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 :)

galéries lafayette

galéries lafayette

adorable baby clothes on rue saint-honoré

saint-roch

cartier - the mother of all engagement rings. i hope any interested boys are taking note of this ring.

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 :)

alicia, me, sage, and annie at platform 9 3/4.

on my way to hogwarts, where i clearly belong.

best chocolate malt ever at ed's diner.

les mis!

phone booth and big ben

buckingham palace in the rain with alicia.

sage, annie, alicia, and me

after sprinting across london. we look good. we know.

always keep in mind that there are TWO victoria theaters in london.

the jolly footman at harrod's

reminiscing on BSE 2008 with my pal "flappin' jack"

best fish and chips EVER

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. :)

awkward selfie in a skyscraper window with the grande mosaïque in the background

la grande mosaïque

the sleepwalker

chiminée d'aératioin.

fontaine monumentale d'agam and the grande arche.

i love la défense.

alicia loves la défense.

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! :)

hôtel de sens

wall built by philippe auguste

skulls for auntie maryn!

a fun tchotchke store

ew

blurry photo of ew.

place des vosges

victor hugo's house

place des vosges from victor hugo's home

a fun watch store

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!

fontainebleau

love me some audioguides.

who wouldn't want to sleep here?

the H stands for "henry"...but i like to think it stands for "hughes" and that this is my family's castle.

dance hall.

henry iv is ALWAYS smiling.

king and queen of the chateau

i...don't know.

a tiny chair at vaux-le-vicomte. it is so small!

alicia and i overlooking the gardens at vaux-le-vicomte

in front of the chateau

THERE WAS A MOAT

remember when this happened in normandie? well...it happened again.