Alright so I realize its been over a month since I last blogged, but things started to get serious over at the Institute in the last few weeks!
In the middle of February, we had a "winter break" and me and my two friends, Abbey and Danielle, took a little tour of France via the amazing French railways. We went to Toulouse, Bordeaux, Blois, Paris and then Caen and the beaches of D-Day.
Toulouse is one of my favorite places so far because it has such soul. Its got the typical French class, some Spanish spice, and students everywhere. Its called La Ville Rose because many of the buildings are built with red bricks, and some really are RED. Its gorgeous. We saw the amazing Basilique St. Sernin and about a million museums; one of which contained works of are by one of my favorites, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. (He was born and raised in Toulouse but did most of his most famous works after he moved to Paris.) We ate at this cute cute cute little restaurant tucked in a corner of the city the second night, and got some delicious sorbet for dessert, and left early the next morning for Bordeaux.
We got to Bordeaux during the day and hopped on the tram into town. We passed all through the city and I was just in awe of the beauty. I know Bordeaux has a reputation for being pretty stuck up, and I totally understand why (and agree, haha) because this place is the definition of royalty. It stretches around the Garonne river and is just overwhelmingly grand everywhere you go. The hotel we stayed at was the cheapest thing ever and it was just the cutest thing ever, and every buidling looks like a palace. Unfortunately we definitely ran into many-a stuck up and rude Bordeaux residents that weren't helping the reputation of the city, but what can ya do. My favorite part was this massive bell tower that you can climb up to the top and see all of Bordeaux. It technically is part of the Cathedrale St. Andre (!) but the builders were afraid the vibrations of the bell would damage the church, so its not even connected! Amazing views, to say the least. Our second day we grabbed lunch and ate it along the boardwalk and people watched. I'd love to return sometime in the summer and go on a vineyard tour, or walk along the boardwalk without a coat and scarf on, but it was still amazing to visit either way.
We didn't get to Blois until late at night, but this tiny little place is dead at night and we felt perfectly fine strolling along the streets to find our hotel. Which, by the way, was empty when we got there. The best thing ever was when we called the number listed on the door and ten minutes later a man came jogging down the street to show us to our room. He was super nice and our room was the custest ever. We were sad we could only stay for one night because it was super comfy. We got up early the next morning to see what we had come for, the Chateaux de Blois! TALK about a chateaux. This place was massive, gorgeous, and full of history. It was built in three different time periods, and you could tour it and see all the amazing decorations and rooms in the royal apartments. It was the first real Chateau I've ever seen in my life, and it was amazing. They are just so massive! And I felt like I was on a movie set, if that makes sense, because it almost didn't feel real. Like that something so old and huge could still be around today.
Now, Paris was just......................amazing. I mean, obviously. We did SO much in 2 1/2 days. The first thing we did after checking into our hostel (which, by the way, was awesome. Village Hostel, Monmartre, I'd gladly suggest it) was walk down to the Moulin Rouge!! Obviously we can't afford to actually see a show there, but it was awesome nonetheless to see the place that inspired so many artists (Like Toulouse-Lautrec!!!) and had such an impact on France in the 20th century. I mean it was awesome enough that we stayed in Montmartre (where all the coolest artists lived in the turn of the century), but to actually SEE the Moulin Rouge.....ahhhhh life dream! Anyways right after that we got on the metro to see the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower at night. First of all, the Arc is sooooooooo much bigger in real life that pictures can convey. I mean....wow. The Eiffel Tower of course was magnificent, and we were there during its little crazy light show on that it does on the hour ever hour. The whole thing was just amazing. I couldn't even believe where I was. Paris is the one place I've dreamed about pretty much my entire life. Looking up at the Eiffel Tower, seeing the Seine, the lights of the City.....unbelievable. The next morning we got our free breakfast of unlimited bread, croissants and coffee (SO GOOD) and headed the two minutes over to Sacre Coeur. It was a foggy day, but not so foggy that we couldn't stand on the top of the hill and see Paris spread out before us. We spent some time inside the Basilica and lots of time out, and then headed over to Ile de Cite to see Notre Dame. (Two world famous churches on Ash Wednesday, ftw) Ile de Cite is maybe one of my favorite parts of the City because its basically untouched by the modern world (obviously, haha). But wow, Notre Dame is.......massive. I kept taking pictures and wishing I could really capture the immensity of it. We went over to Ile de St. Louis also, and then headed over to the Latin Quarter. We spent a lot of time in the Pantheon, saw the final resting spot of Victor Hugo and Voltaire, and then walked over to the Luxembourg Gardens until it closed. (Saw the Sorbonne on the way. Breathless anyone??) We ended the night with a lengthy walk to the Louvre to see the pyramids at night, and then decided to walk the Champs Elysees. It seemed intimidating at first, but it was SO worth it. That part of Paris is so alive and bustling, I just soak it up. We then proceeded to go on top of Arc de Triomphe and see the glorious views of Paris at night. Ah...just...breathtaking. Our last day was spent entirely at the Louvre, which was obviously not enough time at all. I did get to see the Beautiful Mona Lisa and one of my favorite paintings, Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix. We were cutting it close after we left the Louvre, because we literally had to RUN to catch our train to Caen.
We got to Caen in plenty of time, but we actually stayed in THE CUTEST hotel in Hermanville-sur-mer, about 45 minutes north of Caen. We hopped on a bus and couldn't believe how adorable these little towns were, but it the landscape reminded me a lot of Illinois and made me really homesick. (who knew I'd ever miss the cornfields of the midwest?) Anyways, our hotel was right on the D-Day beaches (we were on Sword, to be exact...if you know anything about WW2) Unfortunately a tiny town on the off season didn't seem to have any restaurants open past 7, but we were directed to a pizza parlor by some nice locals, and it was the best advice ever. This place had the greatest pizza ever, the greatest ice cream ever, and the nicest/cutest waiter ever. He barely knew any english, and it was such a breath of fresh air to be in a place where everyone doesn't automatically know english fluently and therefore only speak it to you. The next morning we walked on the beach for a bit before taking the bus into Caen, where we went to some neato museums, and saw an exhibit about the reconstruction of Caen following the 1944 bombings. Not a lot of people know this about me, but I love 20th century history, especially WW2, so I was just utterly engrossed in this exhibit. We got dinner at another cute little restaurant in Hermanville, and then went back to our little pizza place for dessert. We talked to the waiter and owners some more this time, and ended up taking pictures with them! We also drew them a picture of us (and by we, I mean Abbey) for them to hang up in the restaurant forever! They were super nice and cute, and it was lovely to be able to actually use our French. We also taught them a little english!
The next day we went to the amazing war museum of Caen. I mean, they had artifacts from resistors in France to actual Nazi flags from Germany and amazing photographs of anything you could imagine from Europe during the second world war. We spent forever there just looking at everything. They also had a temporary cold war exhibit, and I saw a piece of the Berlin Wall!! I spent a lot of time learning about Berlin during the Cold war because I knew I'd be going there during spring break. It was actually way more interesting than I thought haha. Everything about that museum made me freaking pumped to go to Germany. They even had a freaking nuclear warhead from one of France's Cold War reserve. I think my favorite part was just looking at all the little things that some person somewhere had thought to save, like books and pictures and letters that meant nothing at the time but are now worthy of being displayed in a museum.
Besides a minor crisis (and by minor I mean extremely stressful and horrible) of me losing a train ticket five seconds before getting on the train home that I'd rather not relive on here, we got home on the last day of break. It was a whirlwind trip, but I am SOOOO glad we did it because we got to see all different kinds of places, met all kinds of people, drank all kinds of wine, and saw soooo much history. France is an amazing place, obviously. But seriously, I hope to God I can come back soon after I leave, because I want to travel every corner of this country. I'll most likely fly home from Paris, so I'm hoping I get to spend more time there before I leave for the States, because seriously.....Paris is the best. It's like no other.
Sorry about the novel!
0 comments:
Post a Comment