Weekend in the Southeast of France

Last weekend was the only long weekend the students in USAC will have until Christmas break, so three friends (Brittany, Oliver and Josie) and I decided to take advantage of the break to visit a different region of France: the southeast.

On Friday, we left by train to our first city, Montpellier. We originally chose to visit Montpellier because it is relatively close to Pau and because it has a reputation for having an active night life, something none of us regularly participate in Pau. This latter characteristic was rather fortuitous for us the night we arrived because our train ended up being delayed in Toulouse, meaning we did not arrive in Montpellier until almost 8:30. But, after finding a cheap hotel in which to stash our bags, we went out into the city to find some dinner and try to get to the beach. Dinner was easy to find, but after thirty minutes of walking, we gave up on our idea of visiting the beach, and instead went in the opposite direction, towards the center of town, to find somewhere to get some local wine. Once back in Montpellier proper, we sat down at a cafe accross the square from the city's theater, which at night is illuminated with a projection of various Renaissance, Baroque and Classical paintings with the upcoming events to be held at the theater superimposed over the images. The next morning, we walked around Montpellier for a couple of hours and then caught our next train to Avignon.

Once in Avignon, we set out again in search of a new place to spend the night. We chose youth hostel that was accross the Rhone from the city because we expected it to be cheap. It was relatively cheap and the breakfast the following morning was decent, but those are really the only nice things I can say about our room that night. But once again, we set out to walking and had a wonderful day in the Medieval city of Avignon. The old part of the city, the area we visited, is still surrounded by its original curtain wall, and in the western quarter of the city stands le Palais de Papes, the residence of the Popes for nearly two hundred years. The admission into the palace was more than four college students were willing to pay, but after a lunch of bananas and Nutella on baguettes (eaten on the steps of Avignon`s historical synagogue), we visited the expansive gardens and one of the smaller chapels at the palace. By 8:00 that night, were again exhausted and hungry. Unfortunately, Avignon is a very expensive city, but we had another delicious meal, this time of Lebanese kebabs and a very nice bottle of red wine which we drank out of plastic water bottles. It already being late by the time we were done eating, we curled up under our coats on the hostel beds to go to sleep, since the price of the hostel did not include sheets, towels or any kind of soap.

We walked back into Avignon Sunday morning and had a leisurely time drinking coffee, taking pictures of the gardens and admiring the soldiers from the French Foreign Legion who frequently walked by as we waited for our afternoon train to Nîmes. Being that it was Sunday, there was very little activity when we arrived in Nîmes, and we had to walk around the town for almost an hour before we found a hotel that was open. But, since we did not have very much money for lodging, we formulated a plan: Oliver and I would go into the hotel with all of our baggage, reserve a room with two beds for the night, rejoin the girls after dropping off our luggage, and later that night, return to the hotel and pretend that Josie and Brittany were simply two girls we met that night and were bringing back to our room. The first part of the plan went unbelievably well, and we were soon wandering the streets of Nîmes once more. After an hour, however, we were very disappointed with the city: although we were impressed with the Roman coliseum that was there, the rest of the town seemed to be quite rough and populated solely by immigrants. But after consulting a map, we realized that we had spent all of our time thus far in the suburbs of Nîmes. When we actually made into the historical section, we had a wonderful time exploring expansive gardens with Roman ruins and historical streets that were centuries old. We had a delicious and unforgettable dinner that night at a Chinese restaurant we had discovered earlier while searching for a hotel and then nervously walked back to the hotel. Once there, I had Brittany lean on my arm and I walked as boldly as I could at the front desk to ask for the key to our room. The concierge looked perplexed for a few moments, consulting his list of rooms which stated that there were only two people in that room and intermittently looking at the four of us before finally asking if there was a problem with the room. I told him there was not and then watched his face turn red as the comprehension slowly set in. He then passed quickly us the key to our room and muttered an embarrassed good night. Halfway up the stairs we all burst out laughing at what the concierge only thought he understood.

We spent our Monday again walking through the streets of our host city of the day, stepping into occasional shops. Our train was not due to depart until 3:30 in the afternoon so we spent several hours eating sandwiches and drinking coffee in a cafe near the train station. It was a six hour journey back to Pau, but during our stop in Toulouse to change trains, we got more kebabs for dinner. On the train, we had a desert of various combinations Nutella, apples, crackers, peanuts and pretzels; all were delicious. We arrived at the train station in Pau at 10:30 that night, exhausted and looking forward to finally starting our intensive language classes the next day 9:00 am.

Montpellier:

Avignon:

Palais des Papes:

Église Réformée de France, where we went to church:

Nîmes:

Les Arénes at Nîmes:

Cathédrale Saint-Pierre:

Maison Carée:

Les Quais de la Fontaine:

Les Jardins de la Fontaine:

Temple de Diane (c. 8 ce):

Tour Magne (c. 12 ce):

Nîmes at night:

Second Visit to Spain

I returned late last night from my second visit to Spain. My first visit was last weekend, when my host parents took me to the beach in Bayonne for the afternoon, followed by an evening spent drinking and eating in Irun, just across the border (five minutes by boat, the fastest route) from France. This time, however, I went with my USAC group on a two-day excursion to visit Bayonne, St. Sébastien and Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

We spent the night, Friday night, in Saint Sébastien. It was a very enjoyable experience. In both France and Spain, much of the government's revenue comes from sales taxes; in France, the sales tax is considerably higher than in Spain (20% as compared to around 7%), so I spent much of Friday afternoon shopping. In the evening, I went out with several friends to the different bars in the old part of Saint Sébastien. The custom in that part of Spain is to go from bar to bar, eating small hors d'oeuvres called "las pinchas" before finally eating dinner around 10:30. It was a very fun. We ended the night by walking along the beach, the famous Playa de la Concha, back to our hotel at about 2:00 am. The view of the ocean, the lights of the boats moored offshore, and the large, illuminated statue of Jesus that stands on a hill above the city were all spectacular at that hour. We spent about 45 minutes on the beach, taking our time in returning to go to bed.

The downside to the trip was that it rained all weekend. During our four hour stop in Bayonne, it rained so much that streets were flooded in several parts of the city by the time we tried to return to the bus. The rain was so miserable that my friends and I all elected to spend most of that time hiding in a cafe rather than exploring what is a very old and beautiful Basque city.

Nevertheless, it was a beautiful area to visit. The Basque country is very quiet and relaxed. I have every intention of going back again during better weather for a relaxing escape.

in pau

i arrived in pau about two hours ago. my host family is very nice; it is just a man and wife here with me because their two sons are university students who study away from home. my host mother is a spanish teacher at the middle school in pau and my host father is a gendarme (a form of police). even though i have only known them for a couple of hours, i feel very comfortable in their home and i am sure i will be quite well taken care of.

but for the past few days, i have been paris. i am not quite sure how to describe paris other than "amazing." those people that have been there will understand, but for those of you who have not, it is a completely different world. our group stayed in a small hotel in the 14th arrondisement (south of the seine, between the latin quarter and the porte d'orlèans). the amazing thing about central paris is that all of the buildings are old, as are most of the institutions within them. there are beautiful shops everywhere, and everything for sale is amazing: small boutiques everywhere that sell beautiful clothes, shoes, bags, food, &c. as such, everyone incredibly well-dressed. it is rather difficult to describe parisian fashion; everyone dresses rather formally and all the clothes fit impeccably, but there is a certain nonchalance about their fashion. it is almost like every man in the city simply woke up and happened to throw on a beautiful shirt, a perfect pair of jeans, a well-worn pair of dress shoes and a sport coat while every woman pulled a beautiful skirt, pair of slacks or jeans out of her closet and put on a well-fitting shirt, a colorful scarf and a pair of shoes that you can only find in paris.

however, fashion is not the only reason people come to paris. the monuments were amazing as well. walking in paris, i constantly felt the weight of a thousand years of history hanging over the city. i saw many of the famous sites in paris: la tour eiffel, l'arc de triomph, les champs elysèes, st. chapelle, notre dame, le palais de la justice, le musèe du louvre, le musèe d'orsay, versailles, la sorbonne, le café procope, l'hôtel de ville. i also saw a substantial amount of la rive gauche and le faubourg st. germain simply by walking through the city. being in such a place was amazing and it is impossible to attempt to describe here the full array of emotions each of those buildings evokes; suffice it to say that that building has its own unique sense of awe appropriate to its own unique history and characteristics. to be honest, however, the traditional "tourist destinations," in particular, l'arc de triomph and la tour eiffel were the least interesting. for example, when our group went to la tour eiffel, i spent 45 minutes going to the top and back down (most of that time spent waiting in line for elevators) and another hour or so walking on le champs de mars and thinking about the activities that took place there during the revolution.

the museums in paris, on the other hand are amazing. i spent a total of eight hours in le musée d'orsay and le musée du louvre, and i feel like only just scratched the surface. despite that, i still got to see some amazing pieces of art. and the buildings themselves can be just as fascinating as the art. i did see da vinci's mona lisa while at le louvre, but i was more impressed by some of the other paintings in the room, and i certainly did not think it was as interesting as the works of david. i have been impressed with the works of david for historical reasons since taking history 350, but after seeing them in person, i have a new appreciation for them artistically because they are all truly are masterful pieces of work.

to preempt the inevitable question of "what was my favorite thing to see in paris," i think i will say that my favorite thing about the city is the city itself. if i were going to give advice to someone going to paris, i would tell them to put on a dress shirt, jeans and light jacket, step into their most comfortable pair of dress shoes, and go out and walk around the city. my favorite place was le faubourg st. germain, and i would recommend walking from their towards l'île de la cité. if you are only going to be there for a short time, do not waste money on museums, guided tours or access to famous locations. walk around the city, rest in cafes, appreciate the beauty and history of one of the oldest areas of the city and visit whatever sites you can get into for free. that in itself makes for a day you will never forget.

as tired as i am now, i already want to return to paris for another visit. i think i will wait for a while until my french improves, but there is still much that i would like to see or see again. until then, i look forward to getting settled in pau and struggling to communicate with my host family.

attached to the bottom are a few of the pictures that i took while in paris. if you would like to see more, and in particular, if there is anything you think you might like to see a picture of, email me and i will send you a return email with as many photos as you wish (assuming of course, that i have said photo).

la sorbonne:

st. chapelle:

le café procope:

near pont neuf:

pantheon:

palais de la justice:

notre dame:

denis diderot:

l'opera garnier:

jardin du luxembourg:

versailles:

oath of the horatii by david:

dejeuner sur l'herbe by Manet:

napoléon sur le trône impérial by ingres:

champs de mars:

le tour eiffel: