PARIS PAPERS VOLUME IX ~ May 9, 2006

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s that time again, here it is, your bi-monthly dose of ME with a side of French culture! I promise that this one will not be as long as the last one (which was a 14-page word document prior to uploading to the web and adding the pictures), and although I cannot beat a whirlwind tour of Europe, I still have some interesting things to share! So don’t touch that dial…

As you all know, I returned from my trip with Dominic two weeks ago, and did not get Paris Papers VIII posted until Wednesday. In the mean time, school started again, and now students and professors are in a rush of trying to make up for lost time and cram as much as we can into the remaining 3 weeks before exams (exams last for 2 weeks here).

Two weeks ago in my cuisine class we made “Vol au vent aux quenelles et fruits de mer,” which is shellfish (shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, etc) in a curry-cream sauce served over a puff-pastry biscuit. I know this will shock you all, but I did eat it, and it was not bad. I am not usually a seafood person, but I thought it was good. We also made Ratatouille, which is a traditional dish from the south of France (Nice to be precise), and is sort of a vegetable stew. For dessert, we made Pear tart (I worked on that part) and it was delicious!

I spent a weekend in Barcelona, Spain! I met up with Rachel (from Madrid via UMaine) and her twin sister, Christie (from England via UMaine) and we had a great time touring Barcelona! We did all of the touristy things, and enjoyed the night life! The weather was incredible, warm (hot at some points) and sunny! At our hostel (which was INCREDIBLE) we met a guy named Asaf, and he was traveling alone (studying in Madrid) and so we adpoted him for the weekend. That is one of the cool things about hostels, you meet some really cool people.

Sagrada Familia (very hard to fit it all into a picture)

Our first stop was obviously, Sagrada Familia, the famous church that looks like (in my mind) a drip castle. It is sort of the “Eiffel Tower” of Barcelona. Construction started in 1883, and will not be completed until 2030. The principle architect was Antoni Gaudí, and we will be talking about more of his projects in a few minutes.

Impressive Living Statue

Sippin' Sangria

We spent some time wandering in the Ramblas, the long central street of the Gothic Quarter. There are some INCREDIBLE living statues and street performers along this street. There are also artisans selling their wares, jewelry, souvenirs, clothing and such. There are also a lot of open-air cafes. We decided to have a pit stop and take in some of the local culture in liquid form, that is to say, Sangria. The sangria we had was delicious (not that I am expert), and I am looking for a recipe to make it. So if anyone has one, let me know!

Land ho?

At the end of the Ramblas is the Christopher Columbus Monument, and the sea port. Atop the monument, Mr. Columbus is pointing out over the ocean! We wandered around there pondering some of the modern art, looking at the palm trees, and enjoying the ocean breeze.

Inside Saint Eulàlia

Gotta Love Gothic :o)

As we headed back into town we decided to visit the Cathedral of Saint Eulàlia. Unfortunately, the façade was completely covered in scaffolding, so I was unable to get a good picture to share with you. The inside was very nice. I find that the Spanish cathedrals are the most lavish inside (other than St. Peter’s in Rome), with alters made of gold in every alcove. The architecture was typical gothic. The Spanish Catholics, like the Italians, strictly enforce modest dress in their cathedrals, i.e., no shorts or tank tops for men and women. We went up to the roof of the cathedral and it offered a great view of the ocean. There was also a nice courtyard with pools of carp, and geese.

Sacred Heart Church

Christie, Rachel, Asaf and I atop the mountain with the ocean in the background

The second day we decided to climb one of the hills overlooking the city to the Sacred Heart Church. We were intrigued by the massive statue of Jesus affixed to the top. We hiked a good way up the hill and then took the ancient funicular the rest of the way to the top. We discovered an amusement park, and visited the church, which was surprisingly smaller than it looked from far below. The view was incredible and well worth the climb, we could see the whole city and the ocean stretching to the horizon.

The ceiling of the market place in Güell Park

A little break on the Longest Park Bench in the World

The Bench, I could not fit all of it, sorry, but it is HUGE

Detail of Gaudí's Bench

Gaudí Fountain (I like all the colors)

After we climbed down the hill, we headed to Güell Park, which was designed by Gaudí, and is home to the longest park bench in the world. All of the architecture is covered in mosaics made of ceramic pottery pieces. The whole park is very brightly colored and looks like something out of a child’s story book. Güell Park was originally intended to be a private community of 60 houses to be designed by Gaudí, but only two of these were ever built. I am not sure of my opinion of Gaudí’s work. It is interesting, but I am not sure I would want it for my house. The city of Barcelona is peppered with buildings designed by Gaudí, and they really stand out from the rest of the city.

After we spent some time wandering in Güell Park, we headed for the chocolate museum! It was interesting. Part of it was concentrated on the history of Chocolate, as the Spanish were the first western culture to come into contact with it through their conquests of the natives in South America. I took notes for my paper for my Cuisine class. The second part of the museum was chocolate art. There were all sorts of sculptures, including a copy of Michelangelo’s Pieta in milk chocolate. Probably tastier than the original, but I found it less moving. After the exhibit, we took in some Spanish hot chocolate, which is a steaming hot cup of melted chocolate. It is like drinking the hot fudge you put on an ice cream sundae. Thank goodness they only give it to you in an espresso cup. It is incredibly rich! After our dose of chocolate, we wandered the pier for a little while, and found a little flea market that was fun to browse.

The Olympic Torch

The Olympic Stadium

Calatrava Tower

Olympic Pool

Barcelona Arc of Triumph

The next morning Rachel and Christie headed back to Madrid. My flight back to Paris was not until the evening so I decided to do more sight-seeing before heading back to Paris. I hiked up to the 1992 Olympic stadium and pool. When you are down in the city and looking up at the hill, you can see this large white structure, and I would have sworn it was the Olympic torch, but it is not. It is the Calatrava Tower. The Olympic torch is in the stadium, and is a lot smaller than I expected. It is a little bit odd walking around an empty Olympic complex, sort of sad really, considering it was build to house thousands of spectators and athletes. I also visited the Barcelona Arc of Triumph. I like the one in Paris better, but theirs was nice too.

Me and my moment of Zen with an American Institution in Liquid form

A few observations about Spain: I find it interesting that one can find more American Products in Spain than you can in France. For example, they have more American food brands in their grocery stores, Gatorade, Cheetos, Cheddar Cheese, etc. They also have Dunkin’ Donuts (yes, I had a doughnut and a lemonade Koolatta and both were HEAVENLY). The Spanish (I found) in general, are friendlier than the French, but not as friendly as the Italians, and overall I found that the Spanish and Italians are more similar in mannerisms, and having heard the two languages within a week of each other, they are very similar. Of course, I do not speak either, so that is just my uneducated opinion.

Since I returned from Spain, I have been incredibly busy here in Paris. I had a paper due critiquing Emile Zola’s “Le Ventre de Paris” (the Belly of Paris, referring to the markets of the nineteenth century). Also all of my professors are in overdrive trying to compensate. I also am down to having only five weeks left of my time here! Sometimes it seems like I just arrived, and other times, when I think about how much I have learned and done.

Springtime at Notre Dame de Paris

Moulin Rouge Cow

Cow Chasing...

Yes, it is a Denim Cow..............

Beautiful Bovine

In the past week Paris has really started blooming. The lilacs are out at Notre Dame, and all of the gardens are alight with color. Paris is really beautiful in the spring time. I have taken a few walks recently enjoying the nice weather and the greenery. On one such walk, I stumbled across a line of life-sized, painted, plastic cows. Some of you may recall such an phenomenon in the states a few years ago. Well, the “Cow Parade” has come to Paris. I have now spent a couple of days chasing cows around Paris. Its kind of fun. There are cows: along the Champs Elysses, at the Paris Opera House, at the Louvre, at St. Germain-des-Pres, Les Halles, Le Maurais, Place de la Bastille, Passy Boulogne (near the Eiffel Tower), and La Defense. It has been fun to follow these bovines around Paris and rediscover the city, it is like seeing Paris with new eyes. I also discovered a similar exhibition with large decorated stars from around Europe.

In cooking class last week we made mayonnaise from scratch, and real French cheese fondue. We also made plum cobbler, and a prune cobbler for dessert. We also watched a film “Le Festin de Babette” (Babette’s Feast), and it was a lovely film, half in Danish half in French, thank goodness for subtitles (in French though). It was very enjoyable, but I doubt you can find it at Blockbuster.

I spent this past weekend between Normandy and Bretagne France. I found a wonderful club here in Paris. It is called Le Club International des Jeunes à Paris (The club of Young Internationals in Paris). They do weekend trips around France for 87 Euros (includes bus, admissions, accommodations, and breakfast). I wish I had found this group sooner. I spent a weekend with 50-something other international students studying in Paris, I was the ONLY American, and it was really neat, because there were so many nationalities and cultures represented, the only common language (in most cases) was French, so we had to use French to communicate, it was great practice.

Le Mont Saint Michel "Le Merveille" (The Marvel)

The streets of Mont St. Michel

We went to Mont Saint Michel, and I have waited five years to get back to this marvel. I think Mont St. Michel is my favorite place in France. It is an island off the coast of Normandy, and when the tide is low, it is surrounded by a long plain of sand and quicksand. But the tide comes into the basin and floods this plain in less than 20 minutes and (when the tide is decently high) this mountain becomes an island. It is quite cool. It just rises out of the middle of nowhere. There are no cars on Mont St. Michel, it is filled with narrow, winding, medieval cobblestone streets lined with shops and full of people. At the very top is the Benedictine Abbey and Cathedral dedicated to St. Michel whose golden statue crowns this one-of-a-kind spot. I remember being there when I was 16, and I found it exactly as I had left it five years ago. To quote Nelson Mandela: “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” (One of my favorite quotes). Returning to Mont St. Michel, was different than my return to Paris. I had more time to reflect without being bombarded by the emotions that accompany moving to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. I will not bore you with my personal reflections, but Mont St. Michel is a very peaceful spot, and definitely worth a visit.

Inside the Cathedral

Inside the Abbey cloister

Lilacs (my favorite) at Mont St. Michel

We took a guided tour of the Abbey, with the BEST guide I have had in Europe (if not in the entire world). He was incredible, and as a tour guide myself, I really appreciate a good guide. He was very funny and animated, and gave us a lot of great information. So, if you ever visit Mont St. Michel, take Alain’s tour, even if you don’t speak French, he was fun to watch! I wandered the wall tops and the streets and passageways. I watched them making the famous omelets at Mere Poulard’s Inn. I wandered in the garden below the Abbey and smelled the lilacs. I tried to watch the tide come in, but unfortunately the “quotient” was too low for it to come into its full splendor. There are a number of factors that contribute to how high a tide comes in, the position of the moon and sun, etc, and all these things factor into a number called “the quotient” and if the quotient is low, the tide does not rise very much, but if the quotient is high, you had best not leave you car on the causeway, because Mont St. Michel will become an island very quickly. So, unfortunately, the quotient was only 13 that day. I am sure a science person could explain this a little more clearly and effectively, but either way, you just got a bit of a science lesson! Either way, it was incredible to get the chance to visit Mont St. Michel again.

The Beach at St. Malo

From Mont St. Michel we headed to Saint Malo, a coastal town in the Bretagne region of France. We spent the night in a very nice hostel, so nice it was practically a hotel! We had our own bathroom and shower in every room (you usually have a shared bathroom and shower like in a dorm when you stay in a hostel). After we arrived we took a walk along the beach to the center of the town. The beach at St. Malo reminded me very much of “my beach” (that is to say, Popham Beach) in Maine. It was a crescent shaped beach with rocky islands, and the walls of the fortress of St. Malo reminded me a lot of Fort Popham. In the center of town some of the other students and I sought dinner. We found a nice little place and ate there. I tried mussels. I kind of liked them. They are not as chewy as clams, and they did not have any sand in them like steamers tend to. So thumbs up for mussels.

The fortifications of St. Malo

Watching out for the English :o)... Or just a cool picture

On the second day we took a tour of St. Malo. St. Malo was a fortress, and also the launching point for the discovery mission of Jacques Cartier (who “discovered Canada while searching for the “Northwest Passage”). The English were also quite fond of attacking St. Malo, but were never successful in taking the city. St. Malo was also occupied by the Nazis during World War II, and 80% of the town was disturbed when the city was bombed while occupied by the German forces. The town is very well restored. It is a very nice town. It is enjoyable to stroll the ramparts, and wander the streets. I spent some time just walking on the beach picking up a few seashells and enjoying the air. Overall it was a very fun weekend. It was fun to have a relaxing weekend but still do some tourism stuff. I have found there are two types of tourism, the leisurely kind, and the Olympic-sport kind. Rome was of the Olympic type, Florence was more leisurely.

Parade

Yesterday we had a holiday in France, Fête Nationale en Mémoire de 1945, in memory of the end of World War II. There were ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider (at L'Arc de Triomphe). There was also a parade down the Champs Elysses. I saw President Chirac go by in a car, the window was open and he was waving.

That pretty much brings us up to date. Not the journalistic fireworks that was the previous Paris Papers, but I think we all needed a little break. My fingers are still sore from typing the last one! :o) I am starting to get to the point where I am “ready” to come home. I am still enjoying my time here, but I am starting to long for the familiarity that is home. Part of me wants my time here to last forever, and part of me is ready to get on the plane tomorrow. Well, five more weeks of adventures, and then it is back to reality. In the meantime, some reality calls (homework). I hope this edition of the Paris Papers finds everyone well. Good Luck on exams to all the UMainers! And Congratulations to those who are graduating, I will be thinking of you on Saturday! In the near future, I am going to be visiting Giverny, and going to the D-Day Beaches for the weekend (with the international club). So look for those adventures soon! Until next time, I remain your favorite quasi-journalist and voyager,

Monica :o)

At the Beach in Bretagne