Day 1 Paris Pictures

The Hotel we stayed at in Paris...

Me and the Invalides!

Paris, je t'aime

March 12th, our group took a 4 day tour to Paris. From Cannes, it is about an hour plane ride all the way up! The night before I could hardly contain my excitement and still even after can't believe it went by so fast. I absolutely adore this city and have for so long.

We left Cannes early Thursday morning and arrived in Paris around noon. We got to the hotel we would be staying at in the Bastille district; close to the metro line, shops, clubs, bars, etc. It was a fantastic location and I can understand why our program director chose it. We got our room assignments, freshened up and took a tour of the city via bus. We saw all the main sights, stopping at the Invalides, Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame for pictures. It was a 3 hour bus ride, so after traveling all day and touring around we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

My roommate was meeting up with a friend of a friend who lives here in Paris, and he took us out to Iguana where I had Duck Confit for dinner. It was soooooooo good! After that we headed to a bar nicknamed Le Mech. After, we went to my friend Kelly's cousins house, who is studying architecture in Paris for the year. It was a lot of fun for the first night in Paris.

Friday morning, we were up bright and early, as always to go to the Pere LaChaise Cemetery. It houses Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Moliere and Chopin among an enormous amount of others. The cemetery itself is beautiful, and apparently many people visit it in the spring for picnics. We had some time after the cemetery for a quick run up to the Pantheon before our tour of the Musee D'Orsay. I say quick and actually mean it! We were in the district of the Sorbonne and the Ecole du Droits (Law School!!!!!) so a lot of college kids were mingling around. We didn't have enough time to go in the Pantheon, which houses more bodies like Marie Curie and Victor Hugo, but the outside was absolutely beautiful.

We traveled our way back down to the Musee D'Orsay after grabbing a quick panini. The Musee D'Orsay is located in an old train station and houses artists like Monet, Manet, and Rodin. Tres jolie! The Musee D'Orsay was followed by a snack in the Tuilerie Gardens in front of the Louvre. Apparently, students get in free on Fridays after 6pm to the Louvre, so we had to make a stop and visit the Mona Lisa. I said 'hi' and ran around the room as she watched me...it is quite creepy! We also went into the Egyptian part of the museum and that was probably my favorite part. Despite my feet hurting horribly, I couldn't believe some of the things they have there. There was a vase that was 5000 years old!

Apres le Louvre, we traveled back to the hotel to change and get ready for le Lido that night. We had the priviledge of going to a cabaret in Paris! We weren't allowed to take pictures out of respect for the half-naked women, but it was a lot of fun! Lots of dancing, interesting inbetween acts, and champagne for everyone. After a long day, I was exhausted and got back, after running for the last metro, to our hotel.

Saturday I explored the Opera Garnier. This opera is not only absolutely gorgeous and makes me want to live back in the days where high society wandered through seeing plays, but houses a very famous play...The Phantom of the Opera was written based on this opera house! We saw the box seats of Napolean and learned much of the lifestyle from back then. It's fascinating and absolutely beautiful.

After the Opera, my friend Grant and I decided to head to Versailles. The inside was just as gawdy and king-like as I remember. I do have to say, that if you are going to visit, you should go in the summer because the gardens, from what I remember are much prettier!! It ended up getting very cold and so we didn't stay outside long. I think my fatigue was catching up to me at this point, so after spending a few hours in the gorgeous palace, we headed back to the hotel for a quick nap and shower.

We ran into a bunch of people from our group on the train and decided to go to the Eiffel Tower at night before our dinner. I am so happy we went because just as we were leaving, the tower lit up! The last time I was in Paris, I never got to see that.

From the Eiffel Tower, a group of about 12 of us were going to dinner at a Medieval restaurant called Le Taverne du Sergeant Recruteur. It is a 40euro fixed menu and you get 5 courses and all you can drink wine/beer....yes....all you can drink! We arrived and there was a GIANT basket of raw vegetables - carrots, cucumbers, endives, lettuce, tomatos etc and a GIANT basket of sausages! They brought us bread, soup, my dinner of Duck Confit (again..I'm hooked!) and dessert. Not to mention the bottles of red, white and rose wine! It was a blast and I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone going to Paris.

Sunday was spent with more dead people in the Catacombs and then a quick trip before we boarded our plane to Montmartre where the Sacre Coeur is. Our weather all weekend held up and it didn't rain and then was sunny the day we left.

I really am glad that I went. I adore that city and (haven't told Portland yet, but...) it may be my favorite city. I have been there before - for four days when I was 14. I have to say, going back a second time and seeing it now that I'm 21 is a completely different experience. I'm glad that I got to go back to the places I wanted to, spend more time in some and do a lot I hadn't gotten the chance to last time. I can't wait for the next time I go and be able to explore more!

Pictures to follow...there are a lot of them!

A visit to the land of the bipitybopities

Before I can put pictures up of Paris, I have some of a little trip I took to Italy last weekend! My friend and I traveled to SanRemo, Italy. It's about 3 stops after the border to France. We felt very out of place but it was quite fun!

Above is an old gentlemen playing his accordian. Below that, we were walking down the street and looked over in this abandoned warehouse, and here was this statue.
The major shopping street we walked up and down a few times

Shopping in Sanremo is slightly overwhelming. So much bootleg and crazy vendors selling everything from slippers to Chanel.
We wandered up a hill and the view to see this very old church was beautiful!
Their means of transportation. I swear, if I die in this country it will be by moped. They are crazy drivers!!

La Fontana, the restaurant on the beach where we had pizza for lunch.
We then managed to find this little Russian church...closed, but very pretty!


A little midafternoon taste of Limoncello ---> very interesting. I had no idea what it tasted like so we decided, since we are in Italy, we had to try it!

So the title of this is called the bipitybopities, because that is how the Italians speak. It sounds like that! Every week a new group of high school age Italians come to the college and stay. They may be little tiny people, but they sure are loud! We have nicknamed them the bipitybopities.

All in all a good little day trip to Italy.

PARIS!

Hardly being able to contain my excitement to go to Paris for the 2nd time in my life

I'M GOING TO PARIS TOMORROWWW!!!!

...okay. Now that I got that out...

I leave for Paris tomorrow morning bright and early! I will be there for 4 days once again. We're flying as a group up there and staying at a hotel in the 12th arrondissement. We have a few guided things planned but mainly free time to explore everything we want to see. I'm giddy and didn't think I would have been this excited.

When I was there last, I was at le Tour Eiffel and found an apartment that I took a picture of. I am going to see if I can find that apartment again!!

until Sunday!

Merdre

Useful things we learn in french class:

As it is France, they do not clean up after their dogs. It is everywhere and you get used to dodging the piles. We learned the other day that if you step in "caca de chien" aka dog poop with your LEFT foot, it is good luck. Thus when you say "Merdre" to people (Merdre meaning crap..) it means Bon Chance, or good luck.
only the french

I have also found out that they do not say Chouette here...
My entire french career I was taught that word...and now it is passe. I'm upset and feel I have been lied to for 9 years...come on french teachers!!

Seminars

Classes began this week!
I am currently enrolled in three seminars
Vie Politique (Political Life) in French
Societe Francaise (French Society) in French
Cuisinart (Cooking)

I have Vie Politique with a French women who teaches normal college classes. I am supposed to go to that Mondays for 3hrs and Tuesdays for 1.5hrs. Lots of hours. I am actually planning on dropping it because I'm slightly overwhelmed in the class. I can understand most of what she says, but the vocab is going to get incredibly rigid and detailed...will make the class much harder. I'm going to take Histoire de l'art instead, which is in French as well, and does count as credit for me too.

I LOVE my French Society class. Throughout the term, we have 3 different profs that come in and tell us about different aspects of French culture. We learned in class about the french education system and are going to go over the BAC this coming week. I am the one person in the lowest french level in that class, but I understand most everything she says and can answer questions, which is always a good sign!

We start our cooking class next week. This week we are going for a drink/cocktail and meeting the cooking teachers. I'm really really excited for this one. We cook for 5 hours, three courses, and then open up the Vin and drink/eat our meals after that! Since we have a ton of food, there is always leftovers we get to bring back with us and let some of the others try it. I'm hoping to find some easyish recipes that I can bring back with me...I will keep them all too to share if they turn out well!

It is strange being in classes again and actually ...WORKING! oh goodness...who does that.

I still do not have classes on Fridays which is nice. The only thing I have to switch around is my gymnastique schedule and my going-into-town-to-get-dinner schedule...which is very doable. I like them so far, so we shall see how Histoire de L'art goes....

So THAT was Carnival....

Carnival in Nice. The greatest excuse for the young and old to party together. I believe I witnessed an older women, in her 80s with a fur coat on attacking a little boy with silly string. This fight ensued for awhile...not sure who won, but BOTH were covered in it!

We went Sunday afternoon with AIFS (American Institute for Foreign Study) to Nice on a bus to witness the big parade. A group of us found a little spot off to the side, underneath a giant loudspeaker...the soundtrack to the parade was fantastic and we pretty much just danced and watched the insane costumes and ridiculousness that was taking place before us. After the parade we had about 2 hours to explore, so of course food of some kind was involved. We managed to get back on the bus and lived through our first Carnival experience!

The only way to describe it is in pictures and these are most of the good ones I have...