The Rest of Paris

Hello all,

Sorry it has been such a long time since I updated. It's not for a lack of events/sights/experiences to report. I was simply too busy while I was in Paris and ever since I returned to Dijon on Saturday afternoon I have been recuperating and working on the nine cahiers (reports) due about our two-week excursion. I also have a two tests on what we learned during this past trip, one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday.

There's no way for me to write on everything that happened Wednesday through Saturday morning, so I'll include a list and then elaborate on my favorite bits:

Wednesday

• Versailles
• Musée Rodin (the former home of sculptor Auguste Rodin, with many of his works inside)
  
• Les Invalides/Église du Dôme (which houses the tomb of Napoleon I)
• Théâtre: "La Cantatrice Chauve" de Eugène Ionesco at Le Théâtre de la Huchette
  
• Eiffel Tower at night
• Dinner: Dans Le Noir

Thursday

• Guided tour of the Louvre: Eugene Delacroix, Gericault, Ingres, Titien, "La Jaconde" (the Mona Lisa), Veronese, da Vinci, Giotto di Bondone, Pierro dela Francesca, Pisanello, Girodet Trioson, David, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, "La Venus de Milo")
• Hot chocolate and pastries at Angelina (!!)
• Musee de l'Orangerie
• Sacre-Cœur
• Dinner: Refuge des Fondus

Friday

• Inside of the Opéra Garnier
• Lunch with Alden Masters (a fellow CCDS lifer) at a little cafe called Chez Janou
• Musée de Quai Branley (an exhibit on Iranian photography)
• Spectacle: Cirque Plume (a smaller, French version of Cirque du Soleil, it was incredible)

So some of my favorite moments from that comprehensive list of experiences. I am tempted to write solely on the food, but I will resist. My favorite moment from Wednesday was definitely the dinner at "Dans le Noir," but since I've already written about that, I will mention Versailles. This was my second time visiting Versailles and I am a little sorry to say I liked it better the first time. Wednesday was our first really overcast day of the trip and that combined with the changing seasons (last time I was there it was early June and the flowers were blooming in full force) made the gardens not quite as spectacular as I remember them. I had also forgotten about the mobs of tourists. This may sound incredibly stereotypical of me, but I have found Japanese tour groups in profusion here in France. And in connection with that previous statement I have also seen some incredibly short people. Mostly women, but also some men who can't be more than 4 1/2 feet tall. I am 5'5" and which is an absolutely average height for an American woman. Here in France I often feel like a giant. When we were in Louis XIV's bed chamber I was trying to take a photo when I felt something brush against my elbow - it was a woman's head! As in, the top of her head. I had to pay attention because I didn't want to squish her. Anyway, the crowds made Versailles not quite as enjoyable as I had hoped. Although I did really enjoy seeing the Hall of Mirrors. Last time I was there it was being restored. And, I take back what I said earlier about Fontainebleau competing with Versailles. Versailles is in a category of its own.

Thursday was an excellent day, possibly my favorite of the trip. In the morning we had a guided tour of the Louvre. The Louvre is incredible and very overwhelming. Just walking from the central area to one exhibit could take 10 minutes. There's no way that in our two hour tour we saw even 1% of the art inside. I actually prefer smaller museums, where I have some hope of seeing a majority of the art inside. Nonetheless, we saw some neat paintings (and sculptures). Our guide was the same as Tuesday's Musée D'Orsay tour and she did a great job again. She excelled particularly at explaining the transition from one style to another. The best example was in one room where she showed us two paintings directly across from one another. At first glance I would have guessed they were the same style, but upon more careful consideration I saw that the faces in one were much more realistic. The more realistic, a painting by Giotto di Bondone called "St. Francois d'Assise recenvant les stigmates" marks the transition from the gothique style to a more Renaissance style (more human). But besides the faces most of the other parts of the paintings were very similar, so you could really see how the styles were evolving - not just appearing as the textbooks sometimes present them.

After the tour Carleigh, Carolyn, Jenn, Mary-Kate, Miles, and I headed towards Rue du Rivoli and the best hot chocolate in the world. Mom, Trey, Holly, Mimi M., and I discovered Angelina last time we were in Paris and I personally couldn't wait to go back. All six of us ordered the "chocolate a l'ancien 'dit africain,'" the thick, rich hot chocolate Angelina is known for. If you've seen the movie Chocolat, this hot chocolate is similar to the one prepared in the film. It's heavenly! Each of us ordered a pastry also. I ordered the Tartelette Eva based on the following description: "sweet pastry, creme brulee with Bourbon vanilla, vanilla marscapone cream, fresh raspberries, strawberry shortbread." You might notice nowhere does it mention chocolate. That was intentional, because I knew hot rich and chocolate-y the hot chocolate would be. Well, check out a picture of my tart on the right. Yup, it's 85% chocolate. Those other parts in the description, they were the garnish. So I had my dietary allowance of chocolate for the year. The whole group had a great time though. Angelina is more a tea room than a cafe (although they serve real food too) and it was a wonderful treat.

Another cool experience came later that evening at Sacre-Cœur. Our whole group split up in the afternoon (some people went to the cemetary where Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and various other notable persons are buried) but met up in the late afternoon at Montmartre. Kara had made reservations for us at the fondue restaurant and in the meantime we hiked up the stairs to see Sacre-Cœur. Again, this was not my first time visiting, but this time it was a whole new experience. Jenn and I went together and as soon as we walked inside we realized mass was about to start. So we sat down in the back and watched and listened for about 20 minutes. It was really neat to see the cathedral come alive for the service. I have seen many cathedrals in the last few weeks, but never been inside during an experience. The cathedral was even more impressive when it was filled with the sound of the organ, the congregation (I'm not sure if that's the term for catholics), and the nun soloist. And the sanctuary was filled with incense, which added to the experience. I could understand most of what the priest was saying and the words to the hymns (also, possibly not the correct Catholic word) and the whole thing was really neat. Unfortunately you cannot take pictures of the inside of Sacre-Coeur, even when there isn't a service going on, so I can't show it to you. There is a giant mosaic of Jesus behind the altar, it's absolutely magnificent. I also liked the stained glass windows on the sides of the nave, which are smaller but somehow more brilliant because they are surrounded by more blank wall space. The picture on the left is of all of the girls at the base of Sacre-Coeur (front L to R: me, Jenn, Carleigh, Carolyn, Mary-Kate, Kara).

Dinner that night was a rolicking good time. "Refuge des Fondus" is a hole-in-the-wall place (possibly the most fitting incarnation of that moniker I have so far encountered). There is only one menu: cheese or meat fondue, which comes with hors d'oeuvres, a small glass of sangria, wine (served in a baby bottle, yes, I know, very strange), and fruit salad for dessert. There are just two long picnic-bench style tables, so we cozied up to the other students who book-ended our group. Although the place is small and definitely appeals to the rowdy college-types, I'm not sure how "local" it is - I'm pretty sure all of the customers spoke English and were students studying abroad. The small amount of wall spaces behind both long tables is covered with the signatures of previous customers, and we were able to find two Wake Eurotour groups' signatures! Our food was tasty and our whole group had a great time. I'm really glad that Kara's friend Amanda recommended it to us - it was perfect for our group.Okay, last thing, because I am simply running out of time and I don't want to try your patience by making this too long. The Cirque Plume on Friday night was very, very cool. I was not entirely sure what kind of spectacle ("show") it was going to be, but I was very impressed. The introduction didn't really clear up things either, but right away they got into the acrobatics. My favorite act was a woman who did tricks inside a giant wheel. Her body could fit inside and she would flip and swing on it and through it as it rolled around the stage. There were also two acts involving giant trampolines and various flips and moves. Right now my description is completely failing to convey the awe-inducing nature of the show. But suffice it to say, if you go to Paris, Cirque Plume is worth seeing.

So now I am back in Dijon. Tomorrow our group is reporting to the CIEF center at the University of Burgundy to take a placement exam. We'll start our classes there next week, but this week we're beginning our Contemporary France class (basically sociology), our Art History class, and finishing all of the evaluations for Dr. Barbour's French civilization course. Yikes!

Now that I am back in Dijon permanently (albeit gone for a few weekend trips), I am hoping to join the Discjonctes, the university Ultimate team. They practice Monday and Thursday nights and I might go tomorrow night (if the captain emails me back about the bus stop nearest to the gym). Wish me luck!

**9:29pm my time** I wanted to add that tonight I saw my movie of the week: a comedy called Le Petit Nicolas. Carolyn and I saw it at Olympia, another movie theatre about 10 minutes from my house (we saw Harry Potter 6 at Le Darcy). The theatre for the film tonight was huge! It was probably 5-6 times larger than the one at Le Darcy. I tried to count seats and estimated it would hold at 300-400 people. It was probably about half full, not bad for a 6pm showing on a Sunday evening. I enjoyed the film a lot, although from time to time it was a little difficult to understand what the main characters (a young boy named Nicolas and his school comrades) were saying.