Paris: Day 3

Ok, so you guessed it, at this time ART 361 is still in Paris. By now, its Monday (April 11th, 2011) and its day 3 of the trip. 

Today, I got up and we had to pack up all of our luggage because we were leaving the hostel to stay in a hotel for the rest of the trip. Apparently, our teacher (Martine) had had trouble finding us accommodations because we were such a large group, so she took what she could get, a hostel for the first 2 nights, and a hotel for the rest. Once we got everything situated with bags and such, we left the hostel to walk to the Pont Neuf (the oldest bridge in Paris).

ART 361 minus the Missouri kids

From the Pont Neuf, we went to the Conciergerie, which was part of the palace of Louis IX along with the Sainte Chapelle until the 14th century when Charles V abandoned it for the Louvre. The palace was then left in the hands of the Concierge, who turned it into a jail. Famous people such as Marie Antoinette were kept prisoner there.

Inside the Concergerie

Elisa, Janice, Stacey, and Emily at the Tower Bonbec

 Next stop on our agenda was Les Invalides. We got there and ate a quick lunch in the cafeteria where Casey and I got to meet a delightful couple from California who were traveling to Paris for the first time. I don't know what it is about me, but I simply love hearing people's life stories, especially those who are traveling. They always talk with such a sense of adventure and seem as though they have a wealth of knowledge about them. After lunch, we actually got to tour Les Invalides and see Napoleon's tomb.

Les Invalides

 

 

Elisa, Casey, and I outside Les Invalides

Napoleon's Tomb

Inside Les Invalides

 Following the Dome, we waited to find some of the guys in the group who had wandered off to the Museum of War. Eventually, Martine got fed up and we went to the lawn outside Les Invalides and listened to some student presentations before we walked across the Sienne to stop at Place de Concorde to arrive at the art museum, the Orangerie.

Outside, Martine gave us Napoleons!

Dane, Elisa, Casey, and I crossing the Sienne

Orangerie

After having experienced some of Monet's works and finding my new favorite painting of the little boy dressed like a clown, I felt it was time for a nutella crepe. NOM NOM NOM. Then, the class walked through the Tuileries gardens designed by Le Notre, the gardener of Versailles to get to the Comedie Francaise where instead of me giving my presentation about Moliere which would have made sense given that is where Moliere played and died, Martine talked about Moliere and made me wait to talk until Wednesday. Following the Comedie Francaise, we went to the Basilica Notre-Dame des Victoires. This church is interesting for a few reasons. Number 1, Lully's tomb is found there. Lully was the composer of many of Moliere's works. Number 2, Queen Anne of Austria went to this church to pray asking her wish of giving the king a son a reality, and she did 9 months later! So, its a magical church where prayers come true. Number 3, in honor of this pilgrimage place, the church did a promotional thing where people could donate to the church and get their "thank yous" written on bricks that would then be used in the renovation of the church, so all over you would see bricks saying things like "Thank You for Helping My Father" or "Thank you for helping me ace that final," etc.

Monet's water lilles

BEST PICTURE EVER!

 After we left the Basilica, we went to another church, Saint Eustache, where the tomb of Colbert is found. We split the group after the church and we returned to the hotel to move our luggage from the hostel to the hotel. This process was a nightmare! 40 plus students with all their luggage trying to take the metros they don't really know to get to a hotel they had never been to before. Ahhh....hot mess. In the end we made it. Only to realize, Elisa, Casey, Dane, Stacy, and I were the last ones there. Since the Missouri kids were leaving the next day, Stacy wasn't allowed to room with us, so Casey, Elisa, and I went to our "4" person room, which only had 3 beds! WHAT? That's right, once again Casey and I got the shaft. Apparently the plan was for 2 of us to share a bed while the other 2 got their own double beds. I was pissed, so upset in fact that Elisa and Casey shared a bed, so I could have my own.

After the whole hupla of the hotel was situated, we met up with Stacy and went out to the Champs Elysee so Elisa could pick out an outfit to wear at Versailles the next day. 2 hours passed, and by now we were all quite hungry so we found a restaurant on a side street and ate there. We had some delicious food, which happened to include escargots! When we were done with dinner, we took some pictures at the Arc du Triomphe, then we took the metro back to the hotel. On the way back we even got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle one more time!

Janice, Casey, and Elisa at Arc de Triomphe

Paris: Day 2

Anywho, by now it was Sunday, April 10th and day 2 of the joy of ART 361 taking over Paris. I got up early so I could take a shower only to come to the unpleasant realization that in order to shower I had to press a button to get water to come out of the shower. This meant that one hand had to remain pressed on the button the entire duration of the shower as long as I wanted water. It was an uncomfortable and unpleasant shower experience, but I should have learned by now that hostels are never the most luxurious places for a shower. They are more in and out as fast as possible for fear that something terrible will happen to you while inside them, than enjoyable.


After that gem of a shower, I got changed and went to breakfast. During breakfast, we heard all about the rest of the classes escpades from the night before. It seems as though the guys in the group had a wild night: one of them got woken up by the hostel staff for he had sleep-walked to the hostel kitchen and decided to sleep there, another got drunk and vomited and some random persons room, then passed out, and another woke up in the hospital with no recollection of the previous night. Typical study abroad spring break class trip!


Once everyone had eaten breakfast, we went off to the Bastille. There we saw the column with the Genius of Liberty and the Brussels Marathon which happened to be taking place that day. Then, we walked to the Hotel de Sully and the Place des Vosges, the square where Victor Hugo lived.

Bastille

Rosie, Elisa, Janice, Maisah, and Casey outside Hotel Sully

After listening to a student presentation on Victor Hugo, we went to the Carnavalet Museum which consists of the hotel of Madame de Sevigne and that of Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau. In the Carnavalet Museum we got an overview of Paris's history. We saw store front from the epochs, rooms devoted to the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic period, the Restoration, the turn of the century, and Paris today.

ART 361 paying close careful attention to Martine's history lesson

Patrick and Aaron reenacting Art in the Museum Carnavalet

In search of food, we left the museum and wandered the Jewish quarter of the city. In the Jewish Quarter, we visited the memorial to the 160 school children who were deported to the concentration camps back in 1943. Then, finally Elisa, Casey, Maisah, and I found a cute little French restaurant to eat at. NOM NOM NOM. Following lunch, we went to the Jardin du Luxembourg, where we sat and enjoyed the lovely weather while some students gave presentations. On every trip we've gone on, students have had to give presentations about either a person, idea, place, or historical event that has to deal with that location. Its cool to hear about the historical significance of places when we are standing at them, seeing them years later.

Les Jardins de Luxembourg

Stacy and I!

From the gardens, we went to the Pantheon where we saw the tombs of Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Rousseau, and Marie Curie. Once we finished there, we took a brief stop to sit on the steps and see the Eiffel tower in the distance while enjoying the nice warm afternoon weather just before the sun was beginning to set.

Pantheon

Voltaire's tomb

St. Etienne du Mont, which is located right next to the Pantheon was our next stop. Then, it was time for a couscous dinner. Dinner ended up being super awkward because there were not enough chairs at the long tables for everyone in the class, so Casey, Elisa, and I sat at a table by ourselves until our teacher told us we had to sit with the group. Again there were not enough chairs, so Elisa ended up sitting with the class, and Casey and I had a romantic dinner by ourselves. Rough, but once we finished we returned to the hostel for a quick nap before we went to spend the night sitting beneath the Eiffel tower. Sitting under the Eiffel tower at night is spectacular! It sounds super cliche, but its cliche for a reason, because when the hour hits and the tower lights up its simply wonderful. Once it got to be around 2am, we called it a night and once again took a taxi back to the hostel. Good thing taxis are way cheaper in Paris than they are in Brussels, otherwise we would have been swimming upstream without a paddle.

St. Etienne du Mont

Inside St. Etienne du Mont

Stacy and I at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower

ART 361 Does Paris

Alright, SPRING BREAK 2011, before I begin I just want everyone reading this to know what a feat I am about to take upon myself for SPRING BREAK 2011 entails a lot, it was after all 2 weeks of travels in Europe!

It all goes back to April 9th, 2011 when the ART 361 class met outside Vesalius College at 7:45am to take a bus to Paris. Along this lovely bus ride with 47 of my closest friends, we stopped at a rest stop for lunch (at 10am!) and met up with Dane, who had missed the bus earlier that morning. After we started back on the road, we watched Marie Antoinette as a refresher of the French revolution and in preparation for when we were to visit Versailles. Around 12:30, we rolled into the city of lights and did a quick bus tour. Then, we were dropped off at our hostel. This hostel was pretty funny because the room I stayed in was an 8 person room: 2 sets of bunk beds on the bottom, then there was a ladder up to another level with another 2 sets of bunk beds. It felt very Swiss Family Robinson-esqe, if you ask me!

After we got settled in our rooms, we went off to the Louvre! Despite the fact that I had been there not 3 weeks earlier, I was still kind of excited. I swear you can go there a hundred times and each time see something different. Also, you can still get lost.

 

 

 

The Louvre!

In the Louvre, we saw Napolean III's apartment, the Ruben's series on the life of Mary of Medici, the Flemish paintings, works by Philippe de Champaigne and Nicolas Poussin, works by Georges de la Tour, the portrait of Chancelier Seguier, the Life of Alexander the Great, lots of Rococo styled works, the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Apollo Gallery, Napolean's Crossing the Alps, Michelangelo's Dying Slave, and many, many works of great art!

The 3 Graces

Reenacting Art

Ladies...

My good friend, Mona Lisa

Patrick, Janice, Casey, and Maisah in the pyramid

Elisa, Casey, and Janice outside the Louvre

After a rush of art works and their histories were thrust upon us, a few of us went off in search in Starbucks to rejuvenate. Right after we got our drinks, we came to realize that the museum was closing, so we stood outside the Louvre talking about the buildings history. Outside, we looked at the statue of Louis XIV on horseback by Bernini and the Carrousel Arch built under Napoleon I.

Fountains outside Centre Pompidou

Next, we set off to see the Bourse of Commerce, aka the Stock Exchange, and Les Halles. We stopped outside the Centre Pompidou where we were given 10 euro vouchers for a dinner at Flunch. Yes, Flunch. And yes, it was as disgusting as it sounds! The class which had once been divided by Missouri and non-Missouri kids was able to bond over our combined hatred and distaste for Flunch. It was an American eatery with food that you would expect to find having sat out for a few hours at Shoney's. After that delightful dinner, we returned to the hostel to get ready for our first night out in Paris. Elisa had somehow contacted this fancy club on the Sienne under Pont de la Concorde, and got our names on the guest list. So, Casey, Elisa, Dane, Rachel, and I went off to Showcase! It was a really cool club with a great view of the river, obviously as it was on the river, and of the Eiffel tower as it light up at night! As 3am rolled around, I thought it best that we left, so we began the walk back only to deal with Casey's feet that were suffering greatly due to wearing heels the entire night. So, about 5 blocks from the hostel we took a taxi back, and from there it was straight to bed.

Janice, Dane, Rachel, and Elisa on our way to Showcase

Rachel, Janice, and Casey at Showcase

A theme you will quickly come to realize in my spring break travels are I got very little sleep, and I started off that trend quite early with the first night! 

Spring Break 2011

Dear Kibbles and Bits,

Just wanted to let you kids know that for the first time in my entire life I am going on SPRING BREAK!

I never got to go on a real spring break, and now that I'm in Europe I'm going all out:
Paris
Venice
La Spezia
Rome
Athens

In essence, the next two weeks are going to be magical!
I miss you all.
Have a superb day and wish me luck on my adventures!
Janice

The Norwegian Diet

So this past weekend I went off to get in touch with my Scandinavian roots. Flights were cheap and I had an open weekend, so it was off to Oslo, Norway for me!

OSLO!

 Elisa and I left early Friday (April 1st, 2011) to meet at Brussels Gare du Nord to catch the bus to Charleroi airport. After the hour bus ride we booked it through security, where poor Elisa got half her toiletries taken away from here, and then we boarded the ever so janky Ryanair plane. This would be my first time flying the famous Ryanair and wasn't really sure what to expect. People told it would be a rough experience, overall once you get over the janky factor its ok. The thing that I disliked about the flight was getting off in Moss, Norway and then having to switch my currency from euros to kroners to pay for yet another hour long bus ride to arrive in Oslo. First impressions of Norway were hey, this looks an awful lot like the midwest for their was still snow on the ground and everyone was bundled up. Second impression was my dear sweet baby Jesus is Norway expensive! When you first see the price of things and see that a Coke costs 26, you cannot believe your eyes, then you realize that its in Norwegian kroner, which is really about 3.4 euro. Gross. Having recently written a 20 page paper about Norway one would think that I would have realized it would be an expensive place, in fact the most expensive city in the world, but for some reason I thought I would be able to handle all that Norway was to throw at me. I was, in fact, mistaken. Needless to say, Elisa and I kept within our budgets this weekend, but overall didn't get to purchase anything.

So after all our transits, we arrived in Oslo around 2:30pm. After walking around in a circle for another 15 minutes, we made it to our hostel. Lucky for us our hostel was in the center of town, so truly in a great location. Unfortunately, we had no idea just how small the city actually is, so when we decided to find the Opera, we walked in a giant circle around the city before the realized that it was literally 2 blocks away from where we were staying. So in our wanderings, we got to see a first hand look at the North Sea and then did in fact see the Opera House. Its the winner of the 2009 EU prize for contemporary architecture.

Standing on top of the Opera House

Opera House

 After the Opera House, we walked to a grocery store passing by the Stock Exchange and some theatres, and when we got dinner, we returned to our hostel for some warmth. By now, it was raining out and quite cold so we decided to watch Back to the Future and call it a night.

Stock Exchange

Saturday (April 2nd) we got up and I was determined for us to have a good day, and in fact we had a great day! It was a not-so-great night, but a lovely day despite the cold and confusion of currency. So, we got up and eat breakfast, then went off on Karls Johans Gate to see the Oslo Cathedral.

Oslo Cathedral

After the Cathedral, we walked down to Parliament for they were having a free tour at 11:30am. We got there by 11:20am, and they turned us away saying it was full, so we just took pictures of the outside and continued on. Next, we say the National Theatre where playwrights like Ibsen and Shakespeare are often performed, then we were off to the Royal Palace. At the Royal Palace we decided that Norwegian men are the way to go as we got one of the guards to smile for our pictures. Plus, we got to watch and see the changing of the guards!

Parliament

Elisa at the Royal Palace

Guard at the Royal Palace

Ibsen Museum

Once that was over, we went walked to the Henry Ibsen Museum, then to the Oslo 2011 headquarters of the skiing championship this winter. From there, we went to the National Gallery, which in all the guides claimed to be free, but alas upon arrival we found it it was not, and it was hosting a special exhibit of Antwerpen art, and since I've now been to Antwerp three times, I feel I have made my piece with Rubens and the rest of the Antwerp artists. So, we left there and went to the City Hall. The City Hall was quite beautiful on the inside, and since we were quite cold outside we spent a far amount of time inside appreciating the architecture and a place to sit down.

City Hall

After we left the City Hall, we went to National Peace Center where we learned about the Peace Prize and got to see the location of where the winners receive their award. Pretty cool!

Peace Center

 Next, we did something that Elisa and I had been laughing about all week. We saw a castle! That's right, A CASTLE! Akershus Fortess, the old fortress built for King Magnusson. It was fun to see the castle and walk around it. They too had guards surveying the grounds, but since we had seen the changing of the guards at the palace, we missed seeing the guards change here.

The only picture of Elisa and I from the entire weekend at Akershus Slott

 Leaving the castle, we decided it was time to check out the public transport and go to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. Sadly, we don't know how to read a map nor Norwegian, so we ended up taking the metro all the way to the end of the line thinking we were at the park. Reasons why we should have realized we were going in the wrong direction: 1. we went all the way up a mountain. 2. The only people left on the metro by the time the line ended had skis. 3. When we  got off the metro, there was nothing, no signs, no lights, no people, nothing but snow and fog. So long story short and after about 10 minutes of aimlessly walking discussing how we were in a prime situation for a horror movie-esque mistake to happen, we asked a man where the sculpture garden was. He just laughed and was like not here, then directed us back about 20 metro stops closer to the center of the city to the park.

Lost in the mountains of Norway!

Eventually, we made it back on track and made it safely to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. It was cool, but so foggy it was hard to see! After we walked around the park and appreciated some sculptures, we departed back to our hostel. There we warmed up for a while and had dinner. Since it was only 7pm we decided to watch another movie before we went out. We watched I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry with the Norwegian kid and the two Portuguese people staying in our room. After that we were determined to go out and see Norway at night. Big mistake. All of our travel books and websites we had looked at pointed us in the direction of Aker Brygge, a posh little neighborhood on the North Sea. Unfortunately, it seems as though the only people that go out in Oslo are middle to older aged people, probably because everything is so darn expensive! So we walked around that area for a while before we realized that everyone was leaving because like Brussels all public transportation stops at midnight. So, not wanting to get lost and try to walk back to our hostel late at night, we took the tram back. Once we were back, we walked over to the Karl Johans Gate to see a whole other side of Oslo than what we had seen during the day. Every street corner for about a 3 mile radius was home to a prostitute looking to make some money. In a country with one of the largest social welfare systems in the world, there should have been no need for this. Similarly, there were countless homeless people asking us for money, which we simply did not have. And finally, we witnessed numerous drug deals. Oslo, not what I thought I was getting myself into, and not quite what Epcot had portrayed. After being quite upset with the night, we stopped at Cafe de Luca and got a pint of Ben and Jerry, walked back to the hostel, watched the Sopranos, and called it a night.

Vigeland Sculpture Park

ART

Sunday (April 3rd) we got up late and ate breakfast. We took our time getting ready, since it was kind of a slower day. Then, we checked out of our hostel, walked on Karls Johan Gate again to see the vast difference of it during the morning, walked back to our hostel then went to the bus stop to catch the bus back to the airport. From the airport, we took a plane back to Charleroi, then took another bus back to Brussels. We were so happy to be back in Belgium! It was a good weekend and we saw a lot, but I don't know if I will make the stop back to Norway unless I have oddles of money!