Normandy

We went to Normandy this weekend (well, two days and one night) and saw pretty much everything related to D-Day as possible. So, although most of the history went straight over my head, I still enjoyed myself. Of course, it wasn't encouraging when I woke up on the way over and it was snowing... But when the teacher explained that we went through Bayeux on the way over, I almost jumped out of my seat (it's the resting place of the Bayeux tapestry, one of the most important pieces in English history, of the Norman conquest of 1066, around the same time Old English disappeared from the records). Anyway, here's that snow:


Next we went to Arromanches, where the Allied forces built an artificial port following the D-Day disembarkment (Debarquement in French):

Here's some of my friends enjoying their crepes on the way back to the bus (from the left, Lisa, Supraja, and Lauren S):


Here's me and Lauren S at the American cemetery in Normandy for the Americans killed as a result of D-Day:


Next is the "palate cleanser" from our French meal. It's ice cream floating in a very strong brandy popular in Normandy between courses of very long meals:

Finally, we arrive at Mont St. Michel, one of the most beautiful sights you'll see in France. If you get the chance to go, please do. It's on an island surrounded by the English Channel, where tides change dramatically (8 meters), and quicksand, which a couple kids on our trip decided to go running in. It might be hard to get to, but it's an amazing place:


And finally, our tourguide of the abby on the mountain. He was very interesting and engaging, and I found myself hanging onto every word despite the fact it was all in French. We even learned that the word "bibliotheque " (library) came about because the first places where students were taught were in monestaries and the root is the same as "bible". The Sorbonne, arguably the most famous university in France, actually came from "soeur bonne", which means "good sister" or "good nun", another link to the abby.


That was the end of our trip, and the end of my important pictures thus far. This Thursday I am off to Barcelona for a week, followed by Porto and Lisbon in Portugal, and Amsterdam the following week (where I'll be on the look out for the famed 3-wheeled cars). A bientot!

Whitney's trip!

Here is finally Whitney's trip to Paris. Unfortunately, she got sick starting the first day, but here's some pictures of the stuff we managed to do.

First, this is the Musee de l'Homme, an anthropological museum at Trocadero, which has one of the nicest views of the Eiffel Tower in all of Paris. So, here's Whitney taking a break inside the museum in front of the Tour d'Eiffel:

Next is the Salon de l'Agriculture. It is a huge thing in Paris, even the politicians attend it. When we were there Segolene Royal, one of the candidates for the elections in a few days, was there with her entourage. Here's a girl riding one of the ponies at the Salon (unfortunately we were a little too old to do the same):


Here is the Musee du Vin, which is right in my backyard. We learned the history of wine in the Passy area (my area) and in France in general. The tour ended with a glass of wine in their restaurant:

This is the basque restaurant we went to, Au Dernier Metro. Delicious food:


Next is Whitney and the Tour d'Eiffel again. This was at the end of our boat ride on the Seine, and the end of Whitney's trip in Paris.

My parents' trip to Paris

Here are some pictures and stories of what I've done in the past week. My parents were in town, and not only did we do all new things in Paris (which is a feat considering they'd been here many times before), but we accidently stumbled onto a movie set! We were walking near the restaurant on the outskirts of the Palais Royal garden when we saw people in 30's clothes and movie equipment everywhere. If you can recognize any of the French actors, please tell me, I'd love to know who they are:
Next is a picture of my parents on the metro. They embraced my ideal form of transportation in Paris, and so here is a picture of them in a metro car at the Tuileries station:
Then we went to the Opera Garnier for a ballet based off of a Proust novel. I went in search of the secret passages below the building a la Phantom, but a nice usher informed me that sadly there was no lake. But I swear this had to be part of it once:
We also had apertifs with my French host and her family. Here's a picture of my mom talking with her daughter Pauline and her other daughter Marie's husband:

Well, those were the highlights, but there was a ton more that we did, including walking through some covered passages, visiting the Marais (the jewish quarter, French for "swamp") for my parents' first time, and paying a visit to la Bastille. More pictures to come soon!

Picture of the week

Because my parents are in town and I just finished finals (although that doesn't mean I'm at all done doing work), I don't have time to do a full upload. So here's a picture from when Whitney came to visit a few weeks ago. We went to the Yves Saint Laurent museum (awesome!) and saw a ton of pretty dresses. We did some other stuff, but poor Whitney got sick so we couldn't do everything she wanted to. Anyway, enjoy, I promise I'll post again soon!

Strasbourg

I also went with a couple of friends to Strasbourg, which is a town in the northwest of France right on the border with Germany. In fact, we went to Germany for lunch! For those who don't know, I did an exchange program for two weeks in Strasbourg in high school, so this was a kind of reunion between me and the city. Here's a few pictures of our trip!
First, the cathedral. It's breathtaking-you don't see many red stone cathedrals in France:

Next, we went to the old part of the city, which they call "Petite France":

Next, some of the cute houses in Petite France, including a house that looked like it was turned the wrong way. Aren't roofs supposed to slant away from each other, not towards each other?

We tried to go on a boat tour of the town, but the water level was too high the whole time. This is me stepping into the flooded tour boat station:

Next, more cathedral! This is the astronomical clock inside. It's famous apparently, but it's just cool to see. We went to the "show," which included a crowing metal rooster, an angel turning over an hourglass, the grim reaper ringing some bells, and all 12 apostles. It was quite the show...

Next, the little ice cream place where I got spaghetti ice cream on my exchange program with my friend Lee. Unfortunately it was closed, but I would have gone in despite the cold:

Guten tag! Here I am in Kehl, Germany, a 10 minute bus ride from Strasbourg. We ate lunch an went shopping at Wollworth's, which is the closest thing I've found to a dollar store in France:
And finally, the famous trams. They are amazing, almost a reason in themselves to go to Strasbourg. The ride is so smooth and silent, and the whole system is very advanced. If only they had this in Ann Arbor...

A night at the opera

I went to the Opera Bastille to see the opera La Juive. It was fantastic! We were on the main floor (NYU is amazing at getting us tickets to events like this), so I took a couple of pictures. Here is the monument at the Bastille:

And here is the cast at curtain call. We were so close!

Living it up in chateau country!

A couple weekends ago, I went to the Loire Valley with a bunch of friends. We stayed in Tours and did a tour of all of the beautiful chateaux (castles) there. Somehow I've narrowed down these few pictures from the 400 I took, so enjoy!

The first place we visited was Amboise, which is in the background of this first picture (in about the middle):

When we arrived, all the people at the castle were out to lunch. Here's my friends in front of the entrance (from left to right Michael, Erica, and Supraja):
We also went to Clos Luce, which is in the same town. It was the last place where Leonardo Da Vinci lived when Francois the first, king of France, was his patron. We couldn't take pictures inside, but there were life-sized versions of his inventions for kids to play with, so we couldn't help ourselves...:

The second day was the giant round of chateau. The first was Azay-le-Rideau, which was beautiful despite the early hour:


And a picture of me by a window inside Azay-le-Rideau:


Next was Villandry, which had the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen in February. Here's the castle and a little bit of the gardens:


And me with the vegetable garden:


That afternoon, we headed to Chambord, which was truly gigantic. They even had a hunting museum inside! Here's me, Supraja, and Michael on the roof:

And finally Cheverny. It was apparently in the Tintin comic books, which are insanely popular in France. Here's the Tintin comic that was displayed inside the chateau:

And here's me with the chateau itself:

And of course me with Tintin and his dog:

The next day we only went to one chateau, but that was plenty. It was Chenonceau, a beautiful chateau with extensive, beautiful gardens and a moat that's really connected to a major river. Here's a view from the side of the long enclosed bridge:

And another shot of the whole chateau from one of the gardens:

And what I believe is the Diane de Portiers garden: