Phantom of the Opera

It's kind of hard to read the plaque, but it says "Loge du Fantôme de l'Opéra". Yep that is the phantom of the opera's box! Yesterday we got to go inside the opera house, and it is gorgeous! Unfortunately the main room was closed, so we'll have to go back. But just walking around in the foyers made me want to be in a ballgown, with gloves, fans and the works-I felt so underdressed in shorts and a t-shirt! I wanted to be dancing around singing Masquerade!

 Hopefully these give you an idea of how gorgeous it is:
(Sorry about the sideways ones, blogger isn't letting me fix it)

Doesn't this just make you want to be all dressed up??

I love the staircases

Phantom's box

One of the ceilings

This are just the foyers for people to wander around in between acts

A peek into one of the boxes

Masquerade anyone?

I can't even think of a single place in the U.S. that has so much gold, yet in France it seems like every other building you go into is covered in it. Despite all the elegance though, I am beginning to miss America. I love France, and definitely am appreciating the wonderful opportunity that I have to be here. But it has also made me realize all of the things that I love about America. So it will be bittersweet to go home I think. 

Catacombs and Old Friends

This was the closest I got to seeing the sunrise

So today actually felt like 2 days in one. The plan was to get up absurdly early and watch the sun rise from Sacre Coeur. Well, somehow we missed the fact that the sun rises in the east...and Sacre Coeur faces west. Yeah so we didn't really get to see the sun rise at all, there was a huge church and apartment buildings in the way. However we did get to see how disgusting the city is after a night of partying before the garbage collection people have a chance to clean it up. It's really gross, and quite sad actually. The steps of the church were riddled with pigeons, beer bottles, trash, and the smell...ugh, let's just say you should be glad you don't live in a big city. (If you do, I'm sorry, I don't know how you stand it).

After a really nice nap (of about 4 hours!) I got up to meet my old friend Kole. He's studying in Spain right now but came up for the weekend to see Paris. We've known each other since we were 1, but I haven't seen him since we were 13 (he's still super tall!). So that was really cool. We met up with a bunch of my friends and went to the catacombs.

It was interesting, they weren't what I had expected at all. I thought it would be creepy, spooky, you know the way they show bones and bodies in the movies. But actually I felt almost reverent, and a little sad. And safe--it wasn't scary at all. Just looking at all of those bones, it struck me how alike they all looked. Of 6 million people, who were vibrant individuals, with lives, jobs, families and dreams, all that is left is their bones. And they all look the same.

It really doesn't matter how they were different in life, in death we are all the same. It was a very humbling conclusion to come to, and it really made me realize how great the worth of a soul is, how alike we really are. We all have the same potential. And I'm so grateful to know that they won't be there forever--death is not the end. So if you are ever in Paris, it is so worth it to go to the catacombs, definitely a really good experience.

After the Catacombs we went to the Louvre for about an hour, I had forgotten what an amazing museum it is, I want to go back more than once. For dinner we wandered around the Latin Quarter, I found some postcards and a book I wanted to get, and we had a delicious meal in a cafe. I think we were sitting there for almost 2 hours, it's kind of nice the way the French just let you sit there and talk. At home, I'm always just eating as fast as I can it feels like. After dinner we went over to Notre Dame and watched these crazy rollerbladers do flips off of a ramp, it was pretty cool. So overall it was a great day!

Chillax

Here's a link to my second photo essay. Enjoy!

Well this week has flown by. Probably because I didn't really do that much, it was nice to have more of a low-key week after the craziness that was last weekend.

Monday we went to St-Germain-en-Laye, a little suburb of Paris. It was very quaint, and the chateau houses an archaeology museum. It was cool to see the really old artifacts of the Gauls and Romans. And even cooler when I looked at one of the labels (it was an iron age artifact found in the Seine) and remembered that one of my archaeology professors at BYU works in France finding that exact thing. I wonder if she found that one? After we just hung out, ate lunch, laughed, and had a good time.


Tuesday I went on one of the required walks before class. It was about the first malls-they are basically alley's covered by a glass roof, started in the 1800s I think. But they are so cute! I loved it. And then we peeked into the national library, this room is so cool! And I got a pistachio/chocolate chip pastry. SO GOOD.

Wednesday:
Class again. And we wandered around the Latin Quarter, bought some street art for my momma and got delicious gelato! Amorino gelato is sooooo good. I'm excited to try it in Italy and see if it's better--I can't really imagine it! They even put it in a flower around the cone with the different flavors.

Today was the last day of photo class, because our professor is leaving, and the next one is coming. So we only have one more assignment left! And then after class we went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean 4. It was so weird haha. A slightly more coherent plot than the last 2 but it was still very bizarre.

But tomorrow we are going to the catacombs! I'm excited, hopefully I won't get too creeped out haha. Luckily I'm going with a bunch of guys so that helps. AND I get to see my childhood best friend, who I haven't seen since we were 13 tomorrow! I'll get to show him all my favorite places in Paris.

We just had a super good dinner with Claude (our host mom). She made us something very similar to ratatouille, she insisted it wasn't the same, but it was super good. With couscous, salad, bread and cheese, and really fresh mangoes for dessert. I think that's the first time I've had a mango I've liked, my sis would be proud. The mangoes were kind of hilarious though, because neither me or Erin knew how to eat them with a fork and knife, and Claude didn't have one so she just laughed as we struggled along haha. But it made for some great entertainment.

A bientot!

Quite the Weekend!

Wow it feels like forever since I've blogged, so much has happened! The Eiffel Tower picnic was awesome! The best picnic I've ever had--fresh baguettes, cheese, ham, fruit, and dessert from little shops along the Rue Cler. Food tastes a hundred times better when it's that fresh!!

Fruit stand. The fruit here is to die for.

Fromagerie. We spent 76 euro on cheese for 26 people

This street is awesome.

After eating delicious food, we just basked in the sun and talked for a couple of hours in front of the Eiffel Tower. no big. It was so nice to have a day where I didn't have to be anywhere or do anything.

Friday:
Versailles. Me and Erin were supposed to meet up with a group of our friends but we were late and the place is huge, so even though we were all there the whole day, we never ran into them. But that was ok, we still had fun! It was a beautiful day so we wandered around the gardens for hours. The downside was that there were tourists EVERWHERE. But once we got out of the palace it wasn't bad. My favorite part was Marie Antoinette's little working farm. It's like a 1800's Disneyland. So cute.

Hall of Mirrors

Throne of the President of the Republic. It was interesting how opposite it is from the others

Battle of Yorktown. America is represented in the Hall depicting France's battles!

The French love their geometric gardens

I love trees

Petit Trianon

One of the cottages in Marie Antoinette's village

Saturday:
Belgium

Wow this day was crazy. Some really stressful moments and some really fun ones. Definitely unexpected, and so eventful.

Here's the rundown:

• I was supposed to meet Rachel at the train station at 6 am, an hour before our train left. But she slept through her alarm--got to the train at 6:58. The train left at 7:01. Both of us were totally freaking out. I don't think I've prayed so hard in my life--I really didn't want to go to a foreign country by myself!! But it all worked out somehow, so we were off!

• We wandered around La Grande Place, the main city square in Brussels. It was only 9 am and nothing opened until 10, so we got to see it before all of the tourists got there. 

• We saw the famous statue Manneken-Pis, it's of a little boy peeing. So kind of weird haha. They dress him up every holiday. 

• The Atomium--the Eiffel Tower of Brussels. We went into all 7 of the spheres open to the public, and there was a little museum and restaurant in a couple of them. Unfortunately they were kind of lame. But the view was nice!

• Best lunch ever: Quiche with spinach, tomato and brie cheese. 
• Musées des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. I was actually disappointed because half of the exhibits were closed because of renovation. 
• Rachel's bank closed her account because of "suspicious activity" when she tried to withdraw money. So she had to call her parents and the bank and sort it out--not the best day for her.

Rollerskating police!

• So we went back to the Grand Place, expecting for the day to calm down, and we ran into this: a huge gay pride parade and party. Complete with a rollerskating police escort, people in Wizard of Oz costumes, pirates, fairies...you name it and we probably saw it. Oh yeah and there were also the drunk tourists, drunk (and most likely high) party-ers, a nun and the natives. It was definitely interesting. We sat down in a cathedral for a rest and heard Rihanna blasting from the street--that was a little surreal. (They only listen to American music here, it's kind of funny)
• Just as we were saying how nothing could possibly surprise us anymore....a guy peed in the street right in front of us. Eww!

So after all that, we caught the next train home, we were wiped out! But we successfully navigated Brussels, the metro and train station all by ourselves! Even with all of the fiascos it was still pretty fun. And I pretty much feel like I could do anything now. Yay for being independent, with all of the ensuing chaos!

P.S. I went to mass tonight at Sacre-Coeur, it was pretty cool! The inside is even cooler, but you aren't allowed to take pictures. 

Champs Elysées, Cannes and the Arc de Triomphe...how does a day get better than that??

Tonight was the best night I've had in Paris so far. It was so fun!! After class got out we headed over to the Champs Elysées to buy our tickets for the film Minuit à Paris (Midnight in Paris) by Woody Allen--it's the opening film for the Cannes Film Festival today and so we got to see one of the first showings in Paris. It doesn't come out in the U.S. for another 3 weeks. It was so cute! I'm not sure if I would have liked it quite as much if I didn't see it while in Paris. I think I would have, but it's so much better when you recognize places you've been! But I won't spoil it for you :) Walking back to the metro afterwards was a bit surreal, especially with the music echoing through the metro, it felt like we were in the movie.

Before the movie we went up the Arc de Triomphe! It was super cool. And we got into it for free with our art cards, I swear those things are like magic! Got a huge workout walking up all of those stairs. And the view is amazing!! I like it better than the Eiffel Tower. Here's a taste:

L'Arc de Triomphe

Looking up from the bottom

Eiffel Tower

This picture happened by accident, but I think it turned out kind of cool

Oh! Almost forgot. This morning we did our metro walk. We had to pick a line and get off at random stops and find something to take a picture of, and then get back on again. We ended up in a very non-touristy area (with our backpacks for class and cameras, I felt a little out of place haha). But I did get some cool pictures of a very different side of Paris.

first time I've ever seen the metro empty!

first stop

 Well that's all for now! Tomorrow we have a class picnic by the Eiffel Tower and we are going to the markets on Rue Cler for delicious food. Paris is the best!

Fontainebleau and Insights

So Monday we went to Fontainebleau, the chateau where all of the kings from the 1400s to Napoleon lived. That is so much history!! It was a bit of a struggle getting there, seeing as only 2 of the original 10 ended up going, or so I thought. It is so hard to meet up with people in a huge train station without cell phones. I don't know how people lived without them before!! So me and Rachel got these to console ourselves.




Fontainebleau is beautiful! As one of my friends put it: "you can tell why the peasants were upset" haha. Seriously almost every inch is covered in gold. And real gold at that. It's beautiful but rather sad to look at when you realize where all of the money came from. But on a happier note, as we were wandering around the chateau who do we run into but the other half of our group! (Caleb's study abroad backpack is very distinctive haha) Turns out they were on our same train and everything and we looking for us too. Ridiculous. So it all worked out after all. Funny how it always seems to...I should be more trusting I guess!

After going through the chateau we wandered around the gardens, they're so pretty. Apparently this pond was built by the king as a bet because he said it could be filled in 2 days. Sadly he lost, (it took 8 days) and had to reward his opponent with 1000 gold crowns. but it's gorgeous.

But the best part of it was this: I have French ancestors that were directly impacted by an edict signed there in 1685. Wikipedia explains it best: On 18 October 1685, Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau there. Also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, this royal fiat reversed the permission granted to the Huguenots in 1598 to worship publicly in specified locations and hold certain other privileges. The result was that a large number of Protestants were forced into exile, mainly in the Low Countries, Prussia and in England.




Some of those Protestants were my ancestors. It made the history really come much more alive to me, especially once I came home, skyped my mom, and realized the details. The Edict of Fontainebleau and the persecution that followed (and preceded it) is why I have French ancestry. They moved to England, the Netherlands and eventually to the colonies in America. So when I saw this depiction of Henry IV in Fontainebleau, it meant a lot more to me than just a statue of an old king. He was the one that allowed some of my ancestors to worship in freedom for a time, and the edict that forced them to flee happened in the same place. A place that I got to walk around in.

 It made me realize how much religious freedom really means to me, and how proud I am to be an American. My whole family history is full of people fleeing because of religious persecution. We have Protestants fleeing France, Quakers fleeing England, Mormons fleeing from all over Europe, and another that I am forgetting. Being in France, sometimes I feel like I have to pretend that I'm not American, that being an American means that I am just a another dumb tourist. Somehow Europe just seems so much cooler. But you know what? I should be proud to be an American. I am proud to be an American. My family has been American since before the U.S. existed as a country. That is really remarkable, and I am so grateful for the religious freedom that I am privileged to have.

This is why I love traveling so much. It teaches you to realize how much you have to be grateful for, to learn respect for other cultures, and to realize how important history is to remember. Without knowing that my ancestors were impacted by Fontainebleau, it's just another pretty chateau. But knowing the background is so much better.