Part 3: Paris

Slowly but surely, I will finish blogging about my March vacation. So I told you about Dublin first, then London, and now we'll talk about Paris. From London we flew back to Toulouse, and were there for one night. The next morning, we met the rest of the Dickinson group at the train station and took the TGV (le train à grande vitesse) six or so hours north to Paris. The Dickinson group trips are great because they are paid for by the program and we have a schedule all set up for us when we arrive. There is plenty of free time built into the schedule, and our program leaders (Madame Raynaud and Anna) acted as our own private tour guides throughout the weekend.

After settling into the hotel, we took a visit to the Pompidou Centre, which houses the largest collection of modern art in Europe. We got a private tour and also had the chance to saunter around the museum on our own. I don't think I'll ever understand modern art, or really enjoy it necessarily -- for example, one of the pieces of "art" was a men's urinal laying sideways on a pedestal, with the artist's signature on the side. If a broken urinal is art then I guess there's an abandoned truck stop in Nebraska somewhere that is sitting on thousands of dollars worth of modern art. Nonetheless, the museum was impressive and I'm glad I got to go. It's not a visit to Paris without seeing the Pompidou Centre.

The view from the top of the Arc de Triomphe at night

I won't go day by day with what we did, but instead just tell you about some highlights. We took a boat tour down the Seine, which brought us past many of the major attractions in Paris -- the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Musée d'Orsay, and many others. The same night we went to an old mosque that was renovated into a restaurant and had a traditional Moroccan meal. I made the mistake of ordering a beer, and was quickly reminded that we were in a mosque at an Islam-inspired restaurant, and of course there was no alcohol on the menu. Embarrassing.

The rest of the trip was excellent as well -- we went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa, which was much smaller than a expected. The amount of people circling the painting was incredible, and it made me wonder why the painting was so popular. It's not especially beautiful and doesn't seem to be done with an amazing amount of talent, and by that I mean it's not very colorful or detailed. And yet, it remains one of the most recognizable pieces of art in history. It just makes you wonder what can make art famous or otherwise render it obscure. As far as museums go, we also went to the Musée d'Orsay, l'Orangerie (which houses the very impressive Water Lilies murals by Claude Monet), and the National Site of the History of Immigration.

Me at the Louvre Museum

Of course, we went to Notre Dame, climbed the Arc de Triomphe, ascended Montmartre and went to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, walked through the Jewish quarter, ogled at the sex shops in the Moulin Rouge neighborhood, and of course ate at numerous cafés and restaurants.

I think one of my favorite parts of the trip was taking a day trip to Versailles. That place is utterly unbelievable. The sheer size of the palace and its grounds are mind-boggling. It is no wonder that the French lower class revolted when they did. While millions barely survived in terrible living conditions, a select few royals and other nobles lived and dined and slept in pure wealth and lavishness. The most impressive part of Versailles is probably its gardens and the other properties. On the grounds alone sit the Palace of Versailles, two summer homes for the royal family, a working farm and private hamlet for Marie Antoinette, and various other cottages and small buildings. In addition, there are miles of footpaths and acres of gardens, fountains, and forest. The entire property is really unbelievable.

In front of the front courtyard of the Palace

Panorama of the Queen's Hamlet at Versailles

On our last night in Paris, we grabbed bottles of wine and went and sat underneath the Eiffel Tower. It was directly above is, all lit up and towering over the city. We just sat and talked, and every hour on the hour between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. the tower would begin to scintillate, hundreds of strobe lights pulsating to make the tower look like a disco ball. That night was particularly special because none of us could believe we were sitting where we were sitting -- under the Eiffel Tower in France on a warm spring night, bottles of red wine in hand (2 euros in France, probably 20 dollars in the U.S.) and almost not a care in the world. Because we missed the last metro and last bus back to our hotel, we walked along the Seine all the way back -- a 4.5 mile trek that took us just about 2 hours. It was one of the most fun nights I've had in France.

Dusk view down the Champs-Elysées

Since going to Paris, things have been going well in Toulouse. I finished up my classes and am now on my spring vacation. We took a group Dickinson trip to Marseille last weekend (blog post coming soon) and I am heading to Belgium today to meet my dad for a beer festival. After that, I plan on going to Bologna, Italy, hosting my mom in Toulouse, taking my final exams at the university, going to see my beautiful Rachel in Spain, visiting a relative in Montpelier, and then heading back to the U.S. on June 2! Life could be worse.

To bring you out, a short video of a classic French sidewalk jazz group, on a bridge over the Seine. Enjoy!

Part 2: London

My blogging performance has been weak as of late, and I apologize for that. I need to make sure I keep the posting up, as I expect I'll be looking back on this blog in the years to come. Where did I leave off? I think it's time to tell you all a bit about my trip to London. When we left our hero, he was departing Dublin en route to London for three days of sightseeing and shenanigans.

Our London hostel was conveniently located right on the edge of Hyde Park. On our first full day there, we walked through the park and headed to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. If you haven't seen the changing of the guard, there's no rush. It typically happens at around 11:30 a.m., but if you don't get there at at least 10:45, there is no way you'll be able to see. It's unbelievable how many people come out to see the change. I felt like I was at a concert or something, except I could neither hear nor see the main act. So we left and instead made our way to the Picadilly Circus area and walked around, ducking into shops and cafés and getting a sense for the city. It was mostly nice just to wander around and immerse ourselves in the culture.

Yours truly in front of Buckingham Palace

The highlight of the London trip was the second full day, during which we bought a London City Pass and went to what seemed like every tourist attraction in the city. My feet, legs, knees, and lower back have never been in so much pain from walking. The London City Pass was 47 pounds, and granted us entry to almost all the major attractions. We were even able to skip the long lines and walk right into the building! That day alone we went to Westminster Abbey, Saint Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, the Tate Modern Art Museum and the Churchill War Rooms. These were all truly amazing.

Something funny to add about the Tower of London. We got a tour from a classic Beefeater, who was very funny. We then walked around the castle grounds ourself, and at one point came across a throng of people in neon vests and walkie talkies. As we got closer we could see what looked like a film crew. Turns out they were filming the sequel to last year's Muppets movie -- at the Tower of London. As I looked closer I could see there, getting her dress fixed, behind a curtain: Miss Piggy! Yes, the one and only. And I saw her, in the flesh. Well I guess really in the foam. But you know what I mean. Yes, my only celebrity sighting in London was a puppet.

Saint Paul's Cathedral

Westminster Abbey was incredible -- think about the history behind that building. All the coronations, the funerals, plus the famous thinks and writers and politicians who are buried there. Really an unbelievable place. But, I liked the aesthetics of St. Paul's Cathedral more. It's domed ceiling reminded me of the U.S. Capitol building, and the frescoes on the interior are very ornate. I think my favorite site of that day was the Imperial War Museum, which houses the Churchill War Rooms. The War Rooms are the underground bunker that housed the UK military headquarters during World War Two. Churchill basically ran the British offensive from an office under London. The War Rooms are perfectly preserved as they were when the war ended, and you can walk through and see the bunker as if the soldiers had just left yesterday.

A wax Winston Churchill in his private
 phone room, calling President Roosevelt.

Churchill's wife, Clementine's, room.

I think one of the most amazing parts of both London and Dublin was the intricacy of the architecture. You can see this more in London than Dublin. The churches, castles, towers, and other historic buildings are incredibly adorned with decorative walls, corners, columns, overhangs, and whatever else I don't know the name of. Every single square inch seems to have taken hours to complete. And this isn't only on the front of the building, or around the door or something -- no, this is all around, even in the back alleys behind the buildings where the peasants undoubtedly did their business. I just kept thinking that if I was an 11th or 12th century architect, I would probably just say "Oh screw it, no one is going to look back there anyway" and just leave the back walls as blank stone. I guess that's why I'm a political science major, we're good at putting on a facade.

Me, sleeping, in front of Big Ben

On our third and fourth days in London, we basically wrapped up our visit and saw anything we hadn't seen already. We went on the London Eye (overpriced and overrated, but I suppose worth it) and met up with one of my friends from Dickinson who lives in London. He showed me a couple cool pubs and we caught up on the old times. Day four we left London, and had an easy commute back to Toulouse. It's a direct flight from Gatwick to Toulouse, thankfully.

Wrong Queen's Guardsman?

Overall my whirlwind tour through Dublin and London was really fun. I liked Dublin because of the people, and I liked London because of the history. I think if I had to go back to one, I'd choose Dublin. Maybe it's the family roots there? Who knows. Remember to check out my Flickr account, it has all of the pictures from my trip on there! There are many more where these came from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajtoole/

London, from the London Eye