my dream come true

Tuesday May 1.
Today we had the day off from class because it was one of the many French national holidays. It is like the equivalent of our labor day, except that literally nobody goes to work, which means that everything is closed, even gas stations. But luckily the one place I have been dying to go my entire life was open for business :)  This magical place, of course, was Monet's garden in Giverny. I met my friends in the train station at 8am(talk about dedication), and we took off on the train to Vernon. Along the way we passed charming little villages in the countryside, rolling hills covered in yellow flowers, and the bluest of skies I have seen yet while in France.
Basically, I was in heaven.

monet actually planted the garden himself!

the cute little frogs were just singing away

we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house but the light coming through that curtain was just too perfect, i had to sneak a shot.

next we visited the church and cemetery down the street where monet was buried. i put a little flower on his grave.

the print I bought at the gift shop. looked like it was painted right where we were standing!

running through a field of flowers!

emily reading her book by a castle.

we had a picnic in front of this glorious cathedral.

we ended the day relaxing on a dock kicking our feet in the seine.

It was a magical day and I would recommend going to anyone and everyone who loves Monet (and let's face it, who doesn't?).

xoxo Heather


Here's some information and tips for anyone interested:
-The train ride to Vernon costs $23.00 round trip and leaves from St. Lazare train station in Paris. I would suggest taking the first train out at 8:20 am so that you get there as early as possible!
-Once you get off the train you are still 4 miles away from Monet's home. You can either rent a bike ($14 all day), walk, or take the bus ($3.25 each way). If you choose to rent a bike, it is a gorgeous ride, but that will put you behind everyone taking the bus and you may have to wait in a long line when you get there. (same with walking). I would recommend what we did, which was taking the bus one way to get there, then walking back. (That way you have as much time as you want to explore). If you do this make sure not to get the round trip ticket on the bus because they will try to sell it to you.
-If you're going to walk make sure to stretch. It's not a strenuous walk at all but I was sore the next day.
-The garden costs $6 to get in, but if you have a international student ID card you can get in for $5.
-You can also get a combined ticket to go to the impressionist museum down the street. We didn't do this but I'm sure it's wonderful.
- Don't skip the gift shop-there is an incredible selection of Monet prints-everything from small posters to large wrapped canvases, and they are pretty well priced. I got a gorgeous print for $4.50 euros.
-Bring something to eat for lunch, there are so many prime picnic locations on the walk back.
- Just down the street there is a church with a graveyard where Monet is buried.
-On the walk back, right before you cross the bridge over the Seine, there is a castle straight ahead with a nice park. It's a little hidden by trees. After you cross the bridge, if you walk straight ahead and then take the 2nd left there is a nice cathedral down that road.

Walk 16: Montmartre, St. Denis and other Legends

Monday May 30

It was another beautiful day today and I was dying to go to Sacre Coeur. I had never seen it before, and its one of the required walks. When we got there we climbed ALL the stairs, rather than taking the little cable car things. It made the RB stairs look like a cake walk. Unfortunately, by the time I got to a point where I could actually see the basilica, there were so many people and I was too close to get a good picture. They don't let you take pictures inside either. So instead, here is a picture of the view from the top. It was incredible.

 

I am definitely planning on returning very soon to have a picnic here. 

Next we saw the Eglise Saint-Pierre which has been a parish church since 1147.

 

Right outside the church there are tons of artists that will draw your portrait right there, and just a little ways farther there was a big market of artists selling their paintings. The directions told us it was a tourist trap and to walk past it..but honestly I wish I had looked around a little :)

 

The rest of the walk took us through the streets of Montmartre to various homes of prominent artists. If you are interested in seeing Toulouse Lautrec originals there is also a Museum at 12 Rue Cortot called the Musee du vieux Montmartre. It costs about 6 euros I think. The house itself is the oldest in Montmartre. 

Here are some of the cool houses in the area:

this is the oldest cabaret in Paris, called Au Lapin Agile.

La Maison Rose was one of Picasso's favorite restaurants.

this is the road that Renoir lived on.

St. Denis was beheaded by the Romans in the 3rd century, then carried his head down the North side of Montmartre before collapsing. (according to legend)

so many cute houses everywhere!

Not sure what this is but I laughed.

Many famous artists including Picasso lived in the apartments here at this former piano factory. Bateau-Lavoir means 'laundry boat'.

montmartre has a wonderful view!

this is where van gogh lived!

Moulin de la Galette

This windmill became a popular outdoor dance hall, which Renoir captured beautifully in the painting below. Now there is a restaurant there. 

Renoir's Bal du Moulin de la Galette

After this we were on a search for the Moulin Rouge and ended up going the wrong direction. We stopped for some smoothies along the way at a place called smooth in the city (11 rue des Abbesses) It was a way hip little place with like vegan muffins and all natural smoothies. The smoothies are not thick like jamba juice, all they do is put the fruits through a juicer and then blend the juices together. It was pretty expensive but oh so tasty.

Then finally..

The famous Moulin Rouge nightclub..you can still see cabaret shows there today although I probably would never go there myself. This is a bad area of town and I would not want to be walking around here alone at night, during the day its ok. Ps. If you have not seen the movie with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor go watch it right now. (after you watch midnight in paris of course.)

xoxo Heather

Walk 3: A Walk in the Park

Sunday April 29
Montparnasse and the Jardin du Luxembourg.
I posted a quick blurb on Sunday about this walk but we are supposed to go into a little more detail for my class.
At the beginning of the walk we saw the cutest little carousel outside the Montparnasse train station. I kind of have an obsession with carousels...

she was the only one riding the carousel and she looked like she was having the time of her life!

The area of Montparnasse used to be full of cafes and bars where many famous artists and writers would meet up to share ideas or just hang out-just like in Midnight in Paris. (I was going to insert a clip here from the movie but I couldn't find the right one on youtube. So... go watch it if you haven't already! It's the best!!) We passed a lot of these bars and cafe's on our walk but I wasn't looking at the book so I had no idea.
We went on a little detour to see this statue of Alfred Dreyfus.

The statue was intended to go in the Ecole Militaire courtyard but instead was hidden in this little corner of Paris where most tourists will never see it. The Dreyfus affair is still a controversial topic in France.

Next we entered the Jardin du Luxembourg and just had a nice stroll through the park. I wasn't really looking at the book so here are a few of the things I enjoyed :)

these are beehives. it is actually forbidden to walk on the grass because of all the bees!

there were lovely statues all throughout the gardens

But my absolute favorite part was this fountain where tons of kids were racing little sailboats around. French kids are so adorable. It was a beautiful day!

walk 2: discover the metro

its so easy to forget about blogging when you are having the time of your life. since i need to catch up on a few days im going to try to keep it short and sweet.

Saturday. April 28.
Walk 2: discover the metro (forgive the iphone photos, its no fun lugging around a heavy camera all day every day)
It was raining and cold today so we chose to do the metro walk so that we wouldn't have to spend a lot of time outside. We learned some cool things about places that most people would not take the time to see when visiting Paris.

Above is a shot of the unique vaulted ceiling in the Saint Lazare metro station.  This station used to be the hub of two separate metro lines, the North-South, and the CMP. The green tiles were used in the North-South metro stations while the brown tiles were used in the CMP. Here you see green tiles on the ceiling and brown tiles on the pillars. The two separate lines merged in 1930.

 Above is a picture of the art nouveau metro entrance designed by Hector Guimard. Classic. (ps. i have been posting some cool paris pics on instagram, most of which i don't post onto my blog so if you're on instagram follow me!)

my favorite part of riding the metro :) I was trying to be discreet so forgive the horrible video and just listen

This is the Rotonde de la Villette, one of the only tollhouses that was not destroyed during the French Revolution. At the time it was built there was a 11 foot wall that went all the way around Paris, with 60 tollhouses. Each one had its own unique design based on an ancient temple or pavilion.

Most metro stations are dark and smelly, but the above ground ones aren't so bad.

By lunch time the directions had us stop at Place d'Italie (which sounds really awkward whenever I try to say it outloud). It is a big mall with lots of nice shops and restaurants. We had fun window shopping then I ended up buying the cheapest scarf I could find because I was so cold. Awkward moment...When I was paying, the lady at the register said something really fast that I couldn't really understand, so I thought she was trying to get me to sign up for the rewards card or something because I had just seen another customer signing up for one. So I said no, and she looked kind of surprised. So then afterwards I realized she had asked me if I was having a good day and I sounded like a total grump. Haha. Next time I will try my dad's "Il est plus beau jour de ma vie" which I don't think is exactly grammatically correct but that is how my dad insisted on saying it when we were in Switzerland. ( I would probably say "Aujourd'hui c'est la meilleur jour de ma vie". )

Embarrassing story time: So, the first time I went to Paris when I was 17, we took the metro from the airport to Gare de Lyon. Once we got off, I looked at the map and it said 'Bastille'  not far from where we were. I wanted to go because I had learned about the storming of the Bastille and the French revolution in school and I thought it would be so cool to see the prison in real life. So we walked to the Place de la Bastille, where there is a sweet monument, but I was looking around for a prison and I couldn't see it anywhere. Well turns out my history textbook had left out a tiny detail, there is no Bastille anymore. It was completely destroyed not long after the Revolutionaries captured it. The pieces of stone were carved into miniature models of the Bastille and then sent all over France as a symbol of victory.
 In the Bastille metro station, however, you can see the last remains of the Bastille's foundation. (See picture above).

This is the super high-tech Line 14, built in 1998. It is the only line that has been added since 1911!
 

**If you are going to Paris you will absolutely need to use the metro system to get around. Here are some tips:
-You can view and print a map here. I would recommend getting it laminated before you leave and then just keep it in your purse or wallet.
- Make sure the platform you are on is for the right direction. Once you know the number and color of the line you are taking, look on the map to find the name of the last station in the direction you would like to go. It will be in bold.

-Also keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in your purse.
-To avoid being pickpocketed, keep your bag zipped up and in your lap. Don't draw attention to yourself on the train, if you want to have a conversation in English keep it quiet.
-It is considered flirtatious if you hold eye contact and/or smile at someone.
-Be polite. Pardon, allez-y, and merci are essential vocabulary terms for the metro.