I guess now is about the time deconstruction of this whole trip has started. Mentally I’m in Chicago, physically I’m well still in Paris and emotionally I’m somewhere in between. The trip, with all its ups and downs, has been a real learning experience. It’s a bit cliché but my eyes have been opened to a new culture and way of life. In some ways it’s really not all that different but in others the continental divide is obvious. I don’t really know what my preconceived notions for this place were because I really didn’t have a whole lot. Getting ready to leave and the decision itself was so whirlwind and everything just went into place, there wasn’t a whole lot of thinking or worrying about things here. I was more worried about my apartment in Chicago and moving than I was about having to speak French and live with a new family. But I think it’s because I was ready for this trip, this time last year I don’t think I could have done it but now I’ve given up some control and things have just fallen into their rightful places. I feel like even though I have no clue what I’m doing next that it’s all okay. This trip has really been the first time I can’t plan and schedule my future because it’s all unknown. One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that things work out even if you don’t plan every last detail and when trying to control everything you just tire yourself out.

This morning we got up early and headed to the famous Paris flea market, marche aux puces in french. The Paris flea market at St. Ouen is known for it’s antiques. The flea market covers 15 acres with several different markets inside the one big one. I hadn’t really planned on buying anything since it’s mostly antiques and furniture but it was cool to go see what it was all about. There were some amazing pieces of furniture and some amazing vintage designer clothing, all in all a neat experience. After the flea market we decided to go to La Defense which is basically an office complex area with a bunch of cool looking office buildings and then there’s the Grand Arche which is this giant metal square, it’s so big that apparently Notre Dame Cathedral would fit inside. After La Defense we headed over near the forest of Blois de Boulogne and grabbed a picnic lunch from Monoprix. We headed off in the direction of the rose gardens and sat on a bench and ate. After lunch we were pretty much exhausted so we retired for the day at about 2pm. Since all our classes are finished except art and our Moliere final we have plenty of time for touristy stuff in the next two weeks. 

So Reims, pronounced almost like “ronce”, is located in the Champagne region of France, a 45 minute TGV ride from Paris. Reims is important in French History because it is home to Notre Dame de Reims where all the kings of France were crowned. Maggie and I made our way from the train station to the Cathedral and it was lunch time so we grabbed a sandwich from a local boulangerie and went and sat on some benches with a nice view of the cathedral. It was really nice being away from Paris again where people are nicer and there’s more breathing room! After lunch we spent awhile basking in the sun which eventually led to the a nice sun burn. Before we left Paris I had ripped out a couple pages of my guide book on Reims and one had talked about being able to climb to the top of the cathedral so we headed to the Palais du Tau right next to the Cathedral to find that it was a museum with lots of history behind the cathedral. One interesting thing is that after WWI it had immense damage to the facade and the roof was no longer in existence so some of the cathedral is fairly modern including the stained glass windows. It was very interesting to see the contrast between Notre Dame de Paris which has traditional windows and the Notre Dame de Reims which features 20th century windows, there is also a series of windows designed by Marc Chagall that were installed in 1974.

Notre Dame de Reims is also unique in that it has one large rose window in the front and another smaller rose window just underneath. And it is also extremely tall, much larger than Notre Dame de Paris.

So after the museum in the Palais du Tau we bought tickets to ascend the 342 spiral steps up to the roof of the Cathedral. We were definitely out of breath when we reached the top! We got to go outside for a nice view of the city as well as inside to see the inside construction of the roof. It was really amazing to also see the designs of the stone so close, from the ground you get an idea of the different animals or gargoyles but up close it’s amazing the amount and the detail in each one. I found it really neat that since it was rebuilt the facade features many mythic animals like a unicorn, an elephant, a mermaid, some griffins and others. Not quite what you would expect on the top of a cathedral, more what I picture Hogwarts to look like. That was definitely a really neat experience and a well kept secret that we found out about thanks to my guidebook pages! So after the roof we went back down we went to a cafe to grab a drink and then we grabbed kebabs and ate them in a park before the train. It was a great day trip and a beautiful day for it. 

This morning, however, came rather early after all day yesterday. We had to be at the Alliance at 8:30 to catch the bus and on the way I stopped at Thevenin, my favorite patisserie, for a pain au raisins. Versailles is only a 40 minute or so drive from Paris so we got there fairly early and had the whole day to explore. We had audioguides for the Grandes-Apartements in the chateau, which were overly crowded with Japanese tourists, and then we were on our own for the rest of the day. Our ticket included everything so we were able to walk around the grounds and visit the fountains and Marie-Antoinette’s domain, which was an English garden and several little buildings scattered around for her to go play in or whatever she did. We played a bit too. 

This last weekend I traveled to Brussels, Belgium with the group. We left Friday afternoon on the Thalys for an hour and a half train ride over to the what Belgians like to call the capital of Europe, Brussels, home of the European Union, waffles, fries, mussels, Manneken Pis and beer. We arrived Friday around 5 and took public transportation to our hotel which was located a bit outside the city center, settled in and then headed to explore a bit in the area.  After a little while we headed back to the hotel for dinner. Before we left we had voted on a menu for each of our two nights which included some traditional Belgian food. But instead they took it upon themselved to change the menu to something they thought American teenagers would enjoy. Mistake number 1, we’re not teenagers. Mistake no 2, don’t overgeneralize/stereotype, as of right now we’re more Parisian in degoustation than American. SO we had chicken with come tomatoes and peppers, leek soup, frites and for dessert ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate. Not a whole lot to write home about but it was nice to have something other than a tart. After dinner a bumch of us headed to the Grand Place, which is the city center, for some night life. Saturday morning we arose nice and early for a little bus tour of Brussels with a British tour guide. We saw Manneken Pis which has over 700 outfits which are changed each morning and each evening accompanied by a police brigade playing the national anthem. We saw some great Art Nouveau buildings, a comic strip museum, a piece of the Berlin wall, the future site of the European Parliament and a bunch of other stuff. We were done about noon so we went back into the city center to find some lunch. There is one street that is just full of restaurants serving mussels, one after another all about the same price with the same menu. We were stopped by this guy who was like come, eat, free champagne for all the ladies, so we were haggled into eating there. We got a menu for 12.50 euros which included garlic scampis, boiled mussels, flan and kir royal. I decided to be adventurous and try the mussels to discover that they’re not really my style. It was good to try once but they look kinda gross and I don’t like eating sand with my food but hey it was an experience. After lunch we wondered through the Grand Place visiting touristy shops and chocolate shops, some of the group stopped for waffles but I decided I’d get one later, well I left Brussels without eating a waffle but I think I’ll live. There were two parades going on in Brussels Saturday, the Gay Pride parade and also some other one that had these weird tall doll things and a bunch of people in white pants, it seemed like they were Kiwanis, or Masons/Shriners, or some group like that. At the end of their parade we happened to be by Manneken Pis who was dressed in a different outfit than the morning and was now pissing beer! Only in Belgium. Interesting fact, Belgium since 2002 I believe has had gay marriage legalized. They city is very progressive in many ways with their social planning and housing of the European Union. Anyways, we headed back for dinner which was these cheese croquettes for appetizers that were like glorified mozzarella sticks made with really creamy cheese. Then we had some lamb taco/burrito/wrap thing that was really good but really heavy, frites from the local fritery, and coffee icecream with a shot of espresso on it. By this point in the weekend my stomach was about to explode from so much heavy food, not at all like the French cuisine we’re used to and the portions are enormous compared to those in Paris. Maggie and I stayed in Saturday night while a bunch of others went out because we could barely move we were so full, it was like Thanksgiving. This is probably how I’ll feel when I get back home and eat American food again. Sunday we got up early again and headed to the art museum where they had an exhibition of the British Royal Collection. We told the guy we were students and he asked what we were studying, we told him art and apparently there’s a bigger discount for art students so our tickets which should have been 10 euro were just 2.50 a piece! After the art museum we went back to grand place where I still couldn’t force myself to eat a waffle and I got some waffle cookies dipped in chocolate for my host family. Then we met everyone back at Michael Collins for some burgers that we had seen the first day. Maggie and I split an enormous burger which was definitely a good thing! So after that we headed back to the train station and were on our way back to Paris.

Tuesday I had grammar class in the morning and then an excursion with civilization class. We went to the Mosquee de Paris which is the largest mosque in Paris and was built after WWI as a thank you to the Muslims who fought against Germany. Since there is a large population of North African Muslims in Paris the Mosque is in the North African style of architecture and colors. Take a look at the pictures, which definitely don’t do it justice. After the mosque we went to this little cafe where we had some excellent Moroccan mint tea. Apparently  according to Philippe cultures that are in hot climates traditionally eat and drink lots of hot things in order to warm up the body temperature to closer match that of the outside and thus make you feel less hot. It totally worked. It was in the upper seventies, sun scorching and wearing jeans and a black shirt made things a bit toasty. After tea we walked through jardin des plantes,  which I definitely need to go back and visit, on our way to the institute du monde arabe. One really cool feature of this building was in all the windows there were these metal design which mimicked those of Arabic wall designs but they’re actually electronic dealies that open and close letting light in and keeping the light inside the building the same all day long no matter if the sun is blaring or there are clouds overhead. Nifty. 

Tuesday night James and I went out for a nice little farewell dinner in the Marais and I was in a bit of an adventurous mood. The menu was full of wonderful looking things! James and I shared an entree (appetizer) of asparagus with what seemed liked a dijon/balsamic vinegar dressing. I didn’t think I like asparagus til I ate those.  For our plat we both got a malgret de canard avec les pommes de terres (duck breast with potatoes). The duck was beautiful and fatty and inside it had some of the most divine dark meat. I can taste it just thinking about it! And it was only 17 euros which for a wonderful French meal it not too bad. Anyways I was in a food coma after that. I googled the restaurant today and found that they have a lunch special with an entree, plat and dessert for just 15 euro so I’ll definitely be back for a wonderful lunch sometime in the next month!

“A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.” ~Antoine de St-Exupery

Thursday after sleeping in I went over to Maggie’s for lunch and then we headed to the Eiffel Tower for our tour. The Bike tour was probably the best thing I’ve done since I got here. Our tour guide was lots of fun and it was just nice seeing the city from another aspect. We rode past all the important points and then we went on the Bateaux Mouches on the Seine. Overall a great way to spend the holiday.