30 octobre 2012
i did this really fun walk with natey and alicia!
nate and i met up on line 12 and went to our metro stop at jules joffrin. alicia met us there and then we took the bus up to sacre coeur, the huge cathedral that overlooks all of paris.
from the basilica, there is the most amazing view of the entire city. i can't even get over it. it was so fun to look out over paris and pick out places that i know. it made me feel like i am beginning to understand this city. i can't say i understand it - not completely. i think that it would take years to even begin to understand it. it is so complex. my host mom says that even she doesn't know everything about it, and she has lived here her whole life (minus 15 years in nyc).
anyway. i feel like i'm finally beginning to understand this amazing city.
i loved being inside sacre coeur. it is such a massive church. it was built after the franco-prussian war of 1870, when france lost. it was a complete disaster. napoléon iii lost his power and was ultimately defeated at waterloo. (yes, click on that link, you won't be sorry.) ashley benning says that it is her favorite place in paris. i lit a little candle for her there :)
then we wandered into the église saint-pierre. it has been around since 1147. that is a long time, if you ask me.
we also found the place du tertre, which was a really fun little square where street artists sell their pieces. some of them weren't that impressive...but a lot of them i absolutely loved. i may or may not have bought a little tiny one for myself. i just couldn't resist!
we also found the musée du vieux monmartre, but we didn't get to go inside because it was closed (a lot of museums are closed on tuesdays - boo).
just a little ways away from the museum, there was a little vineyard. nothing too impressive, but a vineyard nonetheless. it was so awesome. it was a little piece of home for me in the middle of a big city. i loved it.
we saw lots of little places where people like gertrude stein and pablo picasso loved to hang out or eat. it reminded me of the movie midnight in paris. i wish i could have seen paris in those times. especially after seeing peoples' houses, like renoir and van gogh. i would have loved to casually run into either of them.
awe also found a park, with a statue of saint-denis holding his head. he was beheaded by the romans in the 3rd century, and legend has it that he carried his head down the north side of montmartre before collapsing. craaaaay craaaaaay. alicia and i played on the teeter-totter at the park. and then we went on it with natey, who flung us into the air. i feared for my life a couple of times and could not stop laughing. sometimes i think i am still five years old at heart. and when i say sometimes i really mean all the time.
we wandered around a few more streets, up and down some hills, and eventually we found the outdoor-dance-hall called moulin de la galette. renoir painted the piece, bal du moulin de la galette, from a dance here. it's in the orsay, and we actually looked at it a few weeks ago in our art history class! i love how everything here connects in all of our classes. it's so cool to actually SEE history as i am learning it. i love that about paris.
at the end our our walk, we found the moulin rouge. it wasn't part of the walk, but since it was only a few blocks away, we decided we needed to go see it. it wasn't anything super impressive - in my mind - but it had to be done because it's such an icon.
good walk! :)
sorry, still won't let me upload photos.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
rome
rome may be one of my proudest moments ever. i'm not even kidding a little bit.
wanna know why?
read on.
when dr hurlbut was with us, we had a rule about traveling that only allowed us to travel to either 1) french speaking countries and 2) london. i'd already checked london off the list.
but then dr erickson came along, and he didn't have the same rule as dr h. and because we only had so many weekends without art history, we decided on a sunday that we would go to rome. monday night we bought tickets. sort of. there were some struggles with stupid ryanair (the airline) but it all got figured out. we got a hotel. tuesday we argued with the airlines and i made an "itinerary." wednesday we had a group meeting. thursday morning at 6 am we set off for beauvais airport and off to rome.
because we had so many problems with stupid ryanair, and no one really knew what they want to do in rome, i decided to just make an itinerary. i went to one of my favorite bookstores - gibert jeune - and picked up a rome travel book and a map. i asked people what they loved in rome and started planning. my itinerary wasn't super exact…i planned things we wanted to do, but not exactly when we wanted to do them. i decided to just let that play out as we got to rome. but i found out about roma passes (museum discounts, metro use, etc), mapped out where things were on my handy map, and made sure everyone knew what times we needed to be at certain places.
i felt a little silly doing it. but it was actually super helpful. i felt a little bit like ashley benning, aboot, inc. and that made me happy.
everyone decided to call me "mama syd," a nickname that only grew more and more appropriate as the week wore on.
thursday morning we met up at porte maillot stop super early. i think we were there at 6 am. woof. from there, we caught a bus/shuttle to beauvais airport for our flight to rome!
our flight was fairly uneventful…except alicia fell asleep with her mouth open, and it was the funniest thing i have ever seen.
when we got to rome, we hopped on a bus that took us to the metro station closest to our hotel. from the map, i was worried that it would be really far way. turns out it was only like a block and a half away. (it turns out rome is totally a walking city. it's way smaller than any of us thought, and way smaller than the map makes it look.)
we checked in, then got lunch. we had our first italian pizzas. turns out the personal size pizzas are bigger than my head, so that was fun. then we bought roma passes and got on the metro.
our first stop was the colosseum. i navigated us there from the metro (which was kind of a joke because you could SEE it from the metro exit since it's colossal, you know). we got in free because of our roma passes, which was cool, and then i proceeded to find 10 euros on the ground. best. day. ever. and of course we had to sing a little lizzie mcguire. this is what dreams are made of, people.
we also hit up trajan's column, the pantheon, the trevi fountain, and the spanish steps. it was a really big day. i think my favorite of all those places was the trevi fountain. rome has such a fun night life, and the trevi fountain was so alive. it is just so huge. i mean, the thing is MASSIVE. i don't know what i was expecting, but it wasn't nearly that big in my little imagine-ings. i just loved how it was so lit up and the water was so loud. and the people were so happy. rome was such a happy city.
we had dinner at some restaurant near the spanish steps. it was awkwardly not delicious like we were hoping...but it's all good because we more than made up for it later on.
on friday morning, we got up, had some breakfast, and headed off to the vatican. kind of mind blowing, going to the vatican. it's only the home of the largest christian institution in the entire world. with an amazing collection of art, to boot.
the vatican museums were so much more than i was expecting. i think that because the louvre is the biggest museum in the world, i have just always expected to see pieces that i've learned about there. a silly assumption, but one that i have nonetheless. but because of that assumption, the vatican was one big huge surprise for me. honestly, the only thing that i really knew was there was the sistine chapel. other than that, i just kinda went along with the tour. it was so fun to find things that i just had no idea at all were there. like the scraper, or laöcoon, or the school of athens. i think that's what made all of rome so incredible. it is a city of surprises.
we accidentally went through the vatican museums twice. i mean, i guess it wasn't really on accident. we had gone through once before, but we missed the school of athens. and how do you go through the vatican museums without seeing the school of athens? so we went back through. twice in one day. who does that? i guess we do.
after the museums, we headed over to st peter's basilica. i also had no preconceived ideas of what the basilica would be like. we wandered there in the rain and made it inside. when we walked inside, my jaw literally dropped. it doesn't happen often. but my mouth was gaping open. so much marble. so much gold. so much over-the-top beauty that i couldn't even handle myself. i'm almost tearing up writing about it. scratch that - i am tearing up. i want to go back there so badly!
inside the basilica, everything was decorated in marble. all of the walls and columns and ceilings. everything. all surfaces had some sort of ornamentation. carvings, gilding, painting, mosaics. pretty much it was all there.
and do you know what else was there? michelangelo's pietà. that made my eyes water up. it was great. cori and i were really having a hard time keeping it together because of all the surprises. it was so great. we also found moses, and that was exciting. the altar of the cathedral was UNREAL. so big and gold. oh i loved that place.
my eyes watered when i had to leave. they really truly did. i was so sad.
and then we went and had dinner. we went to a little restaurant near our hotel and i had my first real italian pasta. chicken alfredo. it was SO GOOD. i was really quite happy. and we had tiramisu for dessert.
after dinner, we weren't quite ready for bed, so noah, cori, alicia, and i headed back over to the trevi fountain. it was pouring rain, so we conveniently took shelter in a gelato shop. it was run by an older gentleman and his family. he was so funny - the classic italian selling gelato. it made me so happy! he was so kind. when he handed me my gelato, i asked him if the family made the gelato. he said that his 25 year-old son made it all by hand. then i tasted my gelato. and before i could even stop myself, the following question came out of my mouth : "do you think your son would marry me?" he laughed and he said that if i wanted to be the stepmom of his son's two kids, then it would be okay.
after climbing on the trevi fountain (i mean what?), we went back to the hotel and slept. and in the middle of the night, we were all awakened by the most horrifyingly loud thunder any of us had ever heard in our lives. it was like all of the thunder in the heavens came together and let loose right above our heads. i swear the hotel was shaking, it was so loud. but because i was still so asleep, i couldn't quite get myself to react to it properly. i mumbled to alicia, "was that thunder?" and she mumbled back, "yeah." and that was about it. in the other room, everyone was screaming. good to know that alicia and i are such sound sleepers.
on saturday, we went to the piazza dei campidoglio. this little plaza was designed by michelangelo, and was used as a model for the joseph fielding smith building (jfsb) courtyard at byu. dr h told us about this piazza and how he had suggested that it be used as the model for the jfsb. we decided that it was a must that we go there to take a photo or five for him.
then we wandered over to the bocca de la verité. this is an old face. you put your hand in its mouth and if you are a liar, it supposedly bites your hand off. think roman holiday, here, people. i preteneded i was audrey hepburn and it was pretty fantastic.
and then we accidentally found the circo massimo, which only was the arena where chariot races were held. not really a big deal or anything. that was pretty much how rome was - one surprise after another. all just popping out of no where. it was so much fun.
then we went to this little church - the santa maria della vittoria. this is where bernini's the ecstasy of saint theresa is. cori and i had another one of our moments. and then we headed off to the borghese gallery.
i had heard of the borghese through friends and the internet. i knew it was one of the museums in rome that we couldn't miss. i knew that apollo and daphne by bernini was there. so pretty much it was a given that we had to go, even if that was the only piece worth seeing. but boy, were we in for a surprise.
we had to book our tickets for the gallery 2 days in advance. it is super strict on numbers of people who can come in, and you can hardly ever get last minute tickets to enter. luckily, because we have some handy dandy art history student cards, we got into the museum for free! sweet.
when we walked into the gallery, we saw these HUGE heads. i'm talking about 5 feet tall stone heads. it was pretty impressive. we walked through the adjoining rooms of the gallery when we saw this marble statue that looked familiar. turns out it was david by bernini. not really a big deal. but seriously. it was.
and then we saw apollo and daphne. that piece is so amazing. there are two images in my head that will forever be associated with the borghese and rome. one of those images is of the toes of daphne, turning into roots. the marble is so thin that you can literally see through it. it was so delicate and precise. i can't get it out of my head.
and then we wandered into the next room where i kind of looked up, but not really. i could tell there was a big statue looming overhead but i hadn't examined it yet. we got up to the name plate. cori nudged me and asked if i recognized it. i said no, because the name was in italian. and then i took a second look at the name plate and wanted to facepalm myself. i looked up. because really? the rape of persephone was in the borghese? who knew? i almost cried. i love this statue. the second image i have in my mind of rome and the borghese is hades' hand grabbing persephone's thigh. it does not look like marble. it is actually a human hand grabbing human flesh. i can't get over it.
and we saw about 16 other bernini statues. it was crazy. and then it was time to leave rome and return to paris.
on our way back to our hotel from the borghese, we were all starving. we couldn't find a cheap-ish restaurant and we all were getting grumpy. i made the mama syd nickname permanent when i remembered that i had some candy in my purse. thank goodness for flexi-fizz. i don't know what we would do on trips without that stuff. i gave everyone two pieces of candy to tide them over until we could find some pizza (which we successfully found). behind me i heard kayla say, "she really will make a great mom one day." it made me laugh. so now i will always and forever be mama syd.
after a wonderful two and a half days in rome, we had to return to paris. i've always heard people say that "italy is great...but it's dirtier and poorer than france." it may be true, but i was so so sad to leave italy. i was sad to leave the warmth. i was sad to leave the surprises and the discovery. i was sad to leave the italian people who were so open and friendly. i was sad about leaving the art and the food and the culture. i was sad about all of it.
in some ways, italy really reminded me of home. in my head, i've come up with this comparison that may or may not be completely accurate, but i've decided that france is like the east coast of america, while italy is like the west coast. it's chill and relaxed. it's got an "anything goes" feel. france is a little more proper, a little more upscale.
they are so extremely different from each other, but i have really come to love the "east coast" of europe that i call home. while i was so sad to leave italy, i was excited to make my way back to my little piece of france.
but rome will always have a very special place in my heart. :)
SORRY EVERYONE MY INTERNET WON'T LET ME POST ANY PHOTOS BUT I PROMISE I TOOK A LOT OF THEM IN TRUE HUGHES FASHION LOVE YOU ALL.
wanna know why?
read on.
when dr hurlbut was with us, we had a rule about traveling that only allowed us to travel to either 1) french speaking countries and 2) london. i'd already checked london off the list.
but then dr erickson came along, and he didn't have the same rule as dr h. and because we only had so many weekends without art history, we decided on a sunday that we would go to rome. monday night we bought tickets. sort of. there were some struggles with stupid ryanair (the airline) but it all got figured out. we got a hotel. tuesday we argued with the airlines and i made an "itinerary." wednesday we had a group meeting. thursday morning at 6 am we set off for beauvais airport and off to rome.
because we had so many problems with stupid ryanair, and no one really knew what they want to do in rome, i decided to just make an itinerary. i went to one of my favorite bookstores - gibert jeune - and picked up a rome travel book and a map. i asked people what they loved in rome and started planning. my itinerary wasn't super exact…i planned things we wanted to do, but not exactly when we wanted to do them. i decided to just let that play out as we got to rome. but i found out about roma passes (museum discounts, metro use, etc), mapped out where things were on my handy map, and made sure everyone knew what times we needed to be at certain places.
i felt a little silly doing it. but it was actually super helpful. i felt a little bit like ashley benning, aboot, inc. and that made me happy.
everyone decided to call me "mama syd," a nickname that only grew more and more appropriate as the week wore on.
thursday morning we met up at porte maillot stop super early. i think we were there at 6 am. woof. from there, we caught a bus/shuttle to beauvais airport for our flight to rome!
our flight was fairly uneventful…except alicia fell asleep with her mouth open, and it was the funniest thing i have ever seen.
when we got to rome, we hopped on a bus that took us to the metro station closest to our hotel. from the map, i was worried that it would be really far way. turns out it was only like a block and a half away. (it turns out rome is totally a walking city. it's way smaller than any of us thought, and way smaller than the map makes it look.)
we checked in, then got lunch. we had our first italian pizzas. turns out the personal size pizzas are bigger than my head, so that was fun. then we bought roma passes and got on the metro.
our first stop was the colosseum. i navigated us there from the metro (which was kind of a joke because you could SEE it from the metro exit since it's colossal, you know). we got in free because of our roma passes, which was cool, and then i proceeded to find 10 euros on the ground. best. day. ever. and of course we had to sing a little lizzie mcguire. this is what dreams are made of, people.
we also hit up trajan's column, the pantheon, the trevi fountain, and the spanish steps. it was a really big day. i think my favorite of all those places was the trevi fountain. rome has such a fun night life, and the trevi fountain was so alive. it is just so huge. i mean, the thing is MASSIVE. i don't know what i was expecting, but it wasn't nearly that big in my little imagine-ings. i just loved how it was so lit up and the water was so loud. and the people were so happy. rome was such a happy city.
we had dinner at some restaurant near the spanish steps. it was awkwardly not delicious like we were hoping...but it's all good because we more than made up for it later on.
on friday morning, we got up, had some breakfast, and headed off to the vatican. kind of mind blowing, going to the vatican. it's only the home of the largest christian institution in the entire world. with an amazing collection of art, to boot.
the vatican museums were so much more than i was expecting. i think that because the louvre is the biggest museum in the world, i have just always expected to see pieces that i've learned about there. a silly assumption, but one that i have nonetheless. but because of that assumption, the vatican was one big huge surprise for me. honestly, the only thing that i really knew was there was the sistine chapel. other than that, i just kinda went along with the tour. it was so fun to find things that i just had no idea at all were there. like the scraper, or laöcoon, or the school of athens. i think that's what made all of rome so incredible. it is a city of surprises.
we accidentally went through the vatican museums twice. i mean, i guess it wasn't really on accident. we had gone through once before, but we missed the school of athens. and how do you go through the vatican museums without seeing the school of athens? so we went back through. twice in one day. who does that? i guess we do.
after the museums, we headed over to st peter's basilica. i also had no preconceived ideas of what the basilica would be like. we wandered there in the rain and made it inside. when we walked inside, my jaw literally dropped. it doesn't happen often. but my mouth was gaping open. so much marble. so much gold. so much over-the-top beauty that i couldn't even handle myself. i'm almost tearing up writing about it. scratch that - i am tearing up. i want to go back there so badly!
inside the basilica, everything was decorated in marble. all of the walls and columns and ceilings. everything. all surfaces had some sort of ornamentation. carvings, gilding, painting, mosaics. pretty much it was all there.
and do you know what else was there? michelangelo's pietà. that made my eyes water up. it was great. cori and i were really having a hard time keeping it together because of all the surprises. it was so great. we also found moses, and that was exciting. the altar of the cathedral was UNREAL. so big and gold. oh i loved that place.
my eyes watered when i had to leave. they really truly did. i was so sad.
and then we went and had dinner. we went to a little restaurant near our hotel and i had my first real italian pasta. chicken alfredo. it was SO GOOD. i was really quite happy. and we had tiramisu for dessert.
after dinner, we weren't quite ready for bed, so noah, cori, alicia, and i headed back over to the trevi fountain. it was pouring rain, so we conveniently took shelter in a gelato shop. it was run by an older gentleman and his family. he was so funny - the classic italian selling gelato. it made me so happy! he was so kind. when he handed me my gelato, i asked him if the family made the gelato. he said that his 25 year-old son made it all by hand. then i tasted my gelato. and before i could even stop myself, the following question came out of my mouth : "do you think your son would marry me?" he laughed and he said that if i wanted to be the stepmom of his son's two kids, then it would be okay.
after climbing on the trevi fountain (i mean what?), we went back to the hotel and slept. and in the middle of the night, we were all awakened by the most horrifyingly loud thunder any of us had ever heard in our lives. it was like all of the thunder in the heavens came together and let loose right above our heads. i swear the hotel was shaking, it was so loud. but because i was still so asleep, i couldn't quite get myself to react to it properly. i mumbled to alicia, "was that thunder?" and she mumbled back, "yeah." and that was about it. in the other room, everyone was screaming. good to know that alicia and i are such sound sleepers.
on saturday, we went to the piazza dei campidoglio. this little plaza was designed by michelangelo, and was used as a model for the joseph fielding smith building (jfsb) courtyard at byu. dr h told us about this piazza and how he had suggested that it be used as the model for the jfsb. we decided that it was a must that we go there to take a photo or five for him.
then we wandered over to the bocca de la verité. this is an old face. you put your hand in its mouth and if you are a liar, it supposedly bites your hand off. think roman holiday, here, people. i preteneded i was audrey hepburn and it was pretty fantastic.
and then we accidentally found the circo massimo, which only was the arena where chariot races were held. not really a big deal or anything. that was pretty much how rome was - one surprise after another. all just popping out of no where. it was so much fun.
then we went to this little church - the santa maria della vittoria. this is where bernini's the ecstasy of saint theresa is. cori and i had another one of our moments. and then we headed off to the borghese gallery.
i had heard of the borghese through friends and the internet. i knew it was one of the museums in rome that we couldn't miss. i knew that apollo and daphne by bernini was there. so pretty much it was a given that we had to go, even if that was the only piece worth seeing. but boy, were we in for a surprise.
we had to book our tickets for the gallery 2 days in advance. it is super strict on numbers of people who can come in, and you can hardly ever get last minute tickets to enter. luckily, because we have some handy dandy art history student cards, we got into the museum for free! sweet.
when we walked into the gallery, we saw these HUGE heads. i'm talking about 5 feet tall stone heads. it was pretty impressive. we walked through the adjoining rooms of the gallery when we saw this marble statue that looked familiar. turns out it was david by bernini. not really a big deal. but seriously. it was.
and then we saw apollo and daphne. that piece is so amazing. there are two images in my head that will forever be associated with the borghese and rome. one of those images is of the toes of daphne, turning into roots. the marble is so thin that you can literally see through it. it was so delicate and precise. i can't get it out of my head.
and then we wandered into the next room where i kind of looked up, but not really. i could tell there was a big statue looming overhead but i hadn't examined it yet. we got up to the name plate. cori nudged me and asked if i recognized it. i said no, because the name was in italian. and then i took a second look at the name plate and wanted to facepalm myself. i looked up. because really? the rape of persephone was in the borghese? who knew? i almost cried. i love this statue. the second image i have in my mind of rome and the borghese is hades' hand grabbing persephone's thigh. it does not look like marble. it is actually a human hand grabbing human flesh. i can't get over it.
and we saw about 16 other bernini statues. it was crazy. and then it was time to leave rome and return to paris.
on our way back to our hotel from the borghese, we were all starving. we couldn't find a cheap-ish restaurant and we all were getting grumpy. i made the mama syd nickname permanent when i remembered that i had some candy in my purse. thank goodness for flexi-fizz. i don't know what we would do on trips without that stuff. i gave everyone two pieces of candy to tide them over until we could find some pizza (which we successfully found). behind me i heard kayla say, "she really will make a great mom one day." it made me laugh. so now i will always and forever be mama syd.
after a wonderful two and a half days in rome, we had to return to paris. i've always heard people say that "italy is great...but it's dirtier and poorer than france." it may be true, but i was so so sad to leave italy. i was sad to leave the warmth. i was sad to leave the surprises and the discovery. i was sad to leave the italian people who were so open and friendly. i was sad about leaving the art and the food and the culture. i was sad about all of it.
in some ways, italy really reminded me of home. in my head, i've come up with this comparison that may or may not be completely accurate, but i've decided that france is like the east coast of america, while italy is like the west coast. it's chill and relaxed. it's got an "anything goes" feel. france is a little more proper, a little more upscale.
they are so extremely different from each other, but i have really come to love the "east coast" of europe that i call home. while i was so sad to leave italy, i was excited to make my way back to my little piece of france.
but rome will always have a very special place in my heart. :)
SORRY EVERYONE MY INTERNET WON'T LET ME POST ANY PHOTOS BUT I PROMISE I TOOK A LOT OF THEM IN TRUE HUGHES FASHION LOVE YOU ALL.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
les grands boulevards || the grand boulevards
23 octobre 2012
yay grands boulevards!!
this walk was super cool. it's in a super ritzy part of paris. during napoléon iii's empire, he asked baron georges-eugène haussmann to help with the new layout of paris that napoléon had in mind. much of paris was leveled. a new network of streets and over 40,000 new buildings were erected. streets were widened, buildings were made equal. haussmann tried to keep things very uniform. when looking around paris, i can definitely tell the difference between haussmann's style and previous architecture. it's really cool to be able to see the difference between them.
this walk started on the boulevard haussmann, behind the opéra garnier. all the buildings are uniform. we found printemps, which is a departments store that is made up of several buildings connected by covered walkways. it's super fancy - i can't imagine the money people spend there! crazy! when we originally did this walk, it was october. i have since returned a few times and now there are christmas decorations in all the windows and the shops. so good. so happy. i like to walk through with my christmas music on. :)
the next main store we found was the galéries lafayette. it's very similar to printemps - several buildings connected. we went inside the store and went straight to the center of it. when i looked up to the ceiling, i saw the most amazing stained glass dome i have ever seen. it was so wonderful. i was obsessed.
after we explored the galéries lafayette, we went to the opéra garnier. we didn't go inside (we were waiting for phone calls from the airline about some tickets for our upcoming trip to rome), but i went inside later and it was amazing. such a breathtaking building. this building was originally built for opera, but it is mostly used today for ballet. the phantom of the opera is based in this building, and there really is lake under the opera house! it's really small, but it's there.
then we walked down the rue de la paix. it is lined with fancy shops like cartier. that was fun. we also saw the place vendôme, where people like chopin (who's heart is buried in warsaw - saw it when i went there!), puccini, danton, and john law. it wsa turned into a royal square later, and now it is private residences. the column in the middle of the square was erected in 1806 to celebrate napoléon's victory at austerlitz.
then we turned down rue saint-honoré. we went into l'église saint-roch. i knew i recognized this church - and it turns out it is the church where sasha's dad charley went to church when he lived in paris as a boy. i was here 5 years ago when we visted the de limurs! crazy. it has been so cool to be able to piece together where things were and understand paris for myself, instead of blindly following charley and gretchen around. i've loved it! anyway, this church was built in 1653 by louis xiv.
down the street, there is a statue of joan of arc just outside the tuileries gardens in the place de pyramides.
this was a fun walk! good times :)
yay grands boulevards!!
this walk was super cool. it's in a super ritzy part of paris. during napoléon iii's empire, he asked baron georges-eugène haussmann to help with the new layout of paris that napoléon had in mind. much of paris was leveled. a new network of streets and over 40,000 new buildings were erected. streets were widened, buildings were made equal. haussmann tried to keep things very uniform. when looking around paris, i can definitely tell the difference between haussmann's style and previous architecture. it's really cool to be able to see the difference between them.
this walk started on the boulevard haussmann, behind the opéra garnier. all the buildings are uniform. we found printemps, which is a departments store that is made up of several buildings connected by covered walkways. it's super fancy - i can't imagine the money people spend there! crazy! when we originally did this walk, it was october. i have since returned a few times and now there are christmas decorations in all the windows and the shops. so good. so happy. i like to walk through with my christmas music on. :)
the next main store we found was the galéries lafayette. it's very similar to printemps - several buildings connected. we went inside the store and went straight to the center of it. when i looked up to the ceiling, i saw the most amazing stained glass dome i have ever seen. it was so wonderful. i was obsessed.
after we explored the galéries lafayette, we went to the opéra garnier. we didn't go inside (we were waiting for phone calls from the airline about some tickets for our upcoming trip to rome), but i went inside later and it was amazing. such a breathtaking building. this building was originally built for opera, but it is mostly used today for ballet. the phantom of the opera is based in this building, and there really is lake under the opera house! it's really small, but it's there.
then we walked down the rue de la paix. it is lined with fancy shops like cartier. that was fun. we also saw the place vendôme, where people like chopin (who's heart is buried in warsaw - saw it when i went there!), puccini, danton, and john law. it wsa turned into a royal square later, and now it is private residences. the column in the middle of the square was erected in 1806 to celebrate napoléon's victory at austerlitz.
then we turned down rue saint-honoré. we went into l'église saint-roch. i knew i recognized this church - and it turns out it is the church where sasha's dad charley went to church when he lived in paris as a boy. i was here 5 years ago when we visted the de limurs! crazy. it has been so cool to be able to piece together where things were and understand paris for myself, instead of blindly following charley and gretchen around. i've loved it! anyway, this church was built in 1653 by louis xiv.
down the street, there is a statue of joan of arc just outside the tuileries gardens in the place de pyramides.
this was a fun walk! good times :)
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| galéries lafayette |
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| galéries lafayette |
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| adorable baby clothes on rue saint-honoré |
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| saint-roch |
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| cartier - the mother of all engagement rings. i hope any interested boys are taking note of this ring. |
Sunday, October 21, 2012
londres || london
18 - 20 octobre 2012
sage, annie, alicia, and i spent a weekend in london! it was so much fun.
after class on thursday, we took the RER (train) to gare du nord, where we took the eurostar through the chunnel to london. it was a super easy trip. the ride was about 2 1/2 hours. i love trains.
when we got into london, we obviously had to make a stop at king's cross...because of platform 9 3/4. duh. we wouldn't be real harry potter fans if we didn't.
then we found our hotel. we had to navigate through the tube, which is definitely not as efficient as the paris metro (sorry all you london tube lovers, but it's the truth). we cleaned up a little bit, and went out for a night on the town!
SPECIAL SHOUT OUT : dear sage's mom. you are the most wonderful person ever for our hotel. thank you, thank you, thank you! it really means a lot to all of us! we had the best time ever and you made it all possible :)
we went to picadilly circus, where we were going to see les misérables. annie found a super good deal for tickets online before we came to london, so of course we booked the tickets asap. we had dinner at this place called "ed's diner." it had real american food. like real american hamburgers. and milkshakes.
i had a cheeseburger and a chocolate malt with extra malt. i am definitely ed hughes' granddaughter. :)
after dinner, we made our way to the queen's theater for les mis. i can't even tell you how amazing it was. we were all in the very last row of the highest balcony, but it didn't even matter. i had never seen les mis before, and didn't really know what to expect. i can honestly say that it was one of the most amazing musicals i have ever seen in my life. there were a few times when all four of us had tears in our eyes. it's not much of a surprise that my eyes were watering...haha. i am definitely carole hughes' granddaughter :)
after the play, we just stumbled upon m&ms world. I WAS SO HAPPY. because who loves m&ms?
if you guessed that it was me...then you guessed correctly. because i love m&ms. maybe a little too much. it's probably a good thing that i don't have access to peanut butter m&ms here in europe...but i sure do miss them.
"i just bought 10 pounds worth of m&ms. that could be monetary or weight. that's fun." -sage
anyway.
on friday, we got up, had breakfast, and did some sight seeing! we went to abbey road (where we just so happened to be wearing the same colors at the beatles...best accident ever!), big ben, westminster abbey, and then we went to this awesome little pub for lunch over by the national gallery. we all got fish and chips. SO GOOD. i don't normally like fish...but i make an exception for fish and chips.
this was where the pea and pepper incident took place. my life has been forever changed. (annie, sage, alicia...if you're reading this, i am laughing while typing this.)
after a super struggle with british money, we decided spur of the moment to see if there were any tickets for some other musicals available for that evening. we found a little ticket stand and found out that there were 4 seats available for wicked at a really reasonable price. so obviously we jumped on that!
we also explored the national gallery, which was super fun. after our art history classes, we were having the best time ever picking out different styles of art, recognizing other artists' influences, and just have fun enjoying the amazing collection they have.
then we wandered back over to picadilly circus, where we thought our theater was. we got dinner at a little cafe and enjoyed being dry for a while. (it was pouring outside.) when it was getting close to show time, annie decided to look up directions to the theater.
and that's when we realized : we were going to the wrong theater. there are TWO apollo theaters in london - the apollo VICTORIA and the apollo QUEENS. we wanted the apollo VICTORIA, all the way across town. we had fifteen minutes to get all the way across town. FIFTEEN MINUTES. absurd.
so we got out of our seats. we ran outside. we sprinted to the tube. we (im)patiently rode the tube to our transfer. we sprinted through that tube station. we (im)patiently rode that tube to the station we needed. we sprinted through the station to an information desk where annie asked "WHERE IS THE APOLLO VICTORIA" using her indoor voice, of course, and then we sprinted to the theater.
it was only a little bit stressful. and we made it with two minutes to spare.
so we sat, drenched in sweat and rain, and watched wicked. alicia had never seen it before, so it was really fun to see her reactions to things. also...i just really love that musical. so i was really happy :)
after our evening out with elphaba and glinda, we called it a night.
on saturday, we got up, ate some breakfast, and went to the tate museum of modern art. it was kinda weird...but i liked it. i mostly loved the bookstore because it reminded me so much of my parents. they would have loved everything there. i wish they could have seen it all.
then we wandered a little bit more and found the globe theater, a random pirate ship, the thames river, london bridge, and the tower bridge.
and then we just happened to find harrod's. i love that place. it is massive. and so expensive and so beautiful. my favorite parts were the shoes (duh), the evening gowns (we're talking gowns that were at a minimum £3,000), and of course, christmas world.
(side note : it is christmas EVERYWHERE in europe.)
after picking our luggage up from our hotel, we got fish and chips again at a little pub called the grazing goat. i thought that was kinda fun. they were the best fish and chips ever. i loved them.
when we were at the train station waiting for our eurostar, we realized we had a few extra pounds on us...so naturally we bought some candy. british chocolate = happiness. like bubble chocolate and wispas and such. and shortbread, too.
i loved going to london. even though it made me a little homesick to hear people speaking english (even though sometimes i couldn't understand them haha), it was one of the best weekends EVER. i feel like i say that about every weekend, but it's the truth! they're all just so good! and you can never go wrong with a little london town :)
sage, annie, alicia, and i spent a weekend in london! it was so much fun.
after class on thursday, we took the RER (train) to gare du nord, where we took the eurostar through the chunnel to london. it was a super easy trip. the ride was about 2 1/2 hours. i love trains.
when we got into london, we obviously had to make a stop at king's cross...because of platform 9 3/4. duh. we wouldn't be real harry potter fans if we didn't.
then we found our hotel. we had to navigate through the tube, which is definitely not as efficient as the paris metro (sorry all you london tube lovers, but it's the truth). we cleaned up a little bit, and went out for a night on the town!
SPECIAL SHOUT OUT : dear sage's mom. you are the most wonderful person ever for our hotel. thank you, thank you, thank you! it really means a lot to all of us! we had the best time ever and you made it all possible :)
we went to picadilly circus, where we were going to see les misérables. annie found a super good deal for tickets online before we came to london, so of course we booked the tickets asap. we had dinner at this place called "ed's diner." it had real american food. like real american hamburgers. and milkshakes.
i had a cheeseburger and a chocolate malt with extra malt. i am definitely ed hughes' granddaughter. :)
after dinner, we made our way to the queen's theater for les mis. i can't even tell you how amazing it was. we were all in the very last row of the highest balcony, but it didn't even matter. i had never seen les mis before, and didn't really know what to expect. i can honestly say that it was one of the most amazing musicals i have ever seen in my life. there were a few times when all four of us had tears in our eyes. it's not much of a surprise that my eyes were watering...haha. i am definitely carole hughes' granddaughter :)
after the play, we just stumbled upon m&ms world. I WAS SO HAPPY. because who loves m&ms?
if you guessed that it was me...then you guessed correctly. because i love m&ms. maybe a little too much. it's probably a good thing that i don't have access to peanut butter m&ms here in europe...but i sure do miss them.
"i just bought 10 pounds worth of m&ms. that could be monetary or weight. that's fun." -sage
anyway.
on friday, we got up, had breakfast, and did some sight seeing! we went to abbey road (where we just so happened to be wearing the same colors at the beatles...best accident ever!), big ben, westminster abbey, and then we went to this awesome little pub for lunch over by the national gallery. we all got fish and chips. SO GOOD. i don't normally like fish...but i make an exception for fish and chips.
this was where the pea and pepper incident took place. my life has been forever changed. (annie, sage, alicia...if you're reading this, i am laughing while typing this.)
after a super struggle with british money, we decided spur of the moment to see if there were any tickets for some other musicals available for that evening. we found a little ticket stand and found out that there were 4 seats available for wicked at a really reasonable price. so obviously we jumped on that!
we also explored the national gallery, which was super fun. after our art history classes, we were having the best time ever picking out different styles of art, recognizing other artists' influences, and just have fun enjoying the amazing collection they have.
then we wandered back over to picadilly circus, where we thought our theater was. we got dinner at a little cafe and enjoyed being dry for a while. (it was pouring outside.) when it was getting close to show time, annie decided to look up directions to the theater.
and that's when we realized : we were going to the wrong theater. there are TWO apollo theaters in london - the apollo VICTORIA and the apollo QUEENS. we wanted the apollo VICTORIA, all the way across town. we had fifteen minutes to get all the way across town. FIFTEEN MINUTES. absurd.
so we got out of our seats. we ran outside. we sprinted to the tube. we (im)patiently rode the tube to our transfer. we sprinted through that tube station. we (im)patiently rode that tube to the station we needed. we sprinted through the station to an information desk where annie asked "WHERE IS THE APOLLO VICTORIA" using her indoor voice, of course, and then we sprinted to the theater.
it was only a little bit stressful. and we made it with two minutes to spare.
so we sat, drenched in sweat and rain, and watched wicked. alicia had never seen it before, so it was really fun to see her reactions to things. also...i just really love that musical. so i was really happy :)
after our evening out with elphaba and glinda, we called it a night.
on saturday, we got up, ate some breakfast, and went to the tate museum of modern art. it was kinda weird...but i liked it. i mostly loved the bookstore because it reminded me so much of my parents. they would have loved everything there. i wish they could have seen it all.
then we wandered a little bit more and found the globe theater, a random pirate ship, the thames river, london bridge, and the tower bridge.
and then we just happened to find harrod's. i love that place. it is massive. and so expensive and so beautiful. my favorite parts were the shoes (duh), the evening gowns (we're talking gowns that were at a minimum £3,000), and of course, christmas world.
(side note : it is christmas EVERYWHERE in europe.)
after picking our luggage up from our hotel, we got fish and chips again at a little pub called the grazing goat. i thought that was kinda fun. they were the best fish and chips ever. i loved them.
when we were at the train station waiting for our eurostar, we realized we had a few extra pounds on us...so naturally we bought some candy. british chocolate = happiness. like bubble chocolate and wispas and such. and shortbread, too.
i loved going to london. even though it made me a little homesick to hear people speaking english (even though sometimes i couldn't understand them haha), it was one of the best weekends EVER. i feel like i say that about every weekend, but it's the truth! they're all just so good! and you can never go wrong with a little london town :)
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| alicia, me, sage, and annie at platform 9 3/4. |
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| on my way to hogwarts, where i clearly belong. |
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| best chocolate malt ever at ed's diner. |
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| les mis! |
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| phone booth and big ben |
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| buckingham palace in the rain with alicia. |
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| sage, annie, alicia, and me |
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| after sprinting across london. we look good. we know. |
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| always keep in mind that there are TWO victoria theaters in london. |
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| the jolly footman at harrod's |
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| reminiscing on BSE 2008 with my pal "flappin' jack" |
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| best fish and chips EVER |
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
la défense
16 octobre 2012
after finishing my marais walk, i met up with alicia at la défense for another walk! two in one day. i know, i am a little crazy. but it was fun.
this walk was the complete opposite of the marais walk. la défense is just outside of paris. it is a very modern area, full of sky scrapers.
we started this walk at the esplanade de la défense. from this view point, you can see straight down the champs-élysées to the arc de triomphe. it's fun, because the arc de triomphe lines up exactly with the grande arche, a marble office building that mirrors the arc de triomphe.
this area was super fun to walk around in. i almost felt like i was in space, it was so modern and different from the rest of paris. the more time i spent there, the more i liked it. it was just so surreal!
we found lots of cool art pieces, like the grande mosaïque, a mosaic fountain that is made up of 10 cylinders, and is possibly the largest mosaic in the world.
we also found le somnambule || the sleepwalker. this one creeped me out a little bit, but i still thought it was kinda cool.
my favorite piece that we found was the chiminée d'aératioin (the moretti tower). it is made up of 672 colored tubes. i loved the colors! it was so fun.
in the center of the square of the grande arche, there is a multi-colored fountain called the fontaine monumentale d'agam. it was super fun to watch the water shoot up from the fountain at different times.
there was even a building where it felt appropriate to take a "beam me up scotty" photo. alicia was kind enough to take one for me.
i really liked this area of paris. it is so different and foreign from anything i have seen in the heart of paris, but it was so fun! i loved the weirdness of it. and the fact that there was a mall at the end of the walk. where i bought some boots. i love those boots. :)
after finishing my marais walk, i met up with alicia at la défense for another walk! two in one day. i know, i am a little crazy. but it was fun.
this walk was the complete opposite of the marais walk. la défense is just outside of paris. it is a very modern area, full of sky scrapers.
we started this walk at the esplanade de la défense. from this view point, you can see straight down the champs-élysées to the arc de triomphe. it's fun, because the arc de triomphe lines up exactly with the grande arche, a marble office building that mirrors the arc de triomphe.
this area was super fun to walk around in. i almost felt like i was in space, it was so modern and different from the rest of paris. the more time i spent there, the more i liked it. it was just so surreal!
we found lots of cool art pieces, like the grande mosaïque, a mosaic fountain that is made up of 10 cylinders, and is possibly the largest mosaic in the world.
we also found le somnambule || the sleepwalker. this one creeped me out a little bit, but i still thought it was kinda cool.
my favorite piece that we found was the chiminée d'aératioin (the moretti tower). it is made up of 672 colored tubes. i loved the colors! it was so fun.
in the center of the square of the grande arche, there is a multi-colored fountain called the fontaine monumentale d'agam. it was super fun to watch the water shoot up from the fountain at different times.
there was even a building where it felt appropriate to take a "beam me up scotty" photo. alicia was kind enough to take one for me.
i really liked this area of paris. it is so different and foreign from anything i have seen in the heart of paris, but it was so fun! i loved the weirdness of it. and the fact that there was a mall at the end of the walk. where i bought some boots. i love those boots. :)
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| awkward selfie in a skyscraper window with the grande mosaïque in the background |
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| la grande mosaïque |
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| the sleepwalker |
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| chiminée d'aératioin. |
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| fontaine monumentale d'agam and the grande arche. |
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| i love la défense. |
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| alicia loves la défense. |
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| we both love la défense! |
marais walk 1
16 octobre, 2012
i think of all the walks i have done so far (and i am speaking after having done a lot), this walk was definitely my favorite. i did this walk all on my own, with no time constraints. i just let myself wander and explore and go where i wanted (while still following the map, of course).
just a little background - the marais is a neighborhood that was built upon reclaimed swampland. it was a very popular place to live until the revolution, when it fell into disrepair. it wasn't until andré malraux, the minister of art under charles de gaulle, saved it from destruction. now the marais is full of life. it contains parts of the 3rd and 4th arrondisements, the jewish quarter, and so much more.
this walk started at the seine. i walked from the seine to the hôtel de sens, which is the one of the oldest buildings in paris. it used to be the home of the archbishop of sens, and then the first wife of henry iv. now it contains la bibliothèque fourney || the fine arts library of paris.
then i turned down rue charlemagne. along this street, there was a part of the wall that philippe auguste built around 1200 to enclose and protect paris. it's just connected to a school. not a big deal, really, to go to school and hang out around this wall that was built 800 years ago.
then i turned down rue des jardins saint-paul, where i turned into a little courtyard called village saint-paul. because i did this walk on a tuesday, most of the shops in the courtyard were closed, but it was so cool. all the little shops were filled with knick-knacks and tchotchkes. i found one shop that had day of the dead skulls and i thought of my aunt maryn. it was really cool.
after wandering through the village, i turned down rue saint-paul. there were so many good antique shops on this street. i want to go back and wander some more, for sure. i stopped in a shop called "ew," which i found especially funny. it turned out to be the best little antique store EVER and i may or may not have picked up a few choice finds from there. so family members...be excited for christmas. :)
from ew, i took myself to l'église saint-paul saint-louis. this is a church that stands opposite the apartment that sasha and her family lived in while they were here in 2006-2007. for some reason, when we were visiting them, i never went into this church, even though it was right across the street. i can't believe i never went it...but i'm so glad i got the opportunity to come back! inside the church was awesome. it was painted and sculpted and wonderful.
after spending a good half hour in saint paul, i got myself a crêpe citron. i think those are my favorite crêpes. don't get me wrong, i love a good nutella crêpe as much as the next person (and sometimes i like it with bananas yum). but the citron...so good. the french take a crêpe, sprinkle some sugar (white, not powdered) on it, and add some lemon juice. it is soooo good.
i took myself and my crêpe citron to place des vosges, which is paris' oldest square. it was built by henry iv, who wanted to create an elegant square in the marais where people could walk around and where members of the royal court could hold public and private celebrations and parades. the houses surrounding the square were sold to nobility, and later to other people.
place number 6 of place des vosges was once the home of victor hugo. i went inside his apartment - now a free museum - and enjoyed my time there. i ran into a couple from salt lake who were on vacation, so we talked for a few minutes and recommended a few cool places to check out. i love americans :)
after visitng victor hugo's home, i went to musée carnavalet. on my way there, i talked to an old man who was selling art on the side of the street. we had an ENTIRE conversation IN FRENCH. it was like 10 minutes long. i ended up buying one of his pieces that he has had since 1985. he told me he wanted it to go to a good home and thought i would be good to it. that made me happy. the painting is kinda weird...but i kinda like weird, so it worked out nicely. i also got gelato at amorino, this really great gelato and waffle shop that is all around paris. i tried the speculoos and the passion fruit. i wandered in and out of a few more shops before entering the musée carnavalet.
the musée carnavalet is on rue de sévigné. it is such an awesome museum! the entire thing is housed in one home - the home of madame de sévigné, who is famous for writing witty letters about paris. now it is a museum that tells the history of paris. i have never been in such a museum. i vaguely remember coming to this museum with the de limur's back in '07, but a combination of jet lag and being a 14 year-old caused me to not pay too much attention the first time i was there. this time, i got myself completely lost. i am talking "couldn't find the exit and no one could help me find my way out because no one spoke english and i don't speak enough french to understand detailed directions" lost. it was a little frustrating to not have any idea how to find my way out...but i made it, eventually. besides getting lost, the museum was amazing. there was so much information it was a little overwhelming. if you go to the musée carnavalet, don't try and do it all in one day. but do it. you won't regret it :)
after visiting the musée carnavalet, i walked around outside a little more. i walked through the jardin georges cain, and saw some interesting sculptures. and i saw some cool hôtels, which aren't hotels in the sense of an american "hotel" where you can stay while on vacation. these hôtels are private residences.
this was such a fun walk. it reminded me so much of my family, probably because of all the antique shops and because the last time i was here 5 years ago, i was with them. it made me miss them. i think that is partly why i loved it so much - it reminded me of how much i love my family and of how excited i am to see them in person in a month! :)
i think of all the walks i have done so far (and i am speaking after having done a lot), this walk was definitely my favorite. i did this walk all on my own, with no time constraints. i just let myself wander and explore and go where i wanted (while still following the map, of course).
just a little background - the marais is a neighborhood that was built upon reclaimed swampland. it was a very popular place to live until the revolution, when it fell into disrepair. it wasn't until andré malraux, the minister of art under charles de gaulle, saved it from destruction. now the marais is full of life. it contains parts of the 3rd and 4th arrondisements, the jewish quarter, and so much more.
this walk started at the seine. i walked from the seine to the hôtel de sens, which is the one of the oldest buildings in paris. it used to be the home of the archbishop of sens, and then the first wife of henry iv. now it contains la bibliothèque fourney || the fine arts library of paris.
then i turned down rue charlemagne. along this street, there was a part of the wall that philippe auguste built around 1200 to enclose and protect paris. it's just connected to a school. not a big deal, really, to go to school and hang out around this wall that was built 800 years ago.
then i turned down rue des jardins saint-paul, where i turned into a little courtyard called village saint-paul. because i did this walk on a tuesday, most of the shops in the courtyard were closed, but it was so cool. all the little shops were filled with knick-knacks and tchotchkes. i found one shop that had day of the dead skulls and i thought of my aunt maryn. it was really cool.
after wandering through the village, i turned down rue saint-paul. there were so many good antique shops on this street. i want to go back and wander some more, for sure. i stopped in a shop called "ew," which i found especially funny. it turned out to be the best little antique store EVER and i may or may not have picked up a few choice finds from there. so family members...be excited for christmas. :)
from ew, i took myself to l'église saint-paul saint-louis. this is a church that stands opposite the apartment that sasha and her family lived in while they were here in 2006-2007. for some reason, when we were visiting them, i never went into this church, even though it was right across the street. i can't believe i never went it...but i'm so glad i got the opportunity to come back! inside the church was awesome. it was painted and sculpted and wonderful.
after spending a good half hour in saint paul, i got myself a crêpe citron. i think those are my favorite crêpes. don't get me wrong, i love a good nutella crêpe as much as the next person (and sometimes i like it with bananas yum). but the citron...so good. the french take a crêpe, sprinkle some sugar (white, not powdered) on it, and add some lemon juice. it is soooo good.
i took myself and my crêpe citron to place des vosges, which is paris' oldest square. it was built by henry iv, who wanted to create an elegant square in the marais where people could walk around and where members of the royal court could hold public and private celebrations and parades. the houses surrounding the square were sold to nobility, and later to other people.
place number 6 of place des vosges was once the home of victor hugo. i went inside his apartment - now a free museum - and enjoyed my time there. i ran into a couple from salt lake who were on vacation, so we talked for a few minutes and recommended a few cool places to check out. i love americans :)
after visitng victor hugo's home, i went to musée carnavalet. on my way there, i talked to an old man who was selling art on the side of the street. we had an ENTIRE conversation IN FRENCH. it was like 10 minutes long. i ended up buying one of his pieces that he has had since 1985. he told me he wanted it to go to a good home and thought i would be good to it. that made me happy. the painting is kinda weird...but i kinda like weird, so it worked out nicely. i also got gelato at amorino, this really great gelato and waffle shop that is all around paris. i tried the speculoos and the passion fruit. i wandered in and out of a few more shops before entering the musée carnavalet.
the musée carnavalet is on rue de sévigné. it is such an awesome museum! the entire thing is housed in one home - the home of madame de sévigné, who is famous for writing witty letters about paris. now it is a museum that tells the history of paris. i have never been in such a museum. i vaguely remember coming to this museum with the de limur's back in '07, but a combination of jet lag and being a 14 year-old caused me to not pay too much attention the first time i was there. this time, i got myself completely lost. i am talking "couldn't find the exit and no one could help me find my way out because no one spoke english and i don't speak enough french to understand detailed directions" lost. it was a little frustrating to not have any idea how to find my way out...but i made it, eventually. besides getting lost, the museum was amazing. there was so much information it was a little overwhelming. if you go to the musée carnavalet, don't try and do it all in one day. but do it. you won't regret it :)
after visiting the musée carnavalet, i walked around outside a little more. i walked through the jardin georges cain, and saw some interesting sculptures. and i saw some cool hôtels, which aren't hotels in the sense of an american "hotel" where you can stay while on vacation. these hôtels are private residences.
this was such a fun walk. it reminded me so much of my family, probably because of all the antique shops and because the last time i was here 5 years ago, i was with them. it made me miss them. i think that is partly why i loved it so much - it reminded me of how much i love my family and of how excited i am to see them in person in a month! :)
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| hôtel de sens |
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| wall built by philippe auguste |
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| skulls for auntie maryn! |
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| a fun tchotchke store |
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| ew |
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| blurry photo of ew. |
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| place des vosges |
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| victor hugo's house |
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| place des vosges from victor hugo's home |
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| a fun watch store |
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| saint paul |
fontainebleau and vaux-le-vicomte
three weekends ago, we took a group trip to fontainebleau and vaux-le-vicomte.
i back-dated this post so everything would be in chronological order. just in case you were confused.
(good thing i'm up to date on my blog. jokes.)
anyways...our first stop was fontainebleau.
fontainebleau is a lovely little château || castle just outside of paris. it has housed royalty of france for centuries, and is now a museum of sorts. this "little" château boasts over 1500 rooms and over 130 acres of parkland and gardens. (when i said little, it was sarcasm. the place was massive.)
fontainebleau has been around since the medieval times, but it wasn't until the renaissance that it became a true palace. rulers such as charles v, henry ii, catherine de medici (she had six kids here), charles iv, and henry iv.
fun fact : in all of his portraits, henry iv is smiling! (i told you it was fun.)
in the 17th century, the bourbon family took over and lived there.
it eventually became the home of napoleon.
it was amazing. i can't even tell you. for some reason, i have always had this image in my head of castles being cold and slightly less than inviting, although beautiful. however, the châteaux of france have definitely changed my mind. these places, while over-the-top extravagant, don't feel so lonely. they are ridiculous, gorgeous, frou-frou, and a little bit homey. how that works, i'm not quite sure. i would never have told you that i would have wanted to live in fontainebleau before visiting it...but now i'm sold. if that place ever goes on the market...i'm gonna be first in line to purchase it.
our next stop was a château called vaux-le-vicomte.
in 1641, nicolas fouquet purchased an old château (vaux-le-vicomte) to fix up. he hired louis le vau as his architect and andré le nôtre as his gardener.
(nicolas fouquet was the financial secretary of france under louis vix. just to clear some things up for ya.)
to make a loooooong and very political story short, when louis xiv saw vaux-le-vicomte, and how much money was spent on it, and how fouquet was living in a nicer place than the king was...let's just say fouquet was out of a job and out of a home.
when louis xiv later built the palace of versailles, he modeled it after vaux-le-vicomte. having been to both places, i can definitely see the similarities in style between the two châteaus. especially in the gardens.
while vaux-le-vicomte was pretty neat, it was the gardens that stole my heart. i can't even tell you how much i loved them. all i wanted to do was wear a long and flowy dress and walk around the gardens for hours on end. and then spend some time reading under a tree. and then walk around some more in my flowy dress. i didn't even care that it was raining while we were there. it was gorgeous.
enjoy the photos of my adventures!
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| fontainebleau |
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| love me some audioguides. |
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| who wouldn't want to sleep here? |
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| the H stands for "henry"...but i like to think it stands for "hughes" and that this is my family's castle. |
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| dance hall. |
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| henry iv is ALWAYS smiling. |
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| king and queen of the chateau |
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| i...don't know. |
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| a tiny chair at vaux-le-vicomte. it is so small! |
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| alicia and i overlooking the gardens at vaux-le-vicomte |
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| in front of the chateau |
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| THERE WAS A MOAT |
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| remember when this happened in normandie? well...it happened again. |
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