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Published: February 26th 2008
The view from our Hotel
We stayed in the 14th arrondisement (district) and our hotel was splendid.Salut!
I have too apologize for my lack of blogs recently, but I assure this one is worth the wait! I just returned from a 9 day excursion around France, the majority of which was spent in Paris. It was magnificent. I began in Paris for 4 days, then took a day trip to Chartres, spent 2 days in Reims and ended up in Dijon for about a day and a half before returning home to Besancon. I have so many thoughts I'm not even sure where to begin. You may wish to skip my incoherent ramblings and go directly to the copious pictures I have adjoined here, which include generous descriptions. If not, read on brave soldier.
General Paris Observations:
1. I have fallen in love with this city. Friends and family beware, I spent the entire time in Paris devising ways in my head to stay here. I may never come back...
2. CRAZY amounts of people here in Paris speak English. It was actually quite disappointing--I had to fight to speak French. In France.
3. Paris is the perfect mix of impressive monuments, gorgeous landscapes, fantastic restaurants, big city commotion, cultural opportunities, and my favorite language.
Thank you Globalization
This was just next to our hotel. After leaving Paris, a friend of mine and I decided to do a mini cathedral tour. We saw Notre Dame de Paris as well as Sacre Coeur in Paris, then went on to see the Cathedral in Chartres (famous for its stained glass windows featuring a unique shade of blue), the to St. Remi's Basilica and Notre Dame de Reims, followed by the Cathedral St. Benigne and Notre Dame de Dijon. (For the non-French speakers, aka everyone, Notre Dame means "Our Lady" in French. This is the most common name for a catholic church, so there are many more Notre Dames than just the one in Paris). You can see for yourself how beautiful all the cathedrals are. It was an amazing experience to sit and appreciate the Gothic architecture and stained glass windows and marvel at how I was sitting in buildings where others have worshiped the same God as me for over 1,000 years.
Other than the cathedrals, Brian and I went to the Pommery Estate, a champagne vineyard, In Reims. Reims is the capital city of the province of Champagne, where all the world's champagne is produced. Little lesson: it is illegal to label something
Notre Dame and the Seine
Upon seeing Notre Dame, I didn't quite know how to react. At the risk of sounding cliche, I literally could not believe my eyes. It was my first monument and "I'm in Paris!" moment, as champagne unless it hails from the region of Champagne That's why we call it "California bubbly." We were able to visit the caves and take a tour (in French of course) and learn about the process of making champagne and the history of the Pommery label. After the tour, we were treated to a degustation (tasting) and I got to try a varietal that sells for 90 Euro or $145 a bottle! It was delicious. The whole experience was just so cool. Mainly because I'm really into wine in the first place, it's a passion I share with my Papa. I was wishing the whole time that he could have been with me.
In all, I learned a lot about traveling in general.
Things I learned:
1. ALWAYS google the location of your hotel/hostel (contact me for the amusing story that accompanies this lesson, if you wish)
2. NEVER travel in a city without a map. Even if it's smaller than Kearney
3. ALWAYS allow extra time for everything
4. Traveling = expensive but worth it
5. Find a grocery store right away and buy cheap food
This was my first time traveling alone. Sure,
Notre Dame
A view inside, some of the beautiful stained glass I was referring to. I've taken several flights alone, visited friends in other cities in the states, but never anything on this level. And I had a great time, arrived home in one piece, and managed to learn a few things along the way. One of the best parts of the trip, was that when I was on the bus and I saw campus, I though, "Man is it good to be home." It was truly bizarre, thinking that France was my home for the first time.
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