Paris 2010-2011 (hehe)

We got to Paris on Dec. 31, 2010, around noon. It was a bone chilling, wet, cold temperature... not sunny and 40 like the weather channel predicted.... but we saw a good bit of the city, even with so many other New Year's visitors and in just 2 half days!

We arrived into the Gare de Lyon (a gorgeous train station built for the 1900 World's Fair), walked to the Place de la Bastille (nothing remains from the actual Bastille prison that was stormed the 14th of July during the 1789 French Revolution), took pictures of the Colonne de Juillet (which commemorates the 3 day, 1830 Revolution and sits in place of the Bastille), and headed into the metro. We got off in the Latin Quarter, near the Saint Michel fountain and not far from Notre Dame. This area has skinny, winding streets, with row after row of cafés and brasseries... we chose one with nice Christmas decorations and beouf bourgignon on the menu and sat for a nice 3 course, moderately priced meal. I had a cheese crepe, the aforementioned beef stew, and chocolate mousse. My dad and Steph had French onion soup, my dad had turkey with cream sauce and Steph had a ham and cheese crepe. Yumz.

We left and headed towards some souvenir shops... then to the Notre Dame (which we stood in line for... it went quickly though!), headed towards the Hotel de Ville, and got back on the metro towards our hotel, with a quick pit stop at the Arch de Triomphe. We got checked in, took a little break, and got back into the crowds to see the the Roue de Paris (ferris wheel), the Obelisk, Champs Elysées all lit up, and the Louvre. The museum was closed, both New Year's Eve and New Year's day, but we did go inside to see the inverted pyramid. We got back on the metro to hang at the hotel for a little longer... and then went back out around 9:30pm to wait for fireworks at the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately... due to security concerns, they were canceled, which we didn't know until the day after, but we did stand under the Eiffel Tower as the clock struck midnight, while it sparkled, drank champagne given to me by Murielle, and slightly feared for our lives as people set off their own fireworks in the crowds. We walked back... well hobbled back really, as our feet were frozen through by this point. But, it was New Year's Eve... so our spirits were high as we made our way back with the thousands of others.

After a nice defrosting and a good night's sleep, we took advantage of the metro still running free and headed towards Montmartre to see Sacre Coeur. We took the funicular up and walked over to see the artist's square (place du tertre), where artists set up easels to paint and sell their work. This area of the city used to be home to Picasso and other modern artists before they were remotely famous. This area, with the Sacre Coeur Basilica in the background is probably my favorite place in all of Paris... even when it is cold and rainy.

We waited in a long line, that also moved quickly, to see the inside of the Basilica... I've never seen so many people in there... nor I have I ever waited in line to go in, so New Year's day must be a big day to go see it! There was also a mass going on... which was cool, but made us feel a little awkward touring...

We walked down the stairs this time to get back on the metro at Anvers, passed one of the hostels Maggie, Thomas, and Heather and I stayed in by chance, and headed straight towards the train station. It was PACKED. We were starving... not having eaten anything for breakfast, so we crankily looked for a place to eat quickly... and finally got seated at the Bleu Express, the less expensive, quicker version of Le Train Bleu (which has been there since 1901). Our train ride home was very pleasant, we all nodded off a bit, and got into Lyon around 4:20pm, Jan. 1, 2011:)

We took our second funicular ride for the day to show Steph the Fourvière Basilica, which she also called a "keeper." We were able to walk around the roman ruins down the street a little bit and took the other funicular down to head back. We stopped at a café for a café (hehe) and got home around 7 so that my visitors could pack up. I called a taxi for them the night before and they left this morning at 5am. Hopefully, their flights went well and they are almost home soon!

I miss them already and had a wonderful, action packed week before going back to school. I have plenty of time to recover before going to Italy again... in March with my next and final visitor!

No tutoring today- just catch up and lesson planning. Reste cool and hope you all have a great first week of 2011!

Back to Paris, in Pictures

To begin our day in Paris, we stopped at our first hostel (le village) in Montmartre. This quarter of the city is located in the north, in the 18th arrondissement (or district). We had an amazing view of the beautiful Sacre Coeur (or Sacred Heart Basilica) from our 5th story window. We had a nice lunch looking up at the church, each having a yummy French delight (croque monsieur, nutella crepe, and panini). This area is famous for its large artist community (Picasso lived and painted here) and continues to have a little square of artists painting and selling their work.

Next we traveled by metro to the Arc de Triomphe, situated at the top of the Champs Elysees. The arch was commissioned by Napoleon after the victory at Austerlitz in 1806. The arch honors those who fought in the French Revolution and in the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of French victories and generals inscribed on the surface. The arch is the centerpiece of a rather daunting traffic circle with exits shooting out on all sides like a star. To get underneath the arch, one must go through the underground tunnel. It doesn't cost anything to walk around under the arch, but does cost to go up to the top. The Champs Elysees is a very swanky avenue that extends from the arch to the Place de la Concorde. We walked all the way down, passing such stores as Louis Vuitton, Swavorski, and Cartier. There is also a huge McDonald's, which is where we took a pit stop to go potty!

At the center of Place de la Concorde is the Obelisque de Louxor, or the Luxor Obelisk. The Egyptian obelisk was "given" to the French, and later placed where a famous guillotine used to be located during the French Revolution. (During the Revolution, this place was renamed Place de la Revolution. Marie Antoinette was guillotined here in front of cheering crowds.) The obelisk is decorated with hieroglyphics and a detailed drawing of how the obelisk was transferred to France in 1833. At the Place de la Concorde, you can see the Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, and the Jardins des Tuileries which extends off to the other side of the obelisk.

We walked through the Tuileries Gardens and took a little break/nap at one of the large fountains. The gardens were originally created by none other than Catherine de Medicis in 1559 after the death of Henri II (her husband). After the French Revolution, the gardens became a public park, and has continued to be a meeting place for Parisians and tourists alike. The gardens play host to many out door art exhibits and statues. This time around, there was a tree located in one of the fountains and an American Flag depicted on ladders.

Walking from the Place de la Concorde and through the Tuileries Gardens, you eventually lead up to the Louvre. The Louvre is a gigantic building. It was originally built as a fortress in the 12th century, but was frequently altered throughout the Middle Ages. Francois I acquired the Mona Lisa, one of the focal points of the museum, and over time the palace went from fortress to royal residence, to private museum, to public museum after the French Revolution. The glass pyramid and inverted pyramid were completed in the late 80's, early 1990's. We didn't visit the museum this time around, but did go downstairs to the Carousel du Louvre, small underground mall with the inverted pyramid (you don't have to wait in line to see this or pay money!).

From here we walked down the Seine to the ile de la cite, or the island of the city to find the Notre Dame Cathedral. The cathedral was built between 1160 and 1345 and is one of the best examples of the French Gothic styles of architecture. The cathedral really is something to see- huge, beautiful towers, amazing gargoyle and saints decorating the surfaces, the flying buttresses, and the gorgeous stain glass windows. The church has a fascinating history, which I won't go into now... but although it may be touristy, it is a "Paris must-see."

Bon Halloween!

This morning, the 4 of us groggily got ourselves ready for our last morning in Paris....which basically consisted of a yucky showering experience at our hostel, with water everywhere... (after sampling 2 hostels in the Montmartre area, I can firmly advise- Stay Away from the Vintage Hostel, and go with the Village Hostel... much better views, location, and no musty, wet carpets!), walking to the parking garage in the mostly empty and quiet streets of Paris (huge difference from the night before!), driving to the airport (no traffic this morning!), and returning the rental car (a little worried we'd never find the right place, but we did it!).

I waited for Maggie, Thomas, and Heather to check their luggage and to check-in... and then it was time to say good-bye:( Although the week was jam-packed with touring, walking, and very little sleeping, I was sad that my week with my friends had to end. I hope they had fun, because I know I definitely did. Being able to drive around France was so cool (albeit the pricey tolls) and seeing Annecy was wonderful, but getting to play tour guide in Lyon and Paris was probably my favorite part (hopefully I wasn't too ambitious!). It's one thing to be able to blog about my experiences, but a wholly other thing to be able to show what I know and the places I call (or called in the case of Paris) my temporary home.

Anyway, after saying bye... and going to the bathroom to pull myself together (mentally and hairwise- I don't know what I was thinking when I did my hair this morning at the hostel), I set out on my own little half-day Parisian adventure. My plan was to go to the Musee d'Orsay (my

favorite art museum of all time), but by the time I got there, my back wasn't enjoying the weight from my tightly packed bag and my over-worked feet... were over it. Plus, the line was winding around out the door, so it just wasn't meant to be this time around. I did go up on a bridge across the street to take a good picture of the building, which is also a work of architectural art (an old train station). While I was up on the bridge, I noticed people reading things connected to the wires on the fence, and realzied they were little locks, like luggage locks, with names of couples carved or written into them (like M+S, or Sharin loves Sherman). I had never even heard of this bridge or that this was some sort of lovers tradition. But how neat! And, also neat, at the end of the bridge, there is a really cool statue of Thomas Jefferson (another American lover of the French).

After this, I wasn't sure how much longer I could stand to drag myself around Paris, so I decided to see if I could catch an earlier train to Lyon. I found the station or gare, which is really cool looking from the outside (you always take Gare de Lyon to get to Lyon too, which I think is just very helpful). And thank goodness- I could get on one as soon as I got there (for a small 18 euro fee... which was worth every penny...or centime). The train trip was very pleasant, I even fell asleep for a bit of the trip. What was not so much fun was waiting for my bus to get from the train station home, and the actual bus ride. The driver almost hit someone crossing the street and a man, on the bus, obviously drunk, was yelling something... I'm not sure if I was any better at French if I'd even have been able to understand him!

Tonight, I have been endulging in the fine American treats brought to me by my friends- Reese Pieces and Oreos! Yumz.

Hope you're having an excellent Halloween:)

Reste cool!

ps, tomorrow I will post and explain more of the sites we saw in Paris at the beginning of the week!

Our Last Full Day Together:( Paris-Style!

We arrived in Paris, after a 4.5 hour car ride, an hour stuck in traffic on the Paris Peripherique (beltway), and getting stuck in huge market traffic over by our hostel inMontmartre. It wouldn't have mattered so much if we didn't have people to meet, places to see, but of course, we did! So we parked our car as fast as we could, got onto the very crowded metro, and headed towards the Champs-Elysees (the street leading off of the Arc de Triomphe) to meet a friend of Thomas'. We met them at Bistro Romain, on the most touristy street in Paris, so it was over-crowded and more pricey than we would have chosen in other circumstances. But, it was nice to meet his friend and his friend's wife, other fellow Americans living in France. And- we all had really yummy dessert, so I can't complain too much:)

After our lunch, we headed over to the Nunnery that is the sister Nunnery to one of Heather's voice students (a nun). We tried to explain that we knew a sister nun, back in WVA, but apparently they have lots of sister churches... and the first nun we talked to didn't really understand what we wanted (which wasn't really anything other than to say hello, we know your sister nunnery in WVa). The second nun we spoke with was more excited for us and gave us a brochure, so Heather has something to show off to her nun!

From the Nunnery (got to say, didn't think I 'd ever write that), we went back up to Montmartre to check into our hostel. It looked pretty nice in the lobby, not quite as much Halloween spirit unfortunately, but it didn't matter much because all we did was throw our bags down and head out to find the Moulin Rouge. As you may or may not know, the Moulin Rouge is located in the same general Montmartre area, on a long street of sex shops. By the time we got there, everything was already lit up (sex-shop signs included), which was.... pretty... especially the moulin (windmill) of the Moulin Rouge. The Moulin Rouge is originally famous for putting on the cabaret can-can act (a "seductive" dance opportunity for the courtesans of the 19th century), and today continues to entertain visitors with similar shows. These shows are very pricey, at least for us this go around, so we just took pictures from the outside. Next on our list- the Eiffel Tower.

We decided that we'd make ourselves a nutella crepe and wine picnic dinner beneath the Eiffel Tower or Tour Eiffel, as drinking alcohol in public is legal in France. It's actually a very strange cultural experience to be sitting beneath the Eiffel Tower, while it sparkles, (at the hour, every hour, for 5 minutes, the Eiffel Tower literally sparkles), with several other picnic groups, all with their little glasses or bottles of wine. As one of my French coworkers says, "In France you have 5 main rivers, the Seine, the Rhone, the Saone, the Loire, and le Vin" (vin being wine).

It was a short adventure in Paris, but a delightful one indeed!

Trip from Paris to Dijon to Lyon

Hah, guess what??? I'm so TIRED! I can't wait until I can actually write a real, coherent post! But, here's a quick overview of our day:

We got up, had breakfast at our hostel (the staff was dressed in Halloween costumes...lol... I guess they wanted to make us feel at home?), checked-out, got our car, got into Paris traffic finding the interstate (or autoroute in this case), got confused on a few round-abouts, finally got onto the A6 (autoroute 6), stopped to get gas (piece of cake to find once we were on the interstate), stopped in Dijon for lunch (ended up being 3 before we got there.... so most places weren't serving real lunch, so we got sandwiches from a boulangerie), saw some really cool churches and quaint old wood-framed houses, got lost looking for our car on the way back (should have took note of the street names....), got back on the A6, got more gas just to be safe, got to my apartment (but only because I followed my nose... our gps failed us getting from Dijon to St. Priest), got all our bags up the 5 flights of stairs, made dinner... and now I'm slowly fading away.

Here are a few pictures of Dijon. I only took pictures of mustard... no taste-testing this time around.

Ah, Paris!!!

I'll have to upload photos tomorrow, but wanted to let you know that my friends Maggie, Thomas, and Heather got into Paris safe and sound, we found our rental car (a Mercedes with a GPS... Fancy!), we got out of the airport and into Montmartre near our hostel, found parking for overnight, went to the hostel to drop off our bags, had a nice lunch in front of Sacre Coeur, did a nice tour of the big sights (Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Place de la Concorde, Jardin des Tuileries, Louvre (just the basement, not the whole museum), Notre Dame, St. Michel (for my favorite flower gelato), back to Montmartre for a nap in the hostel, out to dinner at a fabulous fondue restaurant, out to see the city from atop Montmartre... saw the Eiffel Tower all lit up, and back to the hostel to get ready for tomorrow. We'll be having breakfast at our hostel, leaving Paris early and heading to Dijon, which is on the way (and hopefully near more open gas stations). We'll stop there for lunch and be back to Lyon by 5/6pm... which means more pictures soon!!!!

More soon:) Reste cool!