La Défense (and the creepy giant thumb)

Just so you know, these next few weeks I won't be having hardly anything to do with school besides one exam, because Sciences-PO is having their exam period now and soon it will be the break between the semesters. So I have nothing to do but study a little bit and go sightseeing!

Yesterday Monica and I went to the north-west border of Paris to see La Défense, which is basically the part of Paris that holds the headquarters in for the bigger businesses, meaning tons of skyscrapers and such. The most recognized part of it is the Grande Arche. I don't know what this building is for exactly, but it looks like a giant metal cube with the center cut out.

Here's part of it. It looked like the tent in the center could be used for outdoor events and concerts or something like that.



This view is looking towards Paris from the Grande Arche.




If you squint really hard, you can see the Arc de Triomphe off in the distance. But you have to squint really hard. Extra for me since I'm nearsighted, ha ha.




Here's a panoramic view of the area. To me, this all seems so out of place in Paris. I guess that's why they built it on the border and away from all the historic monuments.

Here's a video I took of the area. It's easier to see the scale of the buildings here rather than in the pictures.





Peace from the steps of the Grande Arche!



Now about the weird giant thumb...
We started walking around and we found some pretty interesting sculptures, including this one. It's a giant thumb we think, and apparently it's where all the taxis go. We guessed that the thumb is there because it refers to catching a cab (I know that's more of a hitch hiking gesture- to stick out your thumb- but it's the best idea we had. Plus, they might do it differently here in France). There was no sign describing its existence, making it even more mysterious, mso I hope our guess is right. Otherwise, there's a giant metal thumb at La Défense, and that's just weird.

Here's a video demonstrating our frustration over the mysterious giant thumb:



Ok, I was honestly quite disturbed by the giant thumb. It must have been the wrinkles and nail. Eww.
It just creeped me out for some reason, ha ha.




After that we found some more sculptures that soothed my nerves a lot better than the thumb. I liked the contrast between the classical human form and the modern skyscraper in the background.





There's the thumb again. Ewwww!!!





Another classical form with a modern backdrop. Very interesting.

Also, there's a mall there too! I didn't think they did malls in Paris (just specialty shops sprinkled all over the place) but they do and they put one at La Défense!




Ever since I got back to Paris from my 2 week vacation in the US, I've been craving homemade soup. I actually tried making 2 recipes from mom, and they both turned out great! The other night, I went over to Monica's apartment and we made my mom's chili.
Here I am stirring our concoction!




Mmm it smelled so good!




It was so yummy! Mom's chili will always have a special place in my heart! :)

I'm already looking forward to making more soup, and now that Monica has tried one of my mom's recipes, she definitely wants in on the next soup too!


Bisous XOXO

Catacombs of Paris

Creepy, right?

On Sunday, me and my Belgian friends decided to go see the infamous Catacombs of Paris! I've heard about the Catacombs so many times, but this was the first time I've seen them. I have to say I was quite impressed by it all- the way the bones were arranged, the various inscriptions about the idea of death- it's surprising that it's not as big of a tourist attraction as other sites in Paris.

We had to descend about 20 meters to get to the former mines/ossuary, and we ended up walking around these dark, tiny tunnels beneath both the Paris Metro lines and the sewage systems. I've heard stories that people have gotten lost down there for days because they took a wrong turn through one of the passageways. I don't know if those stories are actually true, but it could definitely happen if the tunnels weren't marked off as clearly as they were when I went. Even with the single path we took while we where inside, it was a long way to go, so I can't imagine being lost down there. With all those bones. Creepy...

We had to walk through the mines to get to the ossuary, and when we finally did we saw this:

Stop!
Here lies the empire of death
(loosely translated)

It was the entrance to see all the bones...

...and my friends thought the sign was so 'rock and roll', so I had to capture it on film, ha ha! :)




Bones bones bones! They were arranged this way in all the passageways- with the bones stacked on top of each other and the skulls in between.



Here's a video from when we were walking through some of it. It was really dark so you might not see much, but there are some pretty good angles with the lines of skulls.



There were these plaques all over too, and most of them were engraved with poems or prose by famous literary authors like Voltaire and Homer. And of course they all pertain to the idea of death- warnings about it, advice on how to live a better life, the importance of respecting the living and the dead, etc.



Like I said earlier, it seems to me that the Catacombs are underrated as a tourist attraction. This was the very anonymous exit (there were literally no signs indicating what it was), and the entrance wasn't much better- there was a tiny sign by a tiny door. I just think the Catacombs deserve more credit than that.

So that was my Sunday afternoon... walking through an underground crypt, ha ha!!

Bisous XOXO

Drinking with the professor!

It's the end of my 1st semester of classes at Sciences-PO (all that's left is exams, and I only have to take one on February 6th), and to celebrate, we do something here in Paris that I've never seen happen in the States... we go drinking with the professors!!! :)

Now not every prof takes the class out to a bar, or even offers to have a mini celebration during the last class, but I hear there are 2 main reasons why you might go drinking with the prof:
1. Everyone in the class gets along with each other and with the professor, and the course was a general success.
2. The professor is really cool. (I think this is most important.) :D

For example, my prof for my Francosphere and Anglosphere class (the one where we talked about poo in Paris) actually hosted a cocktail party at his apartment for our class. I unfortunately didn't get to go because I was busy having my mini-adventure in Angers.

And my prof for my European Economic Constitution class (it's basically an EU studies class) took us all out to a café for a round of drinks! Like I said before, I've never seen anything like that happen back in the US... at most, the students might bring snacks for a little party during the last class (and ironically, that usually happens in my French classes at Georgia Tech), but here, we not only had a round of drinks, we also went out to eat fondue and raclettes afterwards! I expressed my amazement with my professor as I was thanking her for the evening later on that night, and she said she thinks it's necessary to have little get-togethers like this one because students should feel at ease in the class and with the professor, because then we'll feel more comfortable learning. I wish we had the same philosophy at home!!!

I took a couple videos to document the class's night out. While I was watching them later, I noticed how international the class really was. Just in the first video, you'll see people from Ireland (the brunette in the beginning), from the UK (you'll hear her accent), Canada, France (of course), and Colombia (Monica was in my class too). Oh, and the prof is from Budapest. You'll see her at the end of the video.


I couldn't believe it... a professor taking the whole class (around 20 people came) out for a round of drinks! How cool is that??


And here's a video of our dinner of fondue and raclettes. Raclettes are kind of like fondue in that you have to melt cheese and put stuff together yourself to eat it; I tried to show you in the video. And just so you know, they were complaining a little about the fondue because it tasted too strong, like they put too much wine in it.

Oh, and the nationalities here: Italian (first guy), Danish (girl with the short hair), Japanese (pretty sure you can find that one yourself ha ha), Moroccan, British, Hungarian, Canadian, Colombian, and I was the only American.

Remember that class I was telling you about before where I'll get to go to Luxembourg to see the European courts? The professor from this class will teach that one too. I'm so excited... that's one of the reasons I wanted to take that class- because of the professor!

Ha ha... I still can't believe it.

Bisous XOXO

My weekend in Angers, France

It's pronounced like ahn-zhyay. Think of how you say Target when you want it to sound like a French store, because it rhymes with that.

So why not Dublin?... it had to be postponed to another time because my plane ticket was canceled without me knowing it. So here's my advice for traveling with Ryanair: be very careful when booking flights with them because they tend to throw in extra fees that you have to undo, and if they cancel your flight you won't be notified. Boooooo!

But it all worked out because me and my partner in crime, Monica, made up for the loss with an impromptu trip to the west of France! It was quite spontaneous actually: we both decided that since our bags were already packed, we didn't want to waste the weekend crying about missing Dublin. So we went to the nearest train station and asked the guy at the desk very nicely if he could help us find someplace cool to go in France, for the least expensive tickets possible. He turned out to be very helpful- he searched around for cheap tickets, and when he found some to Angers, he gave us a brief insider's description of the city and gave us a discount!! He would have booked us a hotel too, but we declined since we wanted to stay in a hostel instead.

The next morning we were off to Angers...

So a little about Angers: it's very old. As in very very old. As in the first settlements date back to 3000 or 4000 BC depending on the reference. Included in the town's history are the Dukes of Anjou and Richard the Lionheart among others (remember the Robin Hood stories?). There are a ton of Medieval buildings still standing, including a massive fortress in the center of the city. Oh, and it's in the Loire, meaning that there are a ton of other châteaux just sprinkled around the region as well.


Here's an example of how picturesque the town is. There's a nice mixture of modern buildings with little fairy-tale-looking buildings in between.



More of the old with the new. It looks like they didn't want to tear down the château-looking building so they just built new stuff around it.



I love these houses with the wood designs on the outside. It makes it seem like there should be an artisan clockmaker shop on the bottom floor!



Unlike Paris, Angers is handicap friendly. There were ramps everywhere and the sidewalks had these emblems about every 3-5 meters.



Monica and I thought this was hilarious: they tend to incorporate a lot of English into their signs and advertising, even though it seems like no one in the town speaks much English (I didn't hear any while I was there except from other anglophones).



Just put Le before the word to make it French!!



Ok, I'm pretty sure they don't use apostrophes in French.



Here's our hostel! It was pretty cool because we just showed up to book the room and we ended up with a 3-person private! It even had sinks inside! That's kind of a big deal for a hostel as inexpensive as that one was (around 13 euros/night).


But this was the coolest part of the trip in my opinion:
This is that fortress I talked about before. It's called the Château d'Angers, and what makes it awesome is that the outside is this huge, menacing fortress, but the inside was big enough to hold a mini village too, including a chapel, the king's residences, and the governor's manor.


This used to be part of the moat, but today they keep it looking like a beautiful little garden.



Me and the garden. Good times.



Here's part of the inside of the fortress. They had these trees lined up around the garden in the center, and I thought they looked a bit creepy- like clenched fists- but still cool.



More creepy trees and part of the châtelet that served as a gateway to the royal residences.



We went up to the top of the outer walls to walk around and take in the views of the outside and the inside at the same time. This is from when I was looking through one of the gated holes to see the moat on the outside.



Here's a view of the inside! Back in the 60's they planted a small vineyard on top of one of the walls, and you can see that while looking through to the chapel and royal residences below.



View of Angers from the top of one of the towers.



Another view of the inside from a corner tower. You can see the garden in the center.





I took a panoramic video from one of the highest towers. Enjoy!




Since it was a fortress, it was obviously used for defense during wars and revolts. They had these slit-like windows all over, which were designed so that soldiers could shoot arrows out of the windows, but it would be nearly impossible for them to be hit by an incoming arrow, unless the other soldier had perfect aim.




Inside the towers were a ton of long, narrow staircases like this one. These stairs were definitely not for people with weak knees!



Here's a mini art exhibit we found inside the tallest tower. The tower was once used as a prison, and this piece was constructed in memory of the pain and suffering all the prisoners endured. It was built out of copper wires and looked about 15 feet tall, and occupied the whole room. If you look at the picture closely, you can make out the human figures rising up out of the ground. Personally, I can't even imagine how horrible it must have been to be a prisoner then, because while we were there, it was so cold and so wet from the rain- it seems like a prisoner would have caught hypothermia in minutes.




But back to lighter things... this is the gateway to the royal residences, but it looks like a château by itself. We couldn't go inside the residences or the chapel because of restoration work, but it still looked amazing from the outside.




Inside one of the buildings, there's a permanent exhibit of the Apocalypse Tapestries. These tapestries are absolutely amazing... they were created in the 1300s over the course of about 7 years, and they depict scenes from the apocalypse in the Bible, intertwined with politics from when it was made. The tapestries used to be all one roll, but they were cut into about 70 or so pieces to be displayed. The exhibit itself was breathtaking. The room is basically a long hallway kept in almost total darkness to preserve the fabric, and when you walk in, it feels like the sound is sucked out of you. Also, Monica and I had the whole place to ourselves. I felt like I stepped back in time for a little while.



One last picture of the Château. Extra artistic.


Here are some random pictures from walking around a little bit:

Aww too bad we didn't get to go to the real thing!



Sculpture in a main square.



This one is for my mom!



I liked all the small artisan shops. They all made the town seem feudal! This one is a key-maker.



Here's a chapel by the modern art museum. There was a mini-exhibit inside part of it that was about sound and vibrations- the art looked like ripples on a pond.



This was the entrance to the Musée des Beaux Arts (the modern art museum). I liked how everything-the walls, the ground- was stone.




Sculpture in the Musée des Beaux Arts courtyard.




After we saw the Château d'Angers and walked around for a little bit, we then went to check out the Cathédral Saint-Maurice, which is the main cathedral in Angers.




The front of it had these huge doors, but a little cutout that you use for everyday. I thought it was cool that they have an inside door covered with leather the keep the wind out when the door is closed. Actually, all the cathedrals in the city have these little doors.




Here's part of the inside.




And here's me trying to be artistic with the outside.





This is a video of the entry way of the cathedral. They had music playing in the background for ambiance, I guess.




At the end of the day, Monica and I shared a little cake in our room!


We didn't have a knife or plates or forks, so we used a folded up map to cut it and ate with our hands. Ah, the lowly student life, ha ha...



The next day, we decided to try and find one of the other châteaux just outside the city. We had to wait for the bus on a cute little street:
Not bad I think!


When we made it to the area where the château was supposed to be, we had a hard time finding it at first. We figured out that the château was probably closed to the public, meaning someone probably lives there and doesn't want to be bothered. I'd probably do the same if I lived in a château. But we snooped around until we got at least a glimpse of the château.

Here's what we walked through to find it. It was a small park surrounded by houses. Not bad either!




Yay we found something!




And finally a clear view!




Small compared to the châteaux open to the public, but still really really nice.




There was a neighborhood surrounding the château, so we decided to take a stroll to see what French neighborhoods are like. Not too much different from the US- they have sidewalks and mailboxes and driveways just like us!




Maybe the architecture is a little different though.




We found a little café in the city called Chez Toi (your place) that we ended up going to a few times (they had really good coffee and amazing pizza!).




Here's me enjoying a cup in the morning!




Here are more walking-around-pictures!

The Hôtel Pincé- they use it as a library today.



The Hôtel Pincé from a side street.




Artsy shot.




I had to try standing on the steps like the queen of the square. :)




Monica caught me doing my happy dance.



Ooh ooh! I found 2 really cool hair salons... better than any I've seen in Paris so far, so someone tell Kelly!!!
This one was decorated like a fancy hotel lobby...




...and this one was really cool. Here's the outside.




It looks like an old pub from the outside...




...and like part of a manor inside. Very fancy.




Someone getting they hair did!!!!! :)



Ok so back to sightseeing.
Here's part of a garden in the city center called the Jardin du Mail. There were sculptures like this one around the border.




There was also a really pretty fountain in the middle of the garden. (I like this picture)




Here's a shot of the Angers courthouse.




Here's another cathedral we visited. Unfortunately, I can't remember what it's called though.




Here's the front of it. It was still decorated for Christmas I think (notice the tree branches). Oh, and there's the little cutout door thing again.





Ok this was so cool. While we were there, the cathedral's musicians were holding a practice session, so we got to hear some live cathedral music!! I taped some of it for you too! :)




So that was pretty much our trip. Before we left though, I found a good hiding place to take pictures of some French fashion! The fashion in Paris is definitely better in my opinion, but these pictures reflect some typical trends I've been seeing the past few months.

Flat boots ae definitely cool. Plus, they keep you warm throughout the cold winter months. And no matter what your age, scarves are always a good idea!




A little extra style on this one. A lot of people I see are wearing long coats like this.




Ha ha, this one is my favorite because it seems so French. They're smoking a cigarette while holding a baguette and gathering up their shopping bags. :)


In all, I really liked Angers. It seems like a nice little sidetrip for a couple days, but it would probably be best during the summer since there's a lot to see outside and the city can rent you bikes to ride to all the châteaux.

Dublin is on hold for now. And I definitely want to see more of France when I get the chance.

Bisous XOXO