Paris - city I loved

Before I left for my adventures in France and Switzerland I watched the Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris. Owen Wilson stars as a writer entranced by both Paris and the past, who each night at midnight is transported to the 1920's in a vintage limousine. Once there he encounters so many artistic greats of the 1920's; Gertrude Stein, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway --   in some ways I wish I had paid better attention to my lessons in literature and art because I know I missed some references. From the movie I had two great expectations for Paris. One, I expected it to be as stunning as the scenes portrayed Paris to be. Two, I expected to actually feel that romantic and artistic atmosphere that inspired so many before. In the movie Marion Cotillard's character remarks, "That Paris exists and anyone could choose to live anywhere else in the world will always be a mystery to me," and I was ready to see what the hype was about.  Sooooooo it's safe to say the movie had set me up with some extraordinary expectations for Paris. 

Scene from the movie - not me if you were confused

We hopped on a train from Tours to Paris and within an hour and a half we were waiting for the boys to meet us at the hostel. With limited time in Paris we decided to go straight for the Eiffel Tower. At this point in time I actually had butterflies in my stomach. Would it be disappointing, I mean hey the French actually petitioned to have it torn down after it was first revealed...

NOPE. It was fantastic, striking, beautiful, iconic, tre tre tre magnifique!! We got there just as the sun was setting and on our rise to the top it lit up. The view was fantastic from the top but I think seeing the Eiffel Tower itself in person - a symbol of Paris and France, a symbol of fantasy and enchantment -- was the most emotionally striking moment of study abroad thus far. Already bewitched by Paris' spell, and crepe in hand we wandered to the Latin Quarter in search of a bar. We settled on a cute cafe on the cobbled streets still serving beer and sat outside. 

TA DAAA - still doesnt capture what it was like in person

Everyone in front of the Eiffel Tower

The girls taking a selfie in front of very imporant stuff

Tuileries Garden

The next day we woke up early for a free guided tour of Paris' most famous spots. We were led from Notre Dame, down to the River Seine (under the most disgusting bridge -- public urination is legal), up past the Louvre, through Tuileries Garden to the Champ de Elysee. In 2 and a half hours we were provided with a spark notes guide to the history of Paris and an insider tip to the "secret" entrance to the Louvre in which there is little to no line. 

View of back of Notre Dame - Prettier than expected

The Louvre 

The gang in front of Notre Dame

Inside Notre dame

Inside the Louvre

View of the river seine

After the tour we walked and climbed to the top of the Arc de triomphe and gained another fabulous view of Paris. Although it is a spectacular monument I do not understand why they do not have better traffic regulation surrounding it (a dozen boulevards converge in a free for all around it). Excited but losing steam we then doubled back to the Louvre. I was able to fight my way to the front of the crowd to see the Mona Lisa, but I have to say the Louvre itself was the most impressive demonstration of art there. Alas I needed another week alone to see everything and we were all exhausted so we laid out on the lawn in front of the Louvre after it closed - and yes I got very sunburned. We had a french meal (sorry dad no fromage) and then went to a club that was free for international students with get this ---  A SLIDE. I dont care how old I am I thought it was great. 

view from top of Arc

another view from top of Arc

Dont I look excited

Once again we had an early morning as we took a train to go see the Sun King's great palace, Versailles. Admittedly the weather was not that great and that probably influenced my lack of excitement over Versailles. It was very beautiful and some of the rooms fantastic, but compared to the Louvre I was underwhelmed. Part of the problem I think was it was raining when we went to see the gardens, which were also under construction. BUT thats not to say it was not cool and unlike anything I would see in the States. An excuse to come back and see if I still feel the same way! 

In Versailles - ok pretty cool in retrospect

Outside of Versailles

Ok starting to question what I was smoking when I said it wasn't spectacular

A little to rainy at the gardens

Jenny the little Parisian

After that we wandered back to the main stretch in Paris and even searched the Latin Quarter for the steps Owen Wilson's character disappeared on each night in midnight - no luck but maybe we were meant to find that magic elsewhere. We spent sunset at Sacre Coeur, a Catholic church at the highest point of the city. It was a fitting end to the Parisian journey as it gave us a spectacular view of all of the great monuments. Even as someone wholly lacking in romanticism and artistic talent, I can see the appeal of Paris to those not lacking. Lets just say you wouldn't have to twist my arm to get me to slap on a red lip, drink a glass of wine and reflect on the balcony of a Parisian apartment.

The view that makes me wish I was a tortured artist

Sacre Coeur

Jenny and I had to call it an early night because we had to wake up at 5 am to catch out flight to the great country of Switzerland! 

Tours, France - Très Belle

Bonjour! Merci! Au revoir! These were about the only words I understood or spoke to anyone outside my travel companions for the five days I spent in France this past trip, yet it did not take language in my opinion to understand or appreciate what the French are all about.

Jenny, Danielle and I started our trip in Tours, a small and charming French city an hour away from Paris by train. Tours is in the Loire Valley, an area known for the purest French language, wine vineyards and our biggest selling point, chateaus. When we had arrived and settled into our hotel in Tours we took a walk around the city and I have to say I was taken a back by how FRENCH everything was. Name a French stereotype (well the positive ones) and we saw it, the best example being a stylish French woman riding the streets with a baguette in her bicycle basket. After wandering and cooing over the beautiful streets and gardens like the tourists we are, we had a lovely dinner in a restaurant terrace on the street. Our cultural ignorance became apparent though as we struggled to get the check. We played a coy cat and mouse game with the waiter trying to get the check and pay for our meals for over and hour and half. I guess we lost as I had to go find him in the restaurant and hand him the money so we could get change and leave. We looked up french restaurant etiquette afterwards and according to google the french really dont want you to feel rushed out so you have to be insistent about the check or even make moves to leave. Very polite, but to quote a wise American woman, "aint nobody got time for that."

On our way back to the hotel Jenny stopped in confusion as she caught sight of her local news station in a restaurant. We looked at the caption and saw Boston Marathon explosiones and rushed back to our hotel in a panic. Marathon monday is one of the most anticipated and celebrated events at Boston College and in Boston in general. It was something we had discussed regretfully missing that day. In our hotel we were able to get updated on the terrible event but thankfully we were able to confirm the safety of our friends in Boston. We spent the rest of the night in the hotel keeping updated on the news. Definitely a sobering and frightening moment on our trip, but we could only send our thoughts and prayers to the city so close to our hearts and be thankful of both our friends safety and our own safety. 

The next day we had booked a chateau/wine tasting tour, but had a couple of hours to kill before so we explored the medieval section of Tours. Bakeries, flower shops, creperies, narrow cobbled roads, it was hard not to fall in love. Tours was another city leveled by WWII, so half of the city is very industrialized, but the touristy section maintains its charm. We stopped for a light lunch and then met for our tour. Because we were there on a Tuesday in the spring we had the privilege of a private tour van with a petite tour guide with a whole lot of energy. She spent the drive telling us the history of the chateau of Chenonceau, our first stop. It was most famous for being a gift from Henry II to his mistress Diane de Poitiers. Henry's wife Catherine de Medici didn't like that very much so upon his death she made poor Diane swap her for a different chateau: bad deal. The chateau built over the River Cher had it all; gardens, extravagant rooms, a hedge maze, donkeys. Basically I was ready to move in. 

But alas we had to move on and we stopped at the Chateau d' Amboise where Leonardo da Vinci is supposedly buried. We opted out of the tour of this Chateau as views were better from the city (and it gave us the opportunity to get gelato/coffee). The last stop on the tour was at a winery in the valley. We were able to go into the cave where the wine is made and stored and see the process for making sparkling white wine. We then got to sample all types of wine made in the winery. I expected a big to do on the proper way to taste wine, but when I asked our tour guides response was, "drink it." So much for french propriety! Two things I learned that I found fascinating were that they grew the grapes for the wine for a minimum of four years and also that the business had been in the family since 1508. The owner even told me his son or daughter (who were little) would take over after him. As a side note, the winery also had a a huge, wrinkly, loving dog so I spent my time evenly between wine tasting and rubbing its belly. Danielle and I ended up buying one of their white wines and splitting it on our hotel terrace later that night. 

Tours was lovely and we were sad to leave, yet the next leg of journey was Paris which I will leave you in suspense about until my next post! 

Gdansk, Poland - Super Cut

To quote my friend Jordan in his San Franciscan language, "Gdansk is super cut." I had never heard the phrase and I cant say even now that  I understand it but his explanation is that Gdansk is a place not many people would even think to visit. Booking a trip to Gdansk, Poland was one part frugality, one part spontaneity, and many parts chance. With classes ended, most of our friends traveling to different parts of Europe, and a friend who bailed on visiting, we (Jenny, Jordan and I) decided to look into a short trip. We checked skyscanner and compared the top cheapest flights. Jordan had already been to France and Jenny and I were going to be there in a little over ten days anyway, so we eliminated that. The city in Germany the flight was to was not that exciting according to google. Jenny had plans to go to Ireland the weekend before so that would not make a lot of sense. What did that leave? Gdansk, Poland a place on nobody's list, but with beautiful google images and prices too cheap to ignore.

As the rest of our friends packed for Spain and Italy, the three of us prepared for the chill of the Baltic Sea. We probably looked nuts. The trip did not start off well as we got settled on the bus to the airport (an hour away) only to have Jordan hop off to quickly use the bathroom and then have the bus drive away without him. The situation was even worse when Jenny and I realized that Jordan's bag, which he had left on the bus, had his phone in it. Despite some travel nightmare stress, Jordan managed to catch the next bus and meet us at the airport in time for our flight. In landing the absurdity continued, as we stepped off and realized it was SNOWING in Poland.

After Jordan missed the bus 

Realizing it was snowing in Poland

A little overwhelmed, we managed to find our hostel and from there any stress or regrets dissipated. This hostel was literally incredible. Clean (they even made us take our shoes off) and modern, the place had a great common space (they even said they would download any movie for us) and provided us with free breakfast all for less than $15 USD a night. The staff was super friendly and very interested in the fact that we were American, which turned out to be a common thing among the Polish people we interacted with. After getting a quick dinner we spent the night walking along the water's edge in Gdansk, which was so beautiful it was worth braving the chilliness.

Our beautiful hostel

The next day we got an early start in order to cover as many of the recommended Gdansk sites as possible. We started with a visit to St. Mary's Basilica, which is the largest brick church in Europe. From there you can pay to climb the 400 stairs of the tower to what was promised to be the best view in Gdansk. Can I just say 400 stairs is a lot. Regardless, we made it to the top and got some awesome views of Poland. The architecture of Gdansk was fascinating because the city was devastated in WWII, and in their rebuilding chose french and italian influences. It makes for a very charming city and works to disguise some of Poland's history. The other influence to the appearance of Gdansk comes from its location by the sea. In some ways the city reminded me of Westport, with its fancy shops by the water side. Besides tourism one of their greatest industries is amber, a precious mineral found in the water, and because of that there is an amber shop every 100 feet or so. We walked the entire city and took some great pics of the streets and big attractions and ended the night with dinner at a very nice restaurant. A hearty polish meal and beer cost me ten bucks so I was psyched. Unfortunately the crew was beat/sick so we did not explore the nightlife even with the insistence of the hostel staff (they marked like 8 bars/clubs on the map for us). 

Main street in Gdansk 

Neptune statue

Picture from 1945 of Gdansk

View from St. Mary's to compare

Seaside in Gdansk

Panoramic view of main square in Gdansk

Jordan climbing the stairs of St. Mary's Basilica

View from St. Mary's Basilica

Jenny and I at the top of St. Mary's Basilica

View of seaside Gdansk and the Crane

A street in Gdansk

Our last day we were surprised with blue sky and sunshine. We had a few hours to kill before we had to make our way to the airport so we went to the 2 for 1 amber/torture museum in the old prisoner tower. Probably the weirdest combination ever, we spent an hour learning about amber from its origins as tree sap to modern art only to then learn about the gruesome nature of Polish torture in the middle ages. The amber art was quite beautiful but the collective favorite part of the museum was the microscope that projected the inclusions in amber on a big screen tv. With every gross mosquito or beetle magnified Jenny and I would exclaim EWW only to pick another - we are clearly children. The torture part definitely revealed the dark undercurrent of Polish history. The museum exhibited several prisoner cells the creepiest part being the exhibition of carvings done in the cell by condemned men, with graphic pictures of various torture methods next to it. 

Jordan and the neon chicks in Gdansk on a much sunnier day

Neptune statue in sunlight

Main street in Gdansk in sunlight

Not sure what this building was but it was pretty

Creepy carvings by prisoners in torture museum

Amber tree in amber museum

Old Prisoner's tower where the museums were

In some ways the dichotomy between a light modern Poland and the dark history of Poland became a theme for the week, because despite certain efforts to portray Gdansk as a fancy summer destination, flashes of the past shown through. WWII and the effects of communism are still prevalent, though the friendliness of the Polish people makes me think they are proud of Gdansk now and want the world to know it. We were approached on the street by two young women who recognized we spoke English and who told us they ran meetings for international youth on the weekends. They asked us our opinions on Poland and our outlook for the future in the modern world -- definitely heavier conversation than I was expecting on this little vacation. Their political consciousness and effort to reach out to tourists spoke to their pride for Poland.

example of dichotomy

If I had to summarize this surreal trip I would have to say in many ways it was more eye-opening than any experience I have had or possibly could have in the traditional tourist hot spots. Unlike London, Amsterdam or even Prague I actually felt completely foreign in Gdansk and the trip became less about the fairytale of travel and more about the history and culture of a foreign country. The fact that Gdansk, unlike these other cities, was completely destroyed by WWII and only escaped communism in 1989 has a lot to do with this as well as the fact that not many Americans have it on their top places to visit in Europe. Gdansk was different and I really like that.