier assisted us in making our own pralines, a very smooth and detailed process, which we found out in attempting to replicate the chocolatier’s actions. Despite our untrained efforts, we walked away with a bag of pralines made by our very own hands!

Making Pralines

 

“Nous avons une bonne nouvelle pour toi”

September 26, 2012 / / 1 Comment

So begins an email I received from EUSA, the organization that organizes the internship aspect of our program. The internship is in fact the focal point of the Paris program, the first half of the semester spent learning skills and vocabulary necessary to be effective in the French workplace, the second half- in doing the internship. Today I had my first internship interview, with a contemporary art gallery in Marais. But what exactly happens leading up to this point?

EUSA starts early in the year (last semester for me) sending out questionnaires and asking for a draft of a CV so that they can begin researching internships for the students. The first week we arrive in Paris, we have scheduled interviews with EUSA to help further pinpoint specific interests and discuss the work in different sectors. It’s kind of exciting and nerve-racking at the same time, just thinking about the opportunities that are opened to you. What sector is good for me- fashion, galleries, non-profit, history, publicity, public health? By the time you walk out of the interview, you and your advisor have narrowed the choices down to three sectors, which may not seem at first obvious, but are meant to provide the most interactive and valuable work experience while abroad. I was placed in the gallery, journalism, and marketing sectors, though my advisor assured me a position with a contemporary art gallery considering my interests in modern culture, contemporary art, and working with my hands.

The next step is to await an interview. EUSA does the research- finding and contacting businesses (entreprises)- and eventually, you receive an email, as my title suggests, offering you an interview. Now the real work begins- you begin to research the company, you go over your responses to any number of questions the employer might ask and . . . you plan your own questions (because surely you want to make sure the position/company will fit you just as much as the interviewer wants to see if you will fit the company/position). Yet, no matter how much research or preparation you do, you’ll still never be quite prepared for the interview.

If you think interviewing for a job in America is nerve-racking, try interviewing in another language! This is not to say you are set up to fail, these interviews simply provide a unique challenge in that you never know what exactly is going to happen (or how well you’ll understand what the employer is saying!). It’s exciting, and following with my initial goal for this program, it is a great personal challenge.

So see what you can accomplish, and be confidant in your abilities. Your whole life has been a learning experience, so utilize the tools you’ve gained, perhaps unwittingly, to – as I was prompted to do- convaincre l’entretien (an interesting mix of conquer and convince, one must truly show their stuff during the interview). Now here’s to hoping I did just that.

Galerie Eric Mircher

 

Into the Foray

September 26, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Little questions strike me, for instance; Paisley? Knit? Polka-dot? How many of my dozens of ties will I NEED? Well, really the answer is likely one or two, but this little dilemma is representative of the  wider debacle that presents itself in preparing for 4 months studying abroad.

My name is Gregory Maher, and I will soon depart for the city of lights, oui, c’est Paris! Yes, France shall be my home for a semester, and my program, Paris Internship, is coordinated through Boston University. In France I will take classes with professors from local universities for the first half of the semester to prepare me for the second half, ze internship. My placement I know not, BUT I’m interning in Paris, so how could I lose? Well, back to the present . . .

. . .  I am in the midst of preparing my bags for departure, which means I’m making numerous piles of stuff that I “need,” only a portion of which I can actually take. Oh lordy, how’m I to fit my life in these few bags for a whole semester??

As I’m attempting to reserve a shuttle from the airport to my host family’s apartment, my mother tries to convince me I need a passport wallet to wear around my neck at ALL times, while I’m still pondering that eternal question . . . what could Indiana offer that my host family could ever desire as a welcoming gift? Oh well, amidst the tying up of all my loose ends in America, I’ve surely knotted a few in the chaos of preparation. Among the lessons I learned through this process is this:

Truly, it is so easy to get lost in the momentary stresses of packing and preparation- to worry over my ability to revive French vocab long-buried in the recesses of my mind, to wonder if I’ll really be glad I’ve gone when all of my friends and those I hold dear to me are miles and miles away, across the ocean and horizon. I really just have to slow myself down and truly realize the incredible opportunity I’ve been afforded. I smile as I pack away the last of my things, thinking of the new experiences and people I will encounter, and the chance to truly come face-to-face with zis place called Paris. Au Revoir les États-Unis! À Paris!

Do your research: the Boston University website for the Paris Internship program actually contains practical day-to-day info (seems obvious after the fact) from obtaining cell phones in Paris to the location of the closest chocolate shops. And yet I did not discover this until perusing the site a week before my departure. Know that there are resources available to you for every question your (at this point, probably neurotic) mind can come up with. How else might I learn that public restrooms may in fact contain a doorman to assist me in my toileting process!

Into the Foray

September 20, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Little questions strike me, for instance; Paisley? Knit? Polka-dot? How many of my dozens of ties will I NEED? Well, really the answer is likely one or two, but this little dilemma is representative of the  wider debacle that presents itself in preparing for 4 months studying abroad.

My name is Gregory Maher, and I will soon depart for the city of lights, oui, c’est Paris! Yes, France shall be my home for a semester, and my program, Paris Internship, is coordinated through Boston University. In France I will take classes with professors from local universities for the first half of the semester to prepare me for the second half, ze internship. My placement I know not, BUT I’m interning in Paris, so how could I lose? Well, back to the present . . .

. . .  I am in the midst of preparing my bags for departure, which means I’m making numerous piles of stuff that I “need,” only a portion of which I can actually take. Oh lordy, how’m I to fit my life in these few bags for a whole semester??

As I’m attempting to reserve a shuttle from the airport to my host family’s apartment, my mother tries to convince me I need a passport wallet to wear around my neck at ALL times, while I’m still pondering that eternal question . . . what could Indiana offer that my host family could ever desire as a welcoming gift? Oh well, amidst the tying up of all my loose ends in America, I’ve surely knotted a few in the chaos of preparation. Among the lessons I learned through this process is this:

Truly, it is so easy to get lost in the momentary stresses of packing and preparation- to worry over my ability to revive French vocab long-buried in the recesses of my mind, to wonder if I’ll really be glad I’ve gone when all of my friends and those I hold dear to me are miles and miles away, across the ocean and horizon. I really just have to slow myself down and truly realize the incredible opportunity I’ve been afforded. I smile as I pack away the last of my things, thinking of the new experiences and people I will encounter, and the chance to truly come face-to-face with zis place called Paris. Au Revoir les États-Unis! À Paris!

Do your research: the Boston University website for the Paris Internship program actually contains practical day-to-day info (seems obvious after the fact) from obtaining cell phones in Paris to the location of the closest chocolate shops. And yet I did not discover this until perusing the site a week before my departure. Know that there are resources available to you for every question your (at this point, probably neurotic) mind can come up with. How else might I learn that public restrooms may in fact contain a doorman to assist me in my toileting process!

By: Greg Maher, more blogs to come soon!

Easy A or not?

May 11, 2012 / / 0 Comments

One of the differences that is very apparent while studying abroad is the way classes are setup. Everyone jokes that study abroad is the easy 4.0 GPA semester. This is not necessarily the case. It is more that the classes are completely different than what we experience at Valpo. From professor relationships, classes, and trips this semester has to have been one of the best one’s I’ve experience.

Professor and student relationships are different than just going to a professor’s class for 3 hours a week. Here our professors are technically like our guardians which create more of a relationship than just listening to a lecture. We get to know their families and they get to know more than just our grade and where we sit in the class. They have invited us over to their homes and have made meals together and they taught their classes in the comfort of their own homes. We also are taught classes by German professors as well (in English). Both are well known in their fields like an art curator and the head of the international programs on campus (which deals with the government). They have shown us how relaxed German classes are. In most German classes, attendance is optional.

Another difference is that we get to travel for our classes. We have had about three and four weeks of just class trips that have ranged from going to Berlin and Northern Germany to day trips around the area. We were able to take a tour of the Audi factory last week to understand one of the main corporations that affect the German Economy. We saw the entire process of the making of a gorgeous and expensive car. The week before that we went to Paris in order to present our final presentations for our Art History class in front of the actual paintings in the Louvre and the Museum d’ Orsay, followed by a delicious French meal and a tour of Paris.

Overall the classes were not necessarily the easy A courses that we all expect when studying abroad but they were some of the most interesting and memorable classes I have taken. We had our farewell dinner with all of our professors and their families and it really made me realize just how close I have become to these professors. It is a weird feeling realizing that it was the last time I would be seeing our two German professors.

Sacré Coeur

Weekend in Paris

April 23, 2012 / / 0 Comments

From the top of the Eiffel Tower

As with most major European cities, the airport serving Paris, France is located far outside the city.  So, the first adventure in really any city is navigating the public transportation system in what is hopefully a timely and cheap manner (a single taxi ride from airport to hostel often costs at least €50 and can run upwards of €100).  In Paris the metro system is the best option.  For about €20 a three-day pass will let you ride the metro to anywhere within the city 24 hours a day.  By the end of the weekend I had been on the metro easily 15-20 times.  Buying the pass was well worth the time I would have spent walking around the city.

Eiffel Tower

It is possible to spend hours in every site in Paris.  Therefore, there are some sites that you have to merely stop outside of for pictures.  For example, this is what I did at the Arc de Triomphe,  Invalides, Moulin Rouge, and the Pantheon.  Other sites are almost mandatory for tourists, such as the Eiffel Tower, which I went to nearly every day.  I took the trip to the top the first morning of the weekend.  By climbing the steps to the first level I was able to avoid waiting several hours in line for the elevator.  As you continue to climb, the views become more and more spectacular until at the highest level you can look over all of Paris and see the Seine stretch for miles before it disappears into the horizon.  Looking at it from the ground the Eiffel Tower is more impressive after dark.  The light show on the half hour and the rotating search lights from the top draw a crowd every night.

Notre Dame

The only other site I visited more than once was Notre Dame.  On the way to the Latin Quarter for dinner the first night I walked by the front of it.  The next day I came back and went inside.  Similar to many other major European cathedrals, the inside was really best described as a tourist carnival.  The sides of the church are a sea of tourists attempting to take pictures of all the altars and works of art housed by the cathedral.  In the main part of the church, hundreds of Catholic believers are lined up to kiss whichever relic is on display that day.  Even from the short glimpse I got of Notre Dame I could tell that it is rightfully one of the most well known churches in the world.

Mona Lisa

Although I only spent a few hours in the Louvre, it would easily be possible to spend days and days there without seeing everything.  After a relatively short wait to get in (with free entry because I’m a student in the EU) I headed towards the Mona Lisa.  Along the main hall there is large room to the right.  I had heard that I would be under-impressed by the size of the painting, but I didn’t really think it was that small.  And the crowd’s interest didn’t imply anyone else was unimpressed either.  Every individual in the enormous group swarming in front of the painting was attempting to jostle past the others and take a picture.  Eventually, I was successful too.  Then, on the way out of the museum I walked past halls of ancient Greek sculptures and paintings as big as the wall.

While there were many aspects of Paris I liked (the crepes are fantastic), two of my favorite things were Sacré Couer and the numerous bridges spanning the Seine.  Several of the bridges are works of art in themselves and are heavily adorned with carvings.  Several others are lock bridges, which I spent a long time taking pictures of.  Sacré Couer is rather far out of the city centre but is well worth the trip.  It is on a hill, so the steps leading up to the basilica have a great view of the city.  Also, several really good street performers can be found here, so many people sit on the side of the hill with friends to relax and enjoy the atmosphere.  Crowing the hill is the magnificent cathedral with one of the most beautiful interiors in Europe.  Pleasantly, there were less tourists than I expected inside.  The acoustics are amazing too.  The music from the nuns’ service could be heard perfectly in all corners of the chapel.

Lock Bridge

 

Unfortunately, I only had one weekend to spend in Paris.  But in the space of one weekend it became one of my favorite European cities and one that I will definitely try to return to in the future!

Sacré Coeur

Missed an earlier blog?

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Parisian Weekend

February 12, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Paris!

We were finally able to cross “Paris” off of our unofficial must-travel list and it was almost everything we thought it would be! After a short flight of just over 2 hours, we were in Beauvais (RyanAir’s cheap “Paris” airport that is actually an hour north) and were on a bus to Paris. Since none of us know any French beyond “yes, no, hello, goodbye, and thank you,” it was immediately apparent this would be somewhat of a challenge since almost no one speaks any English or Spanish. Anyway, we finally found a taxi that knew where our hostel was since the first 2 didn’t have an idea.

The hostel was nice, very clean, the staff spoke English, French, and Spanish, and they offered several services for a cheap price. It was also a 30 minute walk to the Eiffel and less than 10 to a metro station. I would definitely stay there again and for reference if anyone is looking for a cheap place in Paris, it’s called “Aloha.” After we tossed our bags in the storage closet, we headed out for the Eiffel Tower!

Since the line to get elevator tickets was, literally, at least 500 people long, we waited 5 minutes and got the walking tickets. It was extremely cold that weekend and the walk must have taken us over an hour to get to the second level minus the time we spent walking around the first level. Since we couldn’t walk from the second level to the top, we bought elevator tickets which ended up costing the same as if we had bought them on the ground but we didn’t have to wait in the long line so it was a fair trade-off. The view from the top is spectacular!

We also went to the Trocadéro (seen in the foreground of the large photo) which is a popular spot to take pictures of the Eiffel. Later on day 2, we met up with my friend Charlotte and she showed us around the Arc de Triomphe and went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. The third and final day was the busiest but the most fun by far! Early in the morning, we went out to see the Eiffel one more time and then went to the Louvre, Sainte-Chapelle, Notre Dame, and walked along the Seine for a bit. We thought about going to the catacombs but they were closed by the time we looked into it. We had a really productive day so I won’t miss it in the least.

Paris was almost everything we expected except for the cold and the prices. It was ridiculously cold even though I’m told it’s normally much colder with snow. The prices there are enough to make you not want to go back but it is possible to find a few moderately cheap places if you look. Bakeries tend to be fairly cheap and you can buy a whole baguette for just a euro. Chinese restaurants are also reasonably priced but don’t expect to find many cheap French restaurants.

If you’d like to see all the photos I took in Paris (about 200) check out my Picasa page (http://bit.ly/y5AyqU). You can also follow me on Twitter for more day-to-day posts (https://twitter.com/#!/SpainJordan). I also have trips planned to Portugal, England, and Switzerland/Germany in the coming months in addition to my normal Spain postings so look out for those!

 

 

One Day in Paris

April 11, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Recently one of my best friends from home, Cora, came to visit me here! She and her boyfriend, Brian, are both studying abroad this semester and they decided to meet in Paris for a long weekend. I made plans to meet Brian at his train station and help him surprise Cora by picking her up at the airport, as she wasn’t expecting him to get in until the next day. So, I met Brian and we started headed across the city to meet Cora at the shuttle station. (A word of warning, when flying Ryan Air, be prepared to fly into out of the way airports. Example: Paris-Beauvais is NOT in Paris, and there is not a cheap way to get to the city from Beauvais.) Cora’s shuttle from the airport was over an hour late, despite the website’s guarantee that shuttles ran every 20 minutes from the airport. Honestly, we should have known better, this is France after all, mais c’est pas grave. Luckily, Brian grew up in West Africa, and just so happens to be fluent in french, so he figured out what was going on. When Cora finally arrived she was shocked and a little flustered from all the confusion of her trip but almost as happy to see us as we were to see her. On the way back to Cergy she told us all about the issues she’d dealt with flying in from Italy, which is apparently just as disorganized as France.

They're here!

The rest of that night and all of Friday were spent catching up. I had class on Friday, so after I showed them the village and the village bakery, where Cora had her first real french pastry (!!), I gave them some destination options and sent them exploring for the afternoon. Cora is an art major, so when she heard that Auvers sur Oise, the town where Van Gogh is buried and spent the last years of his life, is just a few miles from Cergy she was pretty excited. So, the ever prepared and brilliant Brian found a map, figured out how to get there, and packed water and snacks. I had gone there earlier in the semester and told them it was about a 45 minute walk along the river. They set off, cameras in tow, and were gone for some time. About 5 hours later they returned, absolutely exhausted, telling me it was actually a two hour walk to Auvers sur Oise. Woops. 

The next day we woke up bright and early, grabbed our friend Kody from upstairs, and headed to Paris. Neither Cora nor Brian knew too much about the city, but Cora knew she wanted to see the Louvre. I threw out a few more suggestions to them, and we finally settled on an itinerary:

-Louvre/Tuileries

-Notre Dame/Shakespeare & Co.

– Jardin Luxembourg

-Catacombs

-Eiffel Tower

-Père Lachaise

-Montmartre

These are, in my mind, the absolute, must-see spots in Paris. Unfortunately, as we found out later, there’s just no way to see them all in one day. This is at best a two day itinerary.

The Louvre was our first stop. We tried to get there early to avoid crowds, but avoiding tourist crowds on a Saturday at a world famous art museum just isn’t a possibility. Nevertheless, we managed quite well and spent 3 hours walking around just a few hallways so Cora could see some of the more famous works.

Shortly before she wandered off

This was only my second time to the museum, so we saw many of the things I saw the first time: the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and various pieces by Michelangelo, Vermeer, Rembrandt, and El Greco. As amazing as seeing all of these things is, I think the most fascinating thing about the Louvre is watching the tourists swarming around. We had several run-ins with picture-taking zombie tour groups of every nationality, and after losing Cora, then finding her again, we finally emerged into the courtyard of the palace into the Tuileries gardens.

Brian, tuckered out in the Louvre

By this time, Cora and Brian, who hadn’t had a chance to fully recover from their walk and travels from the last two days, were absolutely exhausted. But I dragged them through the gardens which were really in bloom for the first time of the year. It was just gorgeous! The fountains had been turned on, flowers were in full bloom, and people were everywhere, lounging by the water, lingering in the mazes, sailing toy boats – it was fantastic.

One tired couple in the Tuileries metro station

It was at this point, noticing the time, and seeing how far behind us Cora and Brian were lagging, that Kody and I realized we weren’t going to be able to see everything we’d planned on that day. Instead, we decided to make it to the catacombs before the line got too long there, and then to head over to the Eiffel tower. So, dragging Cora along behind us, we cut out of the gardens to the nearest metro, and headed over to Montparnasse neighborhood to the entrance to the Catacombs.

A rather creepy man at the end of a rather creepy tunnel

Now, let me tell you, my information in my last post concerning the catacombs wasn’t correct. These aren’t Roman catacombs, but instead, these underground tunnels began as quarries.

This well had some sort of appropriately menacing name and purpose. Unfortunately, I can't remember what they were.

Sometime in the 18th century, after a disease outbreak due to a mass grave in another part of the city, it was decided that the bodies in the grave would be transported to the quarries and buried underground. The remains were carted through the city accompanied by priests swinging incense and chanting the last rites.

The first thing you see when you walk into the ossuary.

Later, bodies from several other cemeteries throughout Paris were moved to what is now known as the catacombs. It was opened as a tourist sight in the 19th century, and today, as I was very creepily informed by a guard while looking at a pile of skulls in the ossuary, 6 million people are buried, or rather stacked, in the catacombs. As creepy as it sounds, and it is creepy, this is definitely a must-see, but I’d go during the spring so that when you come up from underground, you walk out to find birds chirping and the sun shining rather than cold and darkness. You’ll need a bit of a pick-me-up afterwards.

"You know how many dead people? Six... million..."

The mile long trail, and the 87 steep, winding steps leading out of the catacombs nearly finished Cora and Brian off. So, when we emerged, we stopped at a nearby market to get fruit for a picnic we were planning under the Eiffel Tower. Then we jumped on the metro and headed towards that symbol of all things beautiful in the world, making just a short detour to grab some baguettes from a nearby bakery.

French marching band, yellow plastic cowboy hats, and tubas. Just an average day at the Eiffel Tower

Yes!

It seemed like the rest of the city had the same idea we did, but it didn’t matter, it was gorgeous out. We had our picnic of bread, cheese, sausage, apples, and wine and laid in the sun talking for hours. Brian and Kody noticed a group playing frisbee and went over to join, while I napped and Cora caught up with her friend, Grace, who had come to meet us. It was just the thing we needed to recharge. And even though I don’t think I could think of a more cliché experience than eating cheese and drinking wine on the champs de mars under the eiffel tower, I can’t help but think that it’s cliché for a reason. It was easily one of the best times I’ve had in the city.

Frisbee?!

Soaking up the sun - post-frisbee

As the sun started to go down, Kody and I realized that there was only one place in Paris where we could see the sunset  that could live up to those last few hours laying in the sun. We rallied Cora and Brian, said goodbye to Grace, and raced to Montmartre to make it in time for the sunset. I assured Cora, again and again, that the walk up the steep hill would be worth it, but I don’t think she needed convincing at that point.

The view of the city from Montmartre at dusk

The way up the hill seemed to be lined with more street performers than usual, and the charm of Montmartre was really in full swing. My friend Ali, who is also a Valpo student studying abroad with the Boston program in Paris this semester (you can check out her blog here), met us at the basilica. After watching a dance troupe perform, we turned around to watch the sun set over the most breathtaking view in Paris. That’s when Brian had a great idea, he pulled a jar of nutella, a bag of crepes, and a knife out of his backpack, and started passing the delicious little things around. Now, these weren’t properly served, and the bottle of wine he pulled out his bag a few seconds later wasn’t of the best quality, and yes, we were speaking english, but there really couldn’t have been a better way to end the day. We stood there talking, laughing, eating, and drinking for quite some time, not wanting the day to end and definitely not wanting to say goodbye. The Eiffel tower lit up behind us, sparkling from the other side of the city. We took one last look and headed down the hill to start the trip back to Cergy so Cora and Brian could get an earlystart home the next day.

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