Paris Day 1: Saturday, June 23, 2007

The Catacombs & The Eiffel Tower at night

We left Saturday morning and took a bus with the group from Tours to Paris. We arrived around noon and had the rest of the afternoon to explore Paris.

This picture was taken in our hotel room in Paris in the 15^th arrondissement. The huge window opened to the street below.

This is Jacob’s first kebab:

Kebabs are super popular in France, and are about on the popularity-level of a fast food burger & fries in America. It’s shaven meat (like what’s on a gyro), and it comes with lettuce & tomato and your choice of sauce. I always get sauce blanche (white sauce, similar to béarnaise), and I ask for ketchup with my fries. I learned this ordering trick the hard way – the first few times I ordered a kebab with sauce blanche, my fries came with sauce blanche for dipping, and when I ordered my kebab with mayo, I got a big pile of mayo next to my fries for dipping. I eventually learned to order “Kebab avec sauce blanche et ketchup pour les frites.” (Kebab with white sauce and ketchup for the fries.) I know this is a red-flag that I’m not French, and I like mayonnaise just as much (or maybe more than) the next guy, but I just can’t dip my fries in mayonnaise.



After lunch, we headed to the Catacombs, since this was what Jacob was looking forward to the most. I tried to go last time I was in Paris, but it was closed, so it was something that I really wanted to see too.







Info about the catacombs from Wikipedia:

The Catacombs of Paris is a famous burial place in Paris, France. It is a network of subterranean tunnels and rooms located in what were Roman-era limestone quarries. The quarries were converted into a mass tomb near the end of the 18^th century.

The use of the depleted quarries for the storage of bones was established in 1786 by the order of Monsieur Thiroux de Crosne, Lt. General of Police, and by Monsieur Guillaumot, Inspector General of Quarries. At the time, the Les Halles district in the middle of the city was suffering from disease, due to contamination caused by improper burials and mass graves in churchyard cemeteries, especially the large Saints Innocents Cemetery. It was decided to discreetly remove the bones and place them in the abandoned quarries.

The catacomb walls are covered in graffiti dating from the 18th century onwards. Victor Hugo used his knowledge about the tunnel system in his novel Les Misérables. In 1871 communards killed a group of monarchists in one chamber. During World War II, Parisian members of the French Resistance used the tunnel system. Also during this period, German soldiers established an underground bunker in the catacombs below Lycee Montaigne, a high school in the 6th arrondissement.

The visit to the catacombs is definitely not for the chlosterphobic. After walking down a tiny, windy staircase for what seemed like an eternity, we ended up in this low-ceilinged tunnel.





















After walking through the windy tunnel for quite a while, you walk through this doorway, and all the walls are lined with bones from this point on. They are stacked very neatly, and there are even designs made with the bones, like a cross made out of skulls in the middle of stack of bones. Very creepy.





























There were signs to signify from which cemetery the bones came.










After climbing the steps back to street level from the catacombs, we took the metro to La Comédie-Française (Paris theater founded in 1680) to see about getting tickets to a play.

We bought a carnet (a book of 10 tickets) and used the metro to get around Paris -- here's a picture Jacob took of me approaching one of the metro entrances.





Inside La Comédie-Française, I hesitantly approached the ticket window to ask about tickets to a Molière play (with some nudging from Jacob), since signs were posted everywhere showing the play as sold out. We lucked out and got two tickets! Speaking French to the French as a foreigner really has its advantages!


While were we were standing outside looking at the beautiful old building, one of the French doors opened, and out came these actors to take a smoke break! I think the afternoon play was going on at this time.

These pictures were taken behind La Comédie-Française where there is this really strange “art” exhibit that contrasts the classical and the modern.

Next, we walked over to the Jardin des Tuileries (Tuileries Garden). This popular garden is right by the Louvre.

Jacob loved how people actually use the public park space in France. (Could be because it’s not as miserably hot as it is here!)

Here I am in windy Paris with the Eiffel Tower behind me, facing Jacob (who is taking my picture) with the Louvre behind him.

It doesn't get much better than this...

Next, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower because we just couldn't wait to see it. (We actually visited it on another day; I'll post those pictures later!)



This is my favorite picture that we (Jacob, actually!) took of the Eiffel Tower . It almost always appears black in pictures, but it's really a brownish color.









Looking up from underneath the Eiffel Tower.








The next picture is proof of our strange encounter at the Eiffel Tower. This girl came up to us and said, “Um, this is kind of weird, but is your name Jacob?” Jacob looked at her and said, “Yeah.” She said, “My name is Laura, and I work at JCS Summer Camp, and I thought I recognized you! I love your son Christian!” Then she turned to me and said, “Oh ! And you’re Christian’s mom who’s been studying in France – he talks about you all the time!”













ISN’T THAT STRANGE!?!

When I dropped Christian off at summer camp for the first time on the Monday after we were back in town, Laura was there!



We had dinner every night at a restaurant with the group; this was so convenient since we had breakfast included in our room cost at the hotel in the morning, then a nice dinner every night. We ate dinner at 7pm, and since it doesn’t get dark until about 10:30pm, we had several hours after dinner each night to do more things.

After dinner this first night, we headed to the Eiffel Tower so that we could see it lit up at night.

We had to wait a while for it to get dark...


























Once it finally got dark, it was so beautiful!














For 10 minutes at the top of the hour at 10 p.m. and 11 p.m, there are twinkling lights that twinkle and move around on the tower.

Hope you're having a fantastic day! Keep checking back for more pictures of Paris!

Hi!

I’ve been back for almost three weeks now, and I’m finally getting around to posting my final pictures. We left Paris on Wednesday, June 27. We woke up that morning at 7am France time, and when we got home, it was 12:30am, or 7:30 am the next day France time. So, it was a long travel day, but we survived it!

It’s good to be back, and Jacob, Christian, and I are really enjoying being in the new house all together… finally! We’re loving having a yard, and we’ve eaten several dinners outside (when it’s late enough and therefore cool enough), using our new outdoor furniture. (This purchase was inspired by the stay with the Bel family and all those French dinners eaten outside!)

The first pictures I’m posting are from my visit to La Prieuré de Saint Cosmé (the day before Jacob arrived). Pierre de Ronsard, the Renaissance poet that I studied while in Tours, was the prieur in charge of La Prieuré de Saint Cosmé from 1565 – 1585, and he is buried here. The sanctuary at the prieuré was built in 1092.

Here are some tidbits about Ronsard from Wikipedia. I'm not trying to bore you, but I think it helps if you know what you're looking at! In the event that you are interested in knowing more about Ronsard, click here!

Pierre de Ronsard, commonly referred to as Ronsard (September 11, 1524 – December, 1585), was a French poet and "prince of poets" (as his own generation in France called him).

1552 -- publication of his Amours de Cassandre with the fifth book of Odes, dedicated to the 15-year-old Cassandre Salviati, whom he had met at Blois and followed to her father's Château de Talcy.

His popularity in his own time was overwhelming and immediate, and his prosperity was unbroken. He published his Hymns, dedicated to Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry, in 1555; the conclusion of the Amours, addressed to another heroine, in 1556; and then a collection of Œuvres completes, said to be due to the invitation of Mary Stuart, queen of Francis II, in 1560; with Elégies, mascarades et bergeries in 1565.

Towards the end of 1585 his condition of health grew worse and worse, and he seems to have moved restlessly from one of his houses to another for some months. When the end came, which, though in great pain, he met in a resolute and religious manner, he was at his priory of Saint-Cosme at Tours, and he was buried in the church of that name on Friday, December 27.

This trip was one of the coolest things I got to do in Tours. I’ve studied Ronsard’s poetry before, but studying it in France, getting to see the ballroom where he met his muse Cassandre (at Château de Blois), being able to visit the place he died and see his tomb made everything that I had read become so “real.” Many of Ronsard’s poems use the metaphor of the rose to describe his beloved (this was the topic of my paper), and I saw gardens full of roses at the priérie … so cool.

07

This is looking back at the little windy road that comes off of a busy road and leads to the prieuré. Once inside, it’s as if you’ve traveled back in time.

This is the house in which Ronsard lived.

roses everywhere!

"Here lie the remains of Pierre de Ronsard, discovered in this place May 10, 1933, and replaced here with honor on June 10, 1934."

Ronsard's most famous poem, written to Cassandre:

Mignonne, allons voir si la rose

A Cassandre

Mignonne, allons voir si la rose
Qui ce matin avoit desclose
Sa robe de pourpre au Soleil,
A point perdu ceste vesprée
Les plis de sa robe pourprée,
Et son teint au vostre pareil.

Las ! voyez comme en peu d'espace,
Mignonne, elle a dessus la place
Las ! las ses beautez laissé cheoir !
Ô vrayment marastre Nature,
Puis qu'une telle fleur ne dure
Que du matin jusques au soir !

Donc, si vous me croyez, mignonne,
Tandis que vostre âge fleuronne
En sa plus verte nouveauté,
Cueillez, cueillez vostre jeunesse :
Comme à ceste fleur la vieillesse
Fera ternir vostre beauté.

English translation of the poem from french.about.com. (The link takes you to a French podcast about the poem, for any "Frenchies" who would like to hear it in French.)

Ode to Cassandra
Sweetheart, let's see if the rose
That this morning had open
Her crimson dress to the Sun,
This evening hasn't lost
The folds of her crimson dress,
And her complexion similar to yours.

Ah! See how in so little space
My sweetheart, she has on this very spot
All her beauties lost!
O, so un-motherly Nature,
Since such a beautiful flower
Only lasts from dawn to dusk!

So if you believe me, my sweetheart,
While time still flowers for you,
In its freshest novelty,
Do take advantage of your youthful bloom:
As it did to this flower, the doom
Of age will blight your beauty.

Now, for our pictures from Tours...

Jacob arrived Thursday afternoon, just as scheduled, at the train station at St. Pierre-des-corps. I met him there, then we took the 5 minute train back to Tours. He was tired but in good spirits, and we had a great time in Tours. We ran into Mme Bel while walking around Tours, and he saw her coming down the street before I did; he’d recognized her from the pictures! He waved to her, and she came right up to us and started talking to him in French! Their conversation went a little like this:

Mme Bel: Bonjour Jacob!

Jacob: Hi!

Mme Bel: Tu n’es pas fatigué ?

Jacob : a little. I had a little nap.

Mme Bel: Bon, alors fatigué mais pas trop fatigué !

Jacob : uh huh

Mme Bel : Vous faites une promenade ?

Jacob : uh…

I took over from here, but they did fairly well with their French / English exchange, each speaking in a different language! That night, we had dinner with Mme Bel, then went to the Fête de la musique, which was so neat.

It was just as I’d been told, music on every corner, every type, every style, everywhere! We’d see a group of people playing steel drums on a street corner, then walk a few feet and see a band set up playing rap music, then walk a few feet and see people singing and dancing to African music, then we’d see a punk band, then we’d see a group of middle-aged men playing trumpets, then we’d see a guy set up on the street spinning records with a strobe light and people dancing in front of it, etc, etc, etc. Most groups were stationary, but my personal favorite was a drumline that had formed a parade. People were jumping in like a conga line, and there were tambourines and whistles… it was moving through the streets like an amoeba and kept growing!

This was one of our favorite groups: a group of middle-aged guys in matching red jackets.

My camera takes terrible night pictures, so I apologize. This was a band set up at a café.

This is where they were playing African drums.

H Here we are at the Fête de la musique stage at Place Plumereau. There was a huge stage set up in the center of the square, and it was packed with people. (not sure who the girl is next to me.)

These pictures were taken on Friday, the last day of classes at the Institut. These are two of my teachers from the Institut. The red-haired lady was my French language teacher, and the shorter brunette taught my oral lab/ phonetics and my oral expression workshop. They were both very nice.













I need to go work on German -- I have my first quiz tomorrow! And, today is our anniversary, so I need to get all my work done so we can go on our date tonight!

Next post will be Paris pictures!

You may have noticed that I haven't posted the pictures of Paris that I promised....

The new house is great and wonderful, but we're still working out the kinks, and internet service is one of them. I've commandeered Jacob's computer at work for the moment, so I'm just writing to say I'm back, I have pictures, and I will post them ASAP!

I am taking my German class now (for my required second foreign language), and it's going well. Talk about language shock to go from France to Tennessee to German class in the span of about a week.

Check back (probably next week) for Paris pictures!