Week 6: Golden!

Bonjour! Parlais vous Anglais? Oui oui! Tres bien! Translation please: Hello! Do you speak English? Yes, yes! Great!

That makes up about a quarter of the French I used this past weekend while I was in Paris! More about my French adventure later in the blog…

The girls and I unwound on Monday (2/19) night by watching the videos I have recorded while being here. There were definitely some great laughs. The night didn’t end there though because we decided to get Becca and me “on film” while attacking Julie with our foam darts!

Tuesday (2/20) was all about taking care of business. After class, I got serious about researching for my paper that is due on March 1. Then, I accompanied Rasa to her doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. The walk to the office takes longer than the actual visit! Then, we were off to Boots (think Sav-on or Walgreen’s) to pick up her prescription and some travel-size toiletry bottles for me. We came back the dorms where I saw my name posted on the bulletin for a receipt of a package! It was the package I sent myself by surface! Took almost 6 weeks, but it got here and it was definitely worth the cost and wait. That night, I spent nearly 5 hours with my Marketing group mates analyzing and interpreting the surveys we conducted. (For you Psych majors, I totally wanted to use SPSS! I could not find the program, so I settled for Excel…so NOT the same!)

Becca and I joined Rasa on Wednesday (2/21) to the Bank of England Museum where we learned how the first bank of England was established. We saw everything from the first cheques that were written to the establishment of the “note” and the evolution of the pence (and its metal counterparts). We even touched and lifted a real gold bar (in a heavy-duty case with a security camera watching) worth over 135,000 Great Britain Pounds! (That’s nearly $275,000!) I get excited holding a crisp $100 bill, so you can imagine how my eyes lit up as I literally had thousands of dollars in my hand. Before I had to part from Becca and Rasa (because I had class at 3pm), we stopped by The Monument in London, which signifies the Great Fire of 1666. Upon my arrival back to the dorms after dinner and a short stop at a pub to celebrate Cloud’s successful first art project, I was very happy (in my always nerdy way) to see that MSMC’s Fall 2007 course schedule was posted on WebAdvisor. I busted out with my handy course catalog and my own personally designed and tailored spreadsheet of classes. I am waiting on some dates and times for a couple of classes, but am thus far on schedule!

I could barely wait for the afternoon on Thursday (2/22)! After class and lunch, Rasa and I headed out to exchange some Pounds for Euro. We double-checked our luggage and met with our group by 4:00 pm. A group of about 30 students lined up the streets with our luggage to the nearest tube station to head to the Waterloo stop. Dragging luggage into a full tube coach is difficult. So difficult that I lost my bearing when the train jolted to a start and I opened the sliding doors! Not only was I embarrassed by the fact that I nearly toppled over a stranger, but also the conductor made an announcement reminding passengers that obstructing the doors is dangerous. I could do nothing but laugh and claim, “Yup, that was all me.”

We hopped on the Eurostar after a short delay and were in PARIS, FRANCE late that evening. Outside the Paris Eurostar station, I could hardly keep my smile to myself as I scanned the city. We quickly jumped on a coach to our hotel, where we literally just grabbed our room keys to dump our bags and head down to the nearest metro station to purchase our 2-day passes. Rasa and I needed to pull out some Euro (for reasons to be explained soon) so we stopped by an ATM. Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped by a local kebab place with some newly made friends.



We were up and ready early Friday (2/23) morning to join the bus sightseeing tour that our tour manager set up for us. (Just a note that I will be going back and forth between the English and French names for the sites and monuments.) Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) from across the River Seine. We quickly snapped photos because we had to be back on the coach. No worries, we were going to get a much closer and better look of the Eiffel Tower later on.

We made our way to the Arc de Triomphe Etoile, a monument that was dedicated to Napoleon’s soldiers. We rounded it and then headed down Avenue des Champs-Elysees where we circled around Place de la Concorde (for those of you who saw The Devil Wear Prada – it’s where Anne Hathaway’s character threw her cell phone in the fountain). In the middle is a 3,300-year old Egyptian obelisk (obelisque) with hieroglyphics of pharaoh Rameses II. This is just one of three of Cleopatra’s needles. The other ones are in London and New York. Before the obelisque was brought to Paris in the 1830’s, the Place de la Concorde, or the Place de la Revolution as it was called then, occupied the guillotine that took the lives of thousands of people, including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

We made our way a bit north again and passed by buildings such as The United States Embassy until we stopped in front of the Opera Garnier (Palais Garnier formerly called Académie Nationale de Musique)– the “biggest” (over 115,00 square feet!), but ironically the “smallest” (only 2,200 seats) opera house in Paris. The Opera Garnier was not completed for more than 3 decades because of several setbacks, including the Franco-Prussian war. More interestingly (at least to me) another setback was that the water from a subterranean lake had to be pumped out. Sounding a little familiar? For you Phantom of the Opera fans, you’re right! The Palais Garnier serves as the setting for Gaston’s Leroux’s masterpiece.



After hopping back on the coach, we rode back down towards the River Seine to Musee du Louvre, which we will visit the next morning. We then crossed the bridge (but not completely over the River Seine) to stroll by Cathedral Notre Dame (The Church of Our Lady). Yes, Notre Dame is on like its own little island on the River Seine! Notre Dame was another stop we would make the next day. Some of the notable buildings we drove by were Institute de France, Musee D’Orsay, and Assemblee Nationale before making our third stop at Les Invalides, a monument and museum that was originally a home and hospital for war veterans. After the completion of the Les Invalides and Eglise Saint-Louis des Invalides (chapel for the soldiers), King Louis XIV ordered a royal chapel to be contsructed. Église du Dôme was obviously inspired by St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy. It now serves as a tomb for French military leaders, including Napoleon Bonaparte.

Our final stop of the bus tour was an exclusive French perfumery called Fragonard. We all went on a tour and learned secrets to how perfume is best made (and what the difference is between eau de toilette and eau de parfum is). So, here we are in Paris, France in a perfumery that makes and sells perfume exclusively at this location. Can you blame me for purchasing two bottles? At about 30 Euro a pop (discounted price because we were in a tour group), my mother and older sister will definitely be enjoying their (only!) Parisian souvenirs.

From the perfumery, we walked down Champ de Mars to the Tour Eiffel. Again, being in a tour has its perks because we were able to line up in the short “GROUP” line to ascend the Eiffel Tower, masterpiece of Gustav Eiffel, built in 1889 for the world fair. You think you know how high you will be, but the view is just unbelievable! And that was from just the second floor. We stood in another line to take the lift to the 3rd floor, 320 meters (over 1000 feet) from the ground. What a rush! (And to think that Eiffel Tower had two major close calls of being torn down; one being Hitler.) We braved some light rain and wind while we were all the way at the top before stopping by the gift shop. We relished the views while coming down the Eiffel Tower and snapped a few more photos before hunting down a place to grab some food.

What was I in the mood for? What else but a Nutella crepe?! Because it was somewhat wet outside, we decided to pop into a café (Café Da Guerre) where we all ordered crepes. Communicating with the waiter wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be because he handed us menus in English. After savoring our different crepes, we were on our way to do something different. We hopped on a long metro ride to the Denfert-Rochereau stop, where we walked the catacombs (les catacombes). This unused quarry was used in the 1800’s because the cemeteries were overflowing. We had to take poorly lit spiraling stairs for what seemed forever to make it to bottom. The low, dark, and damp underground corridors did nothing but heighten our anticipation of the actual 1.5 kilometers of aesthetically and deliberately positioned skulls and bones of over 6 million Parisians. There were no cameras around, but I have never felt more watched in my life.



We made it out of the catacombs just in time to stop by Monoprix, Paris’ most common grocery chain, to pick up some snacks to take on the boat cruise. On our way to the boat, we passed by Place de l'Alma, where there is an equally sized replica of the Liberty flame. This spot also marks right above the underpass of Princess Diana’s fatal accident 10 years ago. As our boat was disembarking, we enjoyed a gorgeous view of the Eiffel Tower sparkling from what must have been hundreds of big light bulbs. On the hour, for fifteen minutes, we were delighted with this wonderful sight as the boat made its way down the River Seine. We saw the night views of the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Statue of Freedom, a small-scale copy of the Statue of Liberty in front of Pont de Grenelle.

Before heading back to the hotel, Rasa and I grabbed some kebab sandwiches avec frites (with fries) to-go from a local eatery. We (or at least I) scarfed our food down while watching some TV. We laughed at the first 10 minutes of The 40-Year Old Virgin dubbed in French before switching it to the German edition of MTV (in English with Deutsch subtitles). We didn’t stay up too late because we had yet another full (and even longer) day on Saturday.



We met with our tour manager on Saturday (2/24) morning to head to Musee du Louvre. We made a quick stop at the Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (Triumph Arch) to take photos and enter the museum via le Carrousel du Louvre (take these stairs to avoid lines!). We barely made dent in the once fortress turned palace turned art museum (one of the largest in the world, in fact). Established in 1793, the Louvre Museum is home to some of the most famous pieces of art like the Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, the Madonna of the Rocks, the Seated Scribe, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and many others. (And I mean MANY others because if you took one minute to look at every single piece housed in the Louvre, it would take you nine months!) The now-famous Da Vinci Code inverted glass pyramid (La Pyramide Inversée) was the first thing we saw as we passed by various shops. In two hours, we barely perused through the Ground and First floors of parts of the Sully and Denon wings to view the pieces of art I mentioned earlier before wandering into Egyptian antiques, the foundation of the original medieval moat underneath the museum, and a hall of sculptures. We finally found our way the Napoleon Hall. This reception area is right under the 666 panes of glass of the Louvre Pyramid where we were able to take the escalators up to exit.



We did some souvenir shopping before heading towards Cathedral Notre Dame. On the way, we found another small café named Creperie Sarransien et Fromentin, where I had (yes, another) Nutella crepe, with strawberries this time! Not before long, we were out and about the little streets of Paris, where no tour guide would ever take us. We did some more shopping, this time picking up some jewelry for friends and family. We finally found ourselves in line to enter Notre Dame, located on the Ill de la Cite. This beautiful gothic cathedral was not only the setting for Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” but also the seat of the Archbishop of Paris. So much is to be said before entering the cathedral. The flying buttresses (the semi-arches) allow for massive stained glass windows. However, none of these compare to the 3 round stained glass windows, especially The West Rose Window. Other features include the South Tower (the one on the right), which houses the 14-ton Emmanuel bell, the King’s Gallery and the three massive doors, (from left to right) Portal to the Virgin, Portal to the Last Judgment, and Portal to St. Anne. Inside, the beauty was not only in the architecture, but also the sculptures, the most notable being the Virgin of Paris. Before exiting the cathedral, Rasa and I picked up a couple more souvenirs.

The walking for the day was not yet over. We made our way down Avenue des Champs-Elysees, where some of the best Paris shopping can be done. No worries, all we did was window-shop all the way to Arc de Triomphe Etoile. We took the stairs to go underground to access the Triumph Arc, (now used as a round-about) which was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to show off his successful battles. We snapped our photos and then jumped on the metro back to the hotel to get ready for our night out!

We passed at least a dozen stops on the metro to arrive at the bottom of Basilique Sacre Coeur. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, completed in 1914, sits on the highest natural point in Paris – Montmatre - in the red light district where artists like Dali, Monet, and Picasso worked. We walked through the Basilica and looked up in awe at the mosaic in the apse, entitled "Christ in Majesty". After a short walk, we found ourselves at the Auberge de la Bonne Franquet, where we enjoyed a four-course meal and wine. The girls and I shared h’orderves, including onion soup and yes, escargot! We also enjoyed duck and beef followed by cheese with bread. For dessert, we savored a piece of raspberry cake. I hurry through in explaining the latter portion of dinner because I had a minor allergic reaction to my entree. I spent the good portion of an hour barely peering through my right eye because it puffed up due my allergy to mushrooms. (The beef was cooked with mushroom sauce and apparently removing the big chunks of mushrooms from my plate was not enough...) No worries, by the time we made it down from Sacre Coeur, the swelling went down. Plus, the night was not over!



Rasa, Julie, Christel and I had a fabulous time enjoying champagne while watching Bal du Moulin Rouge, the world-famous cabaret since 1889. Popular greatly thanks to its French Cancan and its extravagant display of performers, The Moulin Rouge offers nothing less than a spectacular 2 hours of original music, exciting dances, fabulous backdrops, and ornate costumes. Minutes before the show began, we raised our champagne glasses cheered to an unforgettable night in Paris. The curtains retreated to the opening number, a high-energy Paris danse danse, where we found ourselves in the Garden of Moulin Rouge. The intensity only flared as pirates, priestesses and pythons dominated the stage. (Yes, I said pythons! They were in a huge glass aquarium that rose from below center stage!) The circus came rolling around for the next dance with acrobats, jugglers, clowns, siamese twins, and ponies! The midpoint of the show was appropriately reserved for what gave Moulin Rouge its popularity – le French Cancan du Moulin Rouge. The Quadrille is a dance characterized by its Revolutionary movements, loud shrills, and rowdy rhythm. Other notable acts between The Moulin Rouge were Feerie performances such as the female-male duo that showcased body control and flexibility that surpass those of gold-medallists. Terry Parade was a ping-pong juggling musician who wowed us with his uncanny ability to juggle up to 5 ping-pongs 15 feet in the air…with his mouth! Finally, Eric Boo gave a knee-slapping performance by extracting unsuspecting members of the audience to star in his own romantic comedy, where he ends up with the girl! Then, the show continued by paying tribute to Parisian women through the 20th century. They celebrated the liberation of Paris, danced the boogie, and even sang “I Will Survive” in English! The Moulin Rouge closed with the entire troupe sparkling on stage with bright pink (and lit) feather costumes. I was able to snap a few photos in the foyer before waving goodbye to an extraordinary experience.

Before we knew it, we were on our way back to London (and reality) on Sunday (2/25) morning. I spent the rest of the day recuperating from an evidently exhausting long weekend in one of the most magnificent cities in the world. If you made it to this point, congratulations! I promise the next week’s blog will be much shorter and less exciting due to the terror called midterms!

Wish me luck!
Danielle