Tuesday, March 27, 2007
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!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
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...
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...
Friday, March 16, 2007
A night at the opera
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:
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:
Monday, February 19, 2007
Comment!
I think that I changed the settings so that anyone can post, even people who don't have blogger (or gmail) accounts. I mean, I can be somewhat challenged with computers, but I really do think I did that. Anyway, feel free to post a comment!
PS You'll now have to sign your name to it so I know who's leaving the comment!
PS You'll now have to sign your name to it so I know who's leaving the comment!
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Some of the museums and random locations of Paris
So on to some of the things I've been seeing in Paris... Since last I updated, I went to two museums, the Rodin and the Louvre. (I also went to the Musee d'Orsay, but didn't take any pictures, whoops!) Here are some of the highlights from my Paris adventures:
The Thinker at the Musee Rodin in the gardens (which are spectacular and I will take more pictures of them in the spring when it's nicer):
The Kiss, or a terracotta version of it from the side:
At the Louvre, Hammurabi's Code. I pretty much went crazy over this thing:
In the Tuilleries (between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde) I saw some kids sailing miniature boats:
Then, finally, the metro station at Rennes, right below the outdoor market on Raspail I go to every Friday. It says "Direction Montparnasse" on this side and "Direction Montmartre" on the other in case you get lost in the metro station:
The Thinker at the Musee Rodin in the gardens (which are spectacular and I will take more pictures of them in the spring when it's nicer):
The Kiss, or a terracotta version of it from the side:
At the Louvre, Hammurabi's Code. I pretty much went crazy over this thing:
In the Tuilleries (between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde) I saw some kids sailing miniature boats:
Then, finally, the metro station at Rennes, right below the outdoor market on Raspail I go to every Friday. It says "Direction Montparnasse" on this side and "Direction Montmartre" on the other in case you get lost in the metro station:
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Fontainebleau and Château de Cély
Our most recent trip was just outside of Paris at the Château de Fontainebleau. It is a gorgeous castle which was used by many French kings, like Francois I and Henri IV. It was a slightly cloudy day, but I got some beautiful pictures outside and inside:
This is the library:
Here is Marie Antoinette's bed, although she never actually slept in it...
The king's thrown. Looks pretty comfortable:
And this is Napoleon's bed. It was very short (there's a mirror in the back in case you can't see) and he had a couple stairs going up to it. This is just a wild guess, but I don't think he was too tall:
Courtyard hallway:
Napoleon I cologne, I'm not joking. Someone tried it on and said it smelled terrible:
Me, Molli, and Julie on the front steps:
Then we went to the Château de Cély, where we had a delicious three-course lunch. It was delicious and the first time I'd ever had lunch in a château!
Well, au revoir for now!
This is the library:
Here is Marie Antoinette's bed, although she never actually slept in it...
The king's thrown. Looks pretty comfortable:
And this is Napoleon's bed. It was very short (there's a mirror in the back in case you can't see) and he had a couple stairs going up to it. This is just a wild guess, but I don't think he was too tall:
Courtyard hallway:
Napoleon I cologne, I'm not joking. Someone tried it on and said it smelled terrible:
Me, Molli, and Julie on the front steps:
Then we went to the Château de Cély, where we had a delicious three-course lunch. It was delicious and the first time I'd ever had lunch in a château!
Well, au revoir for now!
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