Katie's Paris Rendezvous

Friday, July 10, 2009

Paris in the Summer

Who knew the 4th could be so much fun!

On the 4th my friends and I went out to lunch. We found a mexican restaurant!!! It was no Salty Iguana or Aubelos but it was good for French-Mexican. After my first burrito in

almost a month, we did a little bit of shopping on our way to get the best ice cream in the world - Berthillon ice cream. I got peach and fresh strawberry (which co

st 50 cents more BUT was soooo worth it! It had real strawberries in it!) This ice cream is TO DIE FOR!! After this the small group split up because

a lot of people wanted to go home and nap. I am really over the whole sleeping thing - I mean how many times do you get to live in Paris for a summer!? So Steph and I went and did some more shopping! P.S. Right now is the biggest sale in Paris. Each July every store gets rid of all their merchandise from the year at dirt cheap prices! It's the best!! The government made it official that it's from June 25th - July 28th. I

t's crazy!

Around 8 we met up for dinner - where did we go? Did somebody saaaaaay McDonalds!? (that was sung to the McDo's tune...) Anyways we went to the most American place we could think of - McDonalds! Although these McDo's (that's the French nickname) are not at all like American ones. They are classy and pretty chic. We figu

re this is because it is the only way they can get Parisians to eat a hamburger and fries!

After demolishing dinner we went to th

e Seine river with some wine to enjoy the sights - little did we know we'd enjoy the sounds as well! There was a small band of 3 Bob Marley look-a-like guys playing guitar, drums, and singing. We decided to sit across from them and watch and by a couple hours in over 200 people were around watching them! It was great! They sang mostly American tunes like Jack Johnson, James Blunt, Oasis, and of course Bob Marley. Did I mention we did all of this under the lit up and glorious Notre Dame!? After the band got done we went to this little Irish pub in the middle of the Latin Quarter (where all the students are) and they had transformed the whole bar into an American bar!! There was only American music and they had ESPN on the TV and the bartenders where even dressed up like American people! (Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, etc.) It was really fun and they even had "American specials" which was 4 Euro Buds haha - it was definitely fun and we met a lot of French people there who

were nice to talk to and they shockingly are the only French people who apparently love Americans!

While there were no fireworks - we had a pretty fabulous 4th!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Trying to catch up....

Here's what I've written so far about my trip. I should have been doing this nightly! Oh well! This is still talking about my tour before I got to Paris...

Hi! Sorry I've been totally slacking on the posts! I think the best way I can do this is to do a brief summary of the days I didn't write and then just be better about posting now...

Free Day - On our free day Ashleigh and I woke up really late! We didn’t wake up until 1 pm! But we needed the sleep. We then tried to contact the rest of the group although only a few people have cell phones. We ended up deciding just to make the 30 minute walk down to the beach where we knew of this little crepere stand. We walked for what seemed like forever but we finally found it and we found a lot of the group there too! This is because the town is so small there were about two restaurants to chose from so it wasn’t really that surprising….I ordered a crepe with ham, cheese, and an egg. It was heavenly! So delicious!!! After lunch we walked to the beach which was about 20 yards away. We stuck our feet in the water and splashed for a while but it was absolutely freezing!! We then decided to find a little grocery store. We walked the opposite direction we came from to find it. We found a little ice cream shop and bought ice cream and continued walking, and walking, and walking, and walking….for about 2 hours. We eventually made it to town but it was incredibly looooooong walk - especially in my beach day sandels!! Oh well, we found the store and bought water and snacks and some wine and had a fabulous evening with each other on the beach. We went down and watched the sunset while drinking little glasses of French wine. We then went to this little bar right on the beach and got to speak French with all the locals! It was awesome to actually use French not just with each other and out of the classroom setting. The owners of the bar liked us a lot! They gave us two bottles of champagne! And after the bar closed (which they stayed open 2 hours longer for us -the locals really liked us for that ;) ) Anyways we then went to the beach and shot off fireworks the owners had and then we walked home. It was a GREAT day!

Mont St. Michel - We went to Mont St. Michel an old monk monastery - and it’s amazing!! So beautiful and looks very magical! When we were walking up to the top the streets looked a lot like Hogsmeade from Harry Potter. The view from the top is AMAZING!!! The tide moves out further here than anywhere else in all of France. When it comes in the monastery is completely surrounded by water and becomes a secluded island. You have to be completely silent when walking through the monastery; which was of course really hard for me ;) I had previously gone here with T. Ray but it was awesome to go in the summer!

Bell Foundry - Next we went to a bell foundry where we learned how to made bells. I can now tell you exactly how to make a bell and it’s a lot harder than you’d expect! They make these bells the same way they did in the 16^th century! The mold is made of horse manure, goat hair, and clay. It was really fascinating. Some of the people in our trip weren’t into it but I thought it was really cool how much time and effort is put into a bell. You never think about that. This foundry also repairs bells. They had in the entry way a bell they are getting ready to prepare made in the 1500’s. It’s the only bell of its type left in the world!

William Conquerer - We went to the town where William the Conquerer -King of England and Duke of Normandy lived. Here’s the DL on him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I_of_England

We went through his fortress and church it was really cool but the woman spoke in REALLY fast French. This just in when you can’t understand a language you tend to zone out…I definitely zoned. But the architecture was really cool! The Bayeux Tapestries are the story of William the Conqueror and we went to see them as well! These Tapestries are soooo old yet still in great condition and we got English guides during that so I actually understood what was going on! I forgot how much I love history! After we saw the tapestries we had a while before we had to get back on the bus so we went to the “Snack and Drink-Fast and Tasty” restaurant. I love the name of it! We ate French fries and ice cream! It was a great treat to have something familiar.

WWII Museum - We spent two whole days in the Normandy area going to all the WWII memorials, monuments, and museums. I love the history of WWII especially after learning so much about it during IB so this really meant a lot to me. The Peace Museum we went to was very cool with a lot of artifacts and memorabilia. I took a lot of photos. It’s cool because they have a lot of artifacts here because it is Europe, ya know? It’s where the war ACTAULLY occurred. There was a bench that said No Jews Allowed. That was pretty intense. Also there were real Nazi flags. It’s just crazy to think how huge of a part of history it is. I loved the Normandy area because they absolutely LOVE America and Americans! I mean all of France loves Obama but these towns have American flags hanging from houses! It was so nice to feel so welcome and honored!

Still to come:

American Cemetery

Omaha beach

Beach town

And then PARIS!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Photos - Written post coming tonight!

On the boat on the Seine

Cheese aisle at the grocery store

I love Paris!

Sacre Couer

Arc de Triumph

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Paris!!!

I promise to post a blog soon - probably tomorrow night but right now I'm just settling into Paris. Thought I'd post a few photos though so this site doesn't get boring!!

These photos are of the Eiffel Tower - my first view from the street today! The group met there at 1 today! Then there is me with Notre Dame in the background. The Obama supporters and the HUGE gay pride parade that we stumbled upon. The parliament building. And the cafe we ate dinner at tonight had lryes on the chairs!!! Sooo cool! Go AXO!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Pictures - Proof I'm really in France!

Me in front of Chenonceau

Us girls in front of Da Vinci's house

Chartres

I promise I will write more about everything I have been doing when I have time! I think when I get to Paris I will have way more time to record everything I have been doing/have done. But here are some pictures!!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Les Chateaux and Moelan sur Mer

On Thursday, all we did was go to chateau after chateau after chateau! It was so tiring. Of course there were absolutely breathtakingly beautiful but after awhile we were chateau-ed out!

The first one we went to was Chateau Chenonceau. It is this beautiful chateau that is built over the river!! I had been here with T.Ray but it was even prettier this time because the gardens were at their prime! The flowers here are absolutely amazing! It makes me think of Colorado because we always see the flowers looking fresh and alive when ours at home are dead - that is what it's like here. Anyways the chateau was nice but we spent most of our time in the gardens walking around and then just sitting in them talking. The weather was absolutely beautiful!

We then decided to walk back to the bus. On the way, a guy in our group named Jason wanted to show us the frogs in the moat. We really weren't that interested in seeing some frogs but we went with it to please him. We are so glad we did!! This moat is full of tiny green leaves and the frogs float right below it so not to be seen (I said it was so the French people did grab them to eat! Yum, frog legs! ;) haha) Anyways this on frog comes up and starts croaking. His neck is puffing out these little clear white sacks as it croaks louder than anything I have ever heard before!! Next thing we know probably 7-10 frogs are popping up everywhere croaking soo loud!!! And then as if it were a performance they stopped and all went back under. It was soo weird/hilarious/pretty cool! Then we found a labyrinth so clearly we walked to the middle and there was this cute little archway. Inside we found escargot! (a snail) It was a beautiful place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chateau_de_Chenonceau

Next we went to Chateau Chambord. This is another one I had been to with T.Ray but it was just as spectacular as the first time! And portions were open that hadn't been back then and some new things were on display. This chateau is easily the biggest castle I have EVER seen!! And the best part is it was built just as a hunting lodge!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château_de_Chambord#Notes

It's amazing inside with this double staircase that Da Vinci invented. The two staircases never touch each other but they are spun around together so it's like a double helix that never touches! It's INSANE!!! And very confusing! My favorite part of this chateau was the opera dresses that were on display. They were to die for!! I sometimes wish we still dressed like that - like get all dressed up just to go out with some friends! It would be crazy fun! This chateau had a lot more stuff on display - like carriages, furniture, beds...it was really fun! We spent the entire two hours just walking around.

The next chateau we went to was Chateau de Blois. Here we had a french tour guide tell us the history and I honestly didn't catch a lot of it. What I got though is it's built up of 4 pieces. With each new king it was partly torn down and we built to fit that king's style. It was pretty cool but by this point in the day we were all sooo dead tired! I didn't get to see much either because I was very confused on how to get around inside. I wish they would have put this chateau on the next day's plan because 3 chateaux in one day was just WAY too much!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chateau_de_Blois

Then we returned home for our last night in Tours. It was a good night. A small group of us went out to walk around the town one last time. I will really miss Tours! It was kind of like Wichita. It was a semi-big city but still felt safe and had a fun scene for college kids.

The next morning we lefta t 7:30 am. And yes I was up, packed, and out the door! Then we traveled to ANOTHER chateau. This one was cool though. Very Medieval Times! It was the Chateau de Angers. It is celebrating it's 600th Anniversary this year!! 600 YEARS!!! It was built in 1409. It just blow my mind to think that this building that I'm walking in was built before my country was even founded. Before the continent I live on was even known! Before they knew the earth wasn't flat! It is insane! But that's how everything here is - the history is so long and so rich. I love it! We went up in the tallest spire and we could see the entire city! The cities are weird here too because you see these OLD churches and chateaux but then there is a new age apartment building between the two. It's just funny how the city changes but still stays the same too. I wish America new how to preserve things like Europe does!