Palais Garnier and a very hot day

Today began with classes at 9:30am.  We had french civilization (where I took an obscene amount of notes about the structure of the french government, and french literature, where I took one quick (but pointless) translation test then left.


We had about two hours of free time then so I made myself and ham and brie sandwich on a baguette I stole from breakfast, some grapes, Walker's shortbread, and orangina and sat down to watch The Phantom of the Opera on my laptop.


At 1:30pm, we got on the metro and headed over to the Opera house, otherwise known as Palais Garnier, for a guided tour.

I was thrilled to go back because the last time I was there I didn't get a chance to take many pictures, the ballet was much more interesting then.  This time we were given a tour of the public areas of the Palais Garnier.  Our guide showed us the entrance for season ticket holders, the chandelier, the auditorium, the hallways, the rotunda, and the foyer.

She even pointed out which box was specifically labelled as the Phantom's (aka box five).  On the subject of the Phantom, she dispelled the rumor that began with the play/musical/movie that the chandelier had ever crashed.  However she did say that there is a large aquifer just beneath the stage, which in the Phantom of the Opera is where he lurks, kidnaps innocent women to, attempts to murder hapless men, etc. 

After leaving our tour, we took a long (and boiling hot) bus ride back to the Foyer.  Today it was 90 degrees or so in Paris, which would be fine if we had air conditioning.  Unfortunately AC is rather rare in Paris so we're forced to suffer when it gets hot like this.  In an attempt to combat the heat we bought gelato on way home.  Addiction, addiction....


I spent the rest of the evening hanging out in a sports bra and shorts because it was so hot.  I made pasta for dinner and ate it in the TV room with the rest of my study abroad group while we watched Midnight in Paris.  We got excited when you could see some of the bars we go to frequently in the back of the screenshots.


After the movie ended I came back to my room and started watching Marie Antoinette.  I took a shower and am now about to finish my movie then go to bed.  5am will come very early tomorrow.

The Panthéon and le Pont Mirabeau

Today we had a later start, allowing me to sleep in for an extra hour or so.  By 10am, we were meeting just two blocks away in front of the Panthéon, the resting place of some of France's most brilliant and influential people.

The whole thing is a study is Neoclassicism with high arched domes, giant columns, and vast frescos covering the interior walls.

The crypt down below is the resting place of Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Louis Braille, Alexandre Dumas, Émile Zola, Marie and Pierre Curie, and Victor Hugo, among others.

After leaving the crypt we went on a tour of the upper levels of the building in three levels.  The first was inside and looked down on the giant hall.

The next level was outside, below the colonnade.

And the top level was around the top level of the colonnade on top of the building.  From there you can see the entire city from every angle.  It's absolutely incredible.

After leaving the Panthéon, we hurried back to the Foyer for class, but our professor never showed up! After waiting for thirty minutes, we decided to call it quits and split up to get lunch, go do homework, or go relax before our next outing.

At 2pm our next outing began.  It was a trip to Pont Mirabeau, a bridge on the other side of the city with famous views of the Eiffel Tower and miniature Statue of Liberty.

Our outing didn't last long and we were soon on our way back to the 5th.  Immediately upon arriving back on Boulevard Saint-Michel, I went grocery shopping to pick up some grapes, pesto, orangina, and other essentials.  Once my things were settled back in the Foyer though, I was off again.

On my own I took a bus into the 6th and went to Saint-Sulpice, an old and famous church in the city known for a group of murals inside painted by Delacroix.  I tracked down the murals (they were absolutely incredible) then took a walk down a nearby side street where I purchased a Longchamp for myself.  Then, carrying my lovely new bag I strolled back home, enjoying the beautiful (if a little hot) weather.

I made pasta for dinner tonight then tried to skype my parents (unfortunately the bad connection didn't really allow us to get much talking in).  After that I studied a bit for a test tomorrow then took and shower, wrote my blog, and am now going to bed.

Paris: The Capitol City

Today was both a very long day, but also a very governmental day.  I was up at 7:30am and out the door by 8:45 to visit the French Senate, conveniently located less than a block away.  Le Sénat is housed in what used to be Marie de Medici's palace and the Luxembourg Gardens used to be the palace grounds.  Today the gardens are open to the public and the palace has been rebuilt and reconstructed into the French Senate building.

The inside of the building is absolutely beautiful.  It's full of red carpeting, gilt walls, and elaborate murals on the ceilings.  

There was so much red velvet in places that it almost felt a bit like an over-the-top bordello (not that I've ever been one, but TV tells me that's what they look like).  Fortunately the stateliness of the building saves it from appearing to be more unsavory.

The library was particularly impressive.  Though the library in the Assemblée Nationale was MUCH more impressive, I wasn't able to take pictures there.  So instead I can only show its slightly less impressive cousin located in the Sénat.

Apparently the libraries are reserved specifically for the députés (delegates) so that they can read up on science, history, law, medicine, or any other subject that comes up in their bills.  That's why the collections there are so extensive and so well-maintained.  It's a far cry from the United States where legislators are given elevator briefings on important topics by half-informed interns just before they go in to a vote.

The last thing we visited in the Senate building was l'escalier d'honneur, or the grand staircase.  It was positively huge with (of course) a scarlet red and bright gold runner going down the entire thing.  Very imposing.

After leaving the Sénat, we had a short break for lunch then had our first class of the day.  After suffering through a miserable hour and fifteen minutes of french literature, we escaped and were dragged off the the Assemblée Nationale.  The Assemblée Nationale is across town, so we took a bus and arrived just in time for our appointment.

This building reminded me of a slightly more luxurious Capitol Hill.  Inside it was all classical style columns, Greek and Roman statues, and glossy marble.  There were even ceilings painted by Delacroix and David.  The main meeting room wasn't quite as opulent as the Senate building, but it was still very impressive.

After leaving the Assemblée Nationale we had one last class (French History), which ended at 5:30pm. After enduring such a long day full of classes and trips to government buildings I decided I needed a bit of retail therapy so I went shopping at some of the stores in the quartier.  I didn't find anything in the way of clothes, but I did by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's famous children's book Le Petit Prince.  In french with the original illustrations of course.

On my way home after shopping I stopped into a bakery nearby to get dinner and ended up talking with the owner for a good fifteen minutes.  It turns out that he was a French professor in Paris before retiring and opening a bakery.  He corrected a few of my pronunciation mistakes and talked to me a little about french literature before another customer came in and I left.  Chances are I'll be going back since I got a vegetable quiche, pain viennoise (basically chocolate chip bread), and a soda from 5 euros, a fantastic price.

I spent the rest of my night catching up on True Blood and hanging out with friends here at the Foyer.  I'm going to go to bed soon because I'm pretty tired and today was quite a long day, but it was definitely a good experience and a very different look at Paris.

P.S. Happy Birthday Lexie!!!!

Cimetière du Père-Lachaise and the Tour de France

Yesterday was a beautiful Saturday.  I slept in, then got ready for the day at my leisure.  Around 12:30pm, four of us left the Foyer and got on a bus heading across the city.  We got a bit lost along the way and ended up walking quite a few blocks, then taking another bus, but we eventually got to Paris' largest and most famous cemetery: le Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.

As soon as we got there, we grabbed maps and circled the grave sites of the people we wanted to see, since the cemetery is positively massive at 110 acres.  Then we were off, wandering down cobblestone pathways that had been distorted and cracked by time and tree roots burrowing beneath them.  The pathways twist and turn, weaving and winding among the plots.  The cemetery has roads inside of it, all labelled to make it easier to navigate.  It was very old fashioned, and slightly eerie what with the sun frequently disappearing behind clouds, the wind whispering through the old trees, and crows cawing loudly every couple minutes.

Our first stop was at the cemetery's most famous and visited grave: Jim Morrison's.  Unfortunately, due the popularity of visiting his grave, the site has been cordoned off so that you can see it, but can't get close.  People have also graffitied heavily on the nearby tombs, headstones, and mausoleums, something that seems just a little too close to bad karma to me, but apparently it's quite the thing to do.

Despite this, the grave was still very well taken care of.  It's covered in flowers, has a picture of Jim, and various other mementos sitting nearby, indicating visits by fans, friends, and family.  Ironically. the smell of weed was also pretty strong around the gravesite.  I guess it's something of a pilgrimage for potheads to go see the grave of Jim Morrison and smoke a joint next to his remains.

After this, we walked a bit farther and finally reached our next stop: Edith Piaf's grave.  She's buried in a family plot between both her father and her daughter.

Our next stop was at Oscar Wilde's tomb.  Like Jim Morrison's his tomb has also been walled off, but for different reasons.  Apparently when you visit his grave you're supposed to wear red lipstick and kiss the tomb.  I have no idea why, but do to the vandalism of so much red lipstick, it's now cordoned off so you can't touch it.

We then wandered through the cemetery a bit more, seeing the Crematorium, the chapel, and the gardens.  When we left we took the metro back to the Latin Quarter and stopped for gelato on the way home.  Later that night, a group of us decided to go out for a bit so we went to a nearby bar and had a few drinks.  Madeline and I left around 12:30am, stopping on the way home for some delicious chicken McNuggets.  I finally broke down.  And I have so say that I'm glad I did.  They were much better than any McNuggets I've ever had in the states.


This morning I slept in again (the upcoming week looks to be quite busy so I'll need my rest).  Around 11:30am I went to get lunch, then sat up on the terrace to eat it outside and enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful view of the city.


Around 1:30pm, a large group of us got onto the metro and headed down to Place de la Concorde to go see the Tour de France.  We were under the impression that the race ended around 2:30 in Paris, so we thought it'd be fun to go see.  Wrong.  It ended around 6:30, and we were not willing to wait hours in the hot sun just to see a few people go by on bikes.

By 3:30ish, we decided to leave and head back to the Latin Quarter.  We got gelato along the way (this is becoming a bit of an addiction) then hung out for little while before deciding to go for a walk in the Luxembourg Gardens.  We wandered around the gardens for awhile, enjoying the beautiful day, then headed back to the Foyer to finally buckle down and do some homework.  I spent the rest of the day doing homework, eating dinner, and finally, getting ready for bed.

"So are we popping bottles today or what?!"

Today I dragged myself out of bed at the ungodly hour of 6am in order to be on the metro by 7am.  By 7:20, we arrived at the nearby Paris Vision tours office for our day trip to Champagne.  There were only seven of us who decided to make the trip, but it was absolutely worth it.


We got off to a bit of a rough start.  Apparently the booking person at the office had scheduled me for a completely different tour, but scheduled the rest of my group right.  On top of that, every seat on the tour was taken and there were no extra spaces.  Fortunately, we were there early, we were patient, polite, and actually spoke french, so the people at the office said that if there were any people missing by 8am, when the bus was supposed to depart, I could take their place.  By 8am there were still a lot of people who hadn't shown up yet, despite the fact that we were told to be there by 7:30.  Too bad, so sad as far as I'm concerned.


By 8:15 we were off.  The ride out of the city was about two hours long.  We took the highways though so we were able to move pretty quickly, and around 10am we pulled into Reims for our first stop.

G.H. Mumm has been around since 1827 and is one of the largest champagne producers in the world.  Every year they produce several million bottles of champagne, and today we got to tour their cellars.  The guide told us about the types of grapes used in champagne (Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay) and how they're pressed, fermented, and bottled.  

We also learned many of the finer points of champagne making, including how sediment ends up in the bottles and how it's frozen and then removed.  Corks are also always straight and cylindrical when they're put into a champagne bottle, but the pressure causes them to warp when they're removed.  The guide also told us a bit about the history of the champagne making process and showed us the different sized bottles used by their champagne house.

I was quite a big fan of the large one on the left (a regular sized bottle is the third from the right), but apparently the bottle is actually more expensive than the wine since they're so tricky to make without shattering.  Fortunately, I did manage to get a picture with one of these very impressive bottles to help you better appreciate the size.

We then left the cellars and went into the tasting room where we were able to try either a glass of sweet or dry champagne.  I chose dry and it was fantastic.  The flavor was bright and crisp and definitely counted as a great first beverage of the day.

We then did a bit of shopping in the store nearby and almost all of us decided to buy something.  It was a bit pricy, but not outrageous, and the champagne was very good.  Definitely worth the splurge.

After this, we went to Reims cathedral.  Though not as large or grand as Notre Dame in Paris, this cathedral was still very impressive.

It was heavily bombed during World War One and almost the entire back half of the cathedral was destroyed.  Restorations are still taking place today, and almost none of the stained glass is original.  However they have done an incredible job in maintaining the outside's original style, while incorporating more modern stained glass to light up the interior.  The effect was definitely quite striking.

After visiting the cathedral we had a break for lunch, so we wandered around the town until we found a pizza place offering inexpensive lunch specials.  I had an orangina (of course) and a calzone.  However, unlike the usual calzones we have, this one was only stuffed with tomato sauce and mushrooms.  On the top of it was melted cheese and ham.  It was different, but completely delicious.  I had no problem finishing the entire thing.  After lunch we walked back to the bus and left Reims for our last stop of the day.

Moet and Chandon is the single most famous Champagne house in the entire world.  It was founded before the United States and makes some of the most expensive and coveted champagnes in the world, including Dom Perignon.

Dom Perignon is the best of the best in terms of champagne, and is named after the monk who discovered the perfect blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay wines in order to make champagne.  Our tour began again in the cellars.  Unlike G.H. Mumm's rather austere and modern wine cellars, Moet and Chandon's cellars look more like a labyrinth.  Our tour guide gave us two rules when we started and that was to not touch anything and not get lost.  Good advice considering the millions of bottles of champagne down there and the dozens of kilometers worth of cellars.

This tour covered much of the same information as our first tour.  The guide told us what champagne was specifically, how it is made, fermented, bottled, aged, etc.  This tour however was quite a bit more eery, simply due to the creepiness of the cellars.  They positively smelled old, like the air had been down the for centuries with no escape, just lots of old wine.

Our champagne tasting here, only offered one wine, their traditional dry champagne.  In terms of flavors, I couldn't tell too much of a difference between G.H. Mumm and Moet and Chandon's dry champagnes, but I'm sure there is one.  The main distinguishing factor I noticed was the carbonation.  Moet and Chandon have much more and much better carbonation.  It was so light and so bubbly that it made my whole mouth tingle when I sipped it.

After we finished our tasting there, we got back onto the bus and headed back to Paris.  By 7pm I was walking out of the ridiculously crowded RER and back in the quieter and more comfortable streets of the Latin Quarter.  Laura and I went to get bread and pastries, then went back to the Foyer.  There I finally had to give in and do laundry (having only one pair of underwear left is a pretty good motivator) for four euros to wash.  The dryer doesn't work, so my room currently looks like what mom would describe as a "gypsy caravan" because I've hung clothing up on every available surface.

We stayed in tonight since today was such an exhausting day.  I've spent the evening and night uploading pictures, making dinner, taking a shower, and now writing my blog.  I have lots of plans for things to get done tomorrow, so the sooner I go to bed, the better off I'll be.

Bercy Village and the Île Saint-Louis

Today I got to sleep in, but unfortunately had a midterm at 10:45am for French History.  The exam was easy and at noon I turned it in and walked out.  For lunch I made myself a ham and cheese sandwich since I didn't have much time until our outing.


At 1pm we got on the metro and headed to Bercy Village.  This is a new and redeveloped part of Paris that's radically different from the parts I'm used to, but still very quaint.

After looking around a bit here we wandered through the nearby Parc de Bercy.  The park was nothing like the classical gardens I've seen in other places around the city.  Instead, it's very modern and fun.  There were giant carrots sticking out of the ground:

large ivy covered structures that looked like something out of the the Shire:

a small vineyard:

and lots of other interesting things to stop and look at.  After we wandered around the park for awhile, we took a bus to the 4th arrondissement for a walking tour of  Île Saint-Louis, the second and smaller island in the Seine.

The island is just a few square blocks, so there's not much to see, but we did see a lot of cute bakeries and candy shops, a large 17th century church.  The highlight of the tour was a stop at Berthillon, the most famous ice cream parlor in all of France.  The store is family-owned and operated and uses all natural and traditional ingredients to make their ice cream.  No artificial flavorings, dyes, or preservatives.  It was without a doubt some of the best ice cream I'd ever tried.

One our way back to the Foyer a few of us stopped and looked in some stores that we passed on the way, but I didn't see anything that I really wanted to buy.  For dinner we went out to a nearby brasserie and I got a delicious rotisserie chicken, salad, french fries, and a molten chocolate cake with english cream.  It was a wonderful meal and because of the smaller portion sizes here I didn't feel disgustingly full after eating it either!


I'm currently sitting in bed and about to go to sleep.  I'm going champagne tasting tomorrow and have to be up at 6:30am, so the sooner I go to sleep tonight, the better.

Sainte-Chappelle and La Vie Parisienne

Yesterday was another one of our very busy days.  I was up bright and early, eating breakfast, then out the door and on the RER by 9:30.  We had an outing to Sainte-Chappelle and the Conciergerie, which are located right across from Notre Dame on the Île de la Cité so we didn't have far to go.

Sainte-Chappelle is a 13th century chapel built to house King Louis IX's relics from the Holy Land, including Jesus' Crown of Thorns.

The church has one of the largest quantities of stained glass located in one place.  The walls are almost entirely just stained glass, with only narrow columns and high vaulted ceilings supporting the building.

After visiting Sainte-Chappelle, we went next door to the Conciergerie.  The Conciergerie is a former prison, the one that housed the Royal family during the French Revolution.

Both Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lived here until they were executed.  Charlotte Corday, the young girl from Normandie who murdered Marat, was kept here, and Robespierre spent his last few days in this building too.  Though none of the old cells are still around due to renovations, they did create models of what they would have looked like back then.  The one below is a model of Marie Antoinette's cell, complete with an awkward mannequin of the deposed queen.

After our sortie, we stopped for lunch on the way back to the Foyer, then had two classes in the afternoon.  In French Lit we continued reading La Vie Parisienne, and in French Civilization we took a test then discussed how the French government is set up.

After class I studied for my French History midterm then made dinner and got ready for the theater.  At eight we went to go see La Vie Parisienne at the Le Théātre de Paris.  Though the operetta was annoying and almost absurd when we read it in class, it was hilarious when we watched it being performed.  The actors had a modern and creative interpretation of it, beginning as a rehearsal that slowly transformed itself into the actual show.  They played all the music on stage and did a fantastic job with both playing it, singing it, and dancing.  The entire performance was hilarious, engaging, and very catchy.

After we left the theater it was only 11pm and we were pretty wide awake so we headed back to the Latin Quarter and went to a local bar that we tend to frequent on weekdays.  We hung out until 1ish, listening to music, talking with people there, and having a good time.  When we got back to the Foyer (barely making it in time for our 1:30am curfew) I hung out with a few people in one of the guy's rooms for another half hour or so then we all split up and headed to our own rooms.  By 2:30am I was exhausted and went to bed.