-Night Not at the Musee-

The worst part of study abroad programs is how much homework we have.  Ahahaha, just kidding.  But I was thinking this as I slowly worked on my only real paper of the semestre.  Perhaps my paper-writing skills have gotten rusty this semestre, or maybe it's that the weather is finally encouraging me to spend long afternoons outdoors, but it felt like a lot of work to crank out 5 whole pages.  So instead of writing Saturday morning, I headed out to do "field research".

I wanted to examine 3 main monuments in Paris that have a peculiar quality in common: they are all modern art pieces integrated into older Parisian architecture or art.  It's more controversial than you would think, with lines drawn between the "historicists" wanting to completely preserve the old stuff, and the "modernists" aiming to revive Paris with new work.

I've already seen the Grande Pyramide situated in the main courtyard of the Louvre Museum (more than once, if you can believe that) and the ceiling in the Opera Garnier that was painted by Marc Chagall (it replaced the original painting).  The last one I needed to see was the series of columns installed in the courtyard of the Palais Royal, so that's where I went.  As expected, it is a courtyard full of black and white vertically striped columns, short and tall, as well as tourists and children climbing on the shorter columns, and one cute young couple getting their wedding pictures taken.

Later in the evening, I met up with Maria and Brianna for the Nuit des Musées,  a France-wide event including nearly every museum being both free and open until midnight.  Crazy!  Our first stop was the Orangerie (home to several of Monet's water lily paintings).  That was a strike, because the line had no foreseeable end.  Next we tried the Centre Pompidou, which had an equally long line, but two other friends were just coming out, so we all decided to break for gelato.  Mmm, Amorino.

After our snack break, Maria decided she'd try going to one more museum with me, and so we set off on foot to La Maison de Victor Hugo. 

Only to arrive at precisely 11pm as it was closing.  How were we to know that it was the only museum closing at 11 instead of 12?  So 3 tries and no museums later, we trudged home unsuccessful. Lucky for us, the museums are free for students every day, so all we really lost was the opportunity to see museum exhibits come to life and roam around...

-2 Chateaux, 1 Saturday-

Our final Accent field trip took us out to Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicomte, with only a break for lunch in between.  By break for lunch, I of course meant getting a delicious macaron framboise (raspberry macaron).

First was Fontainebleau, a little 12th-century spot used as a hunting lodge and transformed into a grand chateau by Francois I in the  16th-century.  It's been a favourite with French kings, so the decoration is eclectic, but the overall scheme and sweeping gardens (both rugged English and formal French styles) are worth seeing.  Fortunately we had a guided tour, so we weren't left on our own to wander around (did I mention this place is huge?).  We saw several royal bedrooms, the chapel, and the staircase where Napoleon bid adieu to his Old Guard on 20 April 1814, before vacationing in Elba.  Apparently traipsing through the forests around the chateau (the whole reason this was a good spot for a hunting lodge) is fun, but we didn't have time for that.  We had a date with another chateau...

Vaux le Vicomte has a very different history than the royal getaway at Fontainebleau.  Purchased and created by Nicolas Fouquet, he (with the help of an architect, a painter/decorator, and a landscape gardener) turned this into a beautiful estate.  So beautiful that in 1661 Louis XIV became jealous, arrested Fouquet on false corruption charges, and sacked the chateau.  Though Fouquet was imprisoned for life, the chateau was given back to his wife ten years later and she eventually sold it.

It is now home to a bizarre collection of life-size wax figures giving an illustrative tour of the chateau and relating Fouquet's sad history.  And the gift shop offered some nice stuff, but my favourite were all of the squirrel stuffed animals.  Yes, squirrels.  Some men choose lions and phoenixes to represent their character and strength; Fouquet chose the écureuil (squirrel). 

Fortunately, his chateau and sweeping French gardens remain, and we hiked almost to the end of them to view the chateau from afar (then all the way back).  And though I wasn't a fan of the giant, sucking carp in the moat and the lake, this fountain was carp-free.

-The Ugly Tower and A taste of La Goutte d'Or-

Wednesday was our last field trip with our Paris Civilization and Culture professor, Will Bishop.  We did a walking tour of the Latin Quartier, past some notable education establishments including our own La Sorbonne and the Saint Germain des Prés church and neighborhood.  It's one of the oldest in Paris, even though it's been rebuilt several times.  We passed by the Théâtre de l'Odéon, now called the Théâtre de l'Europe but built clear back in the late 1700s.  We walked through the Jardin du Luxembourg, and past the Café Procope, hangout of the swankiest philosophers and thinkers of France, and possibly the oldest café/restaurant in Paris.  Unfortunately, it's now a big draw for tourists (like so many things in Paris), and trop cher for me (too expensive).  (That's a picture of it, but the sign is a little too tiny to read).

I was sad to reach our final tour of the semestre, because it means this semestre really is going to end soon.  Now all I have to look forward to in that class are study and exams.

Friday Prof. Habibi took us...well, she didn't tell us in advance.  She just told us where to meet her at the metro.  Coming from any other professor, I would have been concerned, but Prof. Habibi is a very interesting person, so I was simply curious.  The mystery destination: La Goutte d'Or (Taste of Gold, essentially) in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, a region I honestly had never even heard of.  It's not large, but has large Muslim and immigrant populations (often but not always coinciding) and the resulting cultural concentration is fascinating.

The first thing we saw were smaller side streets packed with men for the Friday lunch-hour prayer, a weekly tradition since the area doesn't yet really have a mosque.  Taking pictures would have been rude, but the rows of dedicated men, kneeling on their rugs in the street, was a powerful image.  After passing a butcher's shop with live chicken, street markets, beggars, a different atmosphere than I've found in the rest of Paris, and a brief stop at the St. Bruno cultural center, we saw an exhibit (on the opening day!) at the Institut de Culture de l'Islam.

Later in the evening I joined some amis for cheap Chinese food and the Tour Montparnasse...but without my camera.  No one told me we were going up Paris's most out-of-place building for a (nearly) 360 degree view of the city!  Heavily protested during construction, the shiny black fixture is one of the tallest buildings in one of the only major cities that still protects its skyline against the ravages of skyscrapers.

The sparkling night time view was amazing to see, but didn't take good photos anyhow.  But I do wish I'd taken a picture of the Grecian crêpe maker we went to after the tower, who told us that, "cinnamon brings people together."

-A Return to Paris-

I returned to Paris just in time for the John Butler Trio concert at Le Zenith de Paris.  As I was the only person laughing at the band's "omelette du fromage" jokes...I think the French have gotten sick of hearing them.  And I was amazed how many people ignored the "no smoking" signs at this indoor concert hall.  Paris is still Paris, no matter how many tour guides tell you that Parisians are smoking less now.  Unfortunately, none of my pictures turned out very good, and it was a little awkward being alone at a concert where I don't quite speak the language, but the music (which is in English) was as amazing as ever.

My last few days of break I filled with various activities I hadn't yet had time for in Paris: relaxing and writing while seated in the second story of Café Delyan across from the Tour St. Jacques, eating crêpes, walking past the Eiffel Tower, going to the Musée du Quai Branly to see all sorts of tribal/native/primitive cultural art from every region of the world and lots of scary masks, the Centre Pompidou with it's trippy escalators and freaky-deaky modern art, and of course the Sacré Cœur, with it's grassy hill and tourist traps.  I even went to a 1967 Roman Polanski vampire film Saturday night in a tiny French cinéma. 

But all good things must come to an end, and it seems that before I had even thought about my over-the-break homework, spring break did end.  Back to the grind...in Paris.

-Stumble Upon-

Stumbleupon is a great website, but it's even better stumbling upon things in real life.

Since May 1st is a work holiday in France, and most of the museums are closed, I traveled north to the Sacre Cœur.  I took along some homework....which of course stayed in my bag the whole time.  I walked up the steps seen in the film Amelie, and sat in the grass on the hill below the magnificent Sacre Cœur.  There were the usual groups of performers wrangling a few coins out of the tourists: lonely men with guitars, street kids doing hip hop, a "football freelancer" doing tricks with a soccer ball, and then, on the largest of the pavilions between sets of steps, an actual organized performance began.

I should have guessed something was about due to the fish-shaped kites blowing about, but I hadn't read anything about a festival happening today, so I was still surprised.  Three muscular men in grass costumes and scary masks began dancing about, drumming and chanting.  After they ran off and ditched the masks, they came back and did some amazing drum work, eventually joined by a wood flute and a citar (I think).  After nudging aside some children so I could have a seat on the steps, I enjoyed the rest of the performance.

The rest of the evening was just as interesting, since Chris, another AU student in my program, had also returned to Paris.  We went to one of Paris'  thousands (maybe hundreds, I haven't counted) of small theatres and saw the 1967 Roman Polanski vampire film The Fearless Vampire Killers.  Which, it turns out, is slightly comical AND Polanski himself plays the part of the bumbling professor's loyal assistant.  Turns out he looked much, much younger then.

-Barcelona Part Deux: Sand and Sunburn-

Sandcastle Sagrada Familia I passed on the beach

I sunburned my feet.  But I thoroughly enjoyed my last (I was to discover afterward) day of sunshine concentrate.  An early morning and I set off to get a closer look at the Sagrada Familia after bidding farewell to the snoring fat guy in the other bunk in my hostel room.    By bidding farewell, I of course mean slamming the door loud enough to wake him as abruptly as his horrid snores had woken me up all night. 

Now for a prettier thought - banish the image of the overweight, boozed-out teenage boy passing out at 3 in the morning in his too-small t shirt and only pair of pants on a cheap hostel bunk bed.  You can't always choose your roommates.

In the grassy park across the street from the Sagrada Familia, I sipped a latte, enjoying the magnificent view of the church and pitying the tourists willing to stand in line so long to get inside.  I'm sure the interior is as breath-taking as the exterior, but since the entire place is still under construction (and not projected to finish until 2026), there's a hefty entrance fee which funds construction. I contented myself with the outside of the structure, with both the new and old sides (the newer side's towers are pictured here, the older towers are a darker colour).  Gaudi's architecture has all been so unique, and I love walking around this building.

The afternoon, however, found me at the beach, as probably the only fully clothed person.  Really and truly, I was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt for fear of sizzling like a slice of pink bacon on the Barcelona coast.  This didn't seem like a concern for the topless sunbathers, but I was taking no risks!

Looking more like a tourist than I even have before, I rolled up my pants, put on my backpack (I had no where safe to leave it!) , and walked in the ocean before a long trip back to Paris.  And that is how I sunburned my feet.

-Barcelona! Street food, Sunscreen, and Sangria Galore!-

Bustled through the busy streets of beautiful Barcelona, I began my day on a bus tour.

My first walk down La Rambla actually showed me that the Spanish people start their days epically slower than the French (and since I didn't need coffee) this fact made me adore Barcelona.  La Rambla is a long street with a fat sidewalk down the center between the two lanes where - a bit later in the morning - there would be souvenir stands, street performers, restaurant seating, flower stalls, mini pet stores, and (brace yourself for this one) tourists.

Until that area got more exciting, I slathered my arms with sunscreen and perched myself on top of the double-decker Barcelona Bus Turístic.  Disclaimer: my historic information in this post comes from what I learned in the tour booklet.  I think we can assume it is at least as adequate as Wikipedia.

We started by the coast at the historic Port Vell and worked our way past L'Aquàrium, the Palau de Mar which houses the Museu d'Història de Catalunya, the Port Olímpic used in the 1992 Olympics, went around past the luscious Parc de la Ciutadella which includes a zoo, on to La Ribera district with the church of Santa Maria del Mar and Museu Picasso, and passing by the Plaça de Catalunya which is the starting point of La Rambla.  These, however, were not my favourite things.

Among my favourites in Barcelona were all things designed by Antoni Gaudi, La Rambla, and Boqueria Market.  The enormity and variety of Parc de Montjuic was incredible, but it would have taken me all day to hike around it.  I saw Gaudi's Casa Battló, the Casa Milà otherwise known as La Pedrera built between 1906 and 1910, the Casa Vicens, and of course, the Sagrada Familia which was begun in the late 19th-century but which is still under construction.

I got off the bus for a while to hike through Gaudi's Park Güell. 
His nature-inspired architecture is full of curves and tiled-mosaics, spires and a fountain with a giant mosaic-tiled chameleon!  People were picnic-ing and busking and basking in the sanctuaries of shade Gaudi's harmonious structures created.  I lured a tourist into taking a photo of me in this pavilion-structure.  In the park I also saw a pigeon (I assume) someone had painted in neon colours, until some English tourist woman exclaimed, "Look! The only gay pigeon in Europe!"

By this point I was hungry, so I got back on the bus and returned to La Rambla and the Boqueria Market.  The covered market area was like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory for adults.  Little restaurant booths, tapas, produce, meat, fresh fruits, vegetables, chocolates, wines, fish, eggs, and oodles of booths selling 1 euro cups of fresh fruit juice.  I had the cactus fruit juice, and came back later for coconut-pineapple, but I was tempted to just buy a dozen different flavours.  When I couldn't look at the candy booths any longer, I found somewhere to buy a heaping container of paella (a rice dish) and...a bunch of other stuff the guy heaped in there.  I just said I wanted paella, but I guess that comes with a spoonful of pasta, a bit of salad, some hummus, and a few other things heaped on top of and around my paella.  It was still tasty.

Stuffed, I clambered back on the bus for a few more sights, including the Futbol Club Barcelona (soccer stadium) and Tibidabo (it's a real word but fun to say!) which is the highest point in the area and must be reached by tram.  I will admit, being so hot and riding around on top of a tour bus all day was making me sleepy, and I may have been nodding off, so I decided to return to La Rambla where I could walk around and not fall asleep. 

So that's where I spent my evening, and among all of the street performers I saw: a man painted in white in a white suit sitting atop a big fake toilet, 2 Futbol Club Barcelona player impersonators, one man under a table with his head poked through a hole and a fake headless body in the chair next to it, 3 men variously dressed in fruit/as fruit stands with signs welcoming tourists to Barcelona, one old man dressed in traditional matador costume (see photo at top of post), 2 women dressed as faeries, a green and white speckles man riding a bicycle, a bronze cowboy with a spiky black haired wig, the guy with the green face from The Mask, Edward Scissorhands, and...more.