September 26

Alex and I went to Versailles 2 weeks ago I believe and it was incredible. I didn't think that I could find a better garden then Luxembourg but I think I did at Versailles. We started in the morning at the Chateau and saw all of the Louis XIV paraphernalia and was very disappointed to find giant, bright colored anime pieces of "art" blocking the original art. I think Louis XIV thought very highly of himself after seeing dozens and dozens of portraits and statues of himself. The palace was beautiful and I couldn't imagine that it was built for a single man. I wouldn't mind having a palace with a gold fenced entrance and just shy of 800 hectares of gardens. But after the stuffed palace visit we went to the place I really came for, the gardens of Versailles. The gardens were incredible to say the least. The manicured cones to the alles of hedged trees in perfect grids to the parterres of flowers to the canal lined with statues was truly amazing to experience. André Le Nôtre definitely knew how to design. It must have been nice to have the king of France's budget and endless amounts of space to work with. I am actually going back again tomorrow to see the fountains actually running so I'm very excited for that. While strolling through the gardens Alex and I ran into a kitten, Louis XIV, of course, and had lunch with him. We actually saw many cats in the gardens. I wonder if they're there to keep the rats away because apparently after Louis XIV died Versailles became a horrible place that was filthy and filled with rats. Way to go Marie Antoinette, way to go...  We also saw Marie Antoinette's shack compared to Louis' palace and saw her gardens which were incredible as well.



Sunday of that week I went to Le Louvre for the first time and it was enormous. I had to look at a few paintings for a class so I didn't spend too much time looking at other areas of Le Louvre but it was very nice. I have been told that if I saw 4 paintings a day for 4 months straight that I'd be able to see the entire museum so I think I'm gonna go back. The architecture of the Louvre is very cool and the Tuileries Gardens to the west of it I still have to explore.


Thursday, Alex and I left for Oktoberfest! We managed to find the right train at the train station and got to our seats while deciphering our German train ticket. Six and a half hours later we were in Munich. We got in around midnight so we checked out the area around our hostel which seemed like the hostel/casino/brothel district and got some pizza and called it a night. While we were eating pizza we overheard German people speaking German to one another and then they ordered drinks in English to the German waiter. That was very strange to see.

Friday, we ended up doing a tour of Munich from an independent tour guide, Ozzie, that was really awesome. Munich is a really cool city and is quite smaller than Paris but throughout the tour I learned a lot of history about Munich and how new they are as a city. Everything there dates from the 1960's and newer except for four monuments: The Glockenspiel, The bell towers of their church, and sorry Ozzie, I forgot the other two. But regardless, it's a very new city filled with meat eating, beer drinking, very friendly Bavarian's. Now not all of them drink and eat meat and are friendly but I learned that the average Bavarian drinks 1.5 liters of beer a day and that average includes children and non drinkers...So the ones that drink, drink. Midway through the tour we all stopped to have lunch at the beer gardens/food market which was quite fun. After seeing the Hofbräuhaus where Hitler gave his speeches and learning about the Nazi party and all the history on 9/11 not September, but November we went over and explored the tip of the 1000 hectare Englischer garten. After walking through the Japanese garden and looking at the peaceful lines left by a rake in the zen garden we managed to see people surfing, in Munich, in September, in a river. Yes, it's true and it was awesome. Here are some pictures to prove it. I want to go back to Munich to continue exploring the vastness of the garden because I was very impressed. After the garden walk we went back to a local beer hall to meet up with Ozzie and people from the tour to have a beer. I managed to have a darker beer then the dominating blondes there and it was delightful. Throughout that one day and night we manged to meet a some Germans, a couple English people, a couple Norwegians, a Brazilian, some Americans, and an Australian. It was really incredible that there were people from all over the world at one place. Everyone was very friendly and it was interesting to hear what everyone had to say about their experiences.

Saturday, Oktoberfest opening weekend began. Alarm didn't go off but we managed to get to the grounds at 9:00 am just an hour before the tents opened. We got in line at a hall that looked like it would be a fun time so we went to the Armbrustschützen tent and waited for the doors to open at 10am. We got in and were finally in the famous beer tents of Oktoberfest, very magical. We looked for the first open seats and found some seats next to two Italian guys. We couldn't drink beer until the mayor tapped the first keg, at 12, so we got a giant pretzel and took in the scenery. Before noon we also ordered from their food menu that actually had a vegetarian section, who would of thought in Bavaria?, and had some veggie strudel that was very good. But alas, the band came in followed by the proprietor of the beer tent and his wife and the mayor took the first sip of beer and it was time to drink some Bavarian beer! Our table was actually one of the first to be served which was awesome and our table joined in a very deep German sounding "Prost" (cheers). The beer was the biggest beer I've ever drank from and it was very tasty. The Oktoberfest Paulaner beer's went fast when you're surrounded by two Italians and four Germans at the table. But we shared many Prosts and laughs and it was a very memorable experience.

The following day Alex and I decided to take it easy and explore Oktoberfest outside of a beer tent and see the grounds. We even saw Resident Evil After Life, in 3d, in German, which was interesting to kill some time before our 3 am train ride back to Paris, which wasn't the best planning that I've done. Alex, unfortunately, had pinkeye throughout the weekend but she pushed through it and we had a great time. 

Now I can cross Oktoberfest off of my bucket list!

School went through until thursday like always and then friday night Alex and I saw Medeski, Martin, and Wood at Le Bateclan which was really cool. I knew that they were playing in Paris before I even got here so I was very excited to finally see them. I actually had champagne for the first time in Paris at the concert, which is a little strange, but it was really good. When we entered the concert there was a cultural difference in which everyone was sitting in seats rather then standing as they do in the United States. I liked that. Apparently people stand or sit at concerts depending on the music in Paris. The concert was amazing and had a double encore that was outstanding. If you have never listened to Medeski, Martin, and Wood, you can check them out here if you want. 

On Satuday, the 25th of September, Alex and I decided to explore Montemarte, the 18th arrondesment of Paris. After walking by THE Moulin Rouge and dozens of sex shops we landed in Cafe du 2 Moulins which is the cafe that Amelie worked at in the movie, Amelie. Unfortunately, the cafe is quite touristy now but it looked mostly like the movies set did which was fun to experience. I had the best crème brûlée I've ever had there and I want to go back already for more... After the cafe we decided to explore more of the Montemarte area and took a petite train ride zooming by Picasso's apartment, vineyards on the hill, and got dropped off at the Sacre Coeur. The views from this point of Paris were great and the architecture of the church was very cool. I'm kind of getting sick of churches but this one in particular has the biggest bell in the world weighing 26 tons and can be heard 25 miles away!!! Unfortunately, it only rings once a year, on Easter.

Sunday was another glorious day at Versailles! This time the fountains were on, for two hours...I feel like I have a good understanding of where everything is there now and have seen just about everything, which is a lot! Not kitty spottings this time but we did see some fantastic fountain displays. It rained on and off but I had an umbrella and was a very happy camper. I found the orange groves at Versailles which I didn't see last time which were really cool. Another area that I also missed from last time was the arena like garden where Alex and I were surrounded with fountains and noise from them. The day ended with a fountain display show at the Neptune fountains which was pretty exciting except the fountains didn't move like they did at the Fountain of Mirrors display. 

pictures and links coming soon...sorry

September 12, 2010

It has been too long since I have written here. An incredible amount of things have been going on the past two weeks and doing them compared to telling about the things I already did just seemed like backtracking. But, alas, I uploaded more photographs of Luxembourg garden that I wanted to show.

Panoramic of Luxembourg

Perfectly hedged 

Luxembourg Palace

Main fountain with the boats! Brilliant idea

Monday the 30th of August was my first day of school. It went very well and I was very excited to learn that for almost all of classes that half the time we will be on excursions outside of the classroom usually at the actual places that we are studying. For architecture, each week I have to sketch something that is related to the time period or subject that we are learning about that week. Thus far I have sketched some parts of the archeological crypt literally under Notre Dame. Tomorrow I am going to go to St. Chapelle to draw the structure. But the first week of classes went well and then thursday Alex and I went to explore Notre Dame and went inside. It has incredible architecture and very intricate sculpture. We didn't climb to the top that day but will soon. After wondering about the cathedral we went down into the archeological crypt directly below Notre Dame. It had stone walls and baths that dated back to the Roman time in BC. It is only partially open because archeologists are still excavating the site today.

BC stairwell

gargoyle/gutter

Notre Dame

Friday, the 3rd, alex and I went to Eurodisney! It was awesome. It had a lot of the attractions that disneyland has and some from Disneyworld as well. I went on tower of terror, space mountain, Alice's curious labyrinth, rock and rollercoaster with aerosmith or something of that nature, (not that fun) starwars ride, and a "mountainous" ride that was great. Mickey spoke in french! Ha it was hilarious. Bonjour tout le monde! ---in the Mickey mouse tone. I didn't get any of the Disney characters signatures this time because I rarely saw any. The ones I did see I hardly recognized because they were all of the new disney characters. But it was a really good time.

Mickey and Mini Mouse

Saturday was my study abroad programs "mystery tour excursion" where we had no idea where we were going and it ended up being a great place. They took us to the Normandy region into Deauville which is on the western coast of France and the American Film festival also happened to be going on there. So there was a lot to do and I ended up eating a famous Normandy crepe with some of their famous cider at a cafe, hung out on the beach and met the Atlantic ocean for my first time (very nice, kinda cold). I did end up seeing a few famous people that I didn't know were that famous at the time like David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, Terry Gilliam, writer of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, screenplay of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and others. Deauville was a really cool place that I want to go to again.


Sunday I went to the Cluny museum and saw some medieval pieces of art and structures. I was pretty bummed to find out that the Cluny baths were closed. But I'll be back.

I need more time to talk about Versailles and to add more pictures (blogger is pretty slow in uploading) so I will be back soon.

Week one in Paris

La Seine

Le parc Montsouris

 The first week in Paris has gone very well and has been very overwhelming but great. I had orientation for my study abroad program this week and my first objective when I arrived was to figure out the Metro station to traverse the grand city of Paris. After my brief orientation meeting on monday I got dropped off at my living situation which as I mentioned before at Cite U. Since I was quite nervous with my french, Alex and I only ended up eating a baguette for dinner on that monday but I am getting more confident with my french so I have ordered much more then that by now. I've even sat down at a restaurant! That's a big step for me and was a little nerve racking but it was a success. But let's see so monday was basically a day of trying to change my biological clock and resting. Then the rest of the week we had orientation meetings where we learned about safety, traveling, metro, and academic stuff. Bah academic stuff... I'm here to travel. But I'm actually very excited for my classes to begin which is Monday. Before and after the orientation meetings I managed to eat some croissants, sandwiches avec fromage, quiche, pizza, crepes, salads, wine, and eclairs! So, I'm definitely getting a good taste of Paris so far going about 800 miles an hour. Oh yeah I also went on a bus tour my second day here and hit just about all of the major attractions in Paris. I saw the Bastille, Le Tour Eiffel, Le Louvre, Opera House, Champs-Elysees, arc de triomphe, Notre Dame, and more. (See pictures).

Le parc Montsouris

I have also explored Le parc Montsouris which was the best park i've ever been to in my life until another garden I just explored today which I will mention soon. But this park has ups and downs and a lake with a waterfall and great views and walks lined with benches. It has giant statues and a cafe, a restaurant, and a new park concept that was unfamiliar to me. There are these two person swings like a seesaw where children swing back and forth. They are quite the attraction for them. Oh and there is also a merry-go-round type ride for kids that have the indy style cars that they sit in. The parks here are very involved and much more lively then any American park that I've been to. I love it!

rue de ?

But going to boulangeries and patisseries is what I've been doing for food mostly which is incredible. I definitely won't have a problem eating baguettes avec fromage toute le jour while I'm here. One night Alex and I went to an Italian restaurant called Casanova (the name was so compelling) ((and for sure had vegetarian options)) and had a pizza with Gorgonzola and a few other cheeses that was tres bonne.

Yesterday Alex and I went out to look for a school bag and adapter and came back with nothing while spending four hours looking and wondering around. Not that that was a bad thing, it's just easy to get overwhelmed and distracted in this city. Regardless, we went to BHV, a mega department store, as well as Printemps, an equally mega department store with high end designers and found nothing we wanted to throw 200 euro+ down for. After that experience of wandering around endless streets we decided to head back to Cite U and get some groceries.

The grocery store we chose was called Franprix and we probably bought too much stuff and didn't realize how heavy it would be on our walk home. But we made it back and got some essentials and learned that people bag their own groceries in Paris and the cashiers sit opposed to the American cashiers standing. I was super excited to find that a large bag of pistachios was only 1 euro and a liter of orange juice for 59 cents. Pas mal, pas mal.

Luxembourg

Today, Saturday, Alex and I wanted to get out of our survival mode and do something leisurely so we went to the Luxembourg gardens and had a picnic. These are the best gardens (so far) that I've ever seen. The alles of trees, the hedged trees, the water with mini sailboats, the walkways, the lawns, the statues, the flowers, the grids, the axis! It was truly amazing. I wanted to take a picture everywhere. I couldn't stop. We strolled through the park with our jaws to the floor (well mine anyway) and took everything in. After sitting and strolling for a while we went to get lunch to bring back from a local boulangerie. It was an excellent time and surly unforgettable.

tour eiffel

Next on the agenda,
-get a sketchbook
-draw with my sketchbook
-go to school on monday
-explore


*throughout my blog I will give links to places I visit or see for you to explore more if you so chose to

 

à bientôt!

Ma Maison et Mes Cours

So after a long and anxious wait I finally found out what my classes are going to be and where I'm going to live in Paris last week! I'm going to be living in the 14th arrondissement on the left bank which is a 10 minute metro ride to the heart of Paris. I'll be on the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris campus which houses over 2000 students from around the world situated in different 'houses' or dorms designed by the countries native architects. The American house is right across the street from Parc Montsouris! I will be spending a lot of time there. The campus looks beautiful and is designed in a very french manner which is awesome and one of my favorite styles. 

I will be learning the strengths of the Parisian culture in Oenology: The History, Culture and Business of Wine, Haute Couture in Paris: History of Style and Fashion, History of Paris: An Architectural Perspective, and the french language itself. So by the time I'm done with my courses I hope to know how to read the wine bible at Piero Selvaggio Valentino's restaurant in Vegas at the Venetian (and actually understand what I want and why) and know how to make wine, and how to sell and market it. I also hope to learn the process of design from the french fashion designers and attempt to apply that to the landscape. While roaming the streets of Paris I can point out architectural elements and know the reason for the design and know the time period of when it was built. I hope to advance my sketching abilities while sketching architectural and landscape pieces in Paris and abroad. And finally, I hope by the end of my stay that I can speak with the natives without major difficulty. 


I am very excited for this experience and can't wait to see how it will unravel. I pre-packed last night and am pushing 50 pounds in my suitcase but I think I'll manage and put some things in my carry on. I'm actually thrilled about living out of just a suitcase. The only thing left to do now is wait, play some golf, and do as many American things I can think of until Sunday.

test pack

Avant Paris

Preparing for Paris is quite exciting for me and as I continue to prepare the reality that I'm actually going to be there in 11 days is sinking in further and further. Getting to where I am now has been quite a journey from driving through the desert to swimming in the Pacific. To apply for my visa I traveled with my girlfriend Alex (whom is also going to Paris with me) to Los Angeles to the consulate of France. We decided to make it a small vacation as well (why not?) and stopped in Vegas after our drive through the desert. We saw Le Reve which was an amazing show that was the best entertainment I've ever experienced. We also got to experience the 2010 World Series of Poker and we saw Scotty Nguyen (if you know poker players) at a feature table. 

It was very interesting to discover that the event was being filmed with actual rolls of film. After melting away in Vegas we continued our journey to LA which was new to me considering I had never been to California. After the traffic and Consulate visit we walked around Rodeo drive jammed with the common car, Bentley's. Next, we decided to head west because we figured we would hit the ocean eventually and ended up at Santa Monica Pier. After swimming in the waves and relaxing on the beach we headed back to Vegas and then the next day back to Colorado. 

Oh and don't forget to fill up your gas tank every chance you get in Utah which is like twice. If you forget and you're lucky enough to find the smallest gas station sign a mile off the interstate you'll be okay 10 miles later at a tiny "gas station" that sells t-shirts that say, "Ran out of gas in Utah". I got a laugh out of that... after trying to stay calm for 40 miles.