*I have had issues uploading photos onto blogger over seven times now. Needless to say, it's frustrating. The only way to view the photos I have posted is to click on the blank squares or hyperlinks (depending on your web browser it's different) directly. They will not appear on the blog post themselves*
| It has been a very long time since my last post. I keep saying that I want to be better about my blogging but the fact is that I just run out of time, and then when I do have spare time it seems dreadful just dealing with uploading photos onto my computer (it took six tries-- no exaggeration-- to get these ones up. Worst computer battery in the history of Dell.) But I do love posting here and though I am not a New Year's resolution person by any means, I am going to make a resolution/effort to post at least every week in 2013. It is absolutely horrifying how quickly time has gone by here-- classes ended last week, and I've already gotten into finals (I'm lucky enough to have two exams in January... woo...) And I have loved every moment of being here. I can't even say that I'm over-stating the fact. Though I'm an ocean away my host family really does make me feel at home. I don't feel like I'm going into a stranger's apartment, and when I go to sleep I'm in my room (even if it's just for the academic year.) I consider myself very lucky to have such a great support system in France, between Lily, my host family, Rihab (my FLA from Freshman year who studies at l'université de Bourgogne and teaches my Conversation class,) my professors at school, and the friends I've made (Strasbourg girls included.) It's overwhelming to think that Tours was only four months ago, when the idea of wearing a tank-top or short sleeve shirt is simply laughable with the current weather in Dijon. It really seems like summer was a lifetime away.. yet time has gone by so quickly. |
So I have a lot of time to cover, considering that my last post came from... oh goodness, September.
Alright here we go! Here's the plan:
I'm going to throw-up photos onto this blog as per usual. However, I am going to intersperse the photos with actual stories/information. This means I'm going to be up all night writing this blog entry, so you darn well better read all of it. (That was a joke. In the sense that it was only partly a joke.)
As I literally pull out my agenda to make sure I cover as much as I can from the past few months, let's start with the weekend of October 6th...
The Unforgettable Trip to Paris-- La Nuit Blanche (6/10/12-7/10/12)
(AKA that time Lily was really sick but we went to Paris anyway)
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Here's the little trooper. And here's what happened: second semester last year, a girl in our French class gave a presentation on La Nuit Blanche. Hence therefore ergo, Lily and I immediately turned to each other and said "We're going." We bought the train tickets (our return from Paris was nonrefundable, and therefore cheaper,) booked our hostel at Le Montclair, and found about three days before departure that poor Lily was having horrible stomach pains. BUT she made the decision that she would be ready to go for La Nuit Blanche. So, despite the evident downpour the météo predicted and possibility of Lily not feeling too great, we boarded our Saturday morning train...
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Leaving Dijon Gare
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After dropping off our bags at the hostel (to which we had not yet checked in, because they don't do that until afternoon... but the good side to hostels is that you can always leave your baggage there before and after checking in/out) we grabbed lunch at a brasserie nearby. I had this superawesomefantastic Croque Saumon. With salad. We sat right by the window and the view was nice because it was raining-- Montmartre, the "bohemian" part of Paris, is the perfect place to be in that kind of weather.
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Because I don't know how to take a normal picture.
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Door to our room in the hostel. I feel like it was an advantage that I've never seen The Shining, or I may have been less comfortable that night...
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After having officially checked in and resting for a bit in our room, we decided to start off the evening by walking down Champs Élysées. (Looking back, I actually didn't see much of it my first time in Paris when I was with my parents four years ago.) The first thing we saw after walking up the metro steps was l'Arc de Triomphe, which happens to house my favorite view of the city. Once we got into view it hit me that we were in Paris-- whenever you realize that you're in one of the most beautiful cities of the world, you just get this giddy feeling and can't help but smiling.
If you look closely at the top you'll see some dark figures-- those are the crazy people who decided to mount the Arc while it was raining, umbrella and all.
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Champs Élysées
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Took a picture from this spot four years ago, except you were able to see l'Arc de Triomphe much better.
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The House of Louis Vuitton. We actually ended up going inside-- the place is MASSIVE, and well, as you can guess.. very expensive. Though not my style, the building is certainly something to see.
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This wax figure was standing in the window. But she frightened me quite a bit. For a moment I was even led to believe that she was real.. there was quite intricate detail, down to the fingers.
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There was a very cool cafe on Champs Élysées with a car display on the first floor. Took a picture of this Corolla for my dad, who recently parted with his 10-year-old Corolla over the summer. It was a sad day (for him.)
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For the coffee lovers. Line's too darn long to go into, though.
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We decided to have dinner on Champs Élysées that night as well (Lily's good idea!) Unfortunately finding a reasonably-priced place took us walking in the pouring rain all the way back to where we started our long trek... but that's okay! Had PASTA (see below.)
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Then we began-- La Nuit Blanche events started around 7 pm, but Lily and I had a late dinner and hence started off when it was dark. This is the street that borders le Louvre, the first street I walked on in Paris when I was here with my parents. It's nice to re-visit years later and have those memories come back, like how my first day there I had to ask a bus driver (who was parked in the lot off on the left) for directions. I remember being so thrilled that not I could understand him, but that he could understand me.
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Walking through the corridor that leads to le Louvre...
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(Attention: you may need to tilt your screen if you have a glare, or some of these night pictures will be pretty much impossible to see.)
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Le Louvre at night is just stunning. That's all I can really say.
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That light you see is actually projected from the Eiffel Tower (la Tour Eiffel)
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I remember my dad falling asleep out here four years ago while we waited to get into the Louvre.
I also remember falling asleep inside the Louvre that same day. (My mother thought it was a good idea to attack the Louvre the day we arrived in France because it was the first Sunday of the month, which is universal free admission...) |
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Funny thing that happened-- the Louvre decided not to host its Nuit Blanche exhibit that night. Tant pis.
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La Tour Eiffel sparkling
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Finally moving away from le Louvre, we hit La Seine. In the far background you can see the two towers of La Notre-Dame.
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(Warning: you can never have enough picture of the Seine. Or at least, that way my philosophy that night. You've been warned.)
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"Look at that statue being all... statuesque..."
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Chinese Embassy? Perhaps. Not so sure. This came out too blurry!
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SO. What exactly is La Nuit Blanche?
It's an all-night, completely free light and contemporary arts festival throughout Paris. In the metro they had maps with information on all of the exhibits and where to find them-- left (gauche,) right (droite,) or in the center of the city (centre.) Lily and I stuck to Centre. They even had certain metro lines going for free all night, but we didn't end up taking advantage of that.
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The first exhibit we went to was at the l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, primarily because Lily and I have studied so many famous French figures that attended the school. This is the main courtyard, where there were clay sculptures all around... I say "were" because they melted in the rain. However, this actually gave a really spooky, cool atmosphere to the place-- it was reminiscent of a graveyard. There were two other exhibits at the school (both inside, thankfully.) The first one was in a rectangular, red-carpeted room with a few spotlights shining on the floor. The entire time there was a heartbeat (irregular) playing through the speakers. People just laid on the pillows or on the ground and listened quietly. It was a relaxing (not to mention warm) first thing to do. Across the courtyard, there were about four TV screens featuring peoples' faces. Slowly, if you kept watching, the expressions minutely changed, until they were wearing completely different expressions altogether. Reminded me of some of the performance actors in the The Night Circus, a good book I recently finished.
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Asked two really nice elderly ladies to take this picture for us.
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Cruise ships gliding along the Seine
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This is either Pont des Arts or Pont de l'Archevêch (both have locks on them.) I remember walking down Pont des Arts with my parents when we visited Paris, and there were people just sitting out in the warm night playing music and drinking wine and hanging out with friends. It was so beautiful I'll never forget it, seeing all of those locks hanging on the rails of the bridge. But a few years ago somebody removed them all, only for Parisians to retaliate and latch their locks back onto it. Then they even extended the tradition to le Pont de l'Archevêch (which is why I'm not sure which bridge this is. I'm going to go with Arts though.) Here's an interesting article about the lock tradition if you're curious: http://www.bonjourparis.com/story/paris-love-locks-love-that-wont-die/
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That screen you see was one of the video projections in the city that night. This particular one was about economic greed (there were shots of coins falling for example.)
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"du soleil dans la nuit"
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Those two towers in the back are la Notre-Dame
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This was a video projection inside one of the theatres. There was this eerie music playing and shots of video clips (such as Moonrise Kingdom) with handwritten notes flitting onto the screen. The whole ambiance was really cool though I can't quite say that I understood the goal... but Lily, the Art History major, told me that you aren't always supposed to understand the goal of modern art. So I guess I'm set.
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The Notre Dame from afar (crossed over to Île de la Cité briefly to find some expositions, but there wasn't much to see.)
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A tower that was supposed to be lit up.
It was not lit up. |
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Lily wasn't feeling too great (we need to applaud her, the girl withstood quite a night!) so we stopped in a cafe. I had decaffeinated coffee, as shown above.
(PS: I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back to the US. No cheese or bread comparable to France. But above all is my fear that "American coffee" just won't do it for me anymore, it'll be too weak. THIS COULD BE A TRAGEDY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. A TRAGEDY.) |
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The inside reminded me of the movie "Night in Paris," the scene where Owen Wilson meets Salvador Dali.
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If I didn't have enough pictures of the Seine... here are some more
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The blue awning actually houses a concert, if I remember correctly. But that area was la foule, so we decided to skip over the craziness and continue along the Seine to our next stop.
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"Quai de Bourbon"-- there's a Burbon street in Paris. I guess that's not too shocking, considering the French roots of New Orleans.
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Among my favorite Nuit Blanche stops of the night-- The Chamber of Professional Artisanial Bread and Pastry Bakers
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They had old-school machines and equipment inside like this contraption. Wish I could tell you what this does.
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And this (I believe this is for mixing flour and all of those ingredients)
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An ancient baker's vending cart.
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I got the bakers to wave as we left!! How I love making friends with strangers.
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Croissant, sweet bread, and a roll-- the going-away package at the Bakery.
This was a great last stop of the night; eating French bread by the Seine as the rain moved from thick drops to a light drizzle. |
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In the morning, I decided to take a walk around Montmartre and let Lily rest. It was beautiful and clear, plenty of sun (and wind)-- but no rain like the night of La Nuit Blanche!
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Somehow ended up near this staircase, where my parents and I also fell upon during our visit four years ago. It's significant because of where it leads to...
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I have a picture just like this one from our last trip...
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And here's where I ended up: Au Lapin Agile. I remember when my parents and I came across it by chance; this very famous cafe was the hang-out for artists and writers like Picasso and Apollinaire. Unfortunately it's closed now, but the outside is in beautiful condition.
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Vineyard on the street over from Au Lapin Agile.
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"La Maison Rose," a small cafe/restaurant that was open across the street from Au Lapin Agile. Another historical landmark.
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Montmartre is beautiful.
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Here's the very busy part of Montmartre; artists sprawled all over the streets selling their work and in the middle of making more, tourists pushing between each other, over-crowded cafes even on a Sunday... but I love it anyhow.
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Le Sacre Coeur, at the height of the hill that is Montmartre. Another one of those things you just can't have enough pictures of.
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Beautiful view of Paris from the top of the hill, where you'll find street vendors with their 3 euro Eiffel Towers and guitarists plucking away on the steps.
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I know I keep going back to my first time in Paris, but my parents and I actually had coffee (well, I had hot chocolate at the time) in this little cafe. I remember it so clearly because of the long windows and the modern-looking decor. It was here that I remember my dad expressing the importance of just sitting back and taking in the culture.
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Back inside the hostel-- always have those spiral staircases. This was awful though because we were on the fifth floor...
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Sushi for lunch!
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Aw the little trooper. I'm proud of you, Lily!
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Leaving Montmartre, a shot of City Hall
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Back at the Louvre. Really making this trip "go full circle" (and if you know me well you know I hate that saying, but it is unfortunately perfectly appropriate for this situation), it was the first Sunday of the month which meant.. free admission! They had their Nuit Blanche exhibit up during the day, a whole bunch of trailers with collections of mini statues inside.
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Going towards the Egyptian exhibit, we passed through this corridor that had the old Louvre foundation (if I remember correctly.)
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Small exhibition of a contemporary artist-- it was photos of things that are incomplete. Loved this one in particular.
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Egypt Exhibit-- this model reminded me of a huge wooden sculpture they used to have at the entrance to the Museum of Natural History in NYC (which still remains to be my favorite museum.)
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Spent the rest of the afternoon in the beautiful Jardin des Tuileries that sprawls in front of the Louvre. Despite the chill it was packed with people walking about-- some were even eating ice cream despite the cold!
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After hanging out in the garden, it was time to go home. Will be back in Paris at New Years!
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Tomorrow's post will be pictures from Belgium!
