Rome, Paris, and Nantes

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Hello Friends and Family,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and didn’t get killed going shopping on Black Friday. I’ve got all sorts of stuff to get you all caught up on, so I’d better get started.

Where we last left my travels: Rome. On Halloween day, I took an evening tram with Katie to Paris. The TGV (high speed train) is great to travel with, and I was able to use my Eurail pass on it. With the pass, I can travel as much as I want within 3 countries in 5 days. So we got in to Paris around 9:00 and jumped on their underground system. The Paris transit system is pretty amazing: you buy one ticket that is valid until you leave the system, so you can get on and off as many trains as you need to. You can basically get anywhere in Paris in 20 minutes if you plan your train lines. We found our way to our hotel, The 3 Ducks, and when we went in we found ourselves in a bar. Also, since it was Halloween, the place was decorated with spider webs and pictures, and lots of people were wearing improvised costumes. We were a little confused, but when we asked the bartender, he said we were in the right place and proceeded to check us into our room. Definitely the first time I’ve ever checked in at the bar. We went trough the back door and found a really neat courtyard encircled by 2 floors of rooms. Everything was painted bright colors and there were tons of travelers; the place had a great atmosphere. Our room was small, but very cute and clean. We shared bathrooms and showers with the rest of the floor.

The next day, we got up early had a continental breakfast of a baguette and coffee in the now well-lit bar; and then started our day in Paris. Due to a tactical error, we took a wrong turn early on, and ended up walking a lot farther than we needed to, but it was along the Seine River, so we didn’t really mind. We started off at the Eiffel Tower; it was cold that day, but the sky was amazingly blue, so our pictures turned out really well. While we were planning our next destination on the map, an old guy with an Irish walking stick asked us if we needed any help. Being good little female travelers, we said no thanks, but he gave us directions to a nearby monument just in case, and then he got talking about history. It turns out he’s an Irish Canadian that moved to Paris about 30 years ago, and now spends his retired days walking around Paris helping tourists and giving history lessons to whoever will listen. Anyway, we got going again and went to see Invalides (a building built by Napoleon, where his tomb is now). It was closed because of All-Saints day, but we got some pics, and Katie got a picture with a Parisian Gendarme (a type of policeman). Then we went down the Champs-Elysee to see the huge and ridiculously expensive shops. We went into Louis Veton (spelling?) and saw some very ugly but very overpriced purses and even some fanny packs and murses (man purses, very popular over here). When we reached the Arc de Triomphe, we checked out all the monuments and plaques on the ground and then went up to see the view of Paris from the top. It is at the intersection of 12 streets, so you get an impressive 360 view of Paris. The even had these little maps that helped you distinguish just what buildings you were seeing. Katie and I also went to a wonderful little garden and sat around a duck pond watching kids play with remote controlled sailboats. And then we found another packed public park with old people playing chess and tons of beautiful fountains. Finally we walked all the way back to the hostel to get our stuff, and then jumped on the metro to go to the train station. While we waited for the train, we ate a picnic lunch of bread (hard to find because many of the boulangeries were closed for the holiday), cheese, and fruit. Then we got aboard our night train to Italy. Katie and I were in the same compartment with 4 other 20-something travelers. In the compartment, we had regular seats that folded down to create one bed on each side, plus 2 fold-down beds on each side as well. The conductor came by to check our tickets and take our passports (so they could be processed and we wouldn’t have to worry about them being stolen while we slept) The people in our compartment went to bed at about 8:20pm, so Katie and I wandered a while on the train and hung out at the dining car before going back to the car to sleep.

When we woke up, we had trouble getting our cell-phones to work in Italy. We couldn’t get hold of the rest of the group who was already in Rome. Luckily, they came to the station to meet us. We got settled at our hostel (we were supposed to be at a different one, but they were fumigating, so we got sent to another). It was very small and personable, just 3 rooms and about 10 bunks. The guy running it was an American “taking a break” for a year. He was really nice and fun to talk to. So Andrew, Ally, Amy, Katie, and I set off for our first day in Italy. Sadly, we got off to a bad start because after waiting in line to see the Vatican City for 20 minutes, we discovered that they have crazy-weird hours, and the entrance would close at 1:00, so we wouldn’t be able to get in. Ally and Andrew (both Catholic) were really disappointed because it was their last day in Italy and the Vatican had been basically their reason to come. So, we went to a restaurant for lunch; it was good but much too expensive (they’re tricky because they have little fees that they add on like a sit-down fee and a water fee and a bread fee…). We ended up going to see the outside of St. Peter’s Basilica, another church, and the Trevy Fountain. Then we picked a little sidewalk café and had incredible gelato and espresso. We got Andrew sent off on his train, and then the girls went shopping (more browsing) in the Italian shops. I haggled with a street vender (in Italian!) and got some knock-off Armani sunglasses for cheap, and Ally bought a Rome bag. We got Ally sent off to her train, and then Amy, Katie, and I went out with some of Amy’s friends (who were studying in Rome). We went to a really neat restaurant and had another delicious but overpriced meal.

Determined not to have a repeat of the day before, we got to the Vatican early the next day and spent a few hours going through it. It was very large and complicated (and they don’t ever give you those little complementary maps in Europe). There was an amazing amount of artwork, and we saw paintings that we had actually studied in our art class at IES. We wound our way around the building until we got to the Sistine Chapel. There were tons of guards and photography was forbidden. The ceiling was absolutely amazing. Plus, every wall also had incredibly detailed paintings and murals that told so many biblical stories. We only had about 4 hours inside of the Vatican because of the restricted visiting hours. But we did get to see everything we had really wanted to. For lunch, we bought some pizza and ate it on the grass across from the Vatican wall. Next, we headed over to St. Peter’s Basilica. We walked through the tombs where there are many Popes buried, including John Paul II. We also saw the tomb of St. Peter, which is under the alter of the church. We toured the church that was simply amazing. I didn’t even try to take pictures because my camera doesn’t even come close to capturing the sheer immensity of the cathedral. Plus, there were famous works of art everywhere, and the alter itself was gorgeous. My favorite work of art was Michelangelo’s Pieta: I was actually able to stand in front of it for 10 minutes and just look at it. Sick of paying so much for food, we went to the grocery store on the way back to the hostel and got 50 cents worth of pasta plus some veggies and dessert, and had the best meal so far in Italy back at the hostel. After dinner we had a clothing-layering contest (Amy won, but I was a close second) before we went out to take some night pictures of the city. We went to the Trevy fountain where there were only a few people and we got to spend a long time looking at it from different angles and taking pictures.

For our last day in Italy, we started off for the Colosseum. Right beside it is a huge bunch of ruins called Palatino. You can buy a dual ticket for the two, so we started off in Palatino (which turned out to be a good choice because all the tour groups hit the Colosseum first). There were tons of terrific ruins of all sorts of buildings, but they all blended in with the huge trees and other vegetation. My favorite part was this little hill with a unique tree right on the top of it; I don’t know why I liked it so much, but it was really cool looking. Palatino was probably my favorite part of Rome because it was so beautiful that I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. After wandering for about 1 ½ hours, we headed over to the Colosseum. Since we bought our tickets at Palatino, we didn’t have to wait in the huge line, and we got right in. It had such style to it; you could tell it had once been so magnificent, but it was still so great even though it was falling apart. We stood next to a tour group and got some free info. The floor had long since fallen apart, so you could see the labyrinth of chambers below, and you could also see where the important government officials would have sat. After that, we looked through the free section of the ruins. It was absolutely crazy to see ancient pillars and rubble just lying around everywhere, even in the city. It was like, centuries of public officials just passed off the job of cleaning them up, and so they’re still there. I said that Palatino was my favorite thing in Rome; I think that’s not quite true. I loved the Piazza Venetia (also called the Type-Writer or the Wedding Cake): it was absolutely ridiculous. Well known by the locals as a spectacular eye-sore, it has everything. Gold angels, flags, marble, frescos, silver statues, a monument, fire, fountains…. The more you look at it the more things you find, and they say it’s the best address in town because it’s the only place in Rome where you can’t see it in the skyline. As we were leaving we saw the entire Roman riot police force lining up in the square in front of the Wedding Cake. There was a labor demonstration for that day, and we were so disappointed that we had to leave before we could see it start, though we did see the parade in the distance. We ran to the grocery store and went to the train station to catch a night train to Paris (we had to take a shuttle train to Milan first). We got settled in our compartments, and then met up in the dining car and played cards and ate our dinner.

We arrived in Paris on time, and Andrew met us at the train station. We stashed our stuff in the luggage lockers and set-off for another day in Paris. Since it was Sunday, we went over to Notre Dame and attending Mass. It was a beautiful ceremony, despite the constant camera flashes. We ate at a little café, and discovered that we have been spoiled by living in Brittany, the home of crepes (sweet) and galettes (savory crepes). Katie and Amy ordered ham galettes and received sweet crepes with ham inside, gross. I had a croque monsieur (toast with ham and cheese) that was excellent. Next, we went to Musee d’Orsay and spent a few hours looking around the exhibits. There were some great works there and a great variety of styles. The fifth floor was crazy because that’s were all the Impressionist works are. It was too crowded to enjoy, so I went back downstairs to see the other floors. Then we walked over to the Louvre to take some pictures of the outside, which turned out really nicely because of the sunset in the background. We sent Andrew off to catch his train to Nantes, and the rest of us ( me with Katie and Amy) went off in search of a Starbucks. We found it, but alas, the Frappacino machine maker was broken, I think I freaked out the poor cashier when he told me, but I have been craving a Frappacino for a few months now. On the way back to the train station, we watched some kids that had set up a makeshift skate park with construction barriers; they were doing some really cool skate tricks. We went back to the trainstation and enjoyed a first class ride back to Nantes (the same price as coach with the Eurail pass).

It was tough to go back to classes after the trip, but we had a midterm that week, so we had to deal with it. The Wednesday after I got back, my family took me to the theatre to see an actor who sang clever songs. Sadly, I didn’t get any of the French humour because it was all play-on-words and pop-culture sorts of things, but I still enjoyed myself, and it was so nice of them to take me out.

I took a few more midterms (Art history and translation) and then attending an Oenology (the science of wine) session at IES. They brought in a speaker who talked about a lot of different aspects of wine, including: history, picking a wine, and tasting wine. He brought in one white wine (which I really liked) one young red (which was also good) and one Bordeaux (which I didn’t like at all). We finished with a champagne, which was my favorite. It was a really cool session because wine is such an important part of the French culture and history, and its great to know a little bit more about it now.

I took midterms in The Palestinian Question and French History, and at the end of the week, I went on a IES trip to the Lieu Unique. It used to be the old factory for LU, a famous cookie company of Nantes, and now it is a cultural and community center. They have a huge room that houses traveling art exhibitions: right now it’s Arid Spaces. There was this huge metal sculpture that was a highway winding through the room and there was colored sand set out on the ground, plus some other modern art works (which were very hit-or-miss). We looked around the bookstore, which specialized in crazy, off the wall, stuff. And then we went up in the LU tower. When you get to the top, you have a 360 view of Nantes, plus there is a wheel you can turn that rotates the platform so you can face other parts of the city.

The next Monday (Nov 20), I went to a conference for my Grammar class. It was a famous philosopher, Luc Ferry, who gave a very interesting speech. It was held at the Business Univeristy (semi-public), which is unbelievably better than the Fac (the public university where IES students take classes). Everything is much better cared for and of a higher quality. Anyway, the conference was very insightful, but also very tolerant, which is very unique for a French speaker. We had a great discussion about it during the next grammar class, though I would have preferred to talk more about our upcoming test (set for Friday). The day before the test, we had our wonderful Thanksgiving meal, organized by the France-United States alliance (a local community group of older people). When we got there, we mixed for about 30 minutes, to give the French people time to get there (they usually get there about 15 minutes late). Then they started the meal. I sat with Ally, Amy, Billy, Andrew, Andrew’s host mother, and the sweet old couple that had invited me to dinner a few weeks ago. The first course was toasted bread with goat cheese. But the main course was much more traditional: turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, but with a decidedly French flair. It was served with nuts (that’s a Nantes thing) and very creative spices. For dessert, they served pumpkin pie and apple pie. During dessert, IES students presented musical performances, and my friend Molly and I performed a Mozart duet, and it went over very well. Right after I finished, I went to other side of the hall to call home and talk to every family member present at Aunt Jennifer’s and Uncle John’s house, which took almost an hour, but it was great to talk to everyone. The French couple drove us home (sparing us a 30 minute tram ride).

I took the grammar test the next day, and as usual, I nailed everything that I studied, and everything I missed wouldn’t have been helped by studying anyways. We’ll see how it turned out. I can’t believe how much I’m learning in that class, but I also don’t want to know what my grade it. The good news is: everyone has a rough time in that classes, especially since a lot of people don’t study very much.

Right now, I’m writing a paper for French History and Art History this week. Next week, I have one for the Palestinian Question. So, I’m pretty busy, but I’m so lucky to have all sorts of little cultural opportunities here and there.

Thanks for your messages and notes! Love, Melissa

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Photos

Colosseum
Daytime view

Vatican
The ceiling of a hallway in the Vatican mueseum

Thanksgiving Group
Andrew, Me, Ally, Amy

Comments

[Grandmere & Grandpere Harness]

What a trip we just had from your travelblog!! It must have been really great to have been to all those places. Really enjoyed your pictures. Thanks again for the call on Thanksgiving. Had a birthday dinner with your family on Saturday night. Missed your smilling face there. Good luck with all your tests and papers. Amour!!

[Mom, Dad, Michael and Mae]

Another amazing blog
Your blog on Rome, Paris, and Nantes was well worth the wait. Love hearing all the details whether it is one of the buildings, a meal or a train trip. The pictures are great. Love you.