Paris: Part Two

So on Saturday night we went to...

the Eiffel Tower! It was really cool. Every night they light it up, and every hour they have a little light show, which is featured on the left picture. The tower was realllllyyyyy big. I was very impressed. It's not really surprising that it was the tallest building in the world when it was built. We took the stairs up, as it was cheaper and less crowded. Unfortunately, we could only go up to the second floor, but that still gave us some pretty incredible views of the city. As we were going up the stairs, Caitlin started freaking out about the height. I was worried she was going to have a panic attack or something, but luckily she survived. It was close, though.

On Sunday we went to Notre Dame in the morning. We went up into the bell towers for free (first Sunday of every month). There was a lot of stairs in a tiny spiral. It was sort of dizzying, and then we walked out a door and there were these incredible views. There was also chimeras.

They have wire fencing to keep anyone from falling off. I guess people were shorter back in the 13th century, cuz the original guardrails were really low.

After that, we had lunch before going to Mass inside the Cathedral. It was really pretty. There were a lot of people there for church. It was a little strange though, because they didn't close the cathedral to visitors during that time. So there was a constant stream of people going around the periphery of the church during the service. They were all quiet, but it still seemed a little odd. I guess there isn't anything they can really do though. The cathedral is gigantic anyway, so there is still plenty of room.

Next, we went to the Champs-Elysees. We started at the Place des Concordes, where that giant obelisk is located, and walked down to the Arc de Triomphe. The obelisk is actually the oldest building in Paris, as it was brought intact from Egypt during the 19th century. I wonder how exactly it was shipped. Once again, we thought about how much prettier everything would be during the spring or summer. But there were some interesting shops, such as a jewelry store with 40,000 euro watches for sale.

Next, we came back to Notre Dame for an organ concert. It was pretty crowded, actually. Apparently, they have free concerts every Sunday afternoon. The organ was really impressive. Since there wasn't a Mass going on, we were able to take pictures of the inside.

For dinner we went to a Tex-Mex restaurant near our hotel called the Indiana Cafe. We were both curious what French Tex-Mex would be like. I had enchiladas and Caitlin had tacos. Contrary to the weird expressions on our faces, it was actually pretty good. Not as good as at home though; it seemed more bland.

That night, we went for a cruise on the Seine. It was cool to see all the sights lit up at night. It was very cold though. Still fun, and I'm glad we did it. The next morning we got up to catch our 9:16 train. Unfortunately, our train got stopped on the tracks for two hours for some reason, and we ended up getting back to Aix late. But we made it, and we had a fantastic time in Paris.

Paris: Part One

Adam and I spent last weekend in beautiful Paris! We took the train from Aix after our Friday classes. It's only a three-hour ride, so we were in the city of light by late afternoon. We checked into our hostel in the Latin Quarter and then went to McDonald's for a quick dinner. I know, I know. You can't believe that we ate at McDonald's on our first night in Paris. But we were looking for something cheap and fast and were also curious if McDonald's is better in Europe.

The Verdict: European McDonald's are a lot cleaner and nicer than their American counterparts, but the food is exactly the same. Also, they were very stingy with their ketchup {and Adam and I are huge ketchup lovers}. After dinner, we walked across the Seine to the Louvre, which is free on Friday night for students. We couldn't believe how gigantic it was! It's seriously five times larger than the Met in New York.

We saw so many famous works of art that I learned about in the art history class I took last year. Of course, the most famous painting is the Mona Lisa. We walked around and just admired everything for a few hours, until the museum closed at ten. The next day, we woke up bright and early to take a 45-minute train ride to Versailles {after stopping for croissants at a nearby bakery, of course}.

Here's the palace from the front. It was built in the 1600s and inhabited by the royalty until Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were killed during the Revolution. During the 1800s, it was turned into a museum about French history and lived in again for a brief period. After World War Two, the French government restored the palace and open it up for tours.

The chapel were royal weddings, baptisms, and christenings were held. The famous Hall of Mirrors, with large windows down one side of the hall and mirrors on the other side.The amazing chandliers bounce light around the room. Aren't the ceilings so beautiful?

Adam and I posing in the Hall of Mirrors. After wandering around the palace for a few hours, seeing the state rooms and part of the French history museum, we had lunch in the Versailles cafe. We each enjoyed a slice of overpriced quiche florentine, salad, and a pastry for dessert.

After lunch, we investigated the huge gardens behind the palace. Here's a glimpse of Versailles from the back. Unforunately, it was cold, rainy, and muddy so we didn't stay for too long. It made us wish that we could come back in May and see everything in bloom!

We took the train back into the city and went back to our hostel for a brief nap. Then we had dinner at a quaint French restaurant in the Latin Quarter. For 12 Euros, you got an appetizer, main course, and dessert. For starters, I had a salad and Adam ordered the French onion soup. We both had the coq au vin as our main course. For dessert, we shared a chocolate mousse and tarte de pomme. Stayed tuned for part two - what we did on Saturday night and all day Sunday!

Pilgrimmage to Sainte Baume

On January 31st, Caitlin and I went on a pilgrimage with the local Catholic students group. We were headed to a place called Sainte-Baume. Caitlin and I were both thinking that Sainte Baume was just some French saint that we had never heard of. But... we were wrong. We set off at 8:15 on a bus to the starting point for the pilgrimage.

Here we are after about 2 hours of hiking. We had just climbed up to the top of a little mountain, and there was a spectacular view. Unfortunately, French students seem to be a little more used to climbing up mountains that we are, so we got behind the big block of the group. There were still people behind us in our group also. Unfortunately, we ended up getting almost to the rendezvous for lunch before losing our way. At this point we wandered up and down this road with a nun and a couple of other people who only spoke French. Caitlin got a little bit stressed. Luckily, we managed to find everyone else after about twenty minutes or so. We sat and had lunch and got ready to climb yet another mountain.


After about thirty minutes of walking up steep switchbacks, we finally made it to our destination. This was the view.

That little cluster of buildings is where we had lunch. When we got up there, we were greeted by an ancient monastery, established in the 400s.

It was incredible. It turns out that there is no Saint Baume, though... "baume" is French for "cave." The legend is that St. Mary Magdalene came to Marseilles after Christ's death and resurrection. She eventually found her way to this cave, where she stayed for the rest of her life. I say legend, but I have heard that there is some archaeological evidence for this too. Who knows?

The conclusion of the pilgrimage was attending Mass in that cave. It was beautiful and ancient. It was also very cold. I can't imagine how monks have lived here, so isolated from the rest of civilization, for over a thousand years. And they are still there! Although, the monastery has not been continually inhabited since its founding. There have been a few breaks of one or two hundred years, but still. Monks in a cave on a mountain for over a thousand years!

This picture might look like we took it during Mass, but that's not actually the case. We had about twenty minutes or so beforehand while we were all just sitting inside the cave.

This is a view of the (2nd) mountain that we climbed. We didn't actually go all the way to the top. If you look closely at the center of the picture you will see a tiny monastery. At the very top there is another building. I think the monks use that, too, but we didn't go there. That was probably a good thing, because that would have been a looong hike. Afterwards, we came back to Aix and together ate an entire pizza in ten minutes.

Cezanne's Studio

The last Saturday in January, Adam and I visited Paul Cezanne's studio, an Aix-en-Provence landmark. Cezanne {a famous impressionist artist} was born in Aix, lived in Paris for many years, and then returned to his hometown for the final years of his life. It was so amazing to see the studio where he painted some of his most famous works of art. We also got to see some of the objects he used in still-lifes, like vases, bowls, statues, and tables. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the studio itself, but here are a few of the house's exterior. I love the contrast of the red shutters and green vines!

Mount Sainte-Victoire, located outside of the city, was a huge source of inspiration for Cezanne. He painted the mountain dozens of times from different angles and in different weather. One of his favorite painting spots was just up the hill from his studio, so after leaving the museum we walked up to enjoy Cezanne's view.

Luberon Excursion

Last, last Sunday the whole CEA group took a trip with a friendly French fellow named Georges. He is an official tour guide for the tourism office here in Aix. First, we went to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. This is a little medieval town on an island in, you guessed it, the Sorgue River. It was full of winding streets, which is pretty similar to how Aix's town center is too. On the Sunday morning that we went there was a big market going on.

So we took pictures of food. They also had these cool waterwheels scattered about the city, which were really big and used to provide mill power to the city. I'm not sure if they are still used for electric power or not. But they turn! While we were at the market we bought some food for lunch, which was bread, some fruit, some roasted chicken and quail, and some Comte cheese. The quail still had its head on, so you know, it was pretty fresh. We had some difficulty ordering the cheese, as we don't know how to say fractions in French, so we ended up with half a kilo (that's a little more than a pound) of cheese. Luckily, the cheese stayed good for the next two weeks while we ate it, so that was okay.

Next we went to Roussillon. This used to be (and still is somewhat) ochre mining town, so they had these really cool cliffs that were all shades of red, green, and yellow. The village was nice, too, although we didn't really have much time to walk around it.

After visiting those fancy cliffs, we went to a little town called Gordes on top of a hill. As we drove by Georges pointed out an 11th century abbey that was in a valley, still being used by monks. The town was really interesting. It had a little castle, old stone streets, a beautiful church, and some excellent views.

All in all, it was pretty neat little expedition to the Luberon!

Chez Lolo

After our trip to Les Baux, the whole CEA group had lunch at a farmhouse in the little village of Sainte Remy. The farmhouse is built into the side of a quarry and has been in the same family since Louis XIV! The old man who owns the place, nicknamed Lolo, made us a delicious three-course lunch. We dined on pate, olive omelette, ratatouille, and roasted lamb with green beans.  

Lolo's collection of antique provencal dinnerware.

The huge dining room where the feast was held.

The farm produces olives and olive oil every year, products the region is famous for.

We're loving French cuisine so far, and we've had some success in creating provencal dishes on our own. Neither of us has an oven in our apartments, so we're sticking to eggs, pasta, and soups so far. Dining out, we've had excellent salads, sandwiches, pizza, crepes, and pastries. One of our favorite European treats {besides Nutella, of course} is Oranginia - orange juice mixed with soda water. It's delicious!

Les Baux

Last Thursday (the 21st), we went to Les Baux en Provence. This is a castle and village on a hill from... a very long time ago. Apparently the Celts built a fort around 200 B.C., but the current ruins are from a much more recent castle.


They also have trebuchets and other siege weapons on display. These were really big. Apparently they demonstrate them everyday from April to September, so we might have to go back. The above picture is a little deceiving; the hill the castle is on is actually much larger. This is taken from on the hill looking up to the top.


This is us on the walls of the castle.

This is the view from the hill. We are really high up actually; I feel like this was hard to capture on camera.


This is a stony vale behind the castle, called the Val-d'Enfer, or Vale of Hell. Supposedly, Dante was inspired by this place when describing Hell in his Inferno.


They also had a pillory.