Pretty pages from my time in France.
1. “Fairytale” – The back of Notre Dame in Paris.
2. “Breakfast in Paris” – Breakfast with Amandine
3. “The House of Victor Hugo” – Self explanatory really!
4. “Wonder” – First sight of the Eiffel Tower up close
5. “Wallpaper” – Unfinished page about the wallpaper at Versailles.
6. “French Sweets” – A selection of the yummy sweets I ate in France! Definitely a favourite page!
Right; I’m off to Switzerland tomorrow, and won’t have the internet for at least a week, so here is a quick summary of what’s happened so far, including the Paris trip that I didn’t have time to write about before!
-Palais Garnier (Paris Opera) was probably the highlight of all France for me. It was such a thrill to actually be there, and our tour guide was fantastic! I learnt so much, little things, like that the architect, Charles Garnier, wasn’t invited to the gala opening of the theatre, he had to pay for his ticket! And that there is a statue of a salamander by the old gas pipes to ward off fire. We saw the infamous Box 5 inside the theatre (some superstitious people still won’t take tickets in the Phantom’s box), and, having just finished reading Gaston Leroux’s novel Phantom of the Opera, seeing the auditorium for myself was just incredible! I’ve promised myself that one day I will come back and see a ballet or an opera there.
-From the Palais, I rushed to my hotel in Montparnasse, checked in quickly, then took a train to Versailles. WOW. I tried to imagine the approach to the Chateau as if I was in a horse and carriage, along the cobblestones with the giant building looming in front. The place is seriously impressive, and even though I only had 3 hours there, I’m really glad I had the chance to see it. I rushed through the state apartments, seeing the Hall of Mirrors, the King and Queen’s bedchambers, and the grand gallery with 32 paintings of French battles (it’s HUGE). I had a wander through the gardens closest to the Chateau, as it was getting dark and the ground was still icy. I wish I’d had more time to absorb it all, but what I did see was just spectacular. There was a modern art installatyion series throughout the Chateau, which didn’t really fit in (Japanese pop culture statues), but which would have been good for the kids visiting to admire. Another place I’ll have to return to one day.
-On Monday I slept in (it was so nice!) and then went up to Monmatre to see the Basilica Sacre Coeur. I spent a while sitting in the majestic basilica, and then listened to the soundtrack from Amelie on the walk back down.
-I had a lazy lunch of onion soup and beef bourginon, then went in search of the Ladurée teahouse Thea recommended for a cake and tea. I had Marie Antoinette tea and a raspberry, nougat and almond cake (yum!). After that I caught the train back to Lyon.
-Yesterday, Amandine took me up to the Cathedral on the hill, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who is credited with saving the city from both invasion and the plague. This is the most beautiful church I’ve been in so far! The colours were just amazing, and the mosaics and sculptures were really impressive! There was also an amazing view over the city, and the sky put on a show with dark clouds contrasting with patches of bright sunshine. So, so beautiful!
-The main highlight since coming back to Lyon had been the Fete des Lumieres, or festival of lights, which opened last night. We had a really warm day, but it rained in the evening on and off. I went with Amandine’s friends, and we saw some really cool displays. Basically the whole city has installations of light-related art throughout it, from parks with illuminated loops, to Northern Lights-style projections on fountains and buildings. The most spectacular was on a church, where the projected lights moved to show a forest growing and expanding, then receding across te building. It was amazing!
Right, I should finish packing. There won’t be an update for a while, but wish me luck braving the icy temperatures across the Alps! I’m travelling with Jasmin, who is on a study break this week, which will make it all the more fun! Tomorrow is Geneva (and the UN, sooooooo excited about seeing the Palais de Nations), then Zurich, Salzburg and Vienna on the 16th. Much love to you all! xox
I just got back after spending Sunday/Monday in Paris! We had such a short time there, and I still really wanted to see the Paris Opera and the Palace of Versailles, so I booked train tickets and a hotel and just did it. Because Chasselay is about an hour away from Lyon, we went to the city on Saturday and visited the Art Gallery. There was a great room with still life paintings of flowers, and I saw another Degas!
After the gallery, we had some time to kill before meeting Amandine’s friend, whose apartment we were staying at, so we went to this amazing bakery/teahouse and I had a ‘peasant apple tart’ and the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had! It was made from real, fresh cocoa beans, and was to die for! We met up with Amandine’s boyfriend Simon too, before finally getting to the apartment. We went out pretty much straight away again, on to a goodbye party for 2 of Simon’s friends who were, funnily enough, flying to Australia on Monday! I met some really nice people, and the bar was in Lyon’s arty area, which basically meant it was a really good night! We picked up a burger meal from Quick, the French Maccas, on the way back and crashed, not looking forward to the 7am wake up call.
Somehow we dragged our butts out of bed, and Amandine walked me to the station (Lyon Part-Dieu) for my 8am train to Paris. Once I arrived, I went straight to the Paris Opera (also known as the Palais Garnier). Ok, more later, gotta go!
A quick update – yesterday was a really really awesome day! Not only did it SNOW, but I got my Honours results back, and am graduating with First Class Honours!!!!!! I couldn’t believe it, it was so exciting to see the email, after all that work. To celebrate, Amandine and I went out into the snow and mucked around, and took a walk through the village, which was really beautiful. It was the first time I touched real snow, so it was really special for me. And, to top it all off, there was homemade custard and raspberry cake waiting for us when we got back (seriously the best cake ever – Amandine’s Dad is a baker, and he really knows his stuff!). Such a perfect day!
Today I decided to stay at Amandine’s parents’ house and rest rather than go on an overnight trip into Lyon proper, especially with a 6am start. It’s been a lovely lazy day and I’m feeling a lot better not having to go out into the cold. It was really nice to sleep in as well after being so busy in Paris.
So, Paris. The other thing that I loved about the Louvre was that, for someone who doesn’t know much about art, there are so many pieces there that you can learn what you like and why. For example, I found that a lot of still life pieces stood out for me as really beautiful:
The one above reminded me of my grandparents’s old house on the Central Coast of NSW – I think it’s because they always had seashells in the bathroom.
Anyway, we saw the Winged Victory (she was magnificent, really quite awe-inspiring), the Venus de Milo (which, incidentally should be the Aphrodite de Milo as Venus is Roman not Greek), and, of course, the Mona Lisa. Even though it was winter there was a crowd in front of her, and I’d been told how small she is, so wasn’t disappointed. We spend nearly 4 hours exploring, and apart from the Italian and French painting galleries, we saw a lot of the Egyptian gallery and some of the sculpture ‘garden’, which I found I could appreciate more than some of the paintings. I got pretty excited when it started snowing lightly outside too.
We decided to go to the Champs-Elysees before dinner, as it is lit up in the evenings in the lead up to Christmas. We tried to find the Metro as it was still snowing a bit (I was excited, but we only had one u,brella and it was cold), but in our search, we actually ended up walking the whole way anyway! So we browsed the Christmas stalls, and had a cup of hot mulled wine to warm up (it was delicious!).
We walked all the way up to the Arc de Triomphe, browsing in some shops along the way, and I found Ladurée! One of my missions in Paris was achieved – I got 8 amazing macaroons!
We ended up going back to Arts et Métiers for dinner, and I tried escargot for the first time! I actually really liked it, and the French ravioli I had for a main was to die for! The food here really is amazing!
On Saturday morning, we grabbed breakfast on the run and walked to the Bastille to see the art markets that Thea recommended. I like to buy a piece of art from each country that I visit, so this was a good chance to find something from France. I ended up getting two prints (the artist had already sold the originals of the ones I liked) of Parisienne balconies, which is what I loved most about the city. The lady was a bit nutty, but that was kinda cool and added to the experience.
From there, we wandered down to where Victor Hugo lived, in an apartment within a giant square of buildings. We didn’t actually know which one he lived in, but it was so cool to see buildings like that for the first time.
We had lunch in a Japanese restaurant after trying to find a street Amandine had eaten on before she went to Mali (we couldn’t find it), and I had a throwback to my childhood by drinking Orangina. The rest of the day was spent at the Musée D’Orsay (another excellent Thea recommendation), where I was completely blown away to see the originals of Degas’s ballerinas. Unlike the Louvre, photos aren’t allowed, but I really enjoyed seeing a lot of the impressionist works. The only disappointment was that the majority of the Monet collection was touring at the National Gallery, which we didn’t have time to get to, but it was a great afternoon wandering between works by Gaugin, Van Gough, Renoir and Degas, to name a few.
We were both exhausted by this point, so went back and had dinner at a lovely little restaurant (the decor was really nice), and this time I had veal liver with an apple sauce, to be adventurous. We ate very well in Paris, I think. I ended up buying another coat too, while we were looking for bags for Amandine. This one is orange tartan, and it’s really warm!
Yesterday was our last day, with the rushed visit to the Eiffel Tower (we didn’t have time to go to the top, only to the middle level).
The view was wonderful, and we were lucky that it didn’t rain. We grabbed a waffle to go (it was good, but not as nice as the one in London), and dashed back to the apartment to pack and give Amandine’s friend his keys back. We hurried to Gare de Lyon (let’s not talk about the number of stairs involved in this process and my 20kg suitcase, beyond saying that my arms are now guns), validated my Eurail pass, and got on the train to Lyon. Of course, after frantically rushing, the train was delayed by 20mins, so we just kinda sat there, hanging out for a while until the accident on the line was sorted out.
The train trip was pretty quick (the train was a TGV), and I slept for most of it, occassionally waking up to see different degrees of snow-covered landscape. And I think that brings things up to date. Amandine’s parents are so lovely – they don’t speak English, but talk to me anyway and her Dad even brought in macaroons for after lunch today because he knew I liked them!
I’m looking forward to exploring Lyon a bit tomorrow when I go into town to meet Amandine. For now, au revoir!
Well, I made it to Lyon after a couple of hectic days in Paris! The city is utterly amazing – there is beautiful architecture everywhere and, best of all, unlimited bread refills in restaurants! What more could a girl ask for? I’ll write as much as I can now but I am going to help Amandine and her Mum cook dinner so I might have to go before I finish.
Before I write about France, though, I have to be fair to England and say that I saw snow for the first time there! It was in the taxi up to Leeds Bradford Airport, and then again more heavily while I was at the airport. As an aside, LBA still makes passengers walk on the tarmac. Anyway, my flight was really smooth considering the heavy clouds over the Channel (which had me wondering why it is called the English Channel, not the French Channel?), and I found my way to the buses at Charles de Gaulle to get to Gare de Lyon, where Amandine met me. I had to wait nearly an hour for the bus, but I got there in time and it was just awesome to see her again!
We caught the Metro to Arts et Métiers, and met her friend Hugo, who very kindly lent us his apartment for the weekend. Thankfully it was close to the station, but the apartment was on the 6th storey of a building with no lift! That wasn’t fun with my suitcase, especially since we went into the wrong building the first time, and didn’t realise until we were half way up! Once we got there and settled in, we went for a walk in the surrounding area, past the Georges Pompediou (spelt wrong) Centre, aka crazy modern art building. We didn’t end up going in, but it was an awesome building.
We had dinner at a place nearby, and I had my first taste of foie gras! It was delicious, like paté but better, and the meal was scrumptious! I’m still sick, but it has become a bit better since I got to France, so I could taste more of the food than before!
One of the things that really struck me about Paris is the beauty of the residential buildings. I love the balcony railings and flower boxes hanging on them! They made up my first impression of the city from the bus.
Friday was a busy day – we visited Notre Dame and the Louvre, then went to the Champs-Elysees at night and soaked up the holiday atmosphere at the Christmas stalls. I was completely blown away by the Louvre – it’s HUGE! I mean, I knew it was big, but you don’t really appreciate how big until you’re standing there!
Ok, I think we’re going to start cooking, so I’ll try to write more later.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes" - Marcel Proust
"In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors" - William Blake
