Giverny

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, serenely and intensely and overwhelmingly. I could just bask in it without any thought of either getting satiated with it or needing to intellectualize it, the way that I can with really powerful music. It was such a surprise that a visual experience could do that. But I suppose part of that is because it wasn't just visual, it was being in the place itself with all of its sensory fullness. The smells for example--just the air, and also the individual flowers when you[1] went to smell them individually. And there were different flowers and plants in every part, so you were constantly surprised and amazed by the new colors and shapes as you moved around.

We took the train to Vernon, the closest train stop and rented bikes for the 5km to the town of Giverny. The bike ride through the small towns and countryside in the sun was great.

There was a nice small Museum of Impressionism there too. It had a bunch of Monet paintings and also other impressionist and fauvist painters, which was good because you could compare the different styles.

Photos here: http://picasaweb.google.fr/107330423802242369450/Giverny02#

[1] I think this use of "you" in place of "one" or "I" is somethign I picked up from A Moveable Feast.

10-11 Avril: Bordeaux

Bordeaux was not as much fun as it could have been, for three reasons:

(1) I didn't research ahead of time what to do, so I didn't have a plan or list at least to fall back on.

(2) I didn't really converse with anyone (as I would have if I either went with someone else or met some people there).

(3) I was too tired Saturday evening to do anything, and so I was mostly out on Sunday, when, as in Paris, most businesses are closed.

Given all that, I might have been better off staying in Paris where I could have gone to museums and bars and music and restaurants, and hung out with the French people I've met and with UofC people. But I committed a while ago to travelling as much as possible on the weekends, and I was already feeling restless last week for not having gone out of Paris last weekend, so I probably would have not been happy staying in Paris. The best thing would have been to go to Bordeaux, but co it better. But I won't say I regret going, since regret, at least in the active sense, is worse than useless.

And I did in fact have a good time. I will here try to talk about the good things of the trip. The wine was delicious and cheap. The first wine I had was 2€ or a good-size glass at the Maison du Vin Saturday afternoon. (The Maison du Vin is a wine bar mentioned both by the owner of my hotel and on the tourist map, across the street from the Center of Tourism, where they serve a variety of wines by the glass for 2 to 10€. I don't know if the locals ignore it, or if I came at a bad time, but it was mostly empty. It did have more of a museum-like (though pleasant) feel than a cafe/bar/place to hang out feel. Certainly worth going to try some wine, especially other people so you can get a few wines and taste them around. ) It was a vin rouge, AOC Bordeaux Superieur, Côtes-de-P-something. Not very complex I think, but tasted very good. A solid, rich, round flavor, not too sweet. Usually when I don't like a red wine it's because it tastes too sour or too thin, and this wine was not like that.

I bought three bottles of wine. Two at a superette Sunday evening when all the actual wine shops were closed and I was afraid of leaving Bordeaux without bringing back any wine at all. We'll see how they are. The third I bought at a stand at the "Nature et Bio" (which I think means something like organic or environmentally responsible agriculture) festival taking up a couple of streets that weekend with various vendors. I had a much better time buying this bottle, because I was able to taste a few different wines first: all Chateau Cajus a 2008 clairet, a 2007 rouge, and a 2002 rouge. I liked the reds better, and they were both very good, but I bought the 2002 because I liked it and I don't think I've ever had wine significantly aged. It's brown in color, less fruity, mellow, with more or a (dried) raisin or molasses taste. Quite good and I look forward to sharing it.

Another good thing about Bordeaux was that it is very beautiful. It helped that the weather (in Paris too) was very good this weekend, sunny and warm. The river, the Garonne, and the quaialong it are probably more beautiful than the Seine. At least beautiful in a different way such that it struck me. The river is very wide since it is opening out to flow into the Atlantic. The quai, fittingly, is also very broad, made up of a wide stone path for pedestrians, bikes, and skates closest to the water, and then several lanes of grass, orderly rectangular flower beds, straight paths, and fountains. Since all the buildings are quite far from the bank, you can see very far up the river in both directions. The Pont Pierre bridge is long and fairly low, crossing the Garonne with a series of small uniform stone arches. With the very steady and strong wind blowing against the current to form stationary waves on the surface, and the sun shining down on it all, it is very expansive and colorful and beautiful.

The train ride to Bordeaux was good. I spent most of it reading and finishing Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. Reading and meeting Hemingway has been pleasant and valuable and I will try to write about it elsewhere. I enjoyed knowing that I was traveling basically across the whole of France, and I enjoyed watching the country side and buildings change.

The rest of Spring Break

I've not been posting very frequently, and a lot has happened. By Wednesday Gideon had arrived and we got something to eat and drink near the Pantheon. On Friday Kat arrived, and it was very very good to have her here. She was here until Tuesday morning. On Friday I also moved into the Cite Universitaire residence, and on Monday started classes.

For lack of a better way, I’ll organize my record by place/thing rather than chronologically, just because I will remember them in that order. Maybe at some point I’ll try a more narrative style.

Place de la Contrescarpe

I learn from my copy of A Moveable Feast (which I bought last week and enjoyed reading in various pretty outdoor places) that Hemingway lived above it. It’s a nice square — bustling in the evening with lots of people eating or going out. Since there are a lot of inexpensive restaurants / street-food shops, it’s a good place to sit at the fountain, eat, chat, and people-watch. I had a panini here with Gideon Wednesday evening, and a gelato (from a shop of a famously good chain that I forget the name of, but it’s right there on the square) with Kat Friday afternoon.

L’As du Falafel

In the Marais. Had lunch here with Kat on Friday. Delicious falafel.

The Marais

Old Jewish neighborhood and now also an artists district. Lots of small, generally free art galleries, cheap Middle Eastern food, Jewish bakeries. On Wednesday I walked around it and stopped in the Galerie Dialogos, owned by artist Vea Xiradakis and presently showing her own work. The docent (or whatever you’d call the person overseeing/attending an art gallery) is a friend of an artist and talked to me for a bit about her and her art, and about Paris (she lives in the Latin Quarter but prefers the Marais — prefers the young artistic people to the “intellectuals”)

There are tons of little art galleries in Paris, and I would like to spend more time in them. I stopped in another one sometime last week on Rue Mazarin, which had a bunch of them on that street alone.

Angelina

Came here Sunday with Kat for hot chocolate. This hot chocolate was one of the most joyful things to consume that I have consumed in my life. So rich. So delicious.

Market at Porte de Clignancourt

Went Sunday with Kat. Huge open air market — hundreds of stalls with people hawking clothing, bags, jackets all sorts of things. The sort of place where you haggle for everything. Fun to just see the vendors and crowds. I bought a messenger bag that I’ve found quite satisfactory. Haggled someone down to 80 euro from 250 on a really nice leather jacket — I only had 50 at the time, but I might go back for it. I also had my second-best crepe so far from a stand here.

There’s an indoor portion of the market that looks amusingly like an indoor mall that was abandoned and then taken over by squatters selling furniture and artwork. It’s brightly lit from a translucent ceiling and eerily subdued compared to the outside.

There is more from this period, but it’s late. I will put in more later.

Intro & Days 1 and 2 in Paris

This is my blog about my travels in Paris and other places in Europe! I hopefully will manage to send individual letters/emails/postcards to people, but this will allow me to share with all of my friends what I've seen and done (without writing the same details a million times), and also to help myself remember it all. I will try to make it interesting. Please comment!--thoughts on what I've done, suggestions of things to do, anything.

If you want to get in touch with me:

skype id: casey.lange

cell phone in France (though it will be expensive to call me): +33 637 865 039 (so from an American phone: 011 33 637 865 039)

You have my email.

Day 1: Friday 19 Mar -- Getting settled in the 12th Arrondissement, elevated park

• I came to Paris a week before my study abroad program officially starts, with the hope of having some time to explore the city on my own, get oriented, and have fun before classes start to dictate my schedule.
• Got into Paris at 9:20am local time. Found a plan par arrondisement for the bus and metro system.
• Headed to my hostel (Hostel Blue Planet) near Gare de Lyon in the 12th Arrondisement and checked in.
• Decided to spend most of the day exploring that neighborhood and also finishing my last final paper (on Nietzsche and Ernst Junger) from winter quarter.
• Felt a bit disoriented/anxious at first; the sky was overcast and the area I was in seemed mostly just dense and grimy. I think this was mainly due to not sleeping on the plane.
• Stopped in at a place called Cafe Maryland; it seemed like a good enough place to have an expresso and work on my laptop so I did for a bit.
• The Promenade Planté along Avenue Daumesnil (near Boulevard Diderot) is pretty has good views, and is a very good place to nap;I slept for an hour or two there and felt much more optimistic afterward.
• Went back to the hostel, got my bags into my room, and talked a bit to a couple of my roommates -- Laird from Missouri (? -- might have been another U.S. state) who has been studying French for the past semester in central France, and Andrew from Australia who is traveling around the world having recently toured the U.S.
• Found a nice cafe/boulangerie/grocery called Cafe Jean. Might be a part of a chain? Sort of a Starbucks atmosphere. They have free wifi so I got an expresso and baguette and spend a few hours of the evening sending emails, figuring out how to use my phone, and finishing my paper.
• My hostel is only a 10-minute or so walk from the Bastille, which I was told had a good nightlife, so I decided to walk up there and explore (around 10pm). It wasn't great. After a little searching I did find a couple of streets packed with bars, and I did go into one for a bit. But since I was alone and didn't really know how to start up conversations with people, it was pretty boring.

Day 2: Saturday 20 Mar -- City center by foot, Sacre Couer, Montmarche

• This day was a lot more fun on the whole.
• Joined Andrew the Australian for a free walking tour of the center of the city: Place St. Michel, Notre Dame (at a distance), Pont Neuf, Pont des Artes, Institut des France , Louvre, Palais Royal, Jardin du Tuileries, Orangerie, Musee d'Orsay, Obelisque, Eiffel Tower (at a distance), Champs Elysees, Arc du Triomphe (at a distance), Petit Palais, Grand Palais
• Since it was a free tour we didn't go into the interior of any of the buildings, but the tour guide pointed them out and told us a lot about them. It was pretty interesting and gave me some orientation and ideas of places to go back to.
• During the tour met a Slovenian and and Argentinian, both traveling alone but staying at the same hostel. After the tour walked around and talked with them for a while; it was pleasant. We split off for different places we wanted to go. I probably should have tried to go somewhere with them or maybe meet up for dinner / bars later, but wasn't sure how to do that gracefully.
• Went to Sacre Couer around 5pm. Climbed to the top, enjoyed the view, went into the church, and then sat in the pews for a little while listening to a chorus of nuns singing (which was beautiful, or at least sort of otherworldly).
• Walked west into the Montmarche area. I liked it a lot and I think I would enjoy going back there. There were shops with some cool jackets I considered buying.
• At the Elysee Montmarche (I think?) there was some reggae act (Max Homeo or something like that) playing, and a block-long line of people waiting, mostly young (teens and twenties). Talked to a guy waiting who seemed happy to practice his English, so we conversed for a few minutes. I asked about Lylo but he didn't know what I was talking about.
• Went into "Edward and Sons Olde English Pub". Talked to a couple of French guys (mid-twenties), one of whom spoke English. They were friendly and invited me to join them as their friends started to show up. Had my first experience of the kiss-both-cheeks greeting, which each of the girls did with me when they arrived.
• Turns out France is a big rugby nation, and that night the TVs in the bar were playing the final match of a sort of rugby world cup, between France and England. Soon the place was packed. It was pretty exciting; everyone was very enthusiastic and I made (English) small talk every so often with people in the group I had met. France won.
• After the match I walked along into the nearby red light district, filled with porn theaters, sex shops, and strip clubs. I was too tired at this point for any deeper investigation, though a one or two stripclub front-door people tried fairly aggressively to get me inside. I declined ("Non merci, non merci!") and went home.

But now I have spent too much time writing and not enough time seeing Paris. Hopefully coming posts will be filled with fewer mundane details and more descriptions to cool stuff and my reactions to them.

Also: soon I will start taking pictures! (Until now my camera wasn't charged.)