Prague
Paris, take 2
I started out my post-Aix traveling with five days in Paris. I am so happy that I studied in the South of France but I have also fallen in love with the city of Paris. After all of my traveling to big cities in Europe, I now know that Paris has a unique allure that I had yet to realize. Especially after learning so much more about French culture and the French people, I could much better appreciate the city. Parisians were also so much more impressed by my French among so many tourists, it was quite the confidence boost! I love walking along the Sienne river. I love that the city has so much history that you can so clearly see wherever you are. It really is packed with so many amazing things you are constantly surrounded by amazing things to look at and do. I love the bridges and the love locks on them, the buildings at night all lit up, people hanging out on the banks of the river and lounging in the parks.
The first night I arrived I met up with my friend John who had been studying in Paris for the semester. It happened to be Museum Night in Paris, the one night a year they keep all of the museums open until midnight or one with free admission. We went to an exhibit at the Grand Palais on the African influence on Picasso. John showed me a great night out and we even go to see the Lile soccer team who had just won the French National Championships go into a club (one that we were quickly denied from when we tried to follow them).
My first day I walked down the Champs Elysees from the Arc du Triomphe to the Louvre. We stopped at the Orangerie, one of my favorite museums in Paris with a lot of impressionism and Monet’s water lilies. We walked through the Tullieries garden which was beautiful to see in the Summer weather. We went to a beautiful café called Angelinas, which is known for their amazing pastries and hot chocolate. We were literally sipping melted chocolate, it was the most amazing and rich hot chocolate ever and we all left the café with a severe sugar high. We walked over to St. Chappelle and saw the beautiful stained glass cathedral. In Paris we were able to get into all the museums for free with out student visas. Because of this, we were able to see so many more things and could enjoy ourselves without feeling any obligation to stay places longer just to “get our moneys worth”. I went to the Orsay again, my other favorite museum in Paris and saw all my favorite pieces there again. It was cool to be able to navigate through the museum and show people what rooms are really worth seeing. That night was my friend Jillian’s birthday. Jillian is living in Paris and knew of an awesome Senegalese restaurant to take us to in this fun bar area, Oberkamf. I ended the night seeing the Effiel tower sparkle in all of its glory.
The next day I went alone to Givery, the city where Monet created his gardens. Impressionism is based on the principle of painting the reality of what one sees, be that clear figures or simply vague lines and colors. Monet is probably my favorite impressionist but I think it is interesting that he was so interested in painting reality but he created a garden to inspire his reality. Givery is 45 minutes outside of Paris in the countryside. The garden is breathtaking. So many flowers and colors, it is easy to be inspired in such a serene and beautiful setting. I especially loved seeing the water lilies. It is so much easier to understand what Monet was seeing when he painted. The reflections of the trees in the water combine with the water lilies and banks of flowers and create an abstract scene so true to the paintings. It’s easy to think that impressionism is just blobs of color but ater seeing Givery I truly understand Monet’s motif. I also went to his house, which was interestingly filled with Japanese art, a style that greatly influenced Impressionists. I met back up with my friends at the Pompidou center that has an awesome modern art collection. I then went to get the best falafel I’ve ever had in the Marais. John took me on a little walking tour of the area and told me a lot more about the Jewish community in France. The French history with religion is so interesting and has so much history weaved into it. The French have specifically been known as anti-Semitic and today there is a very small Jewish population in the country. The one temple we saw looked more like a large apartment complex than a religious building despite being one of the largest sinegaugs in Paris. The French do not like public religion and the Jews were particularly discriminated against. The did not have equal rights as Catholic Frenchmen until 1789 and even after that they were persecuted until the second world war. The French role in World War II and during the occupation is a very interesting one and I enjoyed many conversations about it with my American friends who also studied in France. The French themselves do not like to talk about it as much.
I spent my last full day in Paris at Versailles. We spent hours just in the gardens just walking around through the maze of hedges and fountains. It was a warm sunny day for my last picnic of French wine and cheese (Camembert cheese, to be exact). The palace was incredible. Every room was so luxurious and filled with rich colors and beautiful art. It’s hard to imagine what a society so focused on material luxury could have been like. Knowing how history proceeded with the Revolution, it is very telling about French culture.
My last day in France I switched from tourist to business trip mode. Coincidently there was a large medical device conference being held in Paris the week I was there. My boss for my upcoming internship had friends who were attending and could sneak me a pass. I spent an hour or so there talking to specific companies about their products and learning more about the field I’ll be working in this summer. It was really interesting and gave me a larger perspective on medical technology and the different aspects I could get into if I wanted to do that as a career. I went back to the Orsay museum on my own to see the Manet exhibit that I did not have time to see before. I also went over to the Latin quarter to see the Mosquee de la Paris. Overall, Paris may be one of my favorite cities in all of Europe. I’m glad I got to spend so much time there to finish off my semester!
The Last Week in Aix
I was very very sad to leave Aix. The city had become an amazing home and I thankful to have been able to spend a semester there and learned so much. While Aix may be a small city, there are so many beautiful cities in the South of France that are within train distance to explore. One of our last weekends we went to Briançon, France, a very small town in the Southern Alps of France. It is a huge ski town during the winter so we know we would have great views of the mountains and some tough hiking. When we were up in the mountains we were able to see Italy.
Porto, Portugal
We were in Porto for just two days and I definitely could have explored more but we had pretty bad rain our first day and our umbrella could not hold up in the wind. However, we managed to make it down to the wine cellars by the river. It was a trek but a free wine tour through the cellars was worth it!
It was my friend Lindsay’s 21st birthday when we were there. Turning 21 in Europe is a bit anticlimactic but we managed to find some live music at a bar and Lindsay got a chance to sing “Ain’t No Sunshine” on stage with the singer! She has a beautiful voice and has performed a few times in Aix.
Our last night of Spring Break was complete with fireworks! As it was the day before Easter the Portugese took part in a ritual “burning of Judus”. We woke up to three hanging mannequins made of straw right outside our hostel. We had no idea what they were for until we heard a parade outside our window and saw that they were burning the bodies! It was a very strange experience but cool to see a religious tradition in another country!
Lisbon
Spending 5 nights in Lisbon was really the first time I’ve been in one location for more than just a weekend. We essentially moved into to our hostel and made it home for the week. We got so lucky in booking Traveller’s Hostel, which has been voted “Best Hostel in Europe” 3 years in a row. It was amazing with very nice, open living space and everyone who worked there was so helpful. Each morning because we ventured out into they city they would draw up a map of specific “must sees” such as the Royal Bakery or show us the way to get the same amazing view from the tower without paying 5 euros to ride the elevator up. At one point we had a map solely comprised of the best eateries in Lisbon to guide our explorations. Every morning they made scrambled eggs and toast for us (SO RARE in European hostels to have this) and we were able to cook our own dinners and hang out at the hostel every night before going out. My friends and I were inspired to start our own hostel and live in Europe if all else fails.
Despite weather forecasts saying that it would thunderstorm every day we had tons of run and the rain held off until night time. Wandering around Lisbon was beautiful! It’s made up of very hilly cobblestone and it was fun wandering around the different neighborhoods and finding parks, squares and amazing viewpoints. It reminded me a lot of San Francisco because of the hills, cable cars, and amazing views of the water. Fun fact: the same architect designed the two bridges!
We did a lot of day trips right outside of Lisbon. We got our sun at the beach one day. Mom, you’ll be very happy to know that of all my friends I was the only one who did not get sun burnt! We also went to Belem where there is a huge monestary, a modern art museum, and lots of castles and monuments on the water. However, what Belem is best known for are their pastries and there was a line out the door at the most famous bakery that makes them. They were amazingg!!! Our last day we went to Sintra which has a royal castle and a lot of old summer homes of the royal family. It’s a 40 minute train ride outside of Lisbon and you are literally transported into a fairy tail. Everything is green and beautiful and each house has amazing gardens. We went down into a underground staircase that was used in ritual by the Free Masons at the time. It was a really cool place to hike around and explore!
More photos from the Gorges du Verdon
Michael and Mom visit France!
It was such an amazing experience to have MIchael and Mom visit me in France for Michael’s Spring Break! While I went to my 2 days of classes for the week, Michael and Mom enjoyed Paris. I was very excited that they loved the city so much and impressed that they even dared to bike ride around it (something my host mom warned me never to do!).
They arrived in Aix Tuesday evening, somehow managing to navigate from the TGV to the bus to the station in aix without any french! We went out to a delicious dinner at this Italian restaurant I had wine tasted at with my school. The food (especially the dessert and wine) was fabulous. We had a leisurely 3 hour european style meal and finished around 11pm…just in time for Mom to head back to the hotel and Michael and I to hit the bars. We met up with some of my friends at one of my favorite pubs and Michael got to order his first (and last for at least a few years) legal beer! It was neat to have him meet all my friends who we kept repeatedly seeing walking around Aix the next couple of days. Per usual, they were blown away by the fact that he’s my younger brother.
Wednesday we started our day out right with crepes from my favorite crepe stand and toured around the city. I showed them my school (not very big, as they can attest), where all the local students study, as well as the shopping area (not hard to miss, it’s basically the whole town). Michael was patient as Mom and I shopped and fortunately discovered a new sandwich obsession…Paul. We walked to Cézanne’s studio and got to see the room and garden exactly as he left it. I have to write a report on Cézanne and his work so it was great for me to see! We walked up a hill a little further and were even able to see his motif, Mt. St. Victoire! We met up with my girlfriends for a mid-afternoon drink of rosé wine, the gem of Aix. I was so happy everyone got along so well and Mom was able to put faces to all the names I’ve been telling her about! Michael even got some great college advice!
For dinner we ate with my host family! My host mom made ratatouille, a local dish. It was very confusing for me to try and hold conversations in both french and english and I kept speaking French to mom and English to my host family. I think it might have been a bit boring for mom and michael considering they could understand very little but they got to meet everyone and I have never seen my host mom try to speak so much English!
The next morning we left for the Gorges du Verdon. It’s a very touristy place during the summer and known as the Grand Canyon of France. It’s about an hour and a half away from Aix but the specific location of our hotel was not able to be found by GPS. It was overall an extremely “small town in the south of france” experience. An old man ran the beautiful villa hotel in the middle of the country side and we got lost a few times trying to find it ourselves. In town, we sipped cafés and Michael and I hiked to a church on the top of a hill. That night we had a very traditional “haute provençal” dinner. It was amazing! We had 3 courses with “bouche mains” (finger food) in between each course. Of course, these small dishes turned out to be fois gros much to Michael’s dismay. It was my first time trying this as well and I was not surprised I didn’t like it. The French will literally eat anything, I really think it could have been worse!
The next morning we got to go rock climbing, something the South of France and the Gorges are particularly known for. It’s amazing how things like that work in France. We did not have to sign a single liability waiver or demonstrate our ability. The man trustingly let me belay him as he set up our course and then basically let us go at it. It was difficult especially because the rock was very rough and hurt our hands, much different than the last time I climbed. The views from the top of the lake were incredible if you dared to look! Michael was so bold as to take pictures from the top! Michael was a good enough climber that our instructor let him lead climb (as in he was belayed from below and essentially hooking himself into the rock as he went). This is something that one needs multiple certifications to do in the US so it was a crazy opportunity for Michael and he did amazing. Somehow mom was able to watch without fearing for his life too much. We also go to repel down from the top which was a wild experience! Scary at first but once you trust the rope it is very fun!
We spent the rest of the day driving around the lake and the gorge and going on small excursions to get great views. The sediment and algae in the water are what make it that fantastic turquoise and looking at the huge cliffs around us never got old. It was truly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen!
Our trip ended back in Paris before Mom and Michael headed home and I headed off for my actual Spring Break. I was very sad to part ways after such a fabulous week but very grateful for the time we had together!! I’m expecting mom and michael to act as messengers and tell you the reality of my situation in Aix. For one thing, mom said she expected my room to be much larger from all of our video chats. Things like that you can only really understand once you’ve been here!
Amsterdam
I fell in love with the Netherlands on the bus ride from Brussels to Amsterdam. Out the window everything was so green, clean, and everyone was biking! I was so impressed by the city of Amsterdam, it may be one of my favorite cities to date. Our hostel was right next to the Van Gogh museum, which I really could appreciate after my previous weekend in Paris. We went and visited the Anne Frank house which I thought was extremely well done. After visiting the Holocaust museum in D.C. I was expecting something very different. Instead, the house is very personal and tells Anne’s story as an individual instead of just one of millions. It was a very emotional museum; I thought the hardest part was walking through her room where there were still magazine clippings of her favorite actors hung up on the walls…all she had to look at for 2 years. Amsterdam is such a cute and peaceful city, it was hard to imagine it being controlled by the Nazis.
I loved walking along the canals of the city. The flower market was beautiful and the actual tulips were just beginning to bloom in the streets. We went to the Heineken Factory which was a really cool experience, we learned about the whole brewing process and got 2 free beers out of it! The most well known aspects of the city, cafés and the red light district, were also very cool to see. However, I was really surprised at how little you noticed marijuana in public. While you walk by cafés and see signs and stores about pot, you really don’t notice it in your interactions with people. I’m sure it’s mostly a tourist thing…I can’t imagine the actual citizens of Amsterdam being able to smoke and ride bikes the way they do! The streets were swarming with bikes it was scary to be a pedestrian! We wanted to rent some but in retrospect I am not nearly aggressive enough of a biker to keep up with the locals on the roads.
Paris
I went to Paris last weekend with my Art History class! It was great having my teacher take me through the amazing museums and really explain the art work. She even made us act out scenes of paintings in the Louvre to fully understand the stories behind the them…it made museum viewing much more enjoyable! I have decided that Impressionist art is my favorite. Artists such as Cezanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, ect. were all so inspiring with their use of color. I loved the landscapes, especially the ones of places in France that I have traveled to! You can really understand the emotion of the painting when you see it in person. We went to the Louvre, Musee D’Orsay, and the Orangerie. The Louvre has all the awesome Renaissance art and the Orsay has great impressionism. The Orangerie was amazing because it had wall-sized lilly pad paintings by Monet.
One amazing thing we saw in Paris was Notre Dame with a special lights show! We happened to hear music when we were sitting outside on the river and it turned out to be a concert with neon lights projected onto the stone figures!
Overall, I loved going to Paris for the second time. I definitely want to go back and have more time to just walk around the city. Absolutely a city of love, there were couples everywhere. I can’t wait to go back closer to summer and see Versailles!
Pictures from Madrid that did not post before
