Blois

Between Amsterdam and now, I've been to Versailles, Blois, and Musee d'Orsay. Versailles is a chateau not far from Paris, and Blois is a small town two hours south of Paris where I stayed with my host family for the weekend at their countryside vacation home. There is a chateau not far from their home in Blois as well, which we visited, as well as three others in the countryside that we did a driving tour of.

Musee d'Orsay was a fieldtrip we went on yesterday. Lots of fine art. I saw some Picasso, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Pissarro, Cezanne and Degas. There was a ton of art, and I didn't have time for it all, but it was neat what I did see.

[Versailles]






[Host family's home in the countryside]


[Chateau de Blois]



[Chateau de Chambord]


[Host Family - Gille, Lucile and their son Etienne]


From the Musee d'Orsay:

[Picasso/Manet exhibition. Manet painted Luncheon on the Grass and Picasso painted several interpretations of that same painting]




[Monet]


[Van Gogh and myself]

Amsterdam

So I have a little bit of catching up to do. I've been pretty busy this past week, so I've only been getting more pictures of more places. Amsterdam first, the rest will come later today or tomorrow.

Amsterdam was incredible. I haven't had the opportunity yet to see too many European cities, but Amsterdam is my favorite place of all time. It's not very large, but it's lively and quirky. It's incredibly beautiful and unique, and unlike anywhere I've ever been. This is a terrible comparison, but it seemed like the Vegas of Europe. The streets were small, there were lights and people everywhere. Definitely a lot of tourists looking for a good time, but it still had lots of very unique, lovely qualities that was unlike any other place.

There were bicycles everywhere, canals every few blocks, the houses leaned in various directions, and what seemed like a lot of history. While I was there there was also this carnival in Dam Square that had a few rides that were over the top. I rode them all at one point which was fun. We did a walking tour of the city and went to Anne Frank's Museum which allowed us to go inside her hiding place. I went to a torture museum that had a lot of medieval torture devices. We walked through the red light district, drank, and sat in coffee houses. It's the first time I've ever been carded in order to go into a coffee shop.

It rained on Saturday. It just poured. I came on this European adventure with inappropriate footwear so my feet were wet and hurting most of the weekend in Amsterdam. Finally, on Sunday I found some shoes that would make do for a while. They were the cheapest I could find at 21€.

Amsterdam was just great. I had a lot of fun. I had wished I was there with people I knew better, like friends from home and my family, but it was incredible either way. I'm hoping to go back again soon. Hopefully in just a few years.

[One of Amsterdam's many canals at dusk]


[More]



[Leaning houses. They were everywhere. It seemed like a crooked little town]


[One of Amsterdam's smallest houses. There were only two or three of this size]


[Carnival]


[Me across a canal from Anne Frank's Amsterdam hiding place. There is a facade on it so you can't see the real building. It's the one with all the people in front of it]


[A restaurant...]


[Part of my tour of the torture museum]


[Red light district]


[The cheapest footwear I could find in Amsterdam]

Illiers Combray

My weekend was very relaxing, and I did very little, but the past few days have been pretty busy. I've gone to a few monuments and museums with Lauren, and a field trip with my program. Waking up early seems to be the new trend these past few days, and will continue to be so throughout the weekend. On Saturday Lauren and I visited l'Arc de Triomphe, which Napoleon built to commemorate all his successes throughout Europe.

[Here is myself in front of the Arc, but across the street]


[A man painting the Arc. I always thought coming to Paris to study and practice painting would be so romantic and cliche]


The next afternoon, Lauren and I went to the Jewish Quarter of Paris per our homework. While we were there we visited a Holocaust remembrance museum. Since we are quite close to Notre Dame, we stopped by to see this magnificent gothic cathedral. One of two we would see this week.

[Pictures of french children who were deported into holocaust camps; this is just about 1/6th of the room. This is from the museum which was quite moving and full of information. Lauren is in the picture too]


[Notre Dame]


[Myself and the cathedral]


[Lovely Parisian trees behind Notre Dame. This time of day is my favorite]


Today I went with my class to Chartres and Illiers Combray. In Chartres we visited one of the oldest, if not the oldest, gothic cathedral in Europe. It has tremendous history of being destroyed and rebuilt. What makes it so important to french history is that is houses "the Virgin Mary's Vail." Although, the fabric that they have dates into the 1st centuary, it cannot be the real virgin's vail. But it has survived all the revolutions and wars that tore the cathedral down. The part of the cathedral that was displaying the vail was under construction, so I did not get to see it. The front of the cathedral was under construction too, so that was disappointing.

[Chartres's Cathedral]


[My lunchtime begger in Chartres]


Our next stop down the line was Illiers Combray. This town was the home to Marcel Proust's great aunt, and I think his grandmother too. We visited the gardens he spent a lot of time in and the house his aunt lived in, that he stayed in as well, which was converted to a museum in his honor. One of the three courses I'm taking here in Paris is a class that focuses on two translated parts of Marcel Prousts 4000 page novel.


[This is essentially a 19th centuary laundrymat]


[Myself against the French countryside]


And that catches me up to today. Tomorrow is class, and Friday I make my way with seven other classmates to Amsterdam! Look out!

My Home

[This is where I'm staying]

Settling in

So I've been in Paris for two weeks now. Still familiarizing myself with the city and it's customs. There are many things that I thought were natural conveniences that even France would have, but things have definitely been different. The couple Lauren and I are staying with have been absolutely wonderful. They are very helpful and accommodating, and just want us to feel at home as part of the family.

This last week has been pretty low key. I haven't been taking as many photos as I would like, but I don't want to look too much like a tourist. I've been eating out with and enjoying friends, as well as having delicious home made dinners nightly with Lucile and Gille.

Other than our field trip to Fontainebleau, I've been staying in Paris wandering with Lauren and going out. Mostly relaxing, eating, and going to class.

[Outside our friends' flat and before we had phones. We had to wait till they looked out the window to see that we were there in order to let us in. We waited on the street and ate bread and cheese for 15 minutes before we were discovered. This is a good example of what most building's look like in Paris. All apartments in the city are beautiful 5 or 6 story buildings with lovely architecture and iron railings around window balconies]


[After we made it inside and had dinner. This is my housemate Lauren, and a classmate Justin]


[From our busstop, this is a photo of the church that is across the street from where we meet for classes. Saint-Germain des Pres]


[Inside our classroom. My instructor Will for our conversation class, and some classmates]


[A Parisian street not far from where we take our classes]


[Moufftard; a street where we've gone a few times to drink]


[metro]


On October 16th, my class went to Fontainebleau, France. It was a 40 minute train ride south of Paris. We visited The Royal Château de Fontainebleau where Kings and Emperors of France had made residence at one point or another. It was here, in the staircase entering the palace that Napoleon Bonaparte bid farewell to his old guard before going into exile in 1814. Francis I, King Henri II & IV, and Marie Antoinette were among the people who lived here temporarily. Leonardo da Vinci had visited the château at one point as well. They also had a modern art exhibit throughout the palace. I was really confused until it was explained to me. There was some weird stuff sitting in apartments and staircases. But overall it was very beautiful and quite fascinating.

[The front of the Chateau]



[Grand entrance hall]


[Modern art]


[Marie Antoinette's private chamber]


[Napoleon slept here]


[Statue]


[Myself in front of the Chateau]


Next weekend I'm going to Amsterdam with a group of classmates so expect more pictures soon!