le 1er aout: Paris again

We slept in Saturday which was heavenly. We were always going a mile a minute it seems like so finally taking our time was nice. We stopped at Versailles on our way to Paris. We just went in to see the gardens. It was rather expensive because they were having a fountain show that day but luckily Brittany and I got a student discount. Poor Marilyn didn't get one. We had breakfast in one of the gardens. We just got crepes and sat down to eat there.

Versailles really is very pretty. It would be fun to live there I think and spend the day in the garden sometimes just relaxing or renting a row boat. There are some sections of the gardens that are free. We didn't know where those were though, and I think mostly only locals do. Kaitlin does but she wasn't there to show us unfortunately.

After we got back to Paris, we headed to the Pompidou, the modern art museum which I was very excited to see. It was so cool. We went up to the top floor of the free exhibition area and started there. They had a special exhibition going on called elles@pompidou downstairs and upstairs to go along with it, the rooms marked with a red doorway had art from significant women artists who have been historically overlooked. Their work was amazing. There were some prints from photographers we had talked about in photo class as well as some new ones that were just captivating. They had quite the variety of works there. There were paintings, photographs, some sculpture, mixed media pieces, and furniture and home design pieces as well. It was a very cool museum.

On the lower level was the main part of the elles@pompidou exhibition. It was all about women and I LOVED it. I wanted to spend more time in it but I had to hurry so we could meet Kaitlin and Rosie at the train station. I bought a little book about it. I really wanted the full book with information about all the works on exhibition but it was like 50 euro so I just got the 9 euro super condensed version.

We left the Pompidou and quickly found a boulangerie where we bought sandwhiches for our hungry tummies. The pastries looked amazing. I don't think any dessert in America can compare to the pastries in Paris both visually and tasteally (lol what is the word for what I am trying to express?).

We were going to pick up another friend of Brittany's (how random, right? Like how many friends can you have in Europe at the same time by coincidence?) named Rosie. She had recently moved to Germany with her husband who is in the army. She was very cool as well, very sweet and mature.

Kaitlin picked her up and we luckily found them at the train station. It was worrisome because neither Kaitlin nor Rosie had a phone so if we missed them it was going to be very very hard to find them. We went to a very famous cafe called Les Deux Magots. It was a favorite haunting place of several intellectuals and writers and surrealist artists of Paris.

After our very French afternoon, we went for a walk through the Tuleries. Brittany and I had been there before but it was fun to see them again. We walked through a lot of Paris after that. We were heading towards the Eiffel Tower to sit down and eat but we had to go to a grocery store first to get some food. We went to the Champs-Elysees and went to le drugstore. It's like a super fancy everything-you-want type of store, but very cool and not too expensive. It was a little more pricey than your standard grocer on the corner but still less expensive than a restaurant for a full meal.

After we bought our food, we had to walk a ways to sit down and eventually just decided since we had already walked so far, we might as well walk back to the Eiffel Tower to sit there and eat. It was beautiful as always. I seriously still can't believe I just sat and ate dinner under the Eiffel Tower several times. It's been a dream since Jr. High. Dreams really do come true :) Lol, here I am getting all nostalgic, but finishing up these posts makes me miss it.

We caught the last train to Versailles but had to get a taxi back to Jouy en Josas because those trains stop earlier. It wasn't badly priced split between five people. We all slept in Kaitlin's adorable apartment. I really liked all of Brittany's friends. I wish I could get to know all of them more. They were really fun, good, sweet, open minded, and genuine women. Brittany, if you ever read this, you have good taste in friends if I may say so myself ;)

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le 31: Back to Paris

We got up for breakfast at the Hotel du Congres. It was just like a french hotel breakfast, cold cuts and scrambled or boiled eggs, toast/croissants/pain au chocolat, yogurt, cereal, juice/coffee/tea, etc. Brittany wasn't feeling very well because she felt a migrane coming but she ate a little bit and we got her some water to drink and that helped a bit. She used to get really bad migranes a few times a week but she was on medication to keep them away. It apparently works because she didn't have one any of the time we were in France and the one she started to get didn't come on full force which was good.

We thought our Belgium adventure had wrapped up nicely when we had a shakey experience in the metro. We went to buy our tickets and realized we were short some money with the coin euros. And the ticket machines didn't take bills. Or American credit cards. And there were no ticket windows with people in them open. We were starting to freak out because we had to catch our train back to Paris, especially because we were going back on this student deal and couldn't transfer our tickets. If we missed the train, we would have to buy all new ones. We had already dealt with that nightmare in Paris and didn't want to have that happen again.

So, this man came down into the metro and I went to ask him if he knew where a ticket office was. He was like there are machines you can use and I tried to explain our predicament to him but he didn't really understand. We should have just hopped on the metro but the we ended up getting one ticket with the coins we had and then the man bought one with his credit card and we gave him the rest of the coins that we had which were pretty close to the cost of one ticket. I think he thought we were just retarded and couldn't use the machines but then he realized that we were short and seemed a little put off that we couldn't pay him back all the way but he got over it quick. We thanked him profusely and felt like idiots lol.

But good news, we made it to our train on time! And even better, we were riding first class. It was a crazy awesome deal we found online and so on our return trip it was cheaper to ride first class than second. The train was pretty empty but we somehow weren't sitting next to each other. I think there were four other peopl in my car. Brittany and I should have just sat next to each other but we didn't know it was going to be so empty I guess. Anyways, we got served a lovely breakfast and the staff serving were so nice and accomodating. I was surprised when they wheeled the cart by with the croissants and rolls and held them for you to take one that you got to take both and then they came by later and let you get seconds. I of course did lol and was like "Oh! Vraiment? Merci!" and the lady holding the croissant basket laughed at me ha ha.


We were meeting Brittany's friend that day who was also coming into Gare du Nord so we stayed around the area, I went to the atm for my last withdrawal and we went to pick up Marilyn. By time I met her, I felt as if we had met before because I had heard about her so much from Brittany. I was happy to meet her. She was interesting and funny in a subtle sort of way, and I was very impressed with her life plan. She wants to be an art historian focusing on jewelry art. She has a double major in English and Jewelry Making and was doing an internship in London's V&A Museum (which has an amazing collection of jewelry) under one of the pioneers of the jewelry art movement and one of the first to write about jewelry conceptually while not being a jewelry crafter. Don't know if that makes sense. But Marilyn like set up the whole thing herself. She called this guy after reading is book and was applying for a grant to do an internship and asked if she could work with him. She didn't get the grant but she got the internship. I thought it was impressive.


After we picked up Marilyn, we went out to eat. We went to St. Michel in the latin quarter and walked towards Notre Dame. There is a touristy restaurant called le petit pont nearby where we sat down to eat. It was hilarious. I just ordered a crepe and it came with like a sparkler on it. Then some people down a little ways from us had this giant drink with like a legit firework stuck on it lol. It was pretty funny. Marilyn likes English literature almost as much as Brittany so we went to the Shakespear and Co. Bookstore. After wandering there for a bit, we took a leisurely stroll along the Seine until we came to the Jardin des Plantes. I realized when we got there exactly where we were in relation to Madame's house and felt with great sadness that I was about to leave Paris just as I was getting to know her.

After my sudden revelation of direction within the lovely city, I was able to lead us to Rue Mouffetard where we sat down at a cafe and ordered Orangina which was probably the most expensive drink I have ever had and it's just orange soda!!! It was like four and a half euro. I wouldn't have ordered it if I knew it was going to be that much but they didn't give us a menu when we sat down because we were just getting something to drink. Sheesh, I will never make that mistake again lol. But it was good memories I guess. There was this crazy musician guy standing across the street with his guitar and singing loud for us. I don't think he was French because he was singing all English songs but they do listen to American music a lot so I guess he could have been.

We headed back to Gare du Nord where Brittany and I reloaded our luggage. (The lockers had a 48 hour maximum time) and then we went to Montparnasse where we got on a train to Versailles and thence to Jouey en Josas, where we were staying with Kaitlin for the next couple days. Kaitlin was spending the night in Paris so she met us there after she got done with work and then headed out to meet her friends there. Marilyn, Brittany and I went to the local grocery store called "Simple" and bought some picnic foods. We sat out on a little patio that Kaitlin shared with the people who's backyard apartment she lived in. It was so picturesque. I felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast, like in some cute little French town. Oh, I miss it.

And, as always, pictures:

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le 30: Belgium

Brittany and I left Madame's over an hour before we had to catch our train to Brussels but we still managed to miss the train. It just took too much time carrying those gigantic bags in the metro which is horribly inaccessible for those with large and heavy suitcases or other impediment to climbing innumerable stairs really (isn't public transportation supposed to be accessible???).

But really what it came down to was the huge line at the train station at the ticket office and only 4 people working. One thing Americans do well that the French lack is efficiency. Really? Four people in an international train station on the eve of France's month of holidays and vacations? We put our larger suitcases in train station lockers and coughed up some extra euros to get tickets for the next train.

We had a decent ride there and arrived in Brussels with no idea of what to do next lol. We realized that we were quite unprepared. We only had a vague idea of what we were going to do based of an itinerary my friend who studied in Brussels had written for one of his friends who came to visit.

After walking around the station for a few minutes, we found a place to buy tickets to Bruges. The tickets were substantially more expensive than we had anticipated but not terribly unreasonable so we coughed up those euros too. We ended up buying this youth train pass that the lady told us was cheaper than the regular tickets and if I happen to be in Belgium, I can use the pass I bought again (highly unlikely that that will be the case but who knows what could happen).

On the train ride to Bruges, a little girl Clara sat in front of us with her grandmother. She kept turning around and playing with Brittany and I and we tried to talk to her in French but sometimes she was hard to understand. I don't know if that was because Brittany's and my French was bad or if she had a funny accent or if she just couldn't prononciate well being only about to turn 4. Or a combination of those options. She had a little Goofy doll she was playing with so I got the doll I bought Gretel out of my bag and played with her for a bit. Clara loved the doll and was sad when I put her back in my bag.

We got to the Bruges train station and went to the information desk to make sure we the train times for coming back to Brussels and stowed some stuff in lockers there. We got a 50 euro centime map of Bruges and headed out the door. To our surprise and pleasure, we found out that Bruges is a small city, and very easy to walk. We ate some pricey waffles that tasted more like cake than breakfast but I was ok with that :) . Waffles are more of a desert in Europe, sometimes they sold them at crepe stands in France with nutella or fruit.

We saw a shop called DIDI and I had to buy my sister something from it because that is her nickname. Then we found the main square with the Belfry tower. I felt like I was at Disneyland but it was real life. It was mostly funny to me and I exclaimed in disbelief, "What is this?" Brittany was like, "This is Bruges." We just stood there for a while taking it in and spinning around in the middle of the square to take in all the colors and architectural details on the Gothic buildings.

We decided to climb the stairs to the top of the Belfry. I am glad that Europe has discounts for students and youth because it was like eight euro normally which would have been a rip off but for those under 26 it was only four! It is motivation to go back to Europe in before I get past my mid twenties for sure. It is much cheaper that way and the cheap way is still assez cher. But anyways, the Belfry was pretty cool. The stairs were very narrow, windy, and steep. I felt like I was basically crawling up them at some points. The view from the top was beautiful and we stopped on a level to see the giant music box like contraption that plays the bells every 15 minutes. On some special occasions, the bells are still played manually.

After our descent, we wandered through streets looking in chocolat shop windows. They were all different and yet the same. Some were cute and whimsical with chocolat ducks and shells and others displayed their impressive selections of pralines. Some had pretty displays dressed with boxes and bows like jewelery stores. On our way, we decided to impulsively take an hour boat tour. There is a river/canal that goes through the center of the city (it seems pretty like the cool thing to have in your city in Europe ha ha, of course because that is how civilizations developed, around water but anyways, it is something different and charming). Our tour guide spoke English, Dutch, and French and said all his informational blurbs and jokes in all three. Pretty impressive but I could see it getting really old for him after two boat tours lol. Brittany and I loved it.

After our lovely tour, we went to the Church of our Lady and saw Madonna and Child by Michaelangelo. They had a lot of really cool art in that church and even a small museum with admission fee. We just stayed in the free part of the church and admired the workmanship as Brittany explained some Catholic beliefs and ordinances to me. It was all pretty fascinating actually.

We wandered through a few more chocolat stores and I bought some chocolat gifts and we decided to head back to the train station. We made it back to Brussels around 7:00 and were once again completely clueless as to what to do next. We had a hotel reserved but didn't exactly know how to get there lol. Luckily the girl at the tourism booth was extremely helpful. She gave us excellent directions and we took a short metro ride and walked less than five minutes to our hotel.

The hotel was surprisingly nice and had free wifi, something we didn't notice when booking so that was a pleasant surprise as well. We checked in and relaxed for a while. We had a rough morning so it felt good to just lay on our beds for a few minutes and check email.

As our need for rest gave way to our hunger, we decided to head out in search of Belgium's traditional meal of mussels and french fries our as the French say, Moules Frites. We saw some places very close to our hotel and didn't feel like walking to the center of the town because we weren't exactly sure how far that was in addition to the fact that we were very hungry so we sat ourselves down and orderd a moules frites to share as per Madame's recommendation that the dish is large and perfect to split. The moules were great and the fries even better. We ate them with mayonnaise instead of ketchup and I think I will do that forever. It was good. I know it sounds disgusting and fatty but trust me, just try it. Maybe get some European mayonnaise first though... I don't know if french fries and Miracle Whip or Best Foods would yeild the same taste. (I just have to have a disclaimer in case you don't like it :-P)

After our yummy Belgiun dinner, we walked towards the Grand Place, the center of the city. Luckily the city was tiny and so it took us like five minutes even though looking at a map you'd think it was like a twenty minute walk. Brussels is pretty at night and pretty quiet until you get to the Grand Place. There was a light show on it with music, and I got the impression that it is a regular occurance. I wonder if they do it every night. Brittany got some ice cream and I bought a waffle and we sat down to watch the show. After the show was over, we walked through some more central streets. It was a lot more lively there and there were more restaurants and greater selection of cheaper mussels so we were kind of upset that we hadn't walked down here earlier. It was a lot more happening and there were people actually out and about walking through the streets through the colorful shops and restaurants.

We didn't stay out too late because we had to walk back to our hotel alone but we actually felt very safe. We didn't really see any shady people or anything really and the streets were very lit up. But we were also tired and needed our rest.

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le 29 juillet: Goodbye Madame

Wednesday was a sad day. It was our last french class which wasn't too sad lol, especially because we got out early because it was a holy day for Catholics and the school had a mass at 10:30. I took a picture of my French class:

I really liked my French class. It was a good experience to have so much diversity. The students were from various countries like Hungary, Ukraine, Korea, Japan, China, England, USA, and others I can't remember all of them. It was good because it forced us even more to communicate in French although it was sometimes hard to understand some of the student's accents.

We met for lunch one last time with the girls and Brittany and I printed off the picture of us with Madame. We went home and just worked on packing and getting everything ready to go for our travels.

Madame was so sweet for our last meal she made this gigantic bowl of spaghetti and was like you have to eat all of it lol because she was also leaving the next day and she knew that we probably wouldn't be eating as well because it would be expensive so she wanted to give us a really good last meal. We had a good salad to go along with it that had little bits of turkey in it.

For dessert, she gave us chocolat pudding and the last of her chocolat ice cream and strawberry ice cream, and little dessert cookies. She was also telling us what to eat in Belgium and London. She told us the Moules-frites are the best in Belgium and they are inexpensive. She warned us about the pound being even stronger against the dollar than the euro and cautioned us to pay attention to that and that sometimes fruit was more expensive there.

She also told us to be careful of speaking French in Brussels because of political tensions in Belgium between the people who speak French and those who speak Flemmish. They apparently dislike the French speakers and so she told us it is best to just use English and they will understand that we are tourists.

She was really sweet and genuinely concerned about us. We were very sad it was our last dinner with her.

Brittany and I made her a little card to go with our photo. It was just like a hand made thank you card but she loved it. She was like a mom who said she loved it even more because we made it with our hands lol. She was like it warms my heart and she gave us bisous :) She really loved Brittany's illustrations of us. She drew me holding a baguette and eating a ton and the drawing of herself had like chocolate ice cream. The drawing of Madame was holding Moustique and Gala was at her feet. She loved the cats lol and was laughing at the drawing with joy.

We were happy that she liked it so much.

Earlier in the day, Brittany and I finally took pictures of her house while she was gone lol, so here is a tour of Madame's house:

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I was really stupid and didn't ask Madame to get a picture with her the night before but she was fine with the picture of her still in her nightgown lol, she was like "C'est la vie" and saying how I could tell everyone that this is Madame Lemberger in the morning and still pretty lol. I was like "C'est vrai"

I will miss her. She is one of the sweetest women I have known.
He he, look how little she is! Oh Madame, I wonder what she is doing now.

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le 28 juillet: Farewell Dinner

Tuesday was our last day of photography class. We had our final critique at the ISA office. For lunch we mixed it up and went to this place like a deli that sold pasta salads and things. I got a vegetable salad with zuchinnis and potatoes and some other stuff it was pretty good and then I stopped in a boulangerie and bought a roll. The eating is so nice there. Like having so many options of places in such a short area and the fresh bread everywhere is awesome. I am going to miss it.

So for the final critique, we used some old pictures and some new. We could reuse pictures from our past critiques or pick photographs that were from the past days but that we didn't choose to show. Here were my 15: (ok, actually there are 14 here because I accidentally deleted one and am too lazy to put it back in lol)

My professor was overall pretty happy with these pictures. He said they have an enigmatic quality about them, especially my people pictures that he likes. But he said that he was curious what would happen if I started engaging people directly. He encouraged all of us to keep photographing when we get home and I definitely want to, so that will be a good place to start taking pictures of people more in my comfort zone and so I should be able to engage them more directly.

After the critique, Brittany and I ran home to change and then we headed out to the farewell dinner. We decided to try taking the bus because its path was more direct than the metro and that way, we could actually see the city as we were travelling. I wish we would have tried to use the bus more I think it would have been helpful in getting more familiar with the city. The metro is a lot faster and sometimes more convenient but the buses would have been cool to see the city with. But unfortunately, we got on a bus going the opposite direction than we wanted to go so we were like half an hour late for the dinner but it wasn't a big deal.

We ate at a place on Rue Mouffetard called "Mouffetot Mouffetard" a play on the French words "tot" and "tard" meaning early and late. It was a cute little place and the owners are close friends with the ISA directors. They came with us on our trip to Normandy even. The dinner started with a salad and then we had a choice for our main course. I chose the leg of duck which was very good. We also got dessert which was a slice of apple pie and some type of merengue pie and a scoop of ice cream.

We were all getting a little sad that it was our last nights. We took pictures and talked in front of the restaurant for a long time and then walked up Rue Mouffetard and got some gelato at this funny place that had a sign in English boasting the "Best Glace in Paris." They did flower shapes like Amarino but it wasn't as good as Amarino's glace. We said goodbye to everyone and promised to all keep in touch.

Here are some of our goodbye photos:

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le 27 juillet: Sacre Coeur et ISA art reception

Monday, Brittany and I went to Sacre Coeur after French class. We don't have photo class on Mondays but we did have an art reception that evening so we had to fit it in a couple of hours. Sacre Coeur is a chapel on a hill called Montmartre. The area is supposed to be filled with artists and be really cool and stuff but unfortunately, it was rainy and so there were no artists in sight.

We took cover in the chapel and looked out on Paris from the porch area. It was beautiful. I was scared to take too many pictures though because it was raining pretty hard and I didn't want to get my camera wet.

After we saw the chapel, we took a little tram thing down the hill and walked around the shops and the area down there hoping to find some artists. We didn't find any artists but there were some pushy guys selling bracelets. Only they would like stop you and ask you to hold some thread for them and then like try to talk to you while they make it and then you make a wish and then they tie it on your wrist and ask for a small contribution lol. This guy did it to me and I was like I seriously have no money so don't waste your time. He is like it's ok and kept going so I was like Ok, I'll take a bracelet for free lol. I gave him like 30 centimes and he was pretty upset but that is more than I should've given him because I told him I wasn't going to pay him.

There were some pretty cute shops. There were a few that had some cute kitchen stuff. It's all like animals or people or things made into kitchen utinsils like dogs were cake servers, squids as wisks and little women as umbrellas and the fabric part is like their skirt. I took some pictures so y'all can see.

We went to the art reception at the ISA office. The painting and photo students had some of their work on display. I had my little girl picture from the market and the man standing in front of the water lillies up. They had little pastries and fruit for us to eat and the professors and their husbands and wives all came and the students from those classes and the ISA Paris staff. It was a fun little get together. It was fairly casual but I think in future years they want to make it a little more formal and a grand affair. I guess this was their first year doing it.

For dinner, we had a lovely multi-course meal. It started with like a pea salad wrapped in a slice of ham. It was delicious and beautifully presented with tomato slices going around it. Madame likes to cook pretty when she has time during the day. Then we had some quiche lorraine that she had made with beans and couscous.

We went out to the Champs Elysees again with Courtney and Amanda. We just walked around and talked. It was fun.

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le 26 juillet: Mt. Saint Michel

Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast. It wasn't as extravagant as the breakfast at the other place but it was still good. We went out and walked around a little market that was right in front of our hotel. It was really cute. I bought some three euro shoes to match my blue and white skirt.

We boarded the bus and headed to Mount Saint Michel. There is a legend that Saint Michel appeared to someone (lol I love how thourough my history is) and told them to build a chapel on this island. It is an island when the tide comes in but when the tide goes out, it is just a hill. So the hill had to be reinforced with granite and it was constructed like a pyramid with a flat top where the chapel was built.

We got there at high tide so the water was right up to the road and the edge of the mount. We walked up a narrow windy street to the top of the mount and took a tour of the chapel. It was probably my favorite so far. We walked into the center of the nave while they were holding mass and it was gorgeous. The monks were singing and the light was shining through the back windows. It felt very heavenly. I would have liked to just sit there and take it all in for a while but we had like a scheduled tour so I had to go run and catch up with the rest of the group. There was a stunning little courtyard with an amazing view and a great dining hall. In the hall, the windows were in deep recesses so you couldn't see the windows standing in the middle but as you walk down the hall, you can start seeing the windows and the light coming through. It symbolized progression and learning which was kind of cool. The top level of the chapel was reserved for monks because it was highest and therefore closest to God and the lower levels were for recieving kings and other royalty. It is all just white stone now but in the past, it would have been elaborate and brightly painted or covered with tapestries.

The chapel was used as a prison during the revolution and The Scarlet Pimpernel (version from like the 40s or 50s) was filmed there.

After our tour, we wandered back down the streets which are lined with souvenir shops and restaurants. We got a quick lunch and then shopped on our way down. When we made it back to the entrance, the tide was gone and our bus was parked in a lot that didn't exist in the morning. The tide is pretty crazy. It comes in at a metre a second, which makes it very dangerous to walk to the mount.

Before we headed back to Paris, we made a quick stop at a cookie factory. The Normandy region is famous for its milk/cream, butter, salt, apples, and meat. The lamb meat there is already salted because the grass the lambs eat is salty from the water. So I bought some butter cookies and some apple cookies and jam.

And now, picture time:

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