the end is near...

Bonjour :)

Well, as usual, I have failed at updating this as often as I would like. These past few weeks have been super busy here in Paris. I've been in classes, trying to finish up my sightseeing list, and filling out secondary applications for medical school. I absolutely cannot believe that I only have 10 full days left in France. While I am excited to go home and see everyone (and eat my favorite foods), I know that after being home for a few weeks I'll be homesick for Paris again. It's just so unfortunate that it is such a long (and expensive) way to go to come back. Although, don't be fooled... I'm already making some plans for my return ;)

Bronze lady close to my school

I guess I'll begin after our return from Switzerland. Despite how exhausted I was, I wanted to make the most of the first Sunday of the month and its free museums. So, I came home from the train station, showered, and headed back out. First I visited the Musée Marmottan, which houses many of Monet's works as well as Pollock and Kandinsky, and it also had an exhibition about Monet's works and how they continue to influence current artists. It was small, but worth the trip. Then, I went to the Musée d'Orsay, which was beyond crowded, but I made my way through the crowds to see some VanGogh and Dégas (and of course a lot more). I didn't stay as long as I thought I would because the crowds really didn't seem worth fighting after about an hour. I spent the remainder of the week getting situated in my new class with different classmates and a different teacher. Actually, this session I have three different teachers, as I have my regular French class every morning and workshops on two afternoons each week (spoken French and phonetics, which is my fave). Also, my friend Grace introduced me to her friend Emily (who is studying at our school through a different study abroad program), and the three of us have made quite a team for the past few weeks.

The next weekend, Grace, Emily, and I took the train and the bus out to Giverny, where Monet's house, gardens, and water lilies are. To be honest, I wish we would've gone in June before it got so hot and touristy and also because I think the flowers would have been a bit nicer, but overall it was a lot of fun. After a little trouble getting their train tickets, we finally made it there. It was really incredible to see the place that inspired such famous paintings. We also saw Monet's grave at a little church while we were there. I would highly recommend this little day trip to anyone who is going to be in Paris for more than a few days. We also went out to the Trocadéro to see the World Cup final. I only made it through about 30 minutes of the game. It was just a little too crowded for me...basically all of Paris was trying to sit on the same steps. However, I'm glad I at least went to see it and had the experience. Instead, Emily and I went up to Montmartre for some café and crème brulée.

Monet's house

Lily pond

Me with Grace and Emily

At the World Cup Final

The next week was one that we had all been excited about this summer and had been anxiously awaiting-- le 14 juillet -- which is France's national holiday. After being sort of rudely corrected by my french teacher, I now know that no one but American's refer to this holiday as "Bastille Day." I will not be making that mistake again! We started off the festivities the night before by attending the Bal du Pompiers (Firemen's Ball). At every firehouse they had giant parties from 9PM to 4Am. Don't worry....I made it home by 3 :) However, we waiting in line from 10-12:30, so we only spent about two hours actually inside the firehouse courtyard. It was pretty crazy, but a lot of fun. The next morning, I slept in a little before going to see Toy Story 3 (opening day here) with Grace and Emily, then going to the Trocadéro to claim our spot as early as possible for watching the fireworks. The fireworks were huge and amazing--definitely something I'll never forget!

The Firemen's Ball

le 14 juillet

The little boy on his dad's shoulders was so cute!

That weekend (July 17-18) we went our our last excursion with ISA. We went to the Loire Valley to see beautiful chateaux and taste lots of local wine and cookies. Our first chateau was the Chateau de Chenonceau that was occupied by the French royalty (particularly the mistresses), followed by a visit to the former home of Leonardo DaVinci, and finally a wine tasting at a local winery (what else were they gonna do with all those caves but store wine in them, right?). At DaVinci's house, we saw many models of all of his inventions, but unfortunately we only had an hour there, so it was a little rushed. We spent the night in Tours at a very nice hotel with a huge bed and a huge bathroom! So much nicer than the hostels we have been getting used to!

Gardens at Chenonceau

Maze!

what's left of the original floor

Medieval tower from the fortress that used to be there.

Chateau de Chenonceau (a castle bridge)

in the wine cellar

DaVinci's inventions

DaVinci's house

The second day, we went to the Chateau Chambord (originally a hunting lodge for King Francis I). There we took a little tour and saw this amazing double spiral staircase, but the really exciting part came next: we were able to take rowboats out in the moat around the chateau and ride bikes all around the grounds. The weather was perfect for a nice bike ride around a beautiful chateau. It really was an exciting weekend weekend! After trips like these, I am really glad that I came here with a program. Although, I know I could make these trips on my own, I would never pack so much into one weekend like they do. And being transported on a bus with practically no responsibilities isn't bad either! The weekend was excellent. Once we got back to Paris, we were ready to start another week of classes.

view from the bike ride

view from the moat

double spiral staircase

This week, I decided to really crack down on my sightseeing list. This sort of worked. One day I spent the whole afternoon shopping...but at least I got to see a lot of the city while I did it! That's definitely the advantage of all the stores being on the street instead of in giant malls (not that they don't have a few!). However, I did manage to head over to the western side of Paris to the Mona Bismark Foundation where I saw my favorite exhibition of the entire trip--buttons! Antique buttons, big buttons, pretty buttons, pictures made from buttons, sculptures made from buttons--it was so amazing!

The same day, I also went to the Petit Palais (across the street from the Grand Palais) and saw an Yves Saint Laurent exhibition. Here, there were many dresses and outfits from the original lines, from the very first to more recent. Some of the original Lulu sketches were there too. Unfortunately, pictures weren't allowed, but I did sneak a few illegally! It was really incredible. I am so lucky to have been in Paris while this was going on! And last but not least, Nicole and I made a little stop by the house of Nicolas Flemel, which is also the oldest house in Paris!

The house of Nicolas Flemel

I suppose I do have a few confessions to make: I have been to KFC twice to get hot wings, we have been to a mexican restaurant twice to get chips and salsa, and the french McDonald's have the best potatoes ever; they are called "Deluxe Potatoes" and they are seasoned potato wedges with sour cream/chive dip. American McDonald's could really take a hint. But don't get too upset about my american cravings...trust me I've been having my fair share of croissants, baguettes, cheese, cheese, and more cheese! As the end of my trip comes approaches, I find myself at two extremes: 1) wanting to eat all the French food I can and 2) making lists of all the food I will eat when I get home.

What's on the agenda for this weekend? 1)Victor Hugo's house. 2) Museum of Tea. 3) Museum of Perfume. 4) Marie Curie's laboratory. 5) Chinese food in Paris' Chinatown. 6)Paris plage... throughout the city there are places that Paris has turned into a beach!

In just 4 short days, my cousin Ida will be arriving in Paris. I'm very excited for her to get here! It will be so fun to go around to all the big sights one last time before I leave as well as finish up my list of things to see! She arrives Wednesday very early in the morning. Like I said, I can't believe it's almost over, so I'm going to make the most out of what's left!

Bisoux,

Trisha

A vacation from a vacation : Switzerland and Strasbourg

Bonjour...well maybe I should say Guten Tag as well.

I apologize for this extreme delay. When we returned from Switzerland ten days ago I thought, "Okay, I'll update the blog in a few days, then do some things in Paris and write another the next week." Well, this is the first full day that the internet has worked in our apartment for one week. So, my goal is to complete two blogs in two (or three or four) days to catch up before we leave Paris again for our next weekend adventure.

On June 26th I said hello to Switzerland after a very long 8 years apart. I am happy to say that I am just as in love with it as I was the first time! This time, however, I spent 7 days exploring it. I left on a much earlier train than Nicole and Matty and therefore had an entire day in Geneva to myself. I expected the weather to be someone in the mid-70's, but when I arrived it was nearly 10 degrees above that (although I am not exactly a master at converting from Celsius to Fahrenheit). Geneva was quite different than Lucerne, the only other city I had been to. When I arrived, backpack on my back and all, I paid for a very over-priced map at the train station and made my way to my hostel. I won't lie; I was a little nervous about staying in hostels because up to that point in my life, I only knew about two people who had done it, and not all of them had good experiences. Our hostel in Geneva was very nice, though--actually much nicer than our cheap hotel in Rouen had been. So, I put my stuff in storage at the hostel and went to explore. I didn't really see anything on this day that I wasn't planning on seeing the next day once Nicole and Matty had arrived, but it was fun to figure out my way around the city and explore it on my own terms. I saw the "Jet d'Eau," which is the tallest fountain in Europe, St. Peter's Cathedral where John Calvin preached, a giant clock made out of flowers (which is probably much prettier in the springtime), and just sat by the lake and read my book while regretting my decision not to bring a swimsuit. There was an area on the lake that they turn into a beach every summer...and trust me, being the person fully dressed watching other people swim is rather frustrating. What I learned from my first day in Geneva: people are not lying when they say it is the most expensive city in Europe.

The little beach

St. Peter's Cathedral

John Calvin's Chair

Floral Clock

Once Nicole and Matty arrived and checked in to the hostel we went out for dinner. None of us had really eaten, so we each had a pizza to ourselves. It was maybe one of the best pizzas I have ever had, which is good considering what we paid (not to mention the 5 franc bottle of water...the Swiss aren't as nice about free water as the French are). On our second day, we did essentially the same touristy things; Geneva isn't really that big! Although we did go up in the tower of the cathedral so that we could see the best view of the city. I did some souvenir shopping for the fam that day as well. And, I shouldn't forget to mention the 30 minutes we spent playing on a playground wishing we were 6 years old again. A second day of mid-80 degree whether assured me that I had, in fact, not packed well at all for this trip. In our hostel, I stayed with two girls from England, one from Australia, and two from the States. It was a really interesting experienece to be roommates with complete strangers, but it was also a nice chance to discuss our tranvel experiences along with our cultural differences. Finally, on the third day in Geneva, we took a boat cruise on the Lac Léman before heading off to Lausanne and Bern.

North Tower of the Cathedral

view from the tower

Just like my rocking horse, Pete, when I was little

On the boat

Because we have rail passes, we can get on and off as many trains as we please. I, for example, have a pass that allows me unlimited train-riding for ten days within two months. So, on our way to Bern, we decided to make a little stop in Lausanne just to see what it was like. This turned out to be a rather exhausting little stop, as the streets in Lausanne are quite similar to those in Montmartre in Paris...one huge hill. But nonetheless, it was good to see another town. We saw a tower (which I am sure has some significance that we didn't bother to learn) and a cute area of town that used to be full of warehouses but now has many pastel colored houses. I wish we could've seen the Olympics area, but with only two hours to spend there, it was just too far away from the train station.

the view from the city
a whole street was lined with these
giant swiss flag!
pastel houses!

Once we arrived in Bern and found our hostel (the nicest one of all!), we were pretty exhausted. Being so tired on the 3rd day of the trip was not exactly a great sign... We spent the evening walking around the city. The streets are so picturesque, with bars, restaurants, and shops in the cellars under the other stores on the streets. We saw the Zytglogge, a huge clock with Medieval figures on it. That's pretty much what there is to see in Switzerland--mountains, clocks, and churches. Then we went down to the bear park (thus the name of the city, Bern). There were little bear cubs playing. I'm not sure that I've even been so close to so many bears! They were very cute, but I was quite glad thatthey were fenced off far away from me! The water in both Geneva and Bern was incredible. The Rhone river flows through them, and it is this beautiful blue/green color but so clear that you can see the bottom.This country really is beyond beautiful. Once we paid for some more over-priced pizza (I'm not sure why that's what we ate for most of the trip), we went back to our hostel and met our new Australian friend, Alice, who I spent all of the next day with. Bern is also the first city that we were visited in which German is spoken. My three years of high school German classes enabled me to be able to read somethings but speaking was completely out of the question. This was rather disappointing since I am used to being in France where I can communicate. I am, however, not bad at making people believe I am French. I decided that it might be a little less rude to try to talk to them in French (since they all know it) than to just default to English--this did prove to be a helpful plan.The nice thing about it, though, is that many of the signs were in French and German, so I wasn't completely lost.

The next day, I explored the city with Alice. After having a nice fruit breakfast in the market, we went to the Einstein Musuem, which was rather disappointing and not really that sciency at all. But it was still good to see it. Then we walked around some more before taking the tram to the edge of the city, then a little train to the top of a mountain to see the view of the city from the top. We climbed approximately 120 steps on a spiral staircase, but the view was worth it. Then I rushed home to get to what was definitely my favorite experience of the whole trip. That night I happened upon a concert at the Cathedral-- Mendelsohn's Elijah. I played the oboe for this oratorio a few years ago at Evangel, which was really helpful, as I already knew the music and (english) words, so following along in German wasn't so difficult. The Bern Chamber Choir and the Bern Symphony Orchestra participated. It was absolutely wonderful and one of my experiences while abroad. It was such a perfect way for me to combine my love of and personal historywith music with travel and my love of languages. I can't believe I stumbled upon this amazing opportunity! By the time I made it back to the hostel, it was late enough to go to bed before waking up early to go hiking/rowboating (I don't know the gerund for that) in the mountains!

Einstein's House!

The next day (this is day 5, by the way), we took the train to Kandersteg based on our friend, Anna, and her backbacking buddies' recommendation...and we were certainly not disappointed. Once we got to the town, we quickly realized that we would also have to walk to the other side of the town, take a cable car up the mountain, and the walk for another half an hour to get to our destination--Oeschinensee, a big lake in the middle of the giant Swiss Alps! The lake actually looked rather small, but once we rented our rowboats and tried to get across it, we realized it is the mountains that make it look so small and that it is actually huge! During this little excursion, I acquired what might be the worst sunburn that I have ever had (red hair, remember). Although we were only up in the mountains for a few hours and it wasn't even very hot, the water and the altitude worked together to turn me into a lobster. I have finally stopped peeling like some nasty snake 15 days later! We rowed to the other side of the lake and made our way to some water falls before rowing back and heading off to Lucerne. We tried to ride a toboggan, but apparently we have some strange control over the weather--everytime we try to ride one, we cue the rain. This has happened more than once. This was our only day in the snow-capped mountains, and it was wonderful! Many thanks to Anna for the excellent travel suggestion!

Our last city in Switzerland (but not of our trip) was Lucerne. This is where Switzerland and I first met in 2002. I loved it just as much, although the June weather in '02 was a little bit nicer! It is always a funny feeling to go back to somewhere after so long and it be the same...it's like I am always expecting it to change. It was also a bittersweet feeling to be there without the same people I was with the first time, yes all 52 of you :) But really, there is something about your first experience somewhere, and nothing can ever surpass it. I whined to my mother the entire time every time I called her about how she should've come with me, but I'll get her next time; don't you worry. In Lucerne I did my major souvenir shopping--my own cuckoo clock and two pocket watch necklaces, one is a locket and the other is glass so you can see the gears inside. I opted out of the museums to spend some time walking around the city and shopping for myself and my family. Since my great-great-grandmother moved to the States from Switzerland, I tried to get the majority of my family souvenirs from there. On another note, our hostel in Lucerne was much less than enjoyable--very hot, very few bathrooms, and strange roommates. We were happy to move on to a nicer place.

Dying Lion of Lucerne Monument
The most photographed bridge/water tower in Switerland
Lake Lucerne

Our final adventure in Switzerland was going up Mount Pilatus. 8 years ago the majority of our group from Conway did this, but mom and I stayed in the city to shop and have a relaxed day, which was wonderful. I decided, however, that this time around, I should make the trip to the top of the mountain. Everybody who went described it as one of the best experiences they had while on the trip. So, with all those good reviews, who wouldn't try it? And yes, it was a lovely day. It was a little disappointing that it was so cloudy that day, so our view wasn't quite as good as it could've been, but the whole experience was great. We took a peaceful hour and a half boat ride on Lake Lucerne,then took the world's steepest cogwheel train up to the top of the mountain. We ate German bratwursts for lunch, climbed to the top lookout points, then took the cable cars down to another stop on the mountain. Once again, we tried to ride a toboggan. But this was not just any toboggan; this was Switzerland's longest toboggan. What happened once we walked all the way up to it? Yes, it rained. So, we walked the the woods a little to get back down, then took the Gondolas to the very bottom (at which time it stopped raining). After returning to Lucerne and picking up a few last minute purchases, we got on the train to leave Switzerland and go back to France.

Mt. Pilatus from the boat ride

On the top!

We are sad about the toboggan :(

The final stop on our trip was Strasbourg, France, which basically sits on the border of France and Germany. Yet another half French/half German town was exciting, but not as exciting as being back in a city where I could order food without looking like an idiot and ask questions in the correct language if I needed help! In Strasbourg, we stayed in a real hotel, not a hostel, and although it was hot with no air conditioning, it was wonderful. I had almost forgotten why hotels are so much better: you have your own bathroom, you have your own room, you don't have to pack your things every time you leave YOUR room, you have a TV, you have your own bathroom, you have your own bathroom, and did I say that you have your own bathroom? Strasbourg was great. Although we really didn't do much, it was really enjoyable and a nice, calm way to end our trip. We saw a church and the Strasbourg Cathedral, we sat in the square with our feet in the fountain like the locals, we saw the pretty pastel houses, and we spent the afternoon at a café. Very low key. Very nice. Then we hopped on the TGV to go back home to Paris.

poster in a english bookstore :)

Although I've been in Europe all summer, this was the first time I have really "traveled." It was exciting and exhausting. I actually found myself a little homesick...I thought it was homesickness for Missouri (which maybe it was a little), but a funny thing happened when we got back to Paris...it basically went away! I never thought I would feel homesickness for Paris. But I certainly don't mind it! As I may have said before, it's a little strange to be on a train and see the Eiffel Tower and then think, "Ah, home." But I like it! No, I love it! As much fun as Switzerland was, it was so nice to be back!

As I said, I plan on writing again very soon to recap my last week and a half in Paris. I can't believe I have been here for just over 7 weeks and only have 3 weeks left! I still feel like there is so much I haven't seen! Today is the 14 Juillet (the French National Holiday), so I'll be going to watch the fireworks later (and maybe see Toy Story 3 lol). I plan on spending the next three weeks seeing all I can and exploring new areas of the city before my return to the states. To those of you who read this regularly, I hope I'm not too boring. I know this was a long post, but it was a long trip! Thanks for reading! I hope I'm giving you good ideas for your own future trips!

Au revoir (Auf Wiedersehen) et bisoux!

trisha