Normandie

Reims Cathedral

The week I was supposed to start my internship, a miracle for God arrived- a week off! As the French say, il faut profiter. So I went to Normandy. Well, actually, on one of my days off I took the train out by myself (after a restful sleep of, well, sleeping in until 2 in the afternoon...) to Champagne-Ardennes to the famous medieval town of Reims. Talk about Champagne! Rows upon rows of vineyards cover the hills like patchwork on a quilt, and green fields stretch out for miles. At this time in the year, farmers are already out there preparing for a new crop and a new season. Everybody needs their champagne! Reims has a very old cathedral that is packed with history from back in the day; including where a majority of the line of French kings were crowned. Sitting on the wall facing the mammouth cathedral, (covered in intricate designs of all sorts of holy men) I both witness a catfight between two French girls and make a new friend sitting beside me on the stone wall. My new friend is German, hailing from the southern city of Nuremberg. I am instantly reminded that my grandmother was there during the war crime trials. We talk and chat and get to know each other a bit while walking and exploring the old city of Reims. There's not too much to see beside the cathedral, but the charm of it is enough to for me to like it. What's ironic about my afternoon is Reims is that I saw about 2% of la ville (cathedral included) and spent the rest drinking Belgian beer and talking Jens. Always an adventure! We head out that night for drinks at Place de Clichy with his friends that he teaches with outside Paris- Germans, French, Spanish, and me the American. Thursday morning I am already thrilled to get out of Paris and take the train direct to Rouen where friends of Francoise and Daniel are there to greet me. Countryside, here I come !!! Fanfan and Michel are super-sweet and hospitable all weekend, and couldn't be more kind even if they tried. Fanfan was quite pleased to have a guest for the weekend - here I was expecting to not really go anymore all weekend and just have some quiet reading/relaxing time, while Fanfan is planning la grande adventure around Normandy!






Comme c'était beau, ooh la la! We drive along La Route des Abbayes where old churches and cathedrals are hidden gems along the towns and villages. We drive along fields filled with black and white cows, fluffy sheep and little lambs, and old thatch farmhouses that are still built in the Norman style. As for the history of the old cathedrals we saw, most of them date back to the 12th century or before.
Friday was a wonderful day, starting out with the drive to Deauville on the coast. Deauville is a horse-racing, casino beach town known for its "Parisien beaches" because all the rich Parisiens go out there to bet and purchase world-class horses. There's also an annual American film festival there, honoring the presence of some of Hollywood's best. We walked along les planches de Deauville, otherwise known as the boardwalks of Deauville where back in the day the bourgeoisie ladies of Paris would promenade and show off the latest styles. It's also where some of the first maillots de bain bathing suits were styled by daring women in the bains de mer.

Honfleur

La Manche

Next stop was Honfleur, a little picturesque fishing village on the coast of La Manche that has inspired hundreds of artists in the past and was one the places that inspired the pre-impressionist movement by Millet, Courbet, Jongkind and notably Monet. I can just picture Boudin sitting on the edge of the harbor with his pallet and beret, painting the little crooked houses lining the the harbor and the masts of the sailboats were lined up like ducks. Heavy fishing nets are thrown over the railing as old fishing sloops are coming in from a day à la peche. We drive next to Le Havre, one of France's biggest ports, and where I learned it was 80% destroyed by the Allies during WWII. As a result, most of the city is newly built with modern buildings and modern technology. We drive up to the hill that looks over the harbor of La Manche towards Angleterre, revered as one of the most beautiful harbors after Rio de Janeiro. And then the highlight of my day, the cliffs of Haute Normandie at Etretat. Comme c'est beau! It is breathtaking. The white cliffs jet into the water and big holes have been carved out of the massive rocks. I feel like I've been transported to the mediterranean cliffs of Greece!

Saturday we promenade around the old town of Rouen- the buildings still have the look of the Middle Ages! It is the epitome of what a French village looked like 500 years ago. It's also whereJoan of Arc was held prisoner by the English and where alas she was burned at the stake. In place of where she burned alive is... a lovely bed of flowers. :)

Paris' Best-Kept Secret

Today I got to appreciate the quieter side of Paris.
I have the afternoon off, and there are so many opportunities to explore around this great city. After my class ended at noontime, I wanted my day to consist of something more than my room or a classroom: it was time to tackle a new neighborhood. Hop on a random bus and arrive at Hotel de Ville, totally unplanned but totally perfect. I discover something magical: that quiet actually exists in this city, where you can hear something more than cars honking and escape la foule, overwhelming and chaotic on the streets. It's le quai (boardwalk) alongside La Seine, down below all the streets and far away from the chaos. Here it's peaceful, tranquille, and wait...is that...is that a bird I hear? Do they really exist in this city ? Mais oui! Here it's cobblestone walkways and strange sculptures that hang on the giant wall along le quai. There are little tugboats that line the docks, filled with fishing nets or lanterns. Along the river passes les bateaux mouches, the tour boats that show a view of Paris from the water. Tourists hang off the sides and take pictures, awed at everything there is to see, from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower.
I grab a bench, bitter at the fact that this looks like a 'couples only' deal, with two people romantically sitting on each bench. I grab one my own and reluctantly make friends with a seagull.
Then it's to Le Marais, my new favorite neighborhood. It's right off Metro° St. Paul and the tiny, windy roads takes you out of Paris and straight into the old Jewish quarter. Specialty boutiques, like pictures framers, absynthe shops, shoe cobblers, and leather shops line the tiny streets. Even the street names are Jewish and no longer French. My favorite street that I find is called Rue des Rosiers, a road that is so...Jewish I thought I had stepped into a synagogue. Little boys run around with yamakas, Jewish bakeries open their doors to let out whiffs of freshly baked Challah bread. Hollllla! Ok, I can't resist, I need a Yiddish pastry. Le Marais is not only historic, it's quiet. A serene kind of quiet that you start to appreciate here in Paris. Forget about the commotion of the city and just...relax. Wow, haven't done that in a while. I see one friendly neighbor open the shudders and call out to another, and then just enjoy the quiet in Place des Vosges, a nice park in the centre.
Turn the corner and BAM! the Jewish quarter suddenly becomes a very, very gay neighborhood. Instantly and noticeably flamboyant. Brayden explained it as a Venn Diagram: where the Jewish quarter and the gay neighborhood meet, and you've got: gay Jews? Dudes walk past me with tighter pants than I have, with a hairstyle that puts mine to shame. One aggressively homosexual guy practically body-checks me out of the way to make room for his swaying hips coming through. Bonjour ! Even the teenage girls around here are dressed to kill, wearing Vogue fashion, and high heels at the end of their longggg skinny legs. This quartier is also known for its fabulous vintage shops; I mosy around and stop in a few. Even on a Wednesday afternoon, there's a scramble for vintage clothes from the 80s that are now making a comeback with a vengeance. Women are tearing through the racks, digging and digging for vintage clothes like it's going out of style. Oh wait, it already has! It seems that all the old ladies of Paris (most likely, all from my neighborhood) have donated their ancient clothes from the 60s that are now being sold back at record prices. Talk about recycling !

I wander some more and come across Paris's best-kept secret: the Picasso museum hidden away in the calm of Le Marais. The museum is as quirky and eclectic as the artist: mirrors confront and contort your image while bronze statues line the walls. It must be field trip day because there are loads of little kids running around the museum with colored pencils, given the task of redrawing Picasso how they see it. Imagine being a little kid and Paris is your playground: you have access to some of the world's greatest art. Here I see some of his most famous artwork, including his collages, two auto-portraits and his later work. Three levels wind up and up, with assymmetic walls and stairs. Very funky. Very French.