Praha in a Weekend

Jackie and I spent Easter weekend, the first weekend of our Spring Break, in Prague! We have had several friends who have been already and I have wanted to visit Prague for a few years now. So, when we found 2 for 1 plane tickets we thought it would be the perfect start to our Spring Break!

Random anecdote: While going through security in Orly Airport on our way to Prague, a French woman in front of me held up the line because she hadn’t put her liquids in a plastic bag. Most of her liquids were less than 3oz. but she had this one bottle of lotion that she knew was larger than it was supposed to be and tried to argue that it wasn’t all of the way full so it was ok. When the security officer didn’t accept that excuse she begged him saying it was her favorite and that she couldn’t throw it away. He eventually just let her through with it… something I noted because it would never have happened in the U.S.

In Prague, we were able to stay with our friend Zach who is studying there for the semester. He lives with four other people in an incredible apartment close to the center of the city. The apartment is so big it even has two pull-out couches, perfect for visitors ;-) Zach was a really, really great host and took it upon himself to show us all around his city, something we didn’t expect him to do. Foster, Jackie’s friend from High School who also goes to AU, was in town for the weekend as well so it was one big AU reunion. It was really nice to see both of the boys and feel connected to AU all the way in Eastern Europe.

On Saturday, we took the tram up to the Prague Castle. It is still used today for government matters but has held the offices of kings/Holy Roman Emperors/presidents since the 9^th century. From there you have an incredible view of the city (see picture below). We also visited St. Vitus Cathedral, which was one of my favorite cathedrals I have seen so far. It was very light and had beautiful stained glass. We had lunch at a bagel place (my first bagel since January!) that is run by Americans and had so many vegetarian options I couldn’t make up my mind (something I don’t run into too often in France…). We spent some time in Old Town Square where the large Easter markets were bustling with people and spent the afternoon in a beer garden overlooking the city.

On Sunday, we visited the Jewish Quarter of the city. Very few Jews are left in Prague; in fact, Zach showed us the one building they still congregate in. I was really disappointed with what they have done with the Jewish Quarter. While they have done a great job at preserving the five or six synagogues in this tiny quarter of town, they have also turned it into a major tourist trap. You have to pay to get to see anything, and it’s not cheap either! We did pay the money to go into the Old-New Synagogue and I’m glad we did. It is the oldest working synagogue in Europe.

When the Czech Republic was communist, the communists inflated the money really high. Therefore, when I took out money at the ATM, I took out 2,000 crowns (the equivalent of $100). It was really funny to be holding bills of 1,000. Prague is also a fairly inexpensive city. One good example – a pint of beer is $1.50 U.S. dollars!

Prague grew on me as the weekend went on. Many of the people I know that have been to the city raved about how beautiful it is. We did have incredible weather, 70s and sunny all weekend. However, the city doesn’t have the same charm to me as Paris or Amsterdam. Having Zach show us around made it better. Jackie said this and I agree: Prague would be a better city to live in than to visit. I felt safe and much calmer than I do in Paris. However, unless I wanted to eat at the amazing bagel place every day, there is WAY too much fried food in Prague for me to survive! I don’t know how they eat that stuff all the time…

The edge of the Prague Castle from the Royal Garden.

The view from the Prague Castle. In the distance, you can see the TV tower that we visited on Sunday. Just below the TV tower are the towers of the church in Old Town Square.

The Prague gang! Foster on the left, our tour guide Zach in the middle and Jackie.

A beautiful stained glass window in St. Vitus Cathedral.

Me in front of the John Lennon Wall. The John Lennon is a random graffiti wall with all kinds of portraits, song lyrics and other tributes to John Lennon.

Our Prague jumping picture on the Charles Bridge.

The river from the Charles Bridge.

The Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral from the Charles Bridge.

Old Town Square! You can see the Easter Markets in the front of the picture. The tradition at Easter in the Czech Republic is to paint eggs with incredibly beautiful patterns. I bought one for my host mom and my sister.
The other tradition on Easter Monday is for the boys to go around with specially decorated sticks and slap the girls on the backside. The girls are then supposed to give the boys chocolate eggs...

View of the city from the beer garden.

The Prague TV Tower. The Czech artist David Cerny (a contemporary, interesting artist) installed these large babies on the outside. The babies have coin slots for faces... it was interesting.

When the people of Prague wanted to clean up the slums of the Jewish Quarter they bulldozed this section of the city and put in a large Parisian style boulevard. It was really out of place but pretty all the same. It is also where you could find all of the designer shops - how appropriate!

The Old-New Synagogue of Prague. The oldest working synagogue in Europe.

We spent the end of our Sunday afternoon lounging in this pretty park right by Zach's apartment. Definitely a great end to a fun weekend!

Un Marathon de Monet

It’s taken me awhile to write but I have a lot to write about!

This past weekend, ACCENT took us to the towns of Rouen and Giverny, both of which are associated with Monet. In preparation for our trip, Jackie, Lauren and I went to the Musée de l’Orlangerie on Wednesday and saw Les Nymphéas, Monet’s series of eight HUGE water lily paintings exploring the water lilies at different times of day. Monet donated them to the State of France with these large oval rooms in mind. The paintings are incredible.

Friday night, after seeing a really great Andy Warhol exhibit in the Grand Palais, we had a very unique experience. A group of nine of us went to a fondue place in Montmartre. The fondue place is known for the wine they serve in baby bottles. Drinking out of a baby bottle is not something you get to do every day so we were excited to try it! However, from the second we got there the wait staff was ridiculously rude to us. The salle (room) is small. Therefore, you sit literally pushed up next to your neighbor. The waiter that sat us was physically pulling us around him and placing us in our seats along the bench. Our main waiter was really impatient with our orders and watched over us the entire time we ate. One time he brought a fresh basket of bread and literally stuck it IN Jackie’s face. He would take glasses and plates from the table even if we weren’t finished eating. When my friends tried to order more wine he refused to serve it to them and walked away mumbling in French about how Americans drink too much. One of my friends, Megan, said it would be funny if we stole a baby bottle just to make him mad and pretended to put it in her bag. The waiter saw her, stormed over and started yelling “Voleur! Voleur!” (theif! Theif!) at her. He mumbled that Americans always try to steal the baby bottles and he would call the police on her. Just to put some icing on the cake, as my friend Lauren was leaving the restaurant, our waiter stopped her and insisted on searching her bag. I have never experienced such rude service, ever. That kind of service would never happen in America. The restaurant would be shut down. While at first we were laughing about it, I was pretty infuriated by the end and couldn’t even appreciate that it was good fondue. I will never, never go back. But it is just an example of the difference between the mentalities of businesses. In America, the customer is always right. As we experienced on Friday night, in France it is very much the opposite.

Saturday was a long but great day. We met to leave for Rouen at 7:45AM. That meant I had to get up even earlier than I do for class every day. Rouen is in the region of Normandy, about two hours north of Paris by bus. The weather was kind of cold and misty when we got there. We had a guided tour by a native who spoke incredibly good English. Rouen is known for its majestic cathedral which Monet painted several times over exploring the way it looked at different times of day. We got a quick tour of the Cathedral and saw how much of it was damaged during the war. The sad part is the State does not give them nearly enough money to repair everything that needs to be repaired on the Cathedral. It was sad how much of it needed to be cleaned and how many statues needed to be restored. The other thing the town is known for is Joan of Arc. Rouen is where she was burned at the stake. We saw the square where it happened and the small memorial that is dedicated to her there. A lot of Rouen reminded me of Strasbourg actually. I’m not sure if it was the weather or the hurried trip but I honestly wasn’t that wowed by Rouen. My host family told me afterward that they love the city so perhaps I went at the wrong time of year.

After Rouen we headed to Giverny. Giverny is a very small town about an hour north of Paris where Monet settled down toward the end of his life and painted his series of water lily paintings. You are able to visit his house and his gardens. Even though not everything is in full bloom yet, the gardens were amazing. I can’t put into words how incredibly beautiful it was (maybe my pictures can do some explaining…). After being there I can see why Monet was such a genius. The willow trees were huge and the bridges were beautiful. His house was equally as impressive. Everything was open with lots of windows and brightly painted rooms. They had pictures of Monet and his family in the house and in every picture he was smoking. Apparently, Monet smoked 40 cigarettes a day… whoa. I fell in love with Giverny and I wish I could see it in full bloom in a few weeks.

Saturday night, two friends and I decided to be adventurous. We went to the movies and saw “Monstres contre Aliens” (or Monsters vs. Aliens as you might know it) in French! It was exciting because I definitely understood more than I had expected I would understand. Most of the things I didn’t get where little jokes Pixar likes to throw in that just aren’t easy to translate. The movie was so cute, I definitely recommend seeing it! Now I want to see it in English because of all of the famous people who do the voices, including Kiefer Sutherland ;-)

Sunday was warm and spring like – which was perfect for the Paris Marathon! The Paris Marathon starts and ends on Avenue Foch, right next to my apartment. I decided to be brave and get up and try to run around the lake I usually run around even though I knew part of the course went through that area. I’m so glad I did. Part of the last mile of the course follows along one side of the lake. As I was running I could tell that people were waiting for someone to come by. I decided to stop and wait with a crowd of people and ended up seeing the winner of the marathon running his last few kilometers! (I later read that he was from Kenya I believe). It was funny to hear what the French were yelling at the runners. Of course they were saying “Allez! Allez!” (Go! Go!) but one woman even yelled “Cette Semaine!” (This week!). Haha, I thought that was hilarious. I ran around the lake the other way and saw about the first 20 runners run by before I decided to head back. So yes, I can now say I ran in a marathon ;-) Too bad the runners who had just completed 25 miles were running faster than me who had run maybe two…

This week I have had a lot of preparing to do for my spring break which starts on Friday afternoon! I will be going to Prague for Easter weekend and then returning to Paris eaarrrlllyyy Monday morning to immediately take a train to Switzerland, where we will be for the rest of the week! Jackie is traveling with me to Prague and we are meeting Grete in Switzerland. Not only am I excited to spend a week in two incredibly beautiful countries, but I am also excited to be traveling with both of my roommates. But perhaps what I am most excited for is the second week of my spring break because my dad and sister will be here! It’s weird to think that I am going to be able to play tour guide in a city I’ve come to know so well in only two months.

Due to the spring break plans, I’m not sure when I will next update y’all but hopefully I’ll be able to at least post some pictures from my week away!

One portal of the famous Rouen Cathedral.

The center of the church, which was unfortunately blocked off for the opening of an exhibit.

The facade that Monet painted over and over and over. Each of the different towers were built during different periods of history.

The town clock and a taste of the streets of Rouen for you.

The oldest building still standing in Rouen which was conveniently changed into a McDonald's... and yet another reason why I hate McDonald's.

The spot where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.

A beautiful memorial of Joan of Arc.

The cathedral once again.

Giverny!

My friends on the Japanese bridge in Monet's gardens.

Incredible.

The Japanese bridge.

Monet's house.

Daffodils were mostly in bloom.

Another jumping picture to add to the collection!

Un week-end des batiments grandiose (A weekend of grand buildings)

So this weekend (as some of you may be surprised to hear) I stayed in Paris.

Thursday, my class at Accent went on a visit to the Opéra Garnier. Louis-Philippe (the last king of France) commissioned the Opéra Garnier to be VERY close to his residence (the Louvre) because the previous venue he saw operas and plays in was too dangerous. And he did not hesitate to commission quite possibly one of the most beautiful buildings in Paris. Unfortunately, since there was a rehearsal going on we could not go inside the actual auditorium. However, there are some beautiful galleries all around the opera that we explored. I’m really looking forward to actually seeing a performance at the Opéra Garnier before I leave.

Friday, I got my first haircut in France! It was a little bit scary at first because I don't know the vocabulary very well for getting your haircut and, therefore, it could have gone horribly wrong. But my hairdresser was incredibly nice and knew a little bit of English. The only word I really needed help with was layers, the rest I could explain on my own. My haircut is pretty different from normal; the layers are shorter which makes my hair curl differently. I wasn't so sure I liked it at first but all of my friends here have been raving about it so maybe it will grow on me!

Saturday, Accent took us to two chateaux (castles) to the south of France: Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte. Fontainebleau is a state owned chateau that was once the residence of many different kings including Francis I, Henri IV and Napoleon Bonaparte. The chateau is HUGE; it has 2,000 rooms! Different parts of the castle were built at different periods in the style of the particular king who built the new rooms. It was originally built as a hunting chateau because it sits in a large, famous forest: le foret de Fontainebleau. This chateau is different from Versailles because Versailles was a chateau de pouvoir (a castle of power) and Fontainebleau was a chateau du vivre (castle for living).

Our group walked around with a guide. The guides use these microphones and then each person gets an earpiece so the guide can walk and talk and not worry about everyone hearing her. It was great until we would run into other groups and get major interference. Our guide was pretty hilarious. She kept laughing at herself and making jokes which mostly had to do with a difference in translation between English and French. She did speak very good English though. I loved the chateau because it was so large and ornate. And oh man, the chandeliers…

After Fontainebleau we drove over to Vaux-le-Vicomte. Vaux-le-Vicomte is smaller than Fontainebleau and is privately owned. Some of you might already recognize the name because it is where Tony Parker and Eva Longoria got married (cough Grete cough). I was actually pretty disappointed with this chateau. Inside, they had set up all of these mannequins in every room which were meant to show what the rooms were used for back in the day. Some mannequins had voice overs, some moved and one even had a projection of a real person talking on its face so it looked life-like (or just creepy…). I don’t even remember looking much at the decoration of the rooms because I was so distracted by the mannequins. The person from Accent that went with us, Adrien, has been to Vaux-le-Vicomte several times and this is the first time he has seen these mannequins. He thought it was hilarious though and followed us through the rooms laughing.

So we pretty much bolted through the creepy chateau and got to the gardens! Now, nothing is in bloom yet. Unlike the unusually warm week two weeks ago, last week was pretty much like winter in Paris. This week is supposed to be much warmer so we are all excited to see some flowers and leaves on trees! But even if nothing was in bloom the gardens were fantastic and huge. We walked almost to the end and back of the gardens and it took us over an hour. There are fountains galore and some of our friends even rented a golf cart to drive around the gardens in. JUST as we were turning around to get back on the bus from the end of the gardens it started to rain (which has become the story of every trip I have taken thus far). None of us had umbrellas so we booked it back. But check out my pictures of the sky… it was SO cool.

I had my friends over for dinner last night because my host parents were at their house in the country and told me I could invite some friends over. My host mom even made us a brownie cake which was so nice of her. Jackie, Kavita and I cooked and made a giant salad, Jackie’s excellent salmon, rice and broccoli. I couldn’t figure out how to work my host mom’s stove so we learned how to make rice in the microwave! It was so nice to have my friends over and to be able to chill in a non-public place. We just sat around talking and eating. It’s definitely something we would do more often if we had our own apartments. We also participated in earth hour (if you haven’t heard of it: earth hour started 2 years ago in Sydney and has since become international. At 8:30p.m. no matter where you are you are supposed to turn all of your lights off for an hour to raise awareness about energy consumption.) and ate by candlelight :-)

Something random I have wanted to write about:

*We had a debate in class one time about whether or not there are more homeless people in DC or in Paris. I honestly can’t make a comparison but I can tell you that there are A LOT in Paris. Something that is interesting/different is that the majority of them have dogs. My friend Lauren said to me that she thought this had to do with the general French love of dogs. It’s a little bit different than our idea of “man’s best friend”. The French LOVE their dogs. So she said the reason so many homeless people had dogs was because the French people would be more willing to give them money if they saw that there was a dog suffering too.

The time moved ahead here last night finally so back to 6 hours difference between here and the East Coast! That is going to make getting up at 6 a.m. tomorrow fun…

The Opera Garnier from the outside.

One of the incredible galleries in the Opera Garnier.

Out on Friday night: I don't have a picture of my new haircut curly yet so I thought I'd put this one up of it straight, just after I got it cut.

Fontainebleau from the front.

One of my favorite rooms in the chateau. Check out that chandelier!

Napoleon's throne room. This is the only throne room you are still able to see in France. You can tell it is Napoleon's throne because the chair is a little small, don't you think? ;-)

The famous steps of Fontainebleau. This is where Napoleon gave his adieu when he abdicated the throne. You can barely see but Jackie and I are waving from in front of the wooden door at the top of the stairs.

The gardens and the love temple at Fontainebleau. Since apparently the king would bring about 3,000 guests with him to Fontainebleau when he came, the love temple (what a great name) is where the king went when he wanted to be alone...

The front of Vaux-le-Vicomte.

One of the creepy mannequins in the chateau. Yes, that is a squirrel on his shoulder.

The view of the gardens from the back of the chateau. We walked aaallll the way to that green hill in the middle off in the distance.

I just had to share this picture. The sky is SO incredible.

And then we turned around and saw this... and that is when we started booking it back to the bus on the other side of the chateau ;-)