An Alps Adventure

During the summer, some family friends who live in Annecy, France casually invited me to visit them. Well, me being me, I took them up on it. I arranged a time, took the TGV from Paris to Annecy on Friday night, and spent an entire weekend in the Rhone Alps. Not only did they let me stay with them, but they fed me. It was a wonderful change from my normal diet of baguettes and cheese (and little else). We had toasted raclette and potatos, which was possibly the most delicious meal I've ever had. They have a spectacular view of the Alps out their backyard window.



Annecy is right across the border from Geneva, Switzerland, so I decided to take the bus and spend Saturday there.

I was a little worried at first, because the bus stop was in a modern, rather ugly-looking part of town. But once I got by the lake, it became the picturesque Geneva I expected it to be. I had bought a walking tour on my iPod, which was great because I could go as fast as I wanted and pause to take pictures.

Rousseau Island

I was excited to finally see some PROTESTANT stuff. After spending most of the rest of my stay in France looking at Catholic churches and Catholic relics and Catholic artifacts, it was quite refreshing to see some Calvinism.

Calvin's Auditorium, where he used to give lectures

Calvin's chair

Reformation Museum

Reformation Wall

I also went to the top of the cathedral. I always try to do that when I visit someplace, because then I can get a feel for the city as a whole. I took a plethora of pictures of the Geneva skyline.

You can see the shadow of the cathedral

At one point I asked a couple fellow tourists which mountain was Mont Blanc, since it was too far away for me to make out. "Oh, it's that one," the person said, then added, "Do you know you are standing right where Empress Sisi of Austria was assassinated?" "Uh, no, I didn't know," I replied (since I had no idea who Empress Sisi was). "Here," he continued, "I will take your picture!" And he proceeded to take my picture with Geneva's geyser and with the plaque marking the spot where she died. It didn't mean anything to me at the time, but a few weeks later, on my Austria trip, I learned how important Sisi is and how interesting she was. Thus, this little incident is now one of the highlights of my trip. More on her later...

Finally, I ended the day with a boat cruise on the lake. Pretty snazzy.

I went to church on Sunday morning with my family friends. We sang what my family calls "wall songs" (you know, the modern Christian songs that are projected on the wall?)...but in French. Thus, "Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord," became "Ouvre les yeux de mon coeur."

I spent the afternoon wandering around medieval Annecy, which is a cute old town. In the U.S., an "old" town would be built in the 1800s. Well, in Annecy's case, we're talking 1200 A.D., complete with a castle.

Old Town

Oh, really?

The castle

Club Mix

Remind me not to go clubbing again. I allowed myself to be convinced, and I decided it was an experience I needed to have.

So I borrowed a shirt, stood in line, and was finally admitted (simply because we were a large group of girls, which Club Mix is chronically short of). It really only consisted of loud bad music, guys ogling girls, and people drinking. I had a good time visiting once, but I don't feel the need to go again.


I found the whole experience mildly creepy.

Why do I always look like a hobbit and Sam always looks like a creeper?

Medieval Times...Paris Style

I'm a sucker for medieval stuff. That's why I decided to lead a trip to Provins, a walled medieval town just outside of Paris. It ended up, over the course of the day, that all but one of my Primates classmates came on my trip. It was a little weird being the leader, since I have no sense of direction whatsoever. But I armed myself with a map and self-confidence, and I bravely led my classmates. 

On the train

The coolest part of the town is the medieval walls, as well as the medieval tower. 

Provins

Me with the ramparts

The walls

Monica and me

Sarah and Sylvia

The tower

The view from the tower

 The other highlight of the trip was a show, "La Legende des Chevaliers"--the Legend of the Knights. It was your usual cheesy, good vs. evil, knight saves princess story, but played out in front of a real 12th century walls. Pretty neat.

Who knew I was a knight?

The scene (in front of real medieval ruins)

The prince

Sylvia is having fun

The cast on horseback

Walking back

All of this, a mere train ride outside of Paris.

More to come...

Since I'm quite behind on my blogging, but I'm leaving today for my week-long break (without internet access), I decided to write a preview of the things to come on this blog:

1)  Medieval Times--Paris style: A day spent in the medieval, walled city of Provins, just outside of Paris

2) a night at Club Mix

3) French Shakespeare: a night at a Moliere play

4) An Alps Adventure: A weekend in Annecy, France and Geneva, Switzerland

5) My voyages in Prague, Vienna, and Amsterdam, which haven't happened yet, but I'm sure will be an adventure

To be continued...

Martin and Monet

Last Monday was my first class with my new professor, Robert Martin. Actually, technically speaking, this was two weeks ago Monday--sorry I'm so behind in writing!

Robert Martin is the cutest man you've ever met. He's British, hilarious, works at the Field Museum, and can't hear worth diddlysquat. We all want him to be our grandpa after class is over. But he's as sharp as a tack. Apparently, he's a leader in the field of primate evolution (not that I know much about it). He apparently helped determine the real definition of a primate. He's been published in Nature a bunch of times, and he is curator of Biological Anthropology at the Field Museum. But he isn't snooty at all.

He lectures much better than Professor Tuttle did, so I'm really enjoying the class. I'll have more to say about him later.

After the first class, I didn't have that much homework. So I was looking online and at my Paris map, trying to decide what to do, when I remembered the Monet exhibit at the Grand Palais. I'd heard that it was so popular, there was a constant line of people trying to get in, and reservations were booked months in advance. I decided to head over there, vowing to stay if the line was less than two hours long.

Well, the line was exactly two hours. But I had a book, no homework, and it was a nice day. So I waited...for two long hours. However, I chatted (in French!) with a cute family in line behind me. Kids are the same no matter what culture they're from. Whenever the line would move forward, the dad would go "Ca avance!" ("It's moving!"), and the kid would say, in French, "It's never going to move, we're going to be here for five hours..." Then, once the day wore on, the younger kid started whispering under his breath in a sing-song voice, "j'ai froid, j'ai froid, j'ai froid" ("I'm cold, I'm cold"). Kids don't change.

The two-hour-long line

This street musician sure had a nice gig

Finally we got in. And the exhibit was pretty incredible. People told me there hasn't been an exhibition like this in 40 years, and I believe them. They've used the Monet collection at the Musee d'Orsay as the backbone of the exhibition, and then they've filled it in with Monets from all over the world (I counted a few from the Art Institute). Every museum has a haystack or a Rouen cathedral, so to have them all together is pretty amazing. You really appreciate his "series" technique. Also, there are some groups of paintings that are never usually shown together. For example, Monet started a huge garden scene with lifesize figures that he never finished. He had to give it to his landlord as collateral, and by the time he got it back it was ruined (in his opinion). Thus he cut it up into three pieces, only two of which have survived. They are at the Musee d'Orsay. But, in this exhibit, they put the huge painting in the same room as all of the smaller paintings he did to practice for it, which are housed in Moscow, Washington D.C., and elsewhere. Thus, you can stand in one room and compare the smaller paintings with the huge one--you'd never be able to do that normally.

The best part was that you could see Monet change over the course of his life. I like his middle years best, when he was painting cliffs off the coast of Normandy. By the end of the exhibit, and the end of Monet's life, he's gone almost blind with cataracts and almost abstract in his painting. One painting in particular is just blobs of paint on a canvas. According to my old art teacher, he had his cataracts fixed and his paintings got clearer, but I didn't see that in this exhibit.  

By the time I reached the end, I didn't know if I'd been in there for one hour or five hours. It was one of the best exhibits I've ever been to--it's certainly one of the highlights of my stay in France.

If it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium...

...or in my case, last Sunday. I was looking up train tickets for various trips the night before when I saw a guided bus tour to Bruges, Belgium for a really good price, leaving the next day. I normally plan things well in advance, so I was hesitant. But my friend said, "Just book it! We're in Paris!" That's a common refrain on this trip--whenever anyone hesitates, someone reminds them, "Hey--we're in Paris!" So, since I'm in Paris, it is possible to take a day trip to Belgium, so I did indeed book it.

It was the usual "bus climatisee" with three guides speaking three languages and 50 or more people. My friend and I took bets that we'd be the youngest people on the bus (I lost--we were the youngest). Sometimes I like to plan everything myself (like today--more on that later), but other times it is kind of nice to have stuff taken care of for me. This was one of those trips. We met the bus in downtown Paris, got a guided tour of northern France and southern Belgium (it took about 3 1/2 hours to get there), got a guided tour of the city of Bruges, and then had four hours of free time to wander around the city.

The coolest part about northern France was the World War I history. I can see why they had to build all those trenches--it's pretty darn flat. I took this really neat photo of the Somme battlefields as the sun was coming up, which I might submit for the U of C photo competition. It's kind of hard to see on the blog, but here it is:

Sunrise over the Somme

As we drove through southern Belgium we got an entire history of the country in 10 minutes flat. Pretty much everyone has taken over Belgium at one time or another, until in 1831 they said they'd had enough and declared independence. The king of Belgium married the daughter of the last king of France, and their descendants are still on the throne today. The head of the European Union is in Brussels, because I think the EU felt bad that nothing ever happens in Belgium. There is quite the controversy brewing, because French-speaking Belgium and Dutch-speaking Belgium really don't get along and want to split. We'll see how that turns out.

I knew the moment we crossed the border, because all the signs were Dutch. That language has way too many random vowels. Once we got into town, everyone spoke at least three languages fluently. They spoke English way better than in central Paris, to the benefit of my friend. I still tried to muddle through in French.

It was gorgeous when we arrived--bright blue sky and sunny. The town was built in the late Middle Ages, and all the medieval buildings are in really good condition. Thus, the town has a harmonious look to it. The town is also quite picturesque because it is full of canals--its nickname is the "Venice of the North."

Postcard shot

Our guide

Venice of the North

My friend Sylvia on the left

Horse drawn carriages and swans on the canals add to the fairy-tale atmosphere:

Dutch!

The main square

The clock tower

Included in the tour was a boat ride on the canals. Now, here is where the day started to get really interesting....Remember how lovely it was when we get there? Well, clouds started to roll in as the day progressed, so we decided to do our canal tour early to beat the rain.

Before shot

 We began our lovely boat tour:

I was right behind the driver

 Clouds began to roll in....

More cute little town...

Then, the skies just opened up. It poured and poured, which was not pleasant on our uncovered tourist boat. However, I had a waterproof jacket, so I wasn't too uncomfortable. But then, it became more than just rain--it started to hail. Big huge hail, which hurt! We had to take refuge under one of the picturesque little bridges for almost half an hour.

Yes--that is hail

As soon as it lessened slightly, we high-tailed it back to the dock.

The entire city had been changed to winter. The hail was so thick that it looked like snow. Once people started to crush it, it felt like snow too. 

Remember that before shot?

So we spent our four hours of free time in slush. But by the end of the day it was back to being sunny and beautiful again. Go figure.

We got back around 8:00 in the evening. As we were entering our dorm, a group of our friends were leaving. "Where'd you guys go?" one asked. "Belgium," I said. "You just went to BELGIUM??" asked the friend, incredulously.

Yes, we did indeed go to Belgium in one day.