I'm Home!: A Side Note

          I made it back home safely last night.  It was a lot of traveling, but not as bad as it could have been.  All of my planes were actually early and there were very little problems.  My first plane was almost 10 hours long and I got off at Atlanta.  Then I took another 4 hour long flight to San Francisco.  Finally, a 1 1/2 hour drive back to Sac Town. It was close to 11pm when I got home, which was about 8am in Paris.  So, with the little sleep I had, I was ready to pass out.  That night was also the first time I met my new brother, Walter!!

          I had two dogs in my bed last night and they stayed with me the entire time.  A great way to be welcomed home:)  

          Anyway, because I had fallen so far behind in posting, I will be continuing my blog from home.  Hopefully, because I don't have anything to do besides my Paris assignments, I will be able to post more often.

          Now, I just have to get use to the time difference, organize all my pictures, start working my assignments, and begin blogging again.  Luckily, I have 2 months until school starts...

          I guess "au revoir mes amies" won't cut it anymore because I'm back in California.  So I'll sign off with.....

          Later, bros.

Two Walk Mash-Up

          On Tuesday and Wednesday (26 and 27 of June), we had rather light walks.  For the sake of catching up to the present, I'm going to blog about both of these walks in one entry.

          For Tuesday's walk, we started out at Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis Church near the Jewish Quarters of Paris.  The outside was under construction.  So we didn't get to see what that looked liked, which was a bummer.  Luckily, the inside was beautiful.  When I look at these pictures, I realize how little justice they actually do for the church.  All the of the churches we have seen are 100x better in person.

          The rest of the day we walked around the Jewish Quarters.  Now, the streets are filled with cute shops, cafes, and bars.

          On Wednesday, we started our walk with another church, St. Germain L'Auxerrois.  This was an amazing experience.  It was right across the street from the Louvre.  Also, while we were looking at the inside, a woman began to sing.  She was only practicing, but it was absolutely beautiful.

I tried to get a video of it.  I hope it works.  It's a quiet video, so turn up your volume...

The main altar

The bell tower

          After the church, we walked around the surrounding neighborhood:

This was a super cute little ally way.  There were offices and small shops along the sides.

The Bank of France

The Colonnes de Buren at the Palais-Royal.  It's an art exhibit by Daniel Buren.  A few of us got on top and represented UCLA.  GO BRUINS!!

We eventually made our way to the Louvre and got to see I.M. Pei's pyramid.

After the walk, Lara and I made a quick visit to the Arc de Triomphe.  We walked down the Champs-Elysees.  It was really weird because everyone was specking English.  As a group, we tend to not go to touristy places, so I'm not use to hearing so many English speakers in one place!  It definitely makes you aware of pickpockets...

    Figures crossed that I can find time to blog again!  Au revoir, mes amies!

This Week's Soundtrack:

Les Champs-Elysees - Joe Dassin






   

Music of the Night

          Today, instead of having a lecture and then a walk, we were given some free time to get lunch, explore, whatever...

          A few of us decided to go to the Paris Opera House.  This is famous for many reasons, one being the location of the Phantom of the Opera book, and later musical.  It was amazing.  Considering it wasn't very large, it was more opulent than Versailles.  The Metro gets off right in front, so when you exited the station and turned around, this is what you saw....

It's very shocking to see a beautiful, old building after being in a very modern train.  

Like most old, Parisian buildings, the ceilings are incredible.

The main area.  My camera had to use flash, so the lighting looks horrible here, but it was actually very beautiful.

In the seating area.  This is the ceiling (obviously).  

The famous chandelier made famous in The Phantom of the Opera

The box seats were so beautiful.  

Me and Lara.  The stage is in the background.  

On the balcony.

A side view of the balcony.

          We had a very short walk in the afternoon.  We walked around the Latin Quarter.  Most of what we saw, we had already had seen.  This time, our professor added more info or showed us lesser known places that were hard to photograph.  That is why there are not many pictures from this walk.

Ancient Roman bath ruins.  They are right in the middle of a busy area.  It was weird to see something so old and of such importance (I think) blend in so well in the city.

A different view of Notre Dame

The second oldest tree in Paris, planted in the 1600's! 

          Our walk was always entertaining, but we didn't see enough to blog about.  However, going to the Opera was amazing.  I love musicals and the opera.  Even though Phantom is not necessarily a favorite, I still loved seeing where it all takes place.

          I'm trying to use all the spare time I have to blog.  There is just so much to see and do that it can be hard to sit down to write when Paris is right outside my door!!!  I'll try to catch up and write more soon. Au revoir, mes amies!

This Week's Soundtrack:

Music of the Night - Phantom of the Opera

          It's the 80's, people!  No judging of the make-up, clothes, horrible music/lyrics, etc.  Gotta love Andrew Lloyd Webber...

Versailles

          Two weekends ago (June 24), I went to Versailles!!  It was a dream come true.  One of my favorite guilty pleasures is Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.  Since I saw that movie, I have always wanted to go to Versailles and see where Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI lived.  I went with some of the girls in the program who I really like and have bonded with.  Get this, one of them is named Katelin (I like her, but it's too bad her name is misspelled)!  It's also weird because if someone calls me, she turns and vice versa.  

          Unfortunately, it was raining when we got there.  Not very hard, but it was really windy and it didn't stop raining the whole time.  It was OK when we were inside, but we wanted to spend time in the gardens.  We might go back when it's sunny so we can better enjoy the amazing gardens.  

          Anyway, here are some pictures I took at Versailles... 

We took two trains to get there.  It wasn't so bad at all.  It may have taken 30 minutes or so.  When we got to the town Versailles is in, we walked a little and turned a corner to see this.  I was so excited!  It took my breath away:)

A statue of Louis XIII in front of the entrance.

Walking towards Versailles

The entrance gate

The line was so long to get in.  Luckily, Katelin is really savvy and we were able to cut the line.  I felt a  little bad, but it was miserable outside and we didn't want to wait in the wind and the rain...

Finally inside the gates

A model of Versailles

Hey girl

A staircase

There are so many statues at Versailles.  I love the long halls.  There are so many.  I could not imagine living here. 

Everything at Versailles is so ornate.  The ceilings are especially beautiful.

The Hall of Mirrors!!! I was looking forward to this the most.  It was beyond words.

Every window is across from an equally sized mirror.

Squirrel!

The view of the gardens from the Hall of Mirrors

Fleur de lis, the symbol of the French monarchy

The King's bedroom

There was this horrible art display at Versailles while we were there.  However, some was interesting.  These are shoes made out of pots and pans to represent how women represent both beauty and normality.

There is one mirror that had writing all over it.  I'm not sure why, but I thought it looked cool.

The Queen's room.  The door in the back corner was used to escape when Versailles was stormed and the royal family tried to flee France.

Another piece from the weird art.  I thought this was funny.  It's called Dauphine et Dauphin.

The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David.  There is also one at the Louvre

Nappy

Another Fleur de lis.  Loves it.

Outside of Versailles.  Too bad it was rainy:(

Even though the weather was bad, it still looked amazing.  I hope I have time to go back and see it in all its glory.

Incroyable

It started to rain really hard and became super windy.  We hopped on a train that took us around the gardens instead of walking in the rain.  The train took us to Marie Antoinette's get-away.  It was very "plain" inside compared to Versailles, but still very cute.

A well known portrait of Marie Antoinette

Her game room.

Her bedroom.

The gardens of her petite maison.  

          I will remember my visit to Versailles for the rest of my life.  It was beyond what I was expecting.  I also loved that I got to go with three great girls!  

          Hopefully, I will post soon.  Sorry I've been so flaky:(  Au revoir, mes amies!

This Week's Soundtrack:

Cribs with Louis XVI 

Marie Antoinette Trailer

A mix of songs from the soundtrack of the film:

          One of my favorite soundtracks.  I was imagining these songs playing as I walked through Versailles.  I love this movie and Sofia Coppola.  She knows her music and how to set a tone...

1. "Hong Kong Garden (With Strings Intro)" – Siouxsie and the Banshees
2. "Aphrodisiac" – Bow Wow Wow
3. "What Ever Happened?" – The Strokes
4. "Pulling Our Weight" – The Radio Dept.
5. "Ceremony" – New Order
6. "Natural's Not in It" – Gang of Four
7. "Kings of the Wild Frontier" – Adam and the Ants
8. "I Don't Like It Like This" – The Radio Dept.
9. "Plainsong" – The Cure
10. "Keen on Boys" - The Radio Dept.
11. "Fools Rush In" - Bow Wow Wow
12. "All Cats Are Grey" - The Cure