Thursday, February 18, 2010

and Lent begins.. Part 1

Paris finally has sunshine! After three weeks with foggy and cloudy skies, I saw the blue! Classes start on Monday and I have a feeling that it is going to be a really really great semester. The picture above is from rue Mouton-Duvernet, the street I take everday for the Metro stop near my apartment. I walk by a park that is full of little kids in the afternoons and old men playing "la pétanque" during the day. I love my neighborhood!

I'm so happy to be updating, there are so many things I want to share with you all. So let's get started.

Musée d'Orsay
I visited this museum in late January and I was surprised that I hadn't visited it yet. I mean, I have been taking it slow with the tourist attractions because I've always told myself, "I'm gonna be here for a year, it can wait" but then I started realizing there are still a lot of things that I want to do. Minor panic attack: I only have 4 months left now. [Insert sad face here] So my friend Silvia and I met up to take the Rick Steves' Musée d'Orsay tour. And for anyone that has never heard of Rick Steves, please never visit a European country without him. He will guide you, teach you, and make jokes all in one book. I've added to my collection his Athens, Italy, and Vienna/Salzburg books. Alright, so back to the museum. This museum houses everything art from 1849 to 1915. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works. Not to mention that this museum used to be a train station-gare. I love it, however there is a lot of renovation going on so you can't fully see the upstairs. Either way, it is beautiful.

I also had an interesting incident inside with one of the museum keepers. Silvia and I couldn't find one of the paintings by Degas and I decided to ask one of the keepers if they knew where it had been moved to. I asked in French. The keeper responded in French. Then another keeper that was standing next to him started talking to me in English and explaining that the painting was on loan in Barcelona to another museum. I just simply nodded and kept listening with a blank look. Then I proceeded to speak in French and said thank you. After I started to walk away and I looked at Silvia, making that face of "I am annoyed that I had started the convo in French and then they proceeded to talk to me in English, why the heck do they do that? can't they just pretend that I am a native speaker?" all captured in this face I make. So all of a sudden, after I gave Silvia this look the museum keeper (the one that had spoken to me in English) comes to me and starts apologizing for having spoken English. She said to me, "I thought you spoke English, I am so sorry" and i just simply smiled and said "pas de probleme- au revoir" and walked away giving Silvia an ultimate satisfaction Mayra smile, just like the one that the Grinch made.
Comédie Française
For my birthday, my host family had bought me a ticket to a show at the Comédie Française, the 17th century theatre that has its own troupe of actors. My family got me tickets to Les Joyeuses Commères de Windsor in English The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespear. It was interesting to be seeing a production by a very important English playwright in the house of a very important French playwright Molière. After the show, I realized I missed going to shows and I have promissed myself to go more often from now on. There seem to be nosebleeds for 5euros!? Accompanied by my host brother and host sister, I think I followed along pretty well, there were some things that I completely missunderstood, but they explained it to me at the end. The pictures I took were all very dark, so sorry for not having better ones.
Chartres Cathedral = Gesu Church
I remember I had read on the Gesu Church Wikipedia page that it was designed and modeled after a church in Chartres, France. So when I saw the Rick Steve's Chartres Day Trip tour in my Paris book, I decided it was a must. Considering I knew almost nothing about this town, I read ahead on the tour and found some very interesting and fascinating facts about this little town outside of Paris. It just so happens that the treasured jewel of this town is Mary's veil. Yes, ladies and gets, Mary as in the virgin mother of Jesus. The veil has been tested and examined to see from what time period it came from and sure enough it did come from the time of Jesus' birth. Isn't that CRAZY? I mean, I didn't even know that it was garded and kept all of this time. How exactly do they know it was Mary's veil? I am not sure, but it was a gift of Constantine to the town's bishop and they built the burnt down cathedral in order to showcase the veil. The Cathedral was rebuilt in less than 90 years! It's almost as big as the Notre-Dame! And the Notre-Dame took more than 600 years!!! How is this possible!? Well my friends, that is the French for you.
The last picture is of a labyrinth in the gardens behind the Cathedral. The labyrinths were a simble of sinners praying either the rosary or by themselves all around the labyrinth and finally meeting God in the middle. I loved loved it, one of my favorite parts of the Cathedral, there was actually a labyrinth in the navel of the Cathedral, although it was too dark for a picture (most Mideval churches are).

Climbing Eiffel
The end of January was full of goodbye's as many students returned to their home countries after finishing their semester here. Ashley, Maddy, and Anna all had to say goodbye to Paris. Ashley & Maddy returned to their universities in the USA and Anna, an Italian student I had met on my train from Venice to Paris back in early January was going back to Italy. It was all very sad, but they had a good time. So I went along with Ashley on some of her goodbye adventures in Paris: the most important was climbing the Eiffel tower. It was nice to be regne of the city, but I believe it was Guy de Maupassant who ate there everday so he wouldn't have to see it. Also I thought this was pretty clever pronouncing Aw'Ful for Eiffel.
Good bye Ashley!! I miss you!!
Bye Maddy!!! (on the left) I miss you too!!A view of Trocadero from the tower. Second level.Gillian came along! Lovely welcome to her in Paris.
Apartment Life Continued
So now that I am living alone with a kitchen, I've started cooking! The menu has been: lemony risotto with broccoli, salmon omellets, guacamole n' chips, farfale pasta with tomato sauce, chiken chausseur, breaded chicken breasts, and bresaola salad. I am so happy to be able to cook now. I do cook everyday, most often something simple, but every now and then I try a new recipe. It is nearly impossible to find ingredients for some of the mexican cuisine I would LOVE to make... so I will just have to wait and try those when I am more accessible to them.

Why The Turtle Can Fly
My host sister Constance is brilliant. She has just launched her childrens clothing line which is all biodegradable and fair trade wear. I went to hear launch party at this childrens cafe called "La Pousette" which means little flea in french. This cafe was absolute cuteness, it had small baby chairs and a play area and the pictures will just explain everything. It made me want to be a babysitter so I could bring the kids there and teach them how to read while sipping really good hot chocolate and eating an eclair. Mmmmmmm!!! Here is their website so you can have a peek!! If anyone is interested, let me know!! http://www.whytheturtle.com/

Château de Malmaison
On every first Sunday of the month, all museums in France are free. This is the time where I will be taking advantage to visit some Chateau's near Paris. For the month of Feb, I went with my newly acquired American friend, Moriah. Who I had met at my host-sisters launch party the week before. So Moriah proposed to visit the Château de Malmaison, I had never heard of it before and so I googled it. It was at some point headquarters for the French government during the time of Napoleon I. Most importantly it was formerly the residence of Joséphine de Beauharnais (the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte). It was small, but there was still a lot to see. The room's weren't very over the top, but there was a certain class to it, I knew someone important lived there. The very famous picture of Napoleon is also housed there (pic below, you'll recognize it). This was the first country house I had visited, so I guess you could say, I hadn't seen anything yet-- considering I went and say Versailles a week later.

Château de Versailles
Rick Steves says that this palace is the one to see in all of Europe. It is the biggest, most embellished, and of course the most glamourized palace. The gardens themselves are so vast, its almost too much to take in. This single place represents so much about France, it is the symbol of the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV and also the beginning of la Republique! The gardens were my favorite part of the ensemble of the palace. I can't wait to go have sunday picnics there. Fabulous! The Hall of Mirrors was another favorite, but the palace itself was amazing. Every room had a different velvet colored wallpaper. The gold ornate chandeliers and high ceelings. Its not hard to imagine that poets, playwrights, and painters filled the walls of that palace, who would not accept the invitation. Well as a matter of fact some did, like Jean de la Fontaine. And I guess it was under different circumstances it's wasn't like being invited to the White House, more like a not so guarded jail. Isn't that how things were? I mean it was an absolute monarchy... well seeing Marie Antoinettes estate set me in the ultimate french mood. Enjoy the pics!
I know this guy! It's Jean Racine, read some of his works in my literature. Oh la France.

Lent has started and I celebrated Mardi Gras by going to a Mexican restaurant that I found online by many recommendations and had some mole as my "last meaty meal". It was called Anahuacalli and it was alright, I mean of course I am going to think that the mole my mom has been making for the past 20 years of my life is better, but it was alright. The staff was really accomodating and it was nice to be in a restaurant where I knew every item on the menu while the French around me thought they knew that they were. For Lent, I gave up meat and soda. I have done this for the past 2 years and both years I have learned a lot from abstaining from soda and all meat. I mean everything, chicken, hot dogs, everything all the time. However I will be finishing the meat sauce that is in my fridge because I don't think God will appreciate it if that goes bad. It's going to be a good 46 days I feel. I am really happy that a lot of my french friends are keeping in mind my eating restrictions when they invite me for dinner and lunch. Considering not alot of French people actually practice the Lenten giving up tradition... Thanks guys!

Well, I think that is enough for today.
I still have to update you all on my trip to Austria this past week. I start classes on Monday, so hopefully late next week! Stay tuned!

with hugs,
Mayra.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

and Lent begins.. Part 1

Paris finally has sunshine! After three weeks with foggy and cloudy skies, I saw the blue! Classes start on Monday and I have a feeling that it is going to be a really really great semester. The picture above is from rue Mouton-Duvernet, the street I take everday for the Metro stop near my apartment. I walk by a park that is full of little kids in the afternoons and old men playing "la pétanque" during the day. I love my neighborhood!

I'm so happy to be updating, there are so many things I want to share with you all. So let's get started.

Musée d'Orsay
I visited this museum in late January and I was surprised that I hadn't visited it yet. I mean, I have been taking it slow with the tourist attractions because I've always told myself, "I'm gonna be here for a year, it can wait" but then I started realizing there are still a lot of things that I want to do. Minor panic attack: I only have 4 months left now. [Insert sad face here] So my friend Silvia and I met up to take the Rick Steves' Musée d'Orsay tour. And for anyone that has never heard of Rick Steves, please never visit a European country without him. He will guide you, teach you, and make jokes all in one book. I've added to my collection his Athens, Italy, and Vienna/Salzburg books. Alright, so back to the museum. This museum houses everything art from 1849 to 1915. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works. Not to mention that this museum used to be a train station-gare. I love it, however there is a lot of renovation going on so you can't fully see the upstairs. Either way, it is beautiful.

I also had an interesting incident inside with one of the museum keepers. Silvia and I couldn't find one of the paintings by Degas and I decided to ask one of the keepers if they knew where it had been moved to. I asked in French. The keeper responded in French. Then another keeper that was standing next to him started talking to me in English and explaining that the painting was on loan in Barcelona to another museum. I just simply nodded and kept listening with a blank look. Then I proceeded to speak in French and said thank you. After I started to walk away and I looked at Silvia, making that face of "I am annoyed that I had started the convo in French and then they proceeded to talk to me in English, why the heck do they do that? can't they just pretend that I am a native speaker?" all captured in this face I make. So all of a sudden, after I gave Silvia this look the museum keeper (the one that had spoken to me in English) comes to me and starts apologizing for having spoken English. She said to me, "I thought you spoke English, I am so sorry" and i just simply smiled and said "pas de probleme- au revoir" and walked away giving Silvia an ultimate satisfaction Mayra smile, just like the one that the Grinch made.
Comédie Française
For my birthday, my host family had bought me a ticket to a show at the Comédie Française, the 17th century theatre that has its own troupe of actors. My family got me tickets to Les Joyeuses Commères de Windsor in English The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespear. It was interesting to be seeing a production by a very important English playwright in the house of a very important French playwright Molière. After the show, I realized I missed going to shows and I have promissed myself to go more often from now on. There seem to be nosebleeds for 5euros!? Accompanied by my host brother and host sister, I think I followed along pretty well, there were some things that I completely missunderstood, but they explained it to me at the end. The pictures I took were all very dark, so sorry for not having better ones.
Chartres Cathedral = Gesu Church
I remember I had read on the Gesu Church Wikipedia page that it was designed and modeled after a church in Chartres, France. So when I saw the Rick Steve's Chartres Day Trip tour in my Paris book, I decided it was a must. Considering I knew almost nothing about this town, I read ahead on the tour and found some very interesting and fascinating facts about this little town outside of Paris. It just so happens that the treasured jewel of this town is Mary's veil. Yes, ladies and gets, Mary as in the virgin mother of Jesus. The veil has been tested and examined to see from what time period it came from and sure enough it did come from the time of Jesus' birth. Isn't that CRAZY? I mean, I didn't even know that it was garded and kept all of this time. How exactly do they know it was Mary's veil? I am not sure, but it was a gift of Constantine to the town's bishop and they built the burnt down cathedral in order to showcase the veil. The Cathedral was rebuilt in less than 90 years! It's almost as big as the Notre-Dame! And the Notre-Dame took more than 600 years!!! How is this possible!? Well my friends, that is the French for you.
The last picture is of a labyrinth in the gardens behind the Cathedral. The labyrinths were a simble of sinners praying either the rosary or by themselves all around the labyrinth and finally meeting God in the middle. I loved loved it, one of my favorite parts of the Cathedral, there was actually a labyrinth in the navel of the Cathedral, although it was too dark for a picture (most Mideval churches are).

Climbing Eiffel
The end of January was full of goodbye's as many students returned to their home countries after finishing their semester here. Ashley, Maddy, and Anna all had to say goodbye to Paris. Ashley & Maddy returned to their universities in the USA and Anna, an Italian student I had met on my train from Venice to Paris back in early January was going back to Italy. It was all very sad, but they had a good time. So I went along with Ashley on some of her goodbye adventures in Paris: the most important was climbing the Eiffel tower. It was nice to be regne of the city, but I believe it was Guy de Maupassant who ate there everday so he wouldn't have to see it. Also I thought this was pretty clever pronouncing Aw'Ful for Eiffel.
Good bye Ashley!! I miss you!!
Bye Maddy!!! (on the left) I miss you too!!A view of Trocadero from the tower. Second level.Gillian came along! Lovely welcome to her in Paris.
Apartment Life Continued
So now that I am living alone with a kitchen, I've started cooking! The menu has been: lemony risotto with broccoli, salmon omellets, guacamole n' chips, farfale pasta with tomato sauce, chiken chausseur, breaded chicken breasts, and bresaola salad. I am so happy to be able to cook now. I do cook everyday, most often something simple, but every now and then I try a new recipe. It is nearly impossible to find ingredients for some of the mexican cuisine I would LOVE to make... so I will just have to wait and try those when I am more accessible to them.

Why The Turtle Can Fly
My host sister Constance is brilliant. She has just launched her childrens clothing line which is all biodegradable and fair trade wear. I went to hear launch party at this childrens cafe called "La Pousette" which means little flea in french. This cafe was absolute cuteness, it had small baby chairs and a play area and the pictures will just explain everything. It made me want to be a babysitter so I could bring the kids there and teach them how to read while sipping really good hot chocolate and eating an eclair. Mmmmmmm!!! Here is their website so you can have a peek!! If anyone is interested, let me know!! http://www.whytheturtle.com/

Château de Malmaison
On every first Sunday of the month, all museums in France are free. This is the time where I will be taking advantage to visit some Chateau's near Paris. For the month of Feb, I went with my newly acquired American friend, Moriah. Who I had met at my host-sisters launch party the week before. So Moriah proposed to visit the Château de Malmaison, I had never heard of it before and so I googled it. It was at some point headquarters for the French government during the time of Napoleon I. Most importantly it was formerly the residence of Joséphine de Beauharnais (the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte). It was small, but there was still a lot to see. The room's weren't very over the top, but there was a certain class to it, I knew someone important lived there. The very famous picture of Napoleon is also housed there (pic below, you'll recognize it). This was the first country house I had visited, so I guess you could say, I hadn't seen anything yet-- considering I went and say Versailles a week later.

Château de Versailles
Rick Steves says that this palace is the one to see in all of Europe. It is the biggest, most embellished, and of course the most glamourized palace. The gardens themselves are so vast, its almost too much to take in. This single place represents so much about France, it is the symbol of the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV and also the beginning of la Republique! The gardens were my favorite part of the ensemble of the palace. I can't wait to go have sunday picnics there. Fabulous! The Hall of Mirrors was another favorite, but the palace itself was amazing. Every room had a different velvet colored wallpaper. The gold ornate chandeliers and high ceelings. Its not hard to imagine that poets, playwrights, and painters filled the walls of that palace, who would not accept the invitation. Well as a matter of fact some did, like Jean de la Fontaine. And I guess it was under different circumstances it's wasn't like being invited to the White House, more like a not so guarded jail. Isn't that how things were? I mean it was an absolute monarchy... well seeing Marie Antoinettes estate set me in the ultimate french mood. Enjoy the pics!
I know this guy! It's Jean Racine, read some of his works in my literature. Oh la France.

Lent has started and I celebrated Mardi Gras by going to a Mexican restaurant that I found online by many recommendations and had some mole as my "last meaty meal". It was called Anahuacalli and it was alright, I mean of course I am going to think that the mole my mom has been making for the past 20 years of my life is better, but it was alright. The staff was really accomodating and it was nice to be in a restaurant where I knew every item on the menu while the French around me thought they knew that they were. For Lent, I gave up meat and soda. I have done this for the past 2 years and both years I have learned a lot from abstaining from soda and all meat. I mean everything, chicken, hot dogs, everything all the time. However I will be finishing the meat sauce that is in my fridge because I don't think God will appreciate it if that goes bad. It's going to be a good 46 days I feel. I am really happy that a lot of my french friends are keeping in mind my eating restrictions when they invite me for dinner and lunch. Considering not alot of French people actually practice the Lenten giving up tradition... Thanks guys!

Well, I think that is enough for today.
I still have to update you all on my trip to Austria this past week. I start classes on Monday, so hopefully late next week! Stay tuned!

with hugs,
Mayra.